TECH2

On Monday, we began Sound+Vision’s quest for a great $59 headphone by looking at the Skullcandy Hesh 2.0 and the Beyerdynamic DTX 300 p. Today, we’ll be auditioning the Philips CitiScape Metro and the AudioTechnica ATH-RE70 Retro-Face. On Friday, we’ll wrap up with the Urbanears Plattan and the House of Marley Positive Vibration.

As with the Hesh 2.0 and the DTX 300 p, the Metro and the Retro-Face were judged by a panel consisting of me and three experienced listeners: L.A. voice actress Lauren Dragan and Howard and Joe Rodgers of Rogersound Labs (RSL). I taped over all the logos on the headphones, so Lauren, Howard, and Joe wouldn’t know what brands or models they were hearing. I then ran a full set of measurements on each set of headphones.

All of the headphones got at least six hours of break-in before testing. All were connected to my Rane HC 6S professional headphone amp for listening tests. I allowed the panelists to play any music they chose, sourced from CD or from their MP3 players or smartphones. Then I measured the headphones using my G.R.A.S. Type 43AG ear/cheek simulator, Clio FW audio analyzer, and Musical Fidelity V-Can headphone amplifier.