The BEST Headphone Ever !. Review on Philips SHP 8500

I would like to share with you my experience with my new amazing HEADPHONE PHILIPS SHP8500/97.

When it comes to personal listening, nothing beats a headphone. Headphones can be enjoyed for listening to music from TV, PC/laptop and of course the Walkman. So it's a very important gadget Rajeev_Vermacially for PC gamers. As my brother's 3 year old XBS Panasonic Headphones were broken, he started looking for new headphones. The preferred brands were Koss, Bose, Sennheiser or a similar high quality brand headphones. So, we started to Google for some quality headphones.

Noise canceling headphones were taken off the list due to following reasons:

• Only BOSE headphones actually cancel noise effectively. Other brands are just there to compete with BOSE.

  
  




• Moderately priced Headphones models that have 'Noise Canceling' feature, have less power rating.

  
  




• 'Noise Canceling' headphones are expensive. Philips sells 'Noise Canceling' headphones for above Rs 3000 with a power rating of just 500 mW.!

  
  

Website https://testfreaks.com rated some models of Philips as high as 7 and above. On other websites also user reviews of Philips headphones were positive. So we finalized Philips. Initially we shortlisted the model SHP-2700 (MRP 1299), but it is not much available anywhere. We placed the order online for SHP-8500/97 model and got it delivered in 8 days.

Philips SHP8500/97 :

Specifications:

Acoustic system: Open

Magnet type: Neodymium

Frequency response: 10 - 28 000 Hz (!)

Impedance: 32 Ohm

Maximum power input: 1500 mW

Sensitivity: 106 dB

Speaker diameter: 40 mm

Cable Connection: One-sided

Cable length: 3 m

Finishing of connector: Gold-plated

Build Quality:

Philips SHP-8500/97 headphones are fabricated in China. It carries a 6 month warranty. The headphones come packed in a huge box unlike SONY. These headphones include a gold plated 6.5mm jack also.

These are quite well built headphones. Though they look heavy they are pretty light weight and fit really well above our head. The cups in these are full size ones : our whole ears are covered properly. These headphones also have foam type padding on the cups : they are comfortable and never heat up much while using for long hours. No pain for ears too. These headphones are very sturdy, the outer cups are made of glossy black plastic with a grey tint .... looks gorgeous. At around 3m length and around 3 to 4mm thickness the OFC cable is quite thick unlike my old Panasonic's. But, these headphones don't have volume control in the cable. But when we hold one cup with hand suspending the rest of the unit, the other cup actually tends to hang as its weight is more tan the rubber frame on top. So better hold them by the rubber frame.

Sound Quality:

Here is where the Philips baby rules. When I opened it from the box and played music, its sound was average and disappointing. But I read on Internet that we have to 'burn-in' the headphones before we use them.

What is 'Burn in': We know that the headphone has a speaker inside it. Actually the speaker does not produce good sound immediately when we start using it. It needs to 'get prepared' before it reproduces sounds with its actual high quality as mentioned in specifications. To do this, I checked on the Internet and played 'Pink Noise' on the headphones from my MP3 Player for 40 hours. After this, the quality of the headphones increased a lot.

POWERFUL Bass :

The 40mm Neodymium magnet speakers are aligned in such a way so that the sound waves hit the ear drums perpendicularly. So, the resulting musical experience is impactive ! The bass is pretty tight and not muffled at all. The different low frequencies are pretty clear and we can hear them separately without any distortion at higher volume. Playing music on the SHP8500 from T.Sonic MP3 player gives far better and richer bass and treble than the normal Frontech or iBall phones. But when I listened to my friend's laptop that has Dolby Surround sound card, I knew the worth of the piece. I feel I am in a theater most times when I play games, watch movies or listen to music on laptop. The sound is so rich, bodied and deep.. In FIFA games I feel I am really standing in the stadium ... wow it's so live that we can feel the ambience.

Compared to the old Panasonic XBS headphones which gave only good bass, PHILIPS produces the correct amount of bass, treble and voice. Even Michael Jackson's treble rich Thriller songs can be heard in amazing Bass. The bass on AQUA Barbie Girl is a charm to listen to. Treble is good with no distortion either. But Bass Boost settings will make the bass overpowering and so, on hearing for long time, we feel stressed. The surround and channel separation is wonderful giving nice surround effect. No wonder Philips, the audio specialist have been in the Electronics market for so many years !

Conclusion: I feel this is the best entry level high quality headphone available for price of below Rs 2000. It works great for all sorts of sounds like music, TV, games and movies. If you are budget minded, it is better to go for this model rather than spending thousands more for Koss, BOSE or Sennheiser. Check it out .. it is the best headphone ever @ this price range !