UPDATE ON THE PHILIPS HP 200

Like I promised before I am here to give you an update on how my affair with the Philips can is progressing. A week now into our relationship I am finding out more about it, and it is very much like a woman in one department- it's very temperamental!

The experience is kinda like having a multi flavored ice cream- only there are certain flavors you'd rather avoid. And truth be told it's someone else's favorite ice cream altogether. Not mine.

I had mentioned the rather good bass reproduction before. And it seems to have gotten a lil better with pink noise break in. As a result listeners of techno, trance and hip hop will probably like the sound now.

However, the part that has not gotten even marginally better is the Mids! Let me break it down for those who do not understand the concept of mids, highs and lows. They basically have to do with the sound frequencies; in that the positioning on the audio scale determines whether they are Mids , Highs , or Lows. The highs are usually associated with the word treble and the lows with bass- concepts that most people are familiar with. However mids become a lil tricky to understand. I'd say to simplify things that the mid frequencies are where the major body of then vocals lie. In short it's what gives the vocals it's thickness. The absence of mids will especially irk fans of modern rock and alternative music...

The modern rock and alternative genres are characterized by the heavy usage of overdrive in the guitars and the snare drums. The two things that this Philips absolutely sucks at reproducing! The bad mid reproduction means that the bite has been taken out of the electric guitar overdrive and the snares sound like tin cans! And since I am a very heavy listener of the alternative genre I'm naturally disappointed. It's quite pathetic really in this area.

So even though I am not a fan of techno and trance it seems like I'll be listening to these two genres quite a bit. And it's mainly because I cannot stand bad sound! Not because I am contemplating permanently switching genres. I hope that this gives you an idea of what to look for when you're looking for a pair of cans: your taste in music should ultimately determine what you buy, not the brand or cost of the headphone. Ciao!