Tecsun HP-300: measurement and short impressions

~ sai

High-impedance dynamic cans are not so common nowadays. Even beyerdynamic is moving consumer-friendly with their flagship line, the 32-ohm T1 and T5 3rd Gen (which BTW I don’t really like… the T5 is the better one of the two though). And who’s heard of Tecsun anyway… according to google it seems they make radios and AM/FM receivers for the most part.

Now, I won’t buy a set of headphones just because they are 300 ohms, even they are so nicely made with walnut wood… what got me intrigued was the FR posted by Woodenears.com (on B&K 4128, IIRC), attached below:

Wah, is this a wooden version of the HD600 with more bass and treble? Sign me up.

Today, I finally got them.

Tecsun HP-300 frequency response measurement

This is perhaps the closest to the target I’ve measured so far. I am still not sure how they managed to get this amount of bass in an open-back design. You can see from the pic that the back side of the driver is covered with some sort of woven fabric material, but sound does leak a lot.

My impressions so far:

Sound Profile: Warmish neutral while open and airy.

Tonality: Neutral with sub-bass boost. Treble is ever-so-slightly elevated around 8khz, but that’s a fairly common spot with this kind of elevation so it doesn’t really stick out. Other than this, tonality is pretty spot on. I went through tracks and tracks but still can’t seem to fault its tonality. Vocals are slightly forward, but again in very natural timbre. Bass is basically flat, as you can see the boosted area is centered around 50hz which is basically subbass, so it gives you a bit extra oomph to the sound.

Technicality: Flat 1khz-4khz means good spatial qualities. Stage isn’t particularly impresive, certainly not artifically wide or narrow though. Imaging is decent with no three-blob effect. Resolution and layering are fair. Midrange is articulate and highs are smooth, but bass feels a little ‘loose’, perhaps due to the extra subbass. Dynamics are good but attack isn’t particularly sharp. On the plus side it also means wooly and warm bass, so it kinda depends on how you look at it. Overall better than the average Grado, sitting about on par with mid-fi cans like K612pro/HD6XX. Maybe not as good as a ‘well-driven’ HD6XX, but I haven’t tried enough to put my foot down.

Measuring/hearing a product like this sometimes makes me wonder, if we headphone addicts are just looking for (and paying for) some kind of exoticism?

4 thoughts on “Tecsun HP-300: measurement and short impressions”

  1. Hello
    Do you try enough to give me advise about this headphone. I alreade have 6xx. This is an upgrade for this? Thank you

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    1. Hi Loc,

      I would say the HP-300 is a small upgrade from the HD6XX given the better sub-bass and treble clarity. Mids on the HP300 is slightly less forward. Treble are more crispy and clear, but you may or may not prefer more treble than the 6XX.

      So if you can acquire these at a reasonable cost I won’t be against that. But an easier choice would perhaps be the Sundara or the Edition XS, although these planars typically have a lot more uppre treble so be careful if you’re sensitive to that. The HP-300 is mostly fine in this regard.

      Hope that helps.

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