Labtec Elite 840 review..

When I was a college student a few years ago, I acquired this headphone. At that time, I was looking for cheapest solution for enjoying music since as a college student, I was always short of money. Looking for decent computer speaker for music, I realise all are too expensive. The excellent computer speaker for music at that time was Altec Lansing 621 and is priced about $150. A price that I couldn't afford...

Then when I had windows shopping in Dusit, Mangga Dua, I saw this headphone. I thought for a while: why don't give it a try? Priced about $25, I still can afford it with some saving money I had :). Then I looked for this headphone specification thoroughly. The specs is as listed below:

Features:

• High-performance audio for home or portable use
• Velvet touch ear pads for extended wear
• Acoustic air vent for enhanced bass
• Self-adjusting headband for superb comfort
• Tangle-free single-side cord

Specifications:

• Driver Magnet: Neodymium
• Cord Length: 10'
• Impedance: 32 ohms
• Ear Pads: Deluxe Padded
• Stereo Plug: Gold Plated
• Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000 Hz

Hmm, if I just mere take account the specification then this headphone will beat every computer speaker systems in the world since most of then cannot go as low as 20Hz! I believe to reproduce 20Hz by using speaker, we'll need a huge subwoofer and a very big room :). But in the end, I bought this gadget anyway and took it home...

First impression, when using this headphone in my old cheap computer, I found the sound reproduced is not too good. Searching a little bit for the culprit, I found two reasons causing bad sound. The first is the onboard soundcard I had (CMedia-8738) and the second is the source of mp3 file I played. So after pairing it with decent soundcard, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, I found this headphone can produce a very clear and nice music. I was surprised by the amount of details this headphone produced. The only thing lacking in this headphone is the bass. This headphone characteristic is producing a little bright sound. For bass lovers, they will absolutely be disappointed by this headphone-better go for Koss UR40!

The construction of this headphone is so well built. It's just the headphone cable is so thin that I sometimes was getting scared of tear it apart. But I found it would be unpleasant for wearing it for more than two hours since my ears will feel hot if I wear it for a long time. For comfort, I could not compare it with Sennheiser HD series anyway, which is being said as the most comfortable headphones in the world, it would not be fair. In its price range, I find this headphone offers the biggest driver (50mm) among its competitor. This is really nice as the bigger the driver, the more detail sound can be produced by this headphone...

After owning it for more than 4 years, then finally this headphone broke. I think it has exceeded its lifetime anyway. Time to start for hunting a new one....:)