A community for discussion around all topics related to headphones and personal audio.
I think I might be tripping out here. I threw these in my bag as backups forever ago, and today I forgot my main pair. These don’t sound half bad through my FIIO BTR5. I think these came from Target like a decade ago, but I honestly don’t remember at this point. The tips are generic replacements from a 100 pack off Amazon.
I mean if they sound alright then they sound alright. I’ve heard dollar store headphones that sound good, i’ve heard $350 headphones that sound like trash(was not a fun day for me). pick whatever you like regardless or price or regardless of what name is on the headphones (also haha funny dankpods thing)
I know "IEMs" like MDR-EX15LP and RP-HJE120 sound pretty nice and don't measure anything ridiculous that can't be fixed with EQ (both Bassy V). Can you describe the sound signature of the Polaroids?
The vocals are definitely the stand out feature, very clean and pleasant sounding. The stereo separation and overall soundstage is wide and lends itself really well to Live performances such as Hell Freezes Over by The Eagles. The high end is surprisingly good and the mids are really decent and definitely a step above many earbuds in this price point. The lows are definitely not super amazing but they do exist and they are not at all muddy and have a pretty tight representation here. The FIIO BTR5 is definitely doing a lot to help these little earbuds, but still definitely not anything I was expecting out of them. Pleasantly surprised is an understatement.
For anybody wondering, I think these are the Polaroid PEP14 series. I have just ordered the PEP14PNK on Amazon for like $9 New old stock, in order to sanity check with a new pair and see if mine are Unicorns or if this is just an accidentally fairly decent old line of ear buds.
Keep us updated!
Ok, I'm persuaded enough to invest 9 bucks...
We need an update!
Only Update thus far is that Amazon is being slow.
Mine broke after 4 months. Never figured out how to get the wired signal. When it did work it wasn’t that great a dac/amp. Good for loud volume. Get a hip dac or a go blue instead
If they sound good to you they sound good to you, only way to truly know if they sound bad is comparing them to others but offen ignorance is bliss
What phone?
FIIO BTR5
It's not a phone
There's a long term theory in audiophile circles that as you progress through the chain of components that produces the audio every next part has less influence on the sound quality. So the source is most important, amplifier a bit less and speakers/headphones least of all. While I'm not sure I would always agree with that it still provides a pretty convincing reason for what you are experiencing.
You should really do a side by side comparison with a more expensive headphone to see whether you still experience this.
Still, I listen a lot to a set of TWS earbuds that cost me E15 or so. But I did add chi-fi comply eartips, drilled a little bass vent and put some foam inside to tune them. I think tuning in general is a little bit overlooked. The same driver can sound dramatically different.
Cheap isn’t always synonymous with bad and vice versa
If I am poor, yeah. If I am rich, no quite. If I am audiophile, I probably connect this dap to an amp and use balanced cable to a 600ohms openback headphone for maximizing soundstage and transient nuances bla bla bla Conclusion：I think this is decent if you feel satisfying and mesmerizing when listening music
I mean they aren't a no name brand so that's definitely a plus
Neither is Delta Airlines.