This is the second pair of GermanMAESTRO headphones I've been lucky enough to play with. The first being with the indestructible, closed-back GMP 8.35D. I found the 8.35D to have very impressive sound quality, but as an overall product it was let down by a poor cable, hard clamp / sub-par comfort and rough aesthetics. The GMP400 looks to improve on these issues however, so let's see if this reasonably priced headphone can make a good case for itself in the increasingly tough open-back, mid-tier arena.
SOUND
The tonality of the GMP400 is generally pretty flat. There is a decent amount of upper bass weight and no nasty side-effects in the mid-range. It may not be the only headphone that does that well, but for an open-back at £200 I'm pretty impressed. Bass isn't the only thing that avoids offensiveness either, there's little to no harshness in the higher frequencies too. It's possible that GermanMAESTRO have taken this a little too far however, because the upper mid-range and treble tends to lack a little presence and sparkle as well. Avoiding harshness is wise, it makes listening a little more friendly most of the time, but it feels a bit too far on the safe side.
The soundstage is decently three dimensional, but not tremendously wide. This is one area that the GMP400s find it hard to keep up with the competition. Other open-back classic headphones (from the likes of AKG, Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser) are more convincing and more scale-able with quality amplification, but more on the comparisons later.
I couldn't find a figure for the GMP400's sensitivity in any of the specifications. It must be quite low because they are hard to drive at reasonable-to-high listening levels (even compared to other 300 Ohm headphones). It's brand may not be very well recognised, but the audio quality of the GMP400 means it can fight toe-to-toe with the other open back legends. Bass has some body and is well separated, mid-range is clear / detailed and treble is decent (if a little safe). This is a good sound, but it can feel lacking in excitement.
Trying to drive the GMP400 from portables (phones and PMPs) is not going to get the best out of them, but with an impedance of 300 Ohms that's not too surprising. The volume is just too low and the quality leaves a lot to be desired. I should point out that this is a pretty common occurrence for high-impedance, open-back headphones.
I found more reasonable volume levels connecting to desktop and laptop computers. Without a decent / dedicated sound-card, however there is still considerable room from improvement in the detail retrieval and soundstage departments. Let's face it, this is where these headphones are going to shine so let's cut to the chase and plug these things into something more fitting...
Connecting the GMP400s up to a laptop and a Fiio E17 provided a much improved level of detail and soundstage, a slightly warmer tonality (which was welcome) and decent volume levels. Moving up to the Schiit Modi & Magni there was a clear step up in power / balance, plus the mid-range and soundstage were noticeably improved as well. The Audiolab M-DAC provided a wider and deeper soundstage again, but not a huge step up from the £200 Schiit combo. Going even higher to the Benchmark DAC2 HGC mostly showed up the weakness of the headphones potential. In some ways (bass and soundstage) the GMP400s sounded less impressive than I was expecting here, but I think this is purely because I know what this machine is capable of.
So far my favorite balance of sound quality, ease of use and value has been the Epiphany Acoustics E-DAC & the new battery powered Shonyun SH-306A. This setup runs nicely off my laptop, but also my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Note 2). It's great to be able to use an external DAC on my phone as it becomes a completely portable setup. Although I've known that the phone will output standard digital audio out through it's USB, it's been very difficult to get it to work with anything. This is mostly because combined DAC/amps draw too much battery power through their USB sockets for the phone to cope with. Size wise the Shonyun is built to fit next to the iPhone 4/4s, but it works amazingly well in any setup. I will try to review this setup soon (separately).
MUSIC
Here are some individual music tracks and how I felt the GMP400 coped with them. Most tracks were listened to in CD format with lossless compression. All tracks are also available on Spotify, which on the 'premium' service are maximum quality MP3s and I find these highly acceptable.
- Michael Giacchino (Super 8): "Woodward Bites It" - With modern film soundtracks like this I usually like a substantial upper bass body. I like to be able to really push the bigger instruments for a big impact. Many headphones struggle with this whilst providing a wide and dynamic soundstage, but the GMP400s were very respectable here.
- Incubus: "Vitamin" - With plenty of amplification power the GMP400s present this song well. Not quite as dynamic as it can be, but highly enjoyable none the less.
- Silverchair: "Roses" - Bass and aggression have a pleasingly strong impact here, as long as they're driven by some powerful amplification with a good mixture of warmth and detail. If they have a brighter than average mid-range that also helps.
- The Crystal Method: "I'm Not Leaving - Original" - This is an exciting and dynamic track which sounds pretty good here. The bass has good weight and detail is clear, but the mid-range presence and treble detail are rather lacking and compressed.
- Jimmy Jorgensen: "Baby One More Time" - These vocals are nicely rendered, with good clarity. Imaging is much less fussy on tracks with only a couple of elements like this and the GMP400s cope with this well. It's only when it becomes more complicated that their presentation seems to struggle.
Although there is a lot of competition for the GMP400, it's really only fair to compare it with other open-back headphones because of audience / use. Most of the other flagship open-back headphones are more expensive than the GMP400, but not by a huge amount. The AKG K701 is only a few £ more online (has the same sound as the Q701). Then there's the new SoundMAGIC (HP200) at only £20 more. The Beyerdynamic DT880 is about £50 more, although there are various impedances, plus 'Premium' and 'Pro' versions of each, which vary in availability. Plus I can't talk about open-back headphones without mentioning the famous Sennheiser HD600 / HD650, even if they are at least £100 more. So where would I put the GMP400 in all of these?
As far as pure sound quality goes I would put them near the middle of the mid-tier open back classics, which is saying a lot considering this is a relatively unknown brand. I'd say it's value is close to the Beyerdynamic DT880 (not quite as good, but cheaper). Better than the AKG (which exemplifies an 'overly analytical' sound), but not quite as convincing on all-round performance as either of the Sennheisers or the SoundMAGIC. I tried to base this on value rather than pure quality, because I think price is important to judge relative performance. For example: the Sennheisers generally go for about 50% more than the GMP400s and thus they should be better. Here's how I feel the other open-back classics compare to the GMP400 on 'Overall Sound Quality' (relative to price):
- 80/100 - AKG K701
- 85/10 - GMP400
- 85/10 - Beyerdynamic DT880
- 90/100 - Sennheiser HD650
- 90/100 - SoundMAGIC HP200
- 95/100 - Sennheiser HD600
- 30/100 - GMP400
- 65/100 - AKG K701
- 70/100 - Sennheiser HD600 / HD650
- 80/100 - Beyerdynamic DT880
- 95/100 - SoundMAGIC HP200
- 50/10 - AKG K701
- 50/10 - GMP400
- 80/10 - SoundMAGIC HP200
- 90/10 - Sennheiser HD600 / HD650
- 95/10 - Beyerdynamic DT880
BUILD
The design, materials and construction of the GMP400 leave a lot to be desired. There's very little metal to speak of and although this makes it a very light headphone it also leads to questionable fit. Apart from the ear cushions pretty much everything here is plastic, which in itself is not a bad thing, but the quality and finish of that plastic is such a disappointment. To be frightfully honest - comparing the materials and build quality to other headphones in this price range makes it hard to see the GermanMAESTRO as serious competition. This is really brought home when you look at the similarly priced SoundMAGIC HP200. OK so the HP200 is one of the best value headphones around right now imo, but there's also a big difference if you look at Similarly priced Beyerdynamics, Sennheisers, or Denons etc. Hell, even Grado make the GMP400s look poor.Although it's true that we should put sound quality first with headphones, it's just human nature to base some confidence and happiness on visuals. When reviewing I can be a bit more objective about these aspects, but when this negativity bleeds into fit/comfort and possibly durability as well I'm less inclined to give them break.
The cable is actually pretty OK, if you read my review of the GMP 8.35D you'll see why I seem happy with OK here. There is no spring-like coiled cable with the GMP400, although you do still get a small coil under the 'Y' split it's nothing too offensive. Otherwise the cable is straight, 3m long (which is fine for an open back) and terminated by a 3.5mm connector with screw thread for the (included) 6.35mm connector, which seems true of all German headphones under $1000. My only slight niggle here is that the cable is not removable, but since it's not that bad I don't see that as a huge issue.
Fit / COMFORT
There isn't the clamping issue here that the GMP 8.35D had, but the GMP400 suffers from the opposite problem and often slips as I move my head. Although a strong clamp is not needed for open back headphones these could do with more purely to stay in place. Poor fitting results from this loose clamp and lack of adjustment, but if you don't move around too much it's not bad and it certainly doesn't cause much discomfort, if any.
FINAL WORDS
Sound quality here is very respectable. Detail rendition is good, there's a nice flat tonality that's quite versatile and the upper bass body is reasonable (great with good amplification) without adding much colouration to the mid-ranges. Upper mid-range and treble is a little lacking in sparkle / excitement. They're a little dark, but certainly aren't dull or offensive. Soundstage & separation are decent and bettered considerably with amplification, but still this is not their strong point. Power requirements pretty much rule out portable use. The audio quality screams out for a bit of amplification too, but throwing much more than £200 at it is not advised.
Once again I find GermanMAESTRO a very capable performer on the sound quality front, let down mostly by design and materials. Although personally I find the GMP400 to be an easier one to recommend than the GMP 8.35D due to a better cable and comfort some people will probably appreciate the former due to it's indestructibility.
After this second model from GermanMAESTRO I'm left feeling that they have solid drivers, but really need to work on their designs to succeed and if they can pull that off then marketing is their next big hurdle.
EQUIPMENT USED
Desktop PC, Dell Vosto Laptop, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Audiolab M-DAC, Shonyun SH-306A, Schiit Modi & Magni, Epiphany Acoustics E-DAC, Benchmark DAC2 HGC, SoundMAGIC HP200, Beyerdynamic DT880 600 Ohm, AKG Q701, Sennheiser HD650, AKG Q701, Mad Dog (Fostex T50rp mod)
Additional: I'm curious what people think of the relative scoring (in the comparisons section), good or bad let me know in the comments, I'm not sure if I will do that again. Also if you have any thoughts on the photos, compared to the usual black background stuff, give a shout out.
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