Review on Edifier H840 Audiophile Over-The-Ear Headphones - Hi-Fi Closed Monitor Music Listening - Blue by Joseph Long

In general, the headphones are cool, the sound is on par with headphones 2-3 times more expensive. Isolation is excellent, the sound is warm, with a thin soundstage and good balance across the frequency spectrum. They are a bit bass heavy but more 'spicy' than 'powdered' and I say that as an avid techno and psych trance listener. Unfortunately, they have two downsides that result in a 4 star rating. Worst of all is the horrid creaking that accompanies wear and tear at the two insertion points of the plastic-on-plastic earcups - where the headband's cross-cup holder connects to the earcup. It's just bad design, as a plain metal axle here (or even decent plastic and nylon insulation) would completely eliminate that problem. Whatever the case, I'll probably run a small amount of graphite (the kind you use for sticky door locks) into two spots on each ear cup to deaden the squeak. The second element is that the ear cups are quite small. I can wear the headphones comfortably for long periods of time, however, when I put them on I have to press my ears a bit against the earcup, so my ears end up tucked slightly into the earcup; With my other favorite on-ear headphones like the Sony MDR7506 and Kingston HyperX Cloud, the inside of the cup doesn't even touch my ears when I put the headphones on) UPDATE July 2018: The squeaking hasn't returned. The Edifier H840 have become my go-to choice for everyday listening, and the sound isolation is particularly noteworthy for such lightweight on-ear headphones. Highly recommended!