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No question, the ALABS HW501 wooden wired headphones look very stylish with the black walnut and maple details, but how do they sound? Tech expert and audio enthusiast Dave Taylor checks out the ALABS Wooden Over-Ear Closed Headphones and finds that they're not exactly what you might expect in the sound reproduction department. In fact, you'll definitely want to check out his review before you make a purchase decision.
Check it out at: https://amzn.to/3xjjUMB
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#alabs #headphones #referenceheadphones #studioheadphones #audiophile #hw501 #askdavetaylor
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0:00
This is a beautiful pair of wired headphones. Let's check it out
0:11
Oh hey, Dave Taylor here. Let me take these off for a second. And I'm checking out these. These
0:17
are the Alabs wooden over-ear closed headphones, model HW501, and they're pretty darn nice
0:25
They're what's known as reference headphones, and that's really important. We need to talk
0:28
about that right up front because they have a very flat response, which isn't what everyone's
0:34
expecting to hear. A lot of headphones are designed to give you more bass or to like work
0:40
on sort of changing the frequency response to give you something that's maybe warmer or has more
0:47
presence. These are designed to be the kind of things you'd find in like an audio engineering
0:52
lab where they're just a really flat response. It's very technical, very precise. So they are
1:00
featuring 50 millimeter nanofiber drivers giving you 10 to 30,000 hertz frequency response
1:07
They are wired only. They have the plug, and this is a 32 ohm impedance, which means something like
1:14
a phone is plenty enough to drive it. Now if you have a DAC or an amp or something, then you can
1:21
plug it in and you'll get even better sound, but you don't need that to get this nice flat response
1:28
Now if 3.5 millimeter ain't doing it for you, it also comes with an adapter so you can get that
1:33
old classic quarter inch jack, which works with amplifiers, with old hi-fi systems. I don't know
1:40
what you have that you're listening to, but this isn't going to fit into your computer or your phone
1:46
but it might just fit into your parents really classic hi-fi system. So 110 decibels of
1:53
sensitivity at one kilohertz, so it has some pretty impressive specs. The wood itself is a combination
2:01
of black walnut and maple, and one of the things they've done by making this have wood is there's
2:07
a lot less sort of passive radiation of sound. So a sound hits and it's done, which means that again
2:15
it's a very clean clear sound. Now the earpieces are nice and comfortable. They are protein leather
2:24
with memory foam. And you're wondering, protein leather? So I will tell you, protein leather is a
2:32
vegan leather. It is a leather that did not start out as part of a living animal. Now it's easy for
2:39
companies to manufacture, but it also means that you don't have to worry about anyone or anything
2:44
getting damaged on the way to you getting this pair of headphones. And for some people, that's
2:49
pretty important. Now let me show you. I can actually unplug the headphones. So it is a sort of Y
2:56
connector, and then you have left and right. It is very subtle to figure out which is which. As it is
3:03
with the headphones, you want to figure that out. You want to match them. Not horribly difficult to
3:08
do, but something you'll want to set up. And then the wire itself, as you can see, it's pretty long
3:14
This is 4.9 feet, and it's a Kevlar cable. Now I found that it's a little bit susceptible to getting
3:24
a little twisty, which is a little disappointing. If they made it a little thicker, that wouldn't
3:29
happen. But then again, given the price point and the sound reproduction, then this might be one of
3:35
those areas where you could get a more expensive cable, but then it would be a more expensive
3:40
product. So easy enough, you can adjust these. So each side goes up and down. Here's a close-up. I
3:48
have to say that I found the adjustment mechanism to be a little cheesy, a little lower quality than
3:55
I expected from a pair of headphones that are ostensibly a reference studio monitor headphone
4:01
But it's really probably my only criticism of the design and how they built them. There's a padded
4:08
headband. They're very comfortable. As I said, it comes with that quarter inch adapter, and it comes
4:14
with a little carrying bag if you like those sort of things. I suspect a lot of people won't be
4:21
toting these around because they're not noise canceling or anything. They're just headphones
4:25
I mean, they're just nice headphones, but you'll probably have them on a headphone stand or just
4:30
laying on a mixing board or something, and that'll be just fine for you. Or you're at work and it's
4:35
just sitting by your keyboard. So what we do need to talk about, though, is we need to talk about
4:40
the sound. And I got to say, I wasn't hugely impressed by the sound reproduction. What I
4:47
should say is that at their price point, they do a very respectable job, but it's a very flat
4:54
reference sound. So while there's a lot of precision to the sound reproduction, so you
5:00
can hear the cymbals if you close your eyes, you can imagine all the different instruments being
5:05
played, but there's not a lot of presence. I felt like it had a surprisingly small sound stage
5:12
and I also felt like there were some frequencies that just didn't get as much reproduction as I
5:17
like. I found that on my device, I was messing around with the EQ to try to bring up the sort
5:23
of medium to low bass, not the very lowest frequencies. I can hear all that, but there was a
5:29
lack of richness overall. But that's what reference headphones do. So if you ever get like studio
5:36
monitors or something, you'll find they're very different to like a pop headphone that you'd be
5:42
wearing while you're on the subway or walking around or doing a workout. They have a lot more
5:48
bass response. They have a very different sound signature to these. So there's nothing wrong with
5:54
the sound reproduction. It's just you really have to be ready and expecting reference headphones
6:00
So you might find that they are a little less expansive and the sound stage is a little lacking
6:06
But if you're busy editing your podcast or you're mixing your next song or something, these are just
6:13
the kind of headphones you want because they're very precise. So that's pretty much all I have. I
6:20
like these for what they are. And when I tell you the price, you'll be pretty startled at how
6:25
inexpensive they are. But before we get to the price, I'm going to ask if you could subscribe to
6:29
my channel. Really appreciate when you do that. Click or tap on subscribe, click or tap on that
6:35
little bell icon for notifications. And of course, if you found this to be a useful review and
6:40
informative, then a like is always appreciated. Great. Thank you. Now, these are the Alabs wooden
6:49
over ear closed headphones, HW501. And they're $99.99, currently minus 20%, dropping them down
6:58
to a pretty remarkable $79.92 at Amazon.com for 80 bucks. These are a really nice addition to your
7:07
little home recording studio, and they might just be what you need. So that's all I got. I'm going to
7:14
hook everything back up and get back to my music, which means I'll have to catch you in my next
7:37
video
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