Status Audio is a brand out of Brooklyn, New York that was founded on the premise that personal audio products are over-priced and have poor delivery to consumers and spend way too much on advertising. Their belief, however, is that real music lovers don’t care about logos or celebrity endorsements and walking around in someone else’s flair doesn’t feel right. Paying for that premium hype is also ridiculous. That being said (by Status Audio themselves, right here), they have come up in arms in 2013 with no marketing or PR department and no pay-to-wear celebrity endorsements. What they care about is a product that will bring joy to their consumers’ ears.
At this moment, Status Audio only has one model of headphones called the HD Ones and come in three colors, Classic, Jetblack and Marathon. They sent us the Classic and Jetblack colors. These will set you back $49 (USD) and they have an incredibly competitive sound. International shipping will cost another $5 (USD) and the delivery time is fast and the service from them is impeccable.
Status Audio HD One
- Driver Unit: 40mm
- Rater Input Power: 20mW
- Max Input Power: 50mW
- Impedance: 32 ohm (at 1KHz)
- Sensitivity: 118dB ± 3dB
- Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20KHz
- Plug: 3.5mm
- Cable: 1.2m
What’s in the Box and Accessories
These headphones were really made for the mobile music listener in mind, there are two cables that come with it as well as a velvet-esque pouch to keep everything in. There is also a card that comes in the box. The cables provided are flat and pretty durable feeling, although only time can really tell. The red cable is the normal TRS 3.5mm stereo cable whereas the black one is a TRRS 3.5mm stereo cable with a mic and a nice red button. There was also a Status audio calling card in case you need to contact them for something.
Build Quality
The build quality of the headphones is some what questionable, they feel well built in the hands but there are some little things I found that didn’t look like they were part of a well built pair of headphones. The ear cups are nice — made of a leathery material and soft to the touch, but become really uncomfortable after wearing them for awhile. I live in a humid and hot country that has the tendency to provide a live action demo of how Day After Tomorrow would be like, but every time these headphones are on my ears, I feel like they slowly start to heat up over time and get pretty uncomfortable. Maybe it’s just my ears, but they seem to hurt a little. Also, they look like Beats.
The hinges are pretty sturdy, but that could change over time, which makes me kind of worried to what this is doing to the braided cable underneath the matte plastic finish. It looks fine for now but after a while of folding and unfolding, there seems to be little strands of thread coming out from the cable.
There is nothing much to say about the headband, they feel rubbery and I’m going to guess that’s what it’s made of, it is soft but the soft area is very thin. Thank God these headphones aren’t heavy.
The lack of a logo also makes these headphones look a bit cheap, although I can really see some cool customization options that can be done. While it’s naked, a lot of friends asked what headphones was I wearing. A few of them said that I had money to buy original Beats, “Why did you buy fake ones?”. Just a personal opinion but I wouldn’t mind if Status Audio had included a sticker of the Status Audio Logo for us to put on the side if we so chose to.
Another weird thing about the build is the cable is on the right cup, not the left one. I watched a few videos of reviewers “taking the Status Audio for a spin” and had no idea they were playing their music backwards. I fired an e-mail to them to confirm and yes, the cable does sit on the right ear cup.
Sound Quality
I’m going to touch a bit on how these headphones sound in movies and but I’m mainly going to focus on the musicality of the Status Audio HD Ones.
Music
When I listened to music on this thing, the first thing I noticed was that everything felt very crammed. The sound stage on these were expected to not be very large — they’re closed back after all — but I didn’t expect it to feel so small. There was no separation in the instruments, at least not as much as I would’ve liked. I have to commend however, the HD Ones make up for this in very very competitive sound.
Costing about 1/4th the price of a pair of Beats headphones, the Status Audio HD Ones really shine for music. It did very little to annoy me in the treble and bass segments. The mids are not as forward as most other headphones, but we already expected a V-shaped sound out of this. They sound excellent.
Bass
I’m not going to compare, the bass on the HD Ones are there, they are strong and fast and do not sound muddy at all. The bass is there when it needs to be, not forcefully overpowering and just sitting in the back of the mix. That’s not saying that it’s not forward, the bass line off I Want You Back by the Jackson 5 are very pleasing and detailed. I wouldn’t recommend this to you Skullcandy fans, but it’s very nice to have a pair of consumer headphones that doesn’t feel like it’s trying to make my heart stop by reverberating the bass from my head down to my chest.
Just for the heck of it, I went to listen to Dirty Bass, the bass is very controlled and doesn’t extend very low. There is no mid-bass hump, even if there is, they’re still within acceptable levels. They do not overpower whatever else is going on in the song.
Mids
The mids are good, what else is there to say on a V-shaped pair of headphones. They do a good job to reproduce fundamentals and musicality, but some male vocals seem to be way too recessed for my tastes. I really wish there was a little bit more color here, for a consumer grade pair of headphones, it sounds flat while the bass and treble are more forward.
Treble
The treble is not irritating at all, it is no sibilant and carry female voices very well. It is not sparkly however, so if you’re looking to hear those violins, harps or piccolos to studio precision, you’re going to be out of luck here. I’m thankful that they’re not annoying like most headphones are, they sound like they blend in with the mix very well, but I really wish that they could push the boundary a little more to sound a little bit more sparkly.
The feeling is that akin to trying to jump over a wall but being met with an invisible wall right above that. You can see through it but you keep getting knocked back by it. I’m not complaining, the trebles are good, they’re not sibilant like most other V-shapedheadphones are. I may be comparing this to the AKG K601s that I have grown so fond of, but a little more color in the treble wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Gaming
You’re not going to want to use these for gaming. Explosions sound beautiful and the AK47 shots out of CS:GO sound like they should (although the edge of the shot which extends out into a mid-ranged sound like it’s a little lacking), playing games on it made me super confused because of the extremely small sound stage. Things in the far off distance sounded like they were soft and right next to me, and things right next to me sound really loud and like they were just right next to my ear.
Sure, you can keep this handy for when you’re out with your friends, they’re much better than cyber cafe speakers anyway, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable gaming with these things. I would always go for open-backed for gaming. Everything sounds so much more natural and extendable.
Movies
Same like the above, I wouldn’t recommend this for movie peeps who are very particular about a big sound stage, but for a ride on the train, watching a few videos with these on feel very nice and the sounds are all reproduced very well.
