As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I misplaced the original earphones that came with Pepper Potts, my Samsung P1000 Galaxy Tab.  I use Pepper as my music player as well, and I wasn’t much bummed since I fortunately have a pair of Hed Kandi Pure Kandi headphones.

At first glance, Hed Kandi headphones definitely look like something you’d buy first and foremost for it’s visual design and style.  Pao was surprised to learn that Hed Kandi produces audio equipment now, ear and headphones in particular, but it isn’t that much of a stretch.  See, Hed Kandi is also a pretty big record brand based in the UK, and they’re known everywhere for their club and house music compilations.  I don’t even frequent clubs, but even I’ve heard of Hed Kandi.

So let’s get down to the real review.

Design, Comfort and Ease of Use

I didn’t expect anything from Hed Kandi to be lacking in style.  Artwork from Jason Brooks alone inspired a legion of graphic artists all over the world, and the Hed Kandi look is very distinct (I’m not sure if he’s still the artist, though).

My Pure Kandi is in purple.  If you browse their website, you’ll see that this particular model looks like a matte lilac.  That’s true for the plastic band, but the cans themselves have a metallic finish.

The color is ultra girly.  Pure Kandi is also available in black, white+coral and blue+pink, so as you can see, they are mostly suited for feminine tastes–or at least, for this particular purple color.  I can somehow stretch my imagination and see guys who are fearless with color experimenting with the others.

The metal band is thin, so it doesn’t look very heavy and will fit with most casual ensembles and street style wardrobes.  I rarely wear earrings nowadays, but I think that won’t be much of a problem with these, as the ear pads are very comfortable. I can wear it for hours and not have my head hurting.  I’ve also worn them while jogging last night, and I didn’t have any problems with them.

It has an anti-tangle curly cable, which is great.  I think they could’ve done the curly cable longer, though, but then again the wires are pretty thin, and they probably won’t do much good.

Technical specs

Stereo Headphones
Driver size: 50mm
Frequency response: 20-20,000Hz
Impedence: 32Ohms
Sensitivity: 103dB
Max input power: 100mW
Cable length: 1.5m

Sound quality and “burning in” my new headphones

Now for my review on the sound quality.  Before I officially reviewed and tested Pure Kandi’s sound, I burned them in.  I’ve never actually done this before for any of my audio equipment, but then again I’ve never reviewed any of them until this one.  An audiophile friend recommended that I “burn in” new headphones so that I get better clarity of what they can do.

So how do you “burn in” your audio equipment?  The concept is like breaking in new shoes, except for this one, the ideal burn-in time is about 200 hours.  I did it for a couple of days and nights while I was sleeping, I just downloaded a whole track of wav files specifically for burning in and let it play on repeat.  READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY if you’re planning on doing the same!  Note that you can’t run all the sound and frequency tracks for five hours non-stop, you should also download the “silence” tracks and slip them in between so your headphones get to rest.  Because the high notes/high frequencies can still be heard in a small condo such as mine, I push the ear pads against a pillow so I don’t wake up my roommate unnecessarily with what sounds like a wailing rodent.

Smother the sounds with that unabashedly pink pillow!

After my burn in time, I played a couple of tunes from Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, No Doubt and some TLC and Beyonce. I also listened to some of the burn-in tracks so I’d get a better idea of the frequency depths the Pure Kandi headphones are able to handle.

The first thing I noticed while listening to tunes on Pure Kandi was that the bass and drums sound very good.  Forgive me for saying so, but I don’t usually expect quality sounds from fancy-looking headphones like Pure Kandi.  So this is a very good thing especially for people who mostly listen to rock and alternative music like I do.  Pure Kandi was able to pick up very low frequencies like 20 and also high frequencies easily.

Old songs from No Doubt were somewhat ska, reggae and big band-ish, so I thought they would be a good testing board for the phones.  Voice clarity could stand for some improvement, but it could just be my imagination that after burning in the headphones, voices sounded better.  This could also be due to my tinkering with the equalizer.  I prefer rounder sounds than sharp ones.  You may have to customize your equalizer to get the most out of this set, but I don’t see that being a problem. Overall sound is quite decently crisp, you can hear good quality horns, cymbals and other instruments.

Packaging

I love the chic box the headphones came with, but I wish it had a pouch for keeping it safe in your bag.  One week with me, and as you can see from the photos above, the lettering had a few scratches.  I do have a pouch with me, but I also use it for storing my charger and harddisk, so that’s what might have caused that scratching.  If you have touch screens you want to protect, make sure you store your Pure Kandi headphones elsewhere.

Pricing

Locally, Hed Kandi Pure Kandi is retailed for 1990php.  For a pair of mid-price and stylish headphones, I think it’s just right.  Their main selling point will still probably be its color and style, but it definitely doesn’t hurt that while they look good, they also sound just as swell.  You can buy Hed Kandi headphones from the following branches:

1. Power Mac
2. Power Hub
3. iStudio
4. Astrovision
5. Technoholics
6. Bratpack
7. Mobile 1
8. Xsite
9. 8 Telecom
10. Abenson
11. Electroworld
12. Digital Hub
13. Digital Walker
14. Beyond The Box

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