felkja's Reviews

Does a good job still on guitar cabs

Personally I think the world needs to move one from the SM57 and SM58, there are much better mic's, but each has a unique EQ profile needed on the desk. Poor high end, lacks clarity, you need to be right on top of the mic if you are not a well developed powerful singer for both mics.

This causes significant proximity effect. Yes its built well, but its inferior to more modern mics. I don't see this mic on guitar cabs often in studio sessions of major artists, or stage live sometimes.

Nice amount of boost

Does a great job especially given the price

Boost is enough for even an sm57 with some room for lower sensitivity mics

Awesome great to get started, used by countless musicians live on the biggest of festivals

Overall though it is amazing, and allow you to extend a lower cost channel limited version of a daw with a 2nd host which can handle rhythmic synths freeing vst slot limitations on the main DAW.

The pads are the best I've ever used the responsiveness to rapid double finger taps on each pad is not matched by Arturia or the Novation Impulse 49

It integrates really well it just requires deeper knowledge of the daw its connected to and the manual for midi channel routing and what it controls, patterns, pads, goups, in the automation

The audio interface is not really intended for more advanced setups, but its there for portability and an all in one portable way to explore ideas with a mini keyboard.

Some software works with it but doesn't always integrate perfectly, such as presets not playing a preview sound from the controller, or missing in the graphics library, meaning the menu is needed.

Lasted forever, High crossover frequency, but the 120hz bump is a downer 4 stars considering the low price

These were great on a budget. Had a good amount of bottom end, never really even allowed to turn them up past about 1/3" of their 90w per speaker RMS, especially in a untreated room. They do sound much more balanced once you turn the source up to about 30-40% of their maximum output.

Nice Silk dome tweeter, just wish the mids were more present at low volumes without using the space control at the back to kill the 45hz presence (to control the 120hz bump) which is probably worse due to the smaller room resonances.

They are well build and well designed for the price at the time, but don't have the moulded precision finish of modern monitors. Would probably work great in a louder space with a sub so they can have the mids and make use of the high crossover frequency to hear the 200hz-3khz frequency much better for anyone on the second hand market

The forward slots mean they can be closer to the wall.

Not as aggressive sounding as some of the ones aimed at bass and treble dominated music eg KRK or some Adams I've heard but not really good enough to do the other role either that some of the speakers that are midrange focussed can do - I guess they are a compromise

Not really up to modern speakers with a good response, such as a 6.5" driver in something like the entry level focal speakers. A good starter solution though if a pristine 2nd hand pair came up. Yamaha quote specs at -10db so I would need something with more bottom end than the HS series as a replacement, which cannot match these or many other speakers in the low frequencies with a hs5 or hs7.

If I replaced my speakers, I would keep these behind me to hear a typical mid-price stereo bookshelf pair as a third reference, I mostly use headphones until I have to use speakers anyway.

Fell in love instantly

Has a sensitivity reduction to 2.8mv/Pa from 7mv/Pa if needed making it less feedback prone, cardioid or supercardioid patterns, and a LF cut at around 120hz, instead of a flat extension to 40hz as toggles under the grille.

(no proximity effect as it is a condenser and also a design feature of the mic) you can get a tiny bit of extra bass up at < 1" distance, it won't sound like an SM58 or AKG D7, so would need that huge proximity effect re-inserting if this is what you want.

It has a dual 1" diaphragm which has a very similar frequency profile to the E935/E945 for a dynamic option as a swap out

Its foam cover is £45 which daylight robbery by Sennheiser, and the bag isn't as nice as the Shure, but you probably would want to keep it boxed.

Its seems to be great everywhere, but needs a little off axis and 3" distance for some types of sibilance, but other pops etc are well filtered by the grille.

Its a great mic, and seems to fly under the radar despite the E935 being used by almost everyone these days (in wireless form)

Adele used the wireless form of this e965 mic for some time.

If the cat could now sleep somewhere else I might be able to practice in it more, but between the cat, and me singing, the cuteness always wins me over every time.

All mics need a little EQ, it sounds like a very solid representation of my voice unequalised, so good for improving technique and studio recording

Very good for vocalists, and composition

Well built, would rather the hinges had more metal, as this is a common failure point for all brands using this design.

Locking jack cable that works.

Not fatiguing, and exposes mids and vocals really well, with slightly enhanced bass, but not excessively so,

It has slightly recessed treble to help with fatigue, but it can cause you to turn these up past safe levels, so this is something to show discipline on.

The are comfortable, but do leak much more sound than say the hard clamping Sennheiser HD 25-ii into the environment.

Great choice at this price for vocalists, along with one or two others from Beyer in Studio or home recording environments. They need some other references as support for mix engineers, or those with home studio areas when doing mix tasks for release

Their best feature is their exposure the midrange across the vocal spectrum well on this budget and this is their best use, they are pleasant to listen to also.

Stereo image is not that great as a compromise

Lush Sound but feel they missed a trick

An extra dial to control how feedback sustains, and sensitivity decoupled from the output gain control would be great. Separate attack and Fade out too would be great, and an option to not immediately kill feedback when changing note

Solid build, you can learn to control how the pedal sustains or doesn't, and the gain at which it hears stop or ignore note vs sustain a note, but it takes time.

Still a great pedal.

Does its job, very precise

Looks great, and small on the pedal board - also customizable dip switches if you want it always on

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I love the sound, its not magical but easy and lush

Not much else to say, great on vocals or guitar, its a modern affordable legend

Used to love them, but time they were fixed

These were my headphone of choice as a DJ a long time ago, and for home listening, but they seem to have an increasingly problematic manufacturing issue, this issue is actually a defect. Sennheiser refuse to fix this defect.

The fork relies on springs to connect the wires, but if the springs are sourced badly and don't connect, you will be wiggling your earcups 30 times every 2 hours, every day.

For those that say this is just a cable you should replace yearly, this happened to me after a week. undoing the cup I found an x where qc stickers goes, meaning a defective headphone was repackaged and shipped.

Cable changes don't work, I am going to need to use enamelled wire to solder the fork to the wire on both sides. I have three good cables.

Every other headphone of this type uses something like a locking 2.5mm jack, why Sennheiser don't fix this is painful.

Further when using synths the bass and low mids are just totally unrepresentative of the patch and it is so dominant that it is unusable for music production, it also has mids that are not ideal for vocal clarity or placement. The high end is fatiguing, the positives is the amazing sub bass, and an approximate example of a commercial headphone as a reference. I now use the ATHM-50x for voice and production - its a small step up, and the treble is recessed, but the HD-25 ii can provide the sub reference sound, and a reference for a more consumer high end.

very good quality overall

No dealbreaker QC issues often found on my 2nd (first Fender) guitar.

The satin neck I just couldn't put it down compared with Guitars with Polyurethane necks. I wish the shape was a little more flat on the back as the thumb can slip, and the thickness makes thumb technique slightly harder for smaller fingers. Ideally half way between where it is, and say a Gibson/American Fender/Custom shop Fender neck radius and shape to meet the needs of young beginners and budget friendly serious musicians

It wasn't perfect though.

Stays in tune once tuned much better than Gibson's Cheaper Sibling, if you get one of their bad ones like I did as your first guitar - lesson don't spend much on your first guitar.

Back to the Fender Player Strat:

Nut material wore down faster than I would expect on the G string, it wasn't cut very well, slots seemed to be cut for 10's even though 9's are stock.

Even with a new genuine bone nut, the luthier didn't trust my warning G needed special treatment, after I managed a bodge by over-winding the string so the break angle on the G is down towards the wood. I wish the non-expert luthiers, for those of us who just have to trust a local shop, would listen when a guitarist tells them there is a problem and it IS the NUT SLOT, and that a guitar might need adjustment, it it isn't just your playing not being the touch of a feather, otherwise Johnny Greenwood would be in a pickle.

This was the only defect. Frets are even in height, nice and high, though may need lifting and trimming of the edges in 10 years if the wood shrinks at all. its a minor set of issues at this price.

Its common to need to put 10's the G/B/E strings to eliminate fret buzz if you want a flat bridge like I did too, and it works.

This is the cost of increased sustain and some extra resonance, and ability to play with other tunings if you cannot afford something like a telecaster or an other branded guitar.

The bridge pickup needs to be hotter, is the real disappointment, I think my model might fit a humbucker with the guard off, or a just a simple like for like hot single coil for simplicity.

Superior to Epiphone guitar I received in every way (had faults everywhere at a similar price). Is a great instrument though with the nut fix.

Some might miss the humbuckers, and maybe an even faster thin modern neck brand used for rapid passages and even easier fret access for small hands. I can't recommend Epiphone ever again.

Poor gain levels, low line input levels in rear inputs, susceptible to noise affecting noise floor by up to 10db

The 4th gen improves on preamp gain and noise floor, which will be launched within a year of my purchase.

IN a room full of computer mic noise at minimum gain (no mic) was 105db, in the front room near an off set of equipment it was 99db/97db on a good day, if positioned perfectly in the room, with all settings at minimum but connected (connected or not connected only made about 2db difference)

In fairness this was just marginally better than some older audio interfaces, but given the adc they chose I don't think its adequate, nor is the isolation performance.

Headphone output will be an issue for those with 250 ohm headphones, but from a monitoring perspective its not much of an issue for me

This would have real issues with mics of low sensitivity like an sm57/sm58 without extra noise.

You cannot control settings on the front panel they are just LED's, only the 48v is a button.

Feel like Focusrite are trading on reputation, and need to put a better ADC into their equipment and better noise isolation

The jack inputs for guitar or re-amped pedals are not a problem as signal is loud enough.

The solution to get good paper specs is not to do what Focusrite do. My trust in them is shattered.

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Sounds amazing - very distinct and special character

with the destruction and feedback options which emulate tape aging so well, it outshines even the Strymon Timeline by some way in sound beauty and distinctive character and extent of degraded echo.

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