Этот обзор на русском

I’ve been really looking forward to these headphones for two reasons. Firstly, TANGZU utilized dynamic drivers of a rather unusual size, 60 mm, which are these very drivers that can be used for making open-back headphones without a heavy dip on the subbass and, at the same time, with an acceptable level of distortion at low frequencies. Secondly, TANGZU usually make rather strange-sounding, slightly subjective, but generally good headphones.

Therefore, I was counting on a technical neutral DF-shaped sound delivery enriched with some sort of a flavor trick. What TANGZU actually did is what we’re going to figure out today.

Here are TANGZU Li Jing, open-back, over-ear dynamic headphones. I bought them for some $212. By the way, the name of the model, Li Jing (李靖), was one of a famous Chinese commander of the Tang dynasty. His stylized image, as well as the given hieroglyph, is printed on the front side of the headphone box.

If I’m not mistaken, this is the first full-fledged review of this model on the Internet.

All but the sound

The headphones come in a large cardboard box. A part of the bed can be removed and turned into a stand:

The stand is much neater than you-know-who’s.

The kit also includes a cable and earpads only.

The cable is simple, black, with a 4.4 mm connector. The cable length is one and a half meters. There don’t seem to be any versions with different types of connectors.

There are two types of earpads: velour and eco-leather. The former are considered basic and were put on the headphones by default, while the latter came in a separate branded package. The earpads have ‘skirts’ and are put on plastic rings, which, in their turn, are latched to the earcups.

These rings, as it turned out later, are completely identical (up to interchangeability) to those of Fiio JT1.

The eco-leather earpads were an embarrassment: after unpacking, I immediately noticed that their diameter was significantly smaller than the rings. The difference is literally one and a half centimeters.

I got upset as I remembered the story with the earpads for XK Audio Fluxion. However, the seller assured me that everything was right, and I just had to pull them on carefully but firmly, taking care not to tear them. Indeed, the 10-minute effort was successful. The earpads fit, so to say.

By the way, as for the dimensions, the base diameter is 10 cm, the depth of the earpads is 2.7 cm, and the inner height and width are 5.6 and 3.6 cm respectively.

The headphone earcups are made of zebrano wood. Their outer sides are decorated with three layers of metal lattice:

In the center of the lattice, there is a 禅 (chán) hieroglyph written in calligraphic italics, which means Zen. The yokes of the earcups allow the latter to rotate only in one plane. On the bright side, they are fastened with neat screws:

The yokes slide out of the headband in discrete divisions, and there is a tactile marker on the left yoke:

3.5mm connectors are flush with the earcups:

When removing the earpads, it becomes possible to discern damping elements, as well as to see a slight tilt of the driver:

The headphones are designed very well and assembled properly. They are pleasant to hold in your hands. Yes, the headband is down-home, there’s no way to replace its soft lining, and the earcups don’t rotate around a vertical axis. But the wood looks beautiful, it’s perfectly polished, and the outer 3-layer lattice looks really decent.

Personally, I have no complaints about the ergonomics. With a weight of 400 g, Li Jing let you sit in them for 3-4 hours without any discomfort. However, I think that users with large heads may fall short of the maximum width of the headband.

In general, the headphones are designed intelligently and made carefully, especially if you keep their cost in mind.

As for the electrical specs, the manufacturer specifies that the self-impedance is equal to 32 Ω ± 15% at 1000 Hz. I measured 38 Ω at 1000 Hz and 66 at maximum:

The sound

Standard links:

1. the description of my rig is here;
2. the audiogram of my hearing is here;
3. articles on measurement theory and the whole shebang are here;
4. some fine points of over-ear headphone measurements are here.

Frequency response of TANGZU Li Jing headphones with velour earpads with perfect and real pressure:

This is when you try to press the headphones against the rig a little harder, simulating the wear/flattening of the earpads:

Comparison of frequency responses when using velour and eco-leather earpads:

What can we see on these measurements?

• The volume of the upper middle is raised a lot, by 5-6 dB at the maximum (depending on the earpads), in the range of 2-6 kHz.
• At the same time, there is a ‘shortage’ in the area of low and ultra-low frequencies.
• The volume matching of the left and right headphones at 20-8000 Hz is simply phenomenal. In general, we can see an excellent result in this indicator for the entire audible range. Interestingly, TANGZU explicitly states the target value of this parameter in the specifications: ‘Channel Balance: ≤3dB @ 100Hz-5000Hz’. It’s no lie.

Since the headphones are open-back and the drivers are turned at a very small angle relative to the earcup planes, turns and shifts of the headphones relative to the rig or user’s ears will not significantly affect the frequency response.

Nonlinear distortion at 94 dB with the ‘Use harmonic frequency as ref’ option turned off and on:

The manufacturer provides the following distortion values: “THD≤3％ @ 100Hz-5000Hz”. Without specifying the sound pressure, these numbers are meaningless.

The distortion in the low frequency range is small; there’s some room for raising the volume during equalization. In general, the distortion in the audible range doesn’t exceed 0.56%.

Nonlinear distortion at 104 dB with the ‘Use harmonic frequency as ref’ option turned off and on:

At this volume, the distortion reaches 1.8% at 3.2 kHz. This is a bit much for the frequency range perfectly perceived by the ear.

Phase response, group delay, and spectrogram in the ‘Burst decay’ mode:

There are no surprises here.

As for my subjective assessment of the sound, there are no miracles here, no tricks like ‘they’re not very good on the charts, BUT THE THING IS they don’t really sound like that’. No way. Li Jing, like all other headphones, sound exactly as their frequency response looks like. Largely devoid of a low-frequency component and simultaneously highlighting the midrange, the sound of these headphones cannot be called either natural or ‘driving’, let alone ‘comfortable’. It may be deemed ‘detailed’ though. The key characteristics of Li Jing’s sound delivery are loudness and sharpness. After listening to this model for about 20 hours, I tried to find anything among the variety of genres that would sound at least decentish, but I couldn’t. Li Jing keep only the midrange with annoying, inappropriate accents in the area of 2.6 and 5.8 kHz in any musical content. At the same time, these headphones can boast neither any special ‘detail level’, nor a wide or deep virtual sound stage, nor uniquely clear instrument positioning.

I wondered whether there is a way to influence the Li Jing sound without resorting to equalization.

I connected the headphones via additional resistance, or a 100-Ohm adapter:

I took matching earpads from other headphones available to me:

I used all the other earpads I have:

And my answer is no. It won’t be possible to positively affect the sound of these headphones in a simple way, without equalization or changing the driver damping (i.e., modding).

Comparisons

I’ll choose Sennheiser HD600 and Fiio JT7 as models for reference.

Li Jing frequency response compared to Sennheiser HD600:

HD600 cost the same and have a similar sound tuning concept. While HD600 are often criticized for being too active in the upper middle and lower high-frequency range, then you can imagine how gaudily Li Jing sound looking at the charts. And a smaller decline on the subbass doesn’t help TANGZU in any way.

Li Jing frequency response compared to Fiio JT7:

JT7 are a great example of how it was possible to tune the lower part of the frequency range with an almost identical delivery of the midrange. The addition of 4 dB in the 20-150 Hz range effectively balances the active range of 2-6 kHz, making the Fiio model not ideal, but much more balanced. And let’s not forget about pricing ($210 vs. $100), as well as the fact that JT7 have two original cables. Besides, JT7 lead the way in wearing ergonomics and portable use, as they can fold, and their earpads are softer and more spatial.

Summary

I would be very happy to talk about what great headphones TANGZU managed to make. But even extra pressure and the use of an adapter with 100 Ohms of resistance will not make good headphones out of Li Jing.

In general, the manufacturer didn’t make any mistakes in ergonomics. The headphones are convenient to use. The manufacturer has endowed these headphones with a recognizable, distinctive design. Finally, Li Jing are just made fine.

The only and major problem lies in their sound: the unbalanced sound delivery that literally vulgarly protrudes the upper midrange doesn’t let me recommend them even for some narrow usage scenario or for a certain music genre.

That’s a shame.

To buy or not to buy: not to buy.