Some great feedback and support from the Belgian multi-talented musician, composer and music producer Reinhard Vanbergen from Ghent (Rheinzand, music for dreams) in his studio at work with the SMB-02:
“I've been using the PHONON headphones for the last 2 album mixes and they are like a pair of ns10 speakers but better. Very clear, accurate in the low end precise. Comments from the mastering engineer on last album: had almost no adjustments to do…”
Full German text here DJ-LAB
The headphones sound really good: The bass is full and goes deep, but is not overemphasized. Mids and highs are present in a musical way, so more pleasant to hear than analytical. The stereo image adapts to this impression: it is clearly there, but - like most headphones - does not create any real spatiality with a tangible phantom center.
"For years I have relied on my Sony MDR-7506 headphones, that is until I was introduced to the Phonon SMB-02.
The Phonon headphone realistically captures the audio that I have been missing from my MDR-7506.
The SMB-02 faithfully reproduce a rich, deep bottom while maintaining just the right amount of top end. I also love the way they fit and feel.
The Phonon's ARE my new reference headphones!
I just love them!"
Tom Lord-Alge
Three-time Grammy Award winner Tom Lord-Alge owns one of the industry’s most prolific discographies, including diverse credits ranging from U2 to The Rolling Stones, Pink, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews Band, Blink-182, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Avril Lavigne, and numerous others.
At the end of the day, you want a pair of headphones that will inspire you to create; and give you total confidence that what you hear is what THEY will hear when you play it out loud.
Auditioning the Phonon SMB-02 headphones with a wide range of source material and headphone amplifiers, they prove to be one of the finest all around choices we’ve experienced. While many headphone enthusiasts collect a stable of headphones, with some being better at one aspect of sound reproduction than others, the SMB-02s true strengths are that they perform a wide range of tasks incredibly well.
With their first two headphones, the small Japanese manufacturer Phonon from Kawasaki near Tokyo has also attracted attention in Europe. The SMB-02 is a high quality studio headphone with very good bass resolution and neutral transparency. The Phonon 4000 is a very compact and extremely foldable DJ headphone. With the 4400, the Japanese are now presenting an update that is to combine the sound characteristics of their studio headphones with the form factor of the DJ headphones.
For our dear German friends, here is a great review (in german) of our “Studiokopfhorer” SMB-02 on the German online electronic music magazine DJ LAB. Danke Schone! Es gibt ja immer wieder Equipment, das auf den ersten Blick für einen Wow-Effekt...
PHONON International Representative Alex Prat Alex From Tokyo talks in a video interview to the Berlin-based “Future-Fi for the Music-First Audiophile” website DarkoAudio about PHONON, their music connections and their 2 headphones models!
"The Phonon 4000 are my favourite compact headphones and a perfect solution for touring DJs."
Check out the Phonon 4400
