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Review: Nakamichi 890 high performance headphones

Posted by DavidLD (A) on September 18, 2014 at 10:20:16

Review: Nakamichi 890 high performance headphones, black

Source: Kmart Cost $15.00

I was thinking of doing a comparison review of my various headphones, but I ended up having so much to say I decided to do them one-at-a-time.
The Nakamichi phones I bought are not the most expensive of them, but in many ways, the most interesting.

I got a 3.5 mm to ¼ inch plug adapter so I could try them on an assortment of vintage and near-vintage receivers, all with ¼ inch jacks.

My first attempt did not work out well, in that the phones connected this way all were distorted to the point of being unlistenable. Just as weird, the phones were working perfectly with the computers and other devices with 3.5 mm headphone jacks, desktop, laptop or tablet. They also worked fine with an ancient Sony Walkman, and amazingly well with a little Dollar Tree ($1) pocket radio.

I finally traced the issue to the 4-pin 3.5 mm plug on the headphones. These are set up with 4 connectors, a common ground, two stereo channels, plus a mono mike channel as commonly used on cell phones. There is a mike built into a spot on the cord, with a switch. I tried the phones in the vintage receivers with the ¼ inch adaptor plug, and the distortion went away but only if I held the mike switch down constantly. I knew then I was on to something. I tried putting the adapter only part way on, but I only got one mono channel, though undistorted.

I knew I needed to convert the 4-pin 3.5 mm plug to twin 3 pin 3.5 mm plugs, but does anyone make such an adaptor? I discovered there was basically only one manufacturer, Startech. The adaptor I needed was the StarTech 3.5mm 4 Position to 2x 3 Position 3.5mm Headset Splitter Adapter - Female to Male

I checked around. Amazon had these but wanted me to pay $5 shipping if I didn’t buy $35. I found a better deal at BHphotovideo.com for $5.59 plus $2.99 shipping. So this cost me about $8. The twin plugs are marked, one mike and one headphones, perfect for the typical laptop setup if you want to use the headphones with the built-in mike for, say, skyping from your laptop.

I got this today and checked it out. I put the ¼” plug on the plug labeled headphone, and connected to various vintage receivers. All seem to now work perfectly.

How do they sound? Well, I think they are excellent. Some people might say they OVEREMPHASIZE the bass a bit, but I’m fine with that.

In a direct comparison, I like these a lot better than my vintage Koss Pro4AA, which sound “confined”in comparison. Maybe its partly that the Koss Pro4AA are so doggone heavy. Eerrr, the bass is stronger from the Nakamichi phones. There is a really interesting 3D quality to these phones. For me, the padding is just right, not too sound deadening but not too little either.

I’ve been studying the various Nakamichi phones. I am becoming convinced that the basic sound generation is similar for nearly all of them, regardless of price. Here are the models

High Fashion NK 850 in various colors. These are designed to be a low-buck ($15) competitor to the basic Beats headphone ($169)

High Performance NK890 (these phones, $15, also in various bright colors, squarish pads)

780 M over-the-ear phones ($20, bigger, oval pads, also in various bright colors)

NK2030 over-the-earphones ($30, different, full-sized design from 780M)
NK 2000 “turbulence”. Small built-in amplifier. Also big oval pads, $25
NC 40 noise-cancelling headphones ($60, more of a Bose competitor)

Nakamichi BT Bluetooth headphones ($70). Set up for Bluetooth.

Nakamichi NK900 Studio phones. ($70) These might be a little more different and upscale from the others.

I have been studying the reviews on the Nakamichi phones and the beats phones on the various sites. For the most part the various Nakamichi phones come out on top. Some guys complain that the Nakamichi bass gets grainy at high volumes. Walmart has a beats headphone demo set up, so I tried listening to the popular $169 version. I concluded that my Nakamichi high performance NK 890 phones sounded better, and I did not see the beats build quality as any better. In fact, they seemed amazingly similar.

I am always amazed when young people gravitate to stuff that is really expensive because that is what the other kids have. I will grant you my phones have a Nakamichi logo on them not a beats logo. But why spend $169 if there is something just as good for $15? The typical review of the $169 beats phone starts with “my granddaughter loves these as that is what the other kids have.” Why can’t the grandkids fall in love just as much with the $15 alternative? If the grandkids break or lose them, its far less money.

More to follow on other phones.

David

Edits: 09/18/14 09/18/14

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