GoldPlanar GL400
Gold Planar GL400 Planar Magnetic Over Ear Headphone
- Highly sensitive and consistent sound
- Made for the on-the-go audiophile
- The most powerful bass and the most detailed trebles
- Natural and reverberant atmosphere.
GoldPlanar GL400
Gold Planar
The core team at Gold Planar began designing and building quality audiophile headphones in 2010 as a major manufacturer for some of the most reputable brands in the industry. In 2017, Gold Planar was officially established as its own purveyor of boutique Hi-Fi headphones, with the goal of creating the highest line of reference headphones. Today, Gold Planar uses all of its years of knowledge and experience to design proprietary in-house planar magnetic diaphragm drivers that exceed the performance values of modern day standards. Gold Planar planar drivers are used by other manufacturers of top-end headphones, and are often regarded as the best in class. Gold Planar is proud to now be designing its own headphones under its name that boast their expertise and talents. We invite you to experience the original planar magnetic driver headphone in all of its fullness and audio glory
GL400 and GL400C
The GL400 is an open-back style headphone with perforations in the outer cover, allowing a natural flow of air through the headphone. This creates an extremely coherent and life-like soundstage. The GL400C is a closed-back style headphone that blocks out outside noises for a more isolated listening experience. The design of the outer shell creates a natural and reverberant atmosphere, perfect for every genre of music.
GL400 - Portability with High Fidelit
The GL400 was designed to be an extremely portable Hi-Fi headphone made for the on-the-go audiophile. Weighing only 160 grams (GL400) and 190 grams (GL400C), the GL400 is incredibly light yet durable due to the aerospace-grade aluminium and leather construction. The GL400 utilizes Gold Planarโs proprietary ultra-thin nano membrane planar magnetic drivers that takes the full advantage of the powerful N50 magnet. The engineering behind the GL400โs driver design creates a uniform magnetic field that is evenly distributed across the membrane. The nano membraneโs thinness allows extreme responses that brings out every minute detail. The overall result is a highly sensitive and consistent sound that lacks any form of distortion. The GL400 thus boasts one of the highest resolutions in headphones of its size.ย With a frequency range of 10Hz to 50kHz, you can experience the most powerful bass and the most detailed trebles. The GL400 was tuned with a balanced sound in mind, so you can experience a natural presentation of the music, with warmth, transparency, and clarity. With the option of using balanced headphone cables, you can also take the GL400 to new heights with the extra input power. The comfort and audio quality of the GL400 will have you wearing it all day long
Technical Details
- 1 x GoldPlanar GL400
- User Manual
Customer Reviews
Out of the box, the sound is very warm. To the point where they lack clarity in the mids and treble.
Earcups don't swivel, creating an uncomfortable fit.
But if you're willing to EQ this pair, and install nuggets to the headband they can sound pretty good.
As a first time Planar user I'm very pleased with how these sound. I'm sure if some tweaking is done (as mentioned in other comments) sound can get even better. At first I thought a small punch in mids and highs was missing but I got used to it pretty quickly. The soundstage blew me away and now it's hard to put them down.
Unfortunately, the design is awful. As others mentioned, your head has to be small for them to fit perfectly because they don't pivot vertically. Worst part is that the top cushion that sits on your head started peeling off after one week of use. If I ever decided to use them "on the go", top cushion would peel off immediately. I expected it wouldn't be so cheap. That being said, using them behind desk or around the house is probably the only option.
I'd buy them again, but I would be more careful with the cushion material. I think they are a great start for someone who consideres to dive into Planar technology.
Actualmente tengo varios pares de auriculares algunos son Shure Srh1840, Akg k702, Shure se535ltd, Kz as12 y definitivamente el GL400 es un audifono muy divertido de escuchar, tiene unos bajos que son notoriamente elevados pero no son tan sucios, tiene unos medios muy extraรฑos, suenan como si de cierta forma estuvieran comprimidos lo cual es extraรฑo, en cuanto a agudos tienen buena extension, nada especial pero no son malos agudos ya que muestran cierta informacion, pero cuando los ecualizas el sonido puede cambiar por completo y en cierta medida los medios comprimidos se pueden corregir y se vuelven bastante disfrutables, no es un sonido plano ni de estudio es un sonido bastante coloreado pero muy disfrutable, algo extraรฑo de este par es que noto que son muy precisos pero es extraรฑo porque a la vez tiene medios comprimidos, por ejemplo al escuchar sets de DJ's puedo percibir todos y cada uno de los cambios que hace el DJ a la perfeccion, si quita el bajo lo notas de inmediato, si sube los agudos lo notas, etc, hablando de la separacion instrumental debo reconocer que suena bastante bien puedes escuchar el bajo, una guitarra, baterias, la voz del artista todos a la vez y sin congestion, en cuanto a soundstage es bastante normal para ser la versiรณn abierta y finalmente en cuanto a tonalidad debo decir que aparte de los medios comprimidos no parece tener mรกs problemas
This is the first time I have used Planar, from the very beginning out of the box these sounded amazing. Bass is very present, tight balanced and well controlled, mids and voice are forward but very well presented, highs are the shiner on these never harsh but perfect. What really stands out is how open and wide the sound stage is (Gl400 which is the ones I brought) and resolution is crazy every instruments sounds so life like almost as if next to you, nothing is coloured or sounds not quite right. In terms of very technical music they perform very well.
They do not need much power to run, they perform better through my Shanling UA1 pro than through my Fiio Player. But really open up when used with a headphone DAC. If you want a pair of Planars and want headphones then try these you will not be disappointed.
I have an average sized American head. I wear a large helmet and my ears are very normal sized and shaped.
These things are literally unwearable by anyone who doesn't have a tiny head. I don't mean "they're uncomfortable" I mean that they literally won't clamp over your ears and seal. they're useless.
What annoys me the most is that the sound quality is good. The build quality is great. They're just unwearable!
I wound up pulling the drivers out and trimming them until they fit into grado earpieces. They lost a lot of bass punch, but the detail and separation is wild.
Overall, don't buy these unless you have a VERY small head. They literally wont fit you otherwise. I just hope goldplanar makes these in a size that normal adults can wear. Because if they did, these would be truly god tier for the money
I reviewed these on my channel and for the price they are quite impressive. For on-ear, open backs they deliver impressive low end. I would love these in an over-ear, but again for the price they are precious.
Bought these (open back) nearly 12 months ago and they were back in the box and up for sale soon after I received them. They were nothing special compared to my AKG K240 and KPH30i. Tried them again a few days ago connected to my Shanling M0 on high gain and every setting to boost the amplification and wooooww.....it all came together!!! I'm not an Audiophile at all but clear difference between the 3 headphones. The GL400 slams and super accurate (electronic music sounds insane!).....ENERGETIC sound! I'm keeping them
Not the best best comfort or best looking but they grow on you because so sound so good!!
Nice entry level closed-back planar, very portable. Very good sound for its price, need some equalization to fix the hole in the upper mids tuning though.
So when I first received these, I thought that they sounded awful, it was as if I was hearing music but someone was covering my ears. Then as I was taking them off, I realized that the sound got better when I lifted them off my ear, then, it hit me. I got out my Brainwavz angled PU leather pads, then I somehow taped them onto the headphone, and they became over ears. With the distance between the drivers and your ears increased, the sound got astronomically better, and I absolutely LOVE THEM!!!! The imaging, the soundstage, the highs not being piercing, it's just absolutely amazing what these can do with a little bit of tweaking. The bass is a bit boomy, but I like that, and if you don't you can just EQ it down, but without any EQ settings and MUCH thicker pads, and some Dekoni Nuggets if you have some, these sound fantastic.
These are my first planar headphones, later I got the Sundara. The GL were very strange in the beginning - no energy, a veil over the sound, producing as if behind the curtain. I was about to sell them but I paid attention that there are vents next to the socket connectors and I sealed them with black electric tape. And the miracle happened - the GL got energy, extension in bass and treble and the veil disappeared, they got big clarity. Several days later I opened the headphone cups and saw that there was dampening only below the planar speakers and all around was free space. I filled in the free space around with thick medical cotton. And the punch and clarity of sound improved even more, I am so satisfied that now these compete with the Sundara in detail and enjoyment. Well the Sundara's sound stage is larger and sparkling in the highs a bit better but the GL is gem for this money.
