For many listeners, the HA-SZ2000 occupy a special place in the natural headphone progression. Instead of simply offering better sound quality with greater detail, they focus on one thing and one thing only: fun. That’s not something audiophiles often talk about, but it’s something that everyone cares about.

Design and Build Quality

It’s probably a good thing that you are online, because most people wouldn’t guess that the HA-SZ2000 are actually bass-oriented headphones. Their sleek look is deceptively hi-fi, giving the impression that they are not the best place where one should look for deep bass.

Even the construction is more akin to audiophile headphones. The headband is padded with a thin layer of soft material, and the earpads are much shallower than what you usually find on your typical pair of overbuilt bass headphones. They do a good job for the first hour or two, but it gets uncomfortable rather quickly if you go beyond that.

While the size of the headphones suggests that they would feel most at home inside – perhaps in front of a computer – the 1.2 meters long cable and the closed-back construction will surely tempt you to take them outside for a walk. We are not here to tell you not to do that, but keep in mind that the HA-SZ2000 are not built to withstand any kind of abuse.

Sound Quality

The JVC HA-SZ2000 can reproduce frequencies between 4Hz and 29kHz, thanks to a pair of innovative CNT (Carbon Nano Tube) drivers. One 55mm driver is dedicated to the low-frequency part of the spectrum and another 30mm driver takes care of mids and highs.

What all this technology means in practice is an effortless sound reproduction of sub-bass frequencies that will make you feel like you are listening to your music through a set of loudspeakers. No matter which song we tried, the headphones always handled everything with absolute ease. Mind you, we are not talking about accuracy and detail – the JVC HA-SZ2000 are all about fun.

Given how shallow the original earpads are, we were curious to see how the headphones would perform with aftermarket earpads. The random pair we found lying around our office noticeably altered lows and mids, making the headphones even more explosive than they were before. As such, we can certainly recommend you to give this easy mod a go and see for yourself how you like it.

What’s in the Box

The JVC Real Sound System Z Series HA-SZ2000 headphones ship with a practical carrying pouch that should help you keep the headphones looking pristine even after months of daily use.