Packaging

The TT Dracco packaging has been styled in a distinctive manner in order to blend in with the products theme. The Dracco Signature headphones are supplied in a rather fetchingly designed box, of which sports a large plastic window in the front.  This allows the consumer to view the product in order to make an informed choice.

The lower-front section of the packaging has the Dracco Signature Edition emblem emblazoned in gold in order to highlight the gold styling of the product. The box comes with a number of accessories such as small felt bag to keep the product in top condition, two signal leads (with one being coiled), a 6.5mm professional grade adapter and finally a aeroplane adapter.

Let us move on to the product itself.

First Looks

The product itself sports a  a black, red and gold colour scheme, of which the latter colour is utilised to differentiate it from the standard models. In all honesty the gold looks a little ‘Chav-Tastic’ for this reviewers pallet, however we cannot judge a product on this alone as there a myriad of differing tastes. If we bare the former in mind and also factor in that the gold is very popular in the far-east then one could understand the colour theme that has been utilised here. Personally one would have been more prudent to use a ‘Antique Brass’ theme which lends the ‘bling’ but gives a more subtle and classy look.  However tastes are subjective so let us move on with the review.

Having said the above the red and black of the rest of the product does off-set the ‘bling’ and makes it look more classy and to be honest the colours do grow-on you in time. With this in mind the colours lend to an almost’ imperial look and quite quickly one forgets the ‘bling’ quite easily.

The red stitching on the headband is of a high quality standard and really does look good when combined with the faux black leather. Running a finger along this surface feels pleasant and the quality is evident, however we do feel that Thermal Take could have used a little more padding in the top part (the black area) as one can easily depress the top and feel the adjustable headband underneath.  The reverse side of the band is a nice classy deep (almost royal) red in order to match the colour of the stitching on the top.

The last photo on the above right shows the aluminium adjustable headband underneath in order to fit a myriad of differing head sizes.

Before we go any further in this review we like to point out that up until this point, we used a ‘flash’ in order to take the images shown above. The trouble with this is that it paints a false picture of the gold colour theme and the aforementioned colour takes on a ‘Chav-gold-yellow look’; so to make this review fair we decided from this moment on to photograph the Thermal Take Dracco Signature headphones in a natural light. This allows the reader of this article to have a more ‘fair’ opinion of the gold so they can judge for themselves.

The photos below (when taken in a natural light) do indeed show a huge difference and the product is indeed transformed from a cheap Argos Elizabeth-Duke imitation gold to a more classy affair that lends more to early Victorian than to modern ‘bling’.

Once again the red and black of the product does indeed offset the gold somewhat and presents an overall polished look

The ‘drivers’ of the  ’TT Dracco Signature Headphones are of the 50mm variety and are surrounded by a false-leather with some padding. We feel that these could have been ‘padded out’ more however when wearing these they are quite comfortable and can be worn for an extended period of time. The product is very comfortable to wear and feels more natural than the Cooler Master Sonuz product. The best way we can describe the comfort is that it is half way between the levels of the excellent CM Pulse-R ( click for a link to review) with its fantastic amount of padding to that of the CM Sonuz with its cheaper foam ear cups. If we must further elaborate on the comfort levels of these products and the length of time before the product must be taken off the head in order to have a rest then it would be better explains as thus:

• CM Pulse R=4 hours of continuous use.
• TT Dracco Signature=Just under Three hours
• CM Sonuz 90 mins

All in all a good showing by the TT Dracco

A rather neat little innovation is the socket for the signal wire of which is detachable (unlike most headphones the CM Pulse R being the exception) so if needed this can easily be replaced. The socket and cable is of the standard 3.5mm ‘walkman style’ variety, however what makes this little idea even more unique is that in order to attach the cable one must insert the plug into the socket and then make a twisting motion in order to ‘lock’ the cable into place. This prevents the cable from being pulled out even under the most extreme of circumstances and this feature was tested in a thorough manner and it does exactly ‘what it says on the tin’.

We have taken the trouble to include images of the product in a myriad of angles (as shown above) for a very important reason and this feature even if we chose to ignore the rest of the positives, the aforementioned  specification makes this product truly unique. This would be that the drivers (ear cups) can be adjusted along no less than three differing axis! Yes you heard right thee differing angles, which has brings along two distinct advantages. The first of these is that it does partially make up for the minimal padding in the ear cups so as to be more easily adjustable and comfortable to even the most unusual of head shapes. The final advantage is that a a DJ can easily use this product with just one ear cup press to the head whilst cuing the next track.

If one looks beyond the ‘bling’ and view this product in a more objective manner then one can see the beautiful innovations and ideas behind the Dracco signature headphones. At first glance the gold is off-putting however when a second glance is undertaken then the black and the red largely offset this anyway. Tastes are highly subjective and what is off-putting to one is attractive to another. Finally if we factor in that the gold does indeed looks less ‘CHAV-like’ and more ‘high-class like’ under natural light conditions then the aforementioned shade can be partially overlooked.

Aesthetics wise one could even learn to love the colour theme which could be deemed as a work of beauty but marred by only a few small scars.  As far as the cable locking and THREE axis of adjustment then this could be deemed as very unique and advantageous indeed.

However in the end comfort levels and unique features are only half of the equation, so let us move on and do some testing to see how these headphones sound, after all the proof of the pudding is in the eating.