Sol Republic Tracks, Tracks HD, and Tracks Ultra Headphones

Since Michael Phelps was seen sporting a pair in London this summer, Sol Republic headphones have been everywhere. And there's plenty of curiosity about the company itself, run by industry veterans Scott Hix and Kevin Lee, the son of Noel Lee - the Head Monster of Monster Cable, and the man who pretty much built today's headphone industry as the manufacturing force behind Beats.

All well and good. But should you buy headphones endorsed by a guy with water in his ears?

Last year we took a listen to - and quite enjoyed - one of Sol Republic's early offerings, the in-ear Amps HD, and this week we turn to their full on-ear line, which now includes three models: the original Tracks, the Tracks HD, and their latest, the audiophile friendly Tracks HD Ultra .

Making Tracks

Sol Republic's are highly stylish, based around a kit of interchangeable parts - headbands, driver modules, and cables, and buyers can mix and match elements and colors to create their own personalized gear. The approach also makes for easy replacement of damaged components without incurring full replacement cost. Cool stuff.

The three headphones we looked at share headbands and cables, and differ only in their drive units; the differently voiced units are referred to as "V8" (for the Tracks), "V10" (for the Tracks HD), and "V12" (in the case of the Tracks Ultra). Beyond that they're the same, color aside.

The downside of this arrangement, based on a plastic strip headband (very well designed, by the way - it seems just about unbreakable, and offers just enough padding at the crown to be comfortable) onto which one can slide the driver units, means the earcups have very little play in any direction. I personally need a little rotation, and simply couldn't get a truly comfortable fit, even after hours of listening. So definitely try these on before you buy. And there's no cable running through the minimalist headband, which means the detachable, replaceable cable is a yoke style model, not my favorite arrangement.

To HD, or to Ultra HD

The original Tracks headphone, based on the V8 driver unit, is the darkest and most bass forward of the trio; there's so much bass here that it can - depending on your choice of material, - overwhelm the midrange. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, given that the V8 is much more in line with the prevailing taste for a seriously bass-forward headphone than anything else in the Sol Republic lineup. And as we keep finding, there's a place for very bass-heavy 'phones even for folks who don't want to thump it up - out and about, a more mid-forward voicing would just seem overly thin in the face of street noise, traffic rumble, etcetera.

The Tracks HD, built around the V10 driver, has a subjectively more balanced response across the frequency spectrum. there's still a ton of low end, but overall sound signature has noticeably more upper midrange, and is more forgiving of program material focusing on guitars, strings, female vocalists, and the like. It's a clearer headphone in the upper registers as well.

Both the V8 and V10 are, to my ear, a little exaggerated and cloudy sounding in the lower bass; the V8, for me, is also a bit wooly in the midrange; the big bottom tends to spill over into the midrange. The V10 also sounds a bit veiled to me through the mids.

The Tracks Ultra, with the V12 driver, is the flattest sounding of the Tracks siblings, with far less bloom in the bass (it's significantly more controlled and damped in the lower octaves), though there's a distinct midrange emphasis. Upper registers sound similar to the V10 (and there's still some fuzzy softness through the midrange) but it's even brighter - there's even more clarity up top. It's just a more orderly sounding headphone.

Basically, the choice between the three models comes down to what sort of EQ tilt you like. All models are similarly efficient; the original Tracks has the darkest sound, with very forward bass; the HD version reins in the low end a bit, and provides more clarity; the Ultra version is leaner still, with a balance that nods toward audiophile tastes.

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