The Dido’s packaging is of decent quality; it’s a typical flip box used with many other headphones, but it doesn’t show the $780 retail price of the Didos. Inside are the headphones, a nice omega-style metal stand, and a green cable. The headphones themselves feel fantastic. Every part of the headphone is metal. I happen to own the similar-looking Beats Pro, but the Dido’s construction is superior in almost every way. The Dido’s fluid, curved stylings, combined with its smoother, chromed finish make the Dido look more like a piece of art than a headphone. The Dido also bests the Beats Pro’s swivel hinge. Even though it doesn’t have the clicks of the Beats Pro’s hinge, the Dido’s added friction actually makes its mechanism feel better-crafted than the Beats’. The Dido’s serrated adjustment system looks nice in theory, but doesn’t match the aesthetics of the headphone. But I’m not the biggest fan of the suspension system. The top metal band is a little too thin and prone to deformation, as I’ve encountered when trying to get them to fit me correctly. And obviously-pleather suspension band defies its premium build. While I don’t necessarily ask for a leather band, I would at least like something that doesn’t feel as cheap. I’d actually love if Perfect Sound used Alcantara in a future iteration, as it’s a much cooler (temperature-wise) material than pleather, and would work excellently for those without much hair on their heads.
They do, however have one aspect of build that is worse than the Beats Pro: they have an awful system for actually keeping the detachable cable in the headphones. Whenever I used them outside, the cable would somehow become detached at least once because there really isn’t anything holding the cable in other than the friction of the jack. In such an expensive headphone, it’s kind of pitiful to make an error that even much cheaper headphones don’t make. One more thing: these earpads are pretty bad, just like on the Beats Pro. It took me three days with the Dido to actually get the pads to seal correctly. They’re the same cheap pleather used in the headband, are on the stiff side because of lack of foam and a plastic back, and don’t have that big of an opening in the middle of the pad for the ear. Since pads are one of the biggest contributors of a headphone’s sound, it’s sad that Perfect Sound basically cloned the Beats Pro’s mediocre padding, especially after hearing what the Didos can do.
Click on next page for the sound impressions…
