Bay Area Wikia Meet 7/16

Heh, did you get an explanation for the thread ban? Wish I was going, but will be down South. Any further Elear thoughts would be great. Any opportunities to compare Leaning Tower of Pisa tube stacks to Zana Deux would be amusing as well.

 

Yeah, appealed my case to the higher ups over there and got things sorted out.

My hope is to try the Focal duo on my own rig. My table should be right next to @velvetx and @n3rdling so I'll have to see what those dirty stax-lovers think as well.

 

As I'm sure many people do, I try and make a point of never saying anything on the internet that I wouldn't say to someone's face in person. It has worked for me so far.

 

Awesome. I'm currently trying to decide if I should have a 80R secondary added to a couple OPTs I'm having built... just to accommodate future Elear usage. So the more trustworthy feedbacks the better!

 

My amp has both 32R and 300R taps so I'll try and test with both.

 

Focal hype is real. Ether Flow hype is real.

Sitting at the bar waiting for the rest of the gang to show for post meet dinner. Impressions tomorrow.

 

What about the "poor man's Ether"?

 

Great meet. Great gear. Loved hanging with the SBAF crew, especially our post-meet dinner at Ruth's Chris.

I spent most of the meet auditioning headphones on my own rig. For reference I ran Tidal > Schiit Yggdrasil > Pass Labs XP-10 Pre > ECP DSHA-4. All headphones were run via balanced 4-pin XLR. All impressions are from my own rig unless listed otherwise.

Gear impressions listed from most impressive to least impressive.

Focal Utopia:

• A real contender for best dynamic headphone.
• A bit heavy, but otherwise very comfortable to wear. Build quality appeared excellent.
• Sound was very clear and very detailed. Background noise at the meet was a bit of an issue, but you could tell Utopia is a very technically competent headphone, potentially better on technicalities than the HD800 but would need to evaluate at home to be sure.
• Not a bass monster and does not compete with planars in that regard.
• While soundstage is good, does not have the uniquely massive soundstage that is my favorite thing about the HD800.
• The $4k price is unfortunate. This is a headphone that needs to cost $2k at most for it to be a good value.
• I can’t wait to hear what @Tyll Hertsens thinks about Utopia.

MrSpeakers Ether Flow (open):

• The real deal, a fabulous headphone.
• Ether Flow is a really stupid name for a headphone.
• I loved the way it sounded on my rig. Deep, tight bass and great balance overall. This is now the “go to” planar if the Ether wasn’t already.
• I would need to have a regular Ether side by side to discuss improvements in the new model, but I felt Flow was better balanced high-to-low and sounded a bit more open than its predecessor.
• This will easily make Tyll’s “wall of fame.”
• Hopefully we get another loaner program going for this.
• At $1,800 it is clearly positioned to rival the HD800S. I probably still take the 800S (if I had to pick one) as it plays more to my tastes, but loving seeing the Ether get better and better and make that decision harder and harder.
• There is no way the Audeze LCD-4 can cost $4k when Ether Flow sounded just about as good, is much more comfortable to wear, and costs less than half as much.
• If Ether Flow was $1,200 I would buy one today, $1,800 feels like a bit of a stretch.

N3rdling HE-90 Clone (on Nick’s BHSE):

• Very fun to listen to.
• It is awesome to hear a DIY headphone this good.
• Justin and I did a comparison with the 009 and Clone. It made me sad I don’t still own an electrostatic rig.
• Between the two, I still lean towards the 009. I hear the 009 as better balanced high-to-low and having vastly superior bass to the Clone.
• I heard the Clone as having a bit more of a warm, mid-centric tone. The Clone is the more “romantic” sounding of the two, but my preferences tend more towards ruler flat neutrality. I can see why some would prefer the sound of the Clone, but for me the 009 is still the king-of-the-hill (along with 007mk1).

Focal Elear:

• The early impression here are that Elear sounds somewhat like a HD650 plus. I would agree with that assessment.
• Should be a must listen for the HD650 fans around here.
• As I much prefer the HD600 to the HD650, the slightly tonally dark Elear isn’t a headphone I’d consider buying.
• Priced at a grand, it is nice to see a step in the right direction on price. Should be $600, but at least its not $1,500.
• Between Utopia and Elear I lean very strongly towards Utopia.

Audeze LCD-4:

• This was the “fixed” version with 200 ohm impedance.
• I thought it actually sounded pretty great.
• Would love to do a shootout between LCD-4 and Ether Flow as I thought they both sounded very good.
• The problem with LCD-4 isn’t the sound, its everything else.
• For me the LCD-4 is way too heavy and uncomfortable to wear. Does Audeze just ignore user feedback? They are making the same comfort mistakes over and over and over again.
• There is no way this headphone can cost $4k when Ether Flow is $1,800. I’m not at all sure LCD-4 is the better headphone of the two, let alone the better sounding headphone.
• Ether beats LCD-4 easily on comfort.

Eddie Current Black Widow 2.0: Used HD800S and Utopia to evaluate.

• Liked it a lot better than the BW 1.0.
• BW 2.0 is no longer a dark sounding amp.
• Sounded powerful, but boring to my ears.
• Good match for planars I think, but at the price point there is other stuff I’d rather have.
• No Ragnarocks were at the meet but would be fun to compare the two amps side-by-side. I think I’d take the Rag over the BW, but would need to compare to be sure.

last and least...

MrSpeakers Ether Stat (used BHSE):

• Not a good headphone at all.
• Easily the worst headphone I listened to all day.
• Compared it side-by-side with the 009 out of the BHSE in the head-amp room.
• Ether Stat needs to go back behind closed doors for a while.
• Not anywhere close to matching the Stax on sound quality.

 

Great impressions! I showed up a bit late and wish I spent more time with the Ether Flow and didn't get to check out the HD800S. My highlight was I got to do a nice comparison between the HE1000, Focal Utopia, and LCD-4 on the same equipment at the Questyle room.

I was disappointed with the LCD-4, especially for the price. In general they sounded fine but a bit lifeless in the treble compared to the others. Soundstage was immediately compressed compared to the HE1000 and the Focal Utopia bested it in terms of punch and dynamics. The Focal Utopia really surprised me, it sounded like the HD800 I always wanted. Extremely good technicalities, incredible dynamics and solid low end. Soundstage not as wide as the HD800 but I'm one that considers the HD800 soundstage to be unnaturally wide. As good as they are I think they should be $2k. $4k, no way but between these and the LCD-4 it's easily the Utopias for me.

My brief listen to the Ether Flow, I didn't realize they were a new model and thought they were the normal Ether. I immediately noticed the increased bass response and thought "Wow. I don't remember the Ether having this much bass". I hope to listen to them more on a potential SBAF loaner program and do a shootout with my HE1000.

Finally got to listen to the Massdrop TH-X00 and really liked them. Fun sounding and very fairly priced.

Also did a small comparison between the Audeze Sine and the Ether-C. Was surprised how well the Sine held up for a third of the price and a much smaller form factor. The sound signature on both was similar during the brief listen. The soundstage on the Ether-C was better as well as perhaps a touch more sub bass, but other than that and comfort issues with the Sines I felt they held up extremely well. I think the Audeze Sine might be the most honestly priced headphone released in quite a while.

 

Was the closed Ether Flow available? any impressions?

 

I was playing Pokemon Go and this appeared.

 

May I ask why it should be priced at $600, IYO? Is that based on the slightly dark tonality you heard?

 

It is one thing to make a headphone that finds its place on the existing price/performance curve established by Sennheiser and others. It is another thing entirely to have a headphone that shifts the price/performance curve entirely. The Elear at $600 could be a sensation.

 

You guys are making me seriously upset at missing @n3rdling's HE90 clones. @velvetx's description sounds like I would really want to add this to my (small) collection of electrostatics.

Stax plug on the prototype, I assume? What is the bias voltage? Since you guys ran it out of the BHSE, it must have been okay with 580V rather than the 500V on the original units (though I understand that the most recent HE90s Sennheiser sold were modified with extra resistors to run from Stax amps).

 

Yes, Stax cable and pro bias were used.

 

Still no such thing, really. If MrSpeakers had opted to sell the Ether for around a grand, I probably would've tried it out by now. And that's in light of my generally negative experiences with his other products. Ah, the life of a consumer whore!

Although my opinion is not as well founded as yours, I share the same view. While not quite a bargain, it's priced surprisingly reasonably for its capabilities. Cool to hear that you found the SINE competitive with the Ether C.

 

Inside joke...