Weird Russian Planar Magnetics

Might be the 50 years of Soviet occupation and repressions talking here, but I'd pass. Russia is rife with magical thinking and their audiophilia is no different. On the other hand they do have brilliant scientists who may or may not be behind these cans.

 

Yeah, the PMx2 were great, I'm sure that I've heard and measured a pair.

 

I think the price would be a barrier for most even if they could be modded to something impressive.

Interesting that the driver looks to be better protected than the HE-1000.

 

MyST headphones are one of the most uncomfortable ones, I've ever auditioned. Everyone who thinks that Audezes are heavy should try IzoPhones.
I'm afraid, my English isn't good enough for a decent review, so just some points about the headphones and the manufacturer:

Technicality > Musicality. Good transient response is the main goal (that's correct for MyST DACs as well)
Vocal sibilance is bad. Therefore, tonal tuning is warmish (or even darkish in case of OrtoPhones)
Form follows function (financially justified), lack of marketing/ad-driven sales approach (ideologically justified)

 

According to manufacturer, the distortion measurements look bad due to 100 dB level being too close to transducers' power threshold,
http://ozvuke.pro/index.php?showtopic=2077

 

Lol, I actually got to hear these at CanJam Europe 2015. Very heavy and uncomfortable. I think I preferred the open model. The sound was nothing to write home about. Don't really remember much about it anymore. I think they were extremely inefficient, probably on par with the HE-6.
I don't remember the brightness bothering me as much as the IF graphs would suggest, but then again I don't really remember much about them at all. Graphs look similar to stock HE-5/HE-6.

 

Myst makes their headphones completely undamped. That is their idealogy as well. I have Iso 30 at hand.
They consider fine-tuning pointless, because damping and such stuff only affect nuances, which is different for every person (their words, I dont share this vision).
By driver design, Iso-30\30s and Iso-60 is a HFM-5 clones..
Reading this you may think that MYST = HFM with all damping removed, but its not entirely true. Myst drivers still sounds different, better than HFMs in same conditions (undamped). So, theoretically, they can be better than HFMs if somebody takes the proper care of them. Or not. I dunno.
OrtoPhones is their own ortho design.

About Russia and CIS projects, I name a few more.
Phenomenon electrostatics - http://phenomenon.su/ - looks very promising to me. Check the web-site for pictures, it is worth it! They are just starting, and I think only about 1-2 samples are made. Sound tuned by the trustworthy Russian forum member.

Also single-man projects:
VA audio H1 - http://portativ.ua/product_98696.html - Isodynamic from Ukraine. Completely made by single person, drivers included.
Perun elestrostats - player.ru/showthread.php?t=167404 - relativly cheap for e-stats. I listened to the early version, it had nice warm-ish sound, but nothing close to SR-009 in clarity.

 

Thanks @MuppetFace

Yes, Myst drivers are their own. They also experiment a lot, there was talk about in-ear planars, for example. Here is a big thread about them - http://player.ru/showthread.php?t=137258
Something weird from the last page: https://pp.vk.me/c837523/v837523651/b053/uUDBzooWDtg.jpg
Official web-site - http://myst.pro/en/

Phenomenon seems to have invested some resources in their brand, so they are definately planning to be present on other markets. Russian Hi-End headphone market is rather small and will not be able to cover their spendings.
I contacted them via this e-mail - [email protected]
I can help with communication, no problem
As I said, they do not have any stock right now, and even do not even accept pre-orders yet. But I think it will happen in a few months.
Some more information here - http://player.ru/showthread.php?t=169378

About V1, yes, I heard the same. But no personal expirience.

There is also another Ukrainian guy who currently solely designing planar headphone, with driver like 100mm or something, I do not remember. But he do not have dedicated thread or the site, so it's not clear if it will ever be on sale

 

To be more specific about Phenomenon, they are planning two models.
Canorum have oval driver and will be tuned for darkish and powerfull sound "conceptually like electrostatic LCD-2"
Early version measurement (already outdated)


Libratum wil come a bit later and have circle driver with "more traditional electrostatic sound"

 

Please post updates if you get some news @MuppetFace , those stats looks very interesting. Hopefully they use stax pro bias.

 

I checked a pair of IzoPhone-30 along with their companion 1866 Amp/DAC over a year ago. Hands is pretty much on point with assumptions on sound quality. I could see how some may like their sound though and indeed there were positive reviews/impressions on Changstar. For whatever it's worth, my wife thought they sounded strange.

My unit was handpicked by the creator (if you thought I am opinionated, talk to that guy first ;-) and unfortunately had distortion issues, probably just like the ones measured by Tyll. Many if not the most of the earlier issues may have been worked out by now, not sure. Have not heard IzoPhone-60 but the man behind this project thought it was tuned a bit brighter than 30s I had. Have not heard their more expensive OrtoPhones yet, at that time owner didn't want to send those to me due to their ongoing fight with distortion issues.

All of their models are extremely ineficient, more so than even HE-6s ( compare to 77db sensitivity and 18 Ohm impedance of OrthoPhones). Be prepared and before taking posession I suggest getting some advise from @ohhgourami .

As for the weight/comfort issues, because of the headband being a wide strip of leather, it evenly distributed pressure and I felt these were fairly comfortable (Utopia for example feels consistently uncomfortable to me, all due to poor distribution of pressure points). Not sure if weight would become a problem as I didn't listen to them for extended periods of time.

Hope this helps.