ETHER 2

After electron realignment or before? Materials need to be stretched and squeezed to fully manifest uncompromised tonal and timbral colourations.

 

I give my ZMF pads a swedish massage for 200 hours before listening.

 

Yeah while Utopia is my favorite headphone I still don't think it's perfect by any means. I'm still trying other headphones because I want to find one I like better... The answer is probably Phi 1266 TC but... I don't really want to shell out for the huge price it would be for me to upgrade, I'd need a much better amp for it besides it being more expensive in and of itself.

What I've been saying about Ether 2 is generally fairly positive for me. Usually I'll try a headphone and think it's complete garbage in a few seconds if it's not a tuning I like. I can still easily tell that Ether 2 does certain things pretty strongly in terms of timbre and ease of listening. I'd say Utopia also wins in detail by a fair margin along with being more my tuning, and that's one of my top priorities and reasons why I haven't been able to displace it. I run Utopia direct off of dave/m scaler, so being easy to drive is also a big plus.

However, Utopia has a small soundstage and a metallic timbre especially in the mids. In those regards I'd rather have an LCD-4. But the punch, imaging, and comfort of Utopia make me prefer it for my favorite genres. Only Abyss Phi 1266 gives it a good run for me in terms of sounding incredible with rock music. Most other planars seem to lack oomph in the mids like Utopia.

 

I hear you. I do find Utopia's tuning is a bit sharp, bordering on fatiguing, although I've been able to bring it closer to my preferences with my Lazuli Reference cable and 'the right' tubes in my Liquid Platinum. Definitely agree with you concerning Utopia's detail. For me, Blackwood Auteur gives Utopia a run for it's money -- not the same, but close, and better in some areas.

Utopia is wonderfully comfortable, despite its weight. Stock pads are super comfortable.

The thing I really love about E2 is the way its headstage presents stuff like Loreena McKennitt. I actually hear detail I miss from Utopia because it is separated 'physically', front to back, rather than just seeming louder/quieter as from Utopia.

I guess it's safe to say that there is no 'perfect' headphone -- to my ears at least

 

Measure the height of your ear, subtract 1 and then multiply by the amount paid for the new pads. Take that number, convert to Celsius, add 20 degrees, convert back to Fahrenheit, divide by 2 and that is how many burn in minutes are optimal.

 

I'd say it depends on the torch used but really should not take more than couple of minutes even with a cheap propane one

 

since its been long enough what is the consensus regarding this versus the HEK V2?

also side question am supposing the Suede ether2 pad will be the most comfortable one?

 

Very different sounding. Hek (v1,v2,arya) is doubtlessly sharper, edgier, brighter, and steelier -- in both positive and negative ways. For most people, those favor hek might hate ether 2, and vice versa.

To weirdos like myself (wide and non-nitpicking preference), hek is complementary to ether 2.

Anyway it's barely apple to apple comparison.

 

It's been WAY too long since I've had the HEK v2 to make a comparison. Yes, the suede pads are super comfy.

f**k it...I'll try a rough comparo for you. The staging is generally better on the HEK. They sound very spacious where the ETHER 2 is more intimate. There was always a peaky lower treble for me with HEK, but the e2 doesn't have that peak and has a nice natural timbre to the whole treble range.

Bass between the two is an interesting comparison. HEK does bass and sub bass quite well. But I like the extension and texture of the e2. HEK wins by a touch on quantity.

 

Agree w/ @Vtory except that I would add 'thinner' to his list of adjectives describing HEKv2. Also agree that they're pretty far apart (for a couple of 'relatively neutral-sounding' planars). To me, EFO (especially with e-stat pads) were quite a bit closer to HEKv2.

 

Agree HEK have larger headstage, but (on my equipment, to my ears, with my music...etc) E2 has notably deeper stage.

 

@Ice-man would you say the suede earpads are as comfortable as the HEK V2 ones?

 

Yes, the suede on ETHER is equally comfortable. Please note that my set are samples, but I am pretty sure that the production pads will be exactly the same.

 

The impact of EQing the dip around that the E2 has around 10 kHz makes me a bit uneasy. Turning the EQ off again makes cymbals and hi-hats sound wrong and weirdly metallic in comparison. Given the price tag, I would have expected better. I hope the alternative pads improve baseline performance, at least when combined with some toilet paper.

 

what about with the suede how is the soundstage with that? close enough or still quite abit worse?

 

Perforated pads definitely sound the most air and spacious. Suede pads sound same as stock when it comes to staging.

 

Verdict after a few weeks of use:

With the standard ear pads, the E2 is much more of a specialist than an all-rounder. Given its price tag, that is disappointing. A big plus is the good comfort, replaceable head band, soon to be replaceable ear pads and low weight. The cable is also replaceable, but this has been standard in this category of headphones for years. The Vivo cable has a good feel to it. It is more flexible and lower on microphonics than the Dummer and relatively lightweight. I still use a cable by Forza Audioworks, which is equally flexible, even lighter and less prone to microphonics.

The reason why the E2 performs so inconsistently seems to entirely lie its frequency response. Distortion is very low across the audible range, phase should be completely flat and decay still seems to be multiple times faster than what is required by actual music.

The frequency response actually starts of very well. While not totally flat from 10 to 3000 Hz, it is still very natural and pleasant. There is a little warmth above 100 Hz, but nothing excessive that can make music sound too fat or wooly. Overall the sound could be described as slightly warm and dark. Bass extension is excellent and the level relative to 1 kHz is very well balanced. Maybe add 2-3 dB under 100 Hz if it suits your taste. Around 3 kHz, its frequency response is a bit on the weaker side, but I find that preferable to being even a tiny bit too loud.

The problems start above 3 kHz. There are two significant peaks and two significant dips in the treble that, depending on what you are listening to, can strongly alter the sound. The peaks are around 8 and 16 kHz, the dips are around 4 and 11 kHz.

If your music is low on treble, you might not notice any of this, besides a slight lack of clarity from the 8 kHz dip. If your music is high on treble, the E2 has a tendency to both sound like it is weirdly lacking detail and zingy.

A filterless NOS DAC might help with the 16 kHz peak on 44.1 and 48 kHz material, as might an amp with rolled off treble. For me, using the ADI-2 DAC, the E2 sounds very problematic out of the box.

If you are interested in the E2, I highly recommend auditioning it with your gear and your preferred music to see how its frequency response plays out.

The good news is that there are new ear pads coming out which are expected to reasonable alter the treble response. Having built an EQ that roughly resembles the changes of the perforated pads, I can say I am looking forward to the new ear pads. They will likely be a bit high on upper treble, but toilet paper is known to address that.

EQ to approximate perforated pads:
B1: +2.0 4.0k Q5.0 Peak
B2: +2.5 11.4k Q6.0 Peak
B3: +2.0 16.0k Q5.0 Peak
B4: -1.5 1.30k Q0.5 Peak
B5: +2.0 1.90k Q1.4 Shelve

To simulate toilet paper, use treble control with Q 0.5 10.0 kHz. Around -1.5 to -2 dB for one ply of TP.

 

Great write-up! Your thoughts largely mirror my experience, too.

You should hear how E2 scales with x-sabre pro mqa.. haha. Also, if you have any chance, suggest to try it with cranesong solaris via builtin hp out.

I also agree with LP thing. It's by all means very nice amp, but not synergistic with e2 to my ears. BW really drive e2 appropriately, if not optimally. I kinda want an amp that has both jot's authority and bw's tonality (I might prefer slightly more brighter or more neutral than bw), texture and plankton, which all I am expecting from 3F. Also these traits might perhaps be in sjr -- want to hear it so badly. Still even with good upstream, I bet e2 would be bested by unicorn or semi-unicorn audezes though.

Looking forward to your follow-up impressions.

 

Suffering from PVSD (Post-Verite Stress Disorders), strangely to me E2 becomes to sound bolder and meatier (both in positive and negative ways), which I didn't perceive such much before. Found I still like it very much. While not top of the all-round preference anymore (yeah.. blame verite..), better to my taste than anything else among my collections and things I've heard to date.

Looking forward to testing with 3F (prol next week) and idsd pro (hopefully soon?).