E MU Teak

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Mshenay, Jun 25, 2016.

  1. MattRG

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    A lot of good options, depending on your budget. Stick with solid state or hybrid type for best results. I've owned a Lyr 2 with the TH-X00's and it slammed hard and really sounded good but could still be tweaked depending on the tubes used. I currently have a Jotunheim with my Emu Purplehearts and it also sounds great, more clear and clean than the Lyr 2 but with a little less warmth and slam. Honestly almost any of Schiit's amps would be great outside the Valhalla 2.
     
  2. Sniperpr5

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    I agree with MattRG on the amps... I have listened to my Teaks on the Magni 2 U, Vali 2, Jotunheim.. also on the Valhalla 2... they were ok on the Valhalla 2 but not great. For any one looking for pads, the ZMF Ori pads are awesome on the Teaks with the Dekoni attenuation ring. I have the Dekoni pads, while nicely constructed they still didn't do it for me on comfort. The Ori pads with the rings sound pretty close to stock but waaaayyyyy more comfortable.
     
  3. MrTurtle

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    Tried an E-mu Teak recently. OMG. Warm sound sig done right - feels like being a 10 year old again and getting a hug from Salma Hayek. The bass is so clean for what is is too! Now I know why people like these Foster babies so much. Might get my hands on the X00s instead though - the black headband joints look much nicer.
     
  4. DrizztDo

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    I own both Fostex TH-X00 and E-MU Teak and I find the latter more enjoyable. To be fair my Teak is playing from the balanced output of my amp while the TH-X00 is playing from the single ended, but the wood cups also changes the sound. I have also ebony and rosewood, and I prefer Teak, closely followed by the rosewood.

    TH-X00 is really good, but I find the E-MU even better. My advice would be to go for the E-MU ;)
     
  5. taisserroots

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    I really like the emu teak.
    It's actually pretty comfortable and light.

    It's more resolving than my hd580, and while in some cases the tone isn't as correct, the excellent timbre and more natural staging makes up for it. I'd say these trade blows with the he560 in terms of res.

    Being closed they don't escape the upper mid dip and odd tonality (with things like pianos sounding off).

    The bass response is quite good and tight, while the bass is elevated it isn't easy to call it bloated due to the level of control, this control allows it to slam quite well.

    Because of this there is no bleeding into the lower mids.
    The lower mids are well textured and really accurate, fundamentals come across clearly and works well with the upper mids and presence region. The colouration this has with the presence region means that it's a tiny bit stuffy sounding at times.

    Despite tylls measurements I would still say the presence region is less dipped than the hd800 by quite a significant amount.

    The lower treble is raised. Cymbals and snares are a bit louder than they should be.
    The upper treble conveys a good amount of air for a closed back (I haven't tried the zmf stuff).

    The staging on these is really good. a good amount of depth and width and decent imaging.
    The layering and seperation adds to this.
     
  6. themusiccat

    themusiccat New

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    Can anyone who's heard both compare them to the ZMF Ori (Omni)? A new Teak goes for around $500 and a used Omni is 550~600, so they seem like they're almost competitors. I wonder which driver has better technicalities, specifically imaging and staging...
     
  7. musicfan1

    musicfan1 New

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    These are up again on Massdrop. Favorite wood, rosewood, ebony, or teak, anyone?
     
  8. maverickronin

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    Teak has the smoothest treble. Ebony has more bass.
     
  9. Poleepkwa

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    These intrigue me, as I am looking for a good closedback for work. How is the isolation and more importantly, the sound leakage?
     
  10. taisserroots

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    It's not completely sealed and the cups are vented. Which means it leaks quite a bit.
     
  11. Poleepkwa

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    Might not be best option for me then. Probably have to look at the Focal Elegia too.
     
  12. Ryanr1987

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    Seems a trend I seem to be buying headphones with dead threads haha!

    I see a pair of these on the bay last week, decided tor grab them as owners swear by these and as an old Denon D2K/5K/D7000 fanboy I wanted to relive those old Denon days.

    Build is lovely, typical Denon here, light, nice wood on the teak these have a removable cable so I'll be grabbing a good thirds part cable. A bit flimsy feeling compared to headphones with less moving parts,

    Sound?

    Like a f'ing party in your pants. These sound like what I expected the Atticus to sound. Bass drops are thunderous, listening to Heathens cover by First To Eleven, the hits are clean, impactful, slightly lush but fast and responsive. These make my Audeze phones sound wimpy and soft in comparison.

    Ignore YouTube compression original recording sounds phenomenal



    Listening to the Sound Of Silence on Conan



    His rich voice comes across as it should, resonant, powerful, authoritative, when he adds distortion to his voice to portray the waning it comes across better on the Teaks then any headphone I've heard included the Utopia, LCD-4, Abyss etc. Theses' just something these bring table when it comes to authority and power. Instead of sound overly thick, undefined these phones do it in a way you can focus on the actual body of a voice unlike say an Audeze or Atticus which despite the mid bass did have a leaner body to my ears in comparison.

    Resolution is decent, I hear these as slightly more resolving then say the Atticus but they're quicker, have more get up and go. I thought these would sound overly lush but they don't, they want to get up and go. There is a slight lush tone to voices to give them a woody character you'd expect, it's tasteful and doesn't take away anything.

    When it comes to female vocals




    Dolores voice is pushed back a bit compared to the HD650 but sounds smooth, full boded where as the HD650 has a tendency to shriek. It's presence, forwardness vs lush, slightly pushed back and full bodied of the Teaks. Listening to other acoustic tracks, there's a nice flow, strings sound realistic which as an Acoustic guitar player I need. These do Acoustic guitar very well, not as good as the Hifiman Ananda as the plucks of strings just feel unreal on those. these sound like a Mahogany guitar, bold, powerful and dark for Acoustic guitar where as the Ananda sound light, delicate and airy, like some of the epiphones I've used,

    When it comes to the treble, I hear a couple of hot spots, and lightly so, enough to add to the edge and impact. I would love a more smooth treble but in headphones you can't have it all, you get HD650, super smooth but rolled treble or HD800, airy, expansive but ruined by peaks. The Ananda has a treble I really like, some may find that on the bright side, it sounds correct to my ears. The Teaks I would say sound slightly smooth ion the treble than the X00.


    Going back to the bass, these things rumble, borderline basshead but it's tasteful. I can't stand headphones that ruin the mids with overblown, sloppy bass and messed up treble, these sound tight and clean. For EDM these things will shake your head, with my trusty Asgard + SDAC I felt it gave them enough to free the driver and respond well. It has what I call room setting bass, gives atmosphere, movies and video games give off these low rumbles when there's a tense moment, making want to give up using open headphones, trade off that sense of open space for some engaging, powerful low hums and sense of tension that you can get from a theatre or a set of speaks(as close as you can get from headphones)

    The timbre is lovely, has some HD650 vibes in that instruments sound realistic, an Audeze for example give off these odd timbre, I tend to enjoy them but for instruments sometimes I'm left feeling a bit gutted. The Teaks just sound more correct here. Overall I'd say the timbre leans towards natural, nothing sounds too forced, tracks have distinction, so do voices. What I enjoy is in busy tracks when there's good separation, an LCD-2 has a tendency to throw things together, blend lack distinction, doesn't define the body of the voice or instrument.

    Not much more to add but yeah, great phone, I recommend it if you're an old school Denon fan and you're like me and hate how Fostex tunes headphones despite making a great driver. You want bass but don't wanna sacrifice timbre, mids, give em a go.
     
  13. M3NTAL

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    Looking at your headphone list - the only thing I see missing is the Klipsch HP-3. It is the most "Fostex" I've heard out of them all. It is more in line with something like a Nighthawk + TH900 offspring in certain ways. It's very lively - that was my only issue with it. It begs you to turn it up, but it becomes painful too quickly without EQ. But once you find a suitable listening level - its pure joy. If I didn't have the Nighthawk (EQ'd) - I would have the HP-3 as my "Fun Fostex Sound"
     
  14. Ryanr1987

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    I did really like the HP-3 when I tried them. If they were a bit less expensive I would've prob grabbed them a while back. I think at the min the Teaks fit that role of a bassy, fun headphone which can play double duty for instrument's, vocals.

    My friend does have a HP-3 I might see if he'll send them to me for some extended time. I love the design of the HP-3 they along with the Nighthawk are some of the nicest designed phones. I've not listened to my NH's in a while might have to pull then out for some head time.
     
  15. M3NTAL

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    I've been working my way through some of my less used cans. The night hawks are up next. They are good for a one-night stand out of crap equipment. A couple nights with nice gear and potentially a chill daily driver with some eq action. My biggest problem is trying to fall asleep with them on and rolling over on my side. It screws everything up.
     
  16. Philimon

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    Links updated.:
    Tyll’s review of various Foster variants and measurements. Massdrop with E-MU's measurements.
    ---------------------------------

    [​IMG]

    First impressions of E-MU compared to D5200.:
    E-MU more comfortable in both headband and pads. Bass is looser, but highs are smoother.

    D5200 driver is not the same, and E-MU uses some plastic lens in the pads for tuning. Pad rolling next and will want same pads on each for deeper comparison and deciding which to keep. Both headphones stock are not great.

    E-MU uses ebony cups vs Denon's zebrawood. I also have a pair of Teak cups I could try later.

    Getting a seal was difficult with E-MU's delightfully light clamp. With EARS I had to cheat and manually put pressure on outside of cups.

    E-MU ebony.jpg

    Denon D5200.jpg
    E-MUe vs D5200.jpg
    E-MUe vs D5200 (smoothed).jpg

    * measurement rig
    * D5200 thread
     
  17. Philimon

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    Accessory House lamb pads

    Pad rolling cut short due to E-MU headphone adapter ring being too large for the extra pads I had bought to try with D5200, only the pad linked above would fit. I do think Accessory House lamb pads do sound a little less bright (I will do an A/B later). AHL also have a plastic attenuation lens built-in to pads, but with a wider ear opening and a little thicker padding. I think I have small ears so I don't sense more comfort.

    Remember, the difference between stock L1 and L2 is that I had to physically apply pressure on the second go around to get an obvious seal. L1 had an obvious zero seal. I think the sound is somewhere in the middle. I have long hair...

    I prefer the slightly looser (or simply more?) bass on the E-MU vs the Denon 8kHz treble peak.
    E-MU vs D5200 both AHL pads.jpg
    E-MU AHL vs stock.jpg

    E-MU vs D5200 deathmatch.jpg
     

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  18. Philimon

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  19. Philimon

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    E-MU teak (AHL pads). First impressions: less bass so now sounds properly balanced overall.

    L1/R1: zero outside manual pressure applied to help obtain seal. L1 looks to have less seal.
    L2/R2: pinky pressure applied, slight repositioning but the earholes are pretty small so only so much movement allowed.
    (insert measurement warnings and caveats here)

    I am agreeing more with Left side measurements.

    E-MU teak AHL (1).jpg

    E-MU teak vs ebony (both AHL).jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2020
  20. Philimon

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    This guy claims he has been in contact with E-MU and that they have now changed all cup shapes to match original teaks' shape since it was better received than the more traditional Fostex design. So the ebony shown above would now be different and have the teak cup shape, but in ebony.
     

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