ETA O² headphones

@k4rstar ignoring a serious question is poor tact. Please be sincere enough to address @YMO and others. @Lyander pointed out that you didnt care for any headphones that famously require extra amping, please comment. Besides being friendly and informative it would at least be good practice for when youre writing reviews at Headphones dotcom.

I hope this feedback is helpful. If you dont appreciate other forum users then please put them on ignore so you dont benefit from their contributions. Why would you want to see posters you only appreciate sometimes?

 

I dunno, his initial comment was pretty rude, so he got a half-answer instead. If anyone is wanting written impressions of the O2, I think other owners should be able to chime in soon.

Lyander's comment seemed more like a statement than a question so I didn't feel the need to address it. I have been there, done that with headphones that need some sort of dedicated external amplification and decided it's not the way for me. It was discussed in this thread. I think further discussion could continue there so this topic can be about the O2.

 

here's the bullet points that I got from the video:

• DIY-looking, lightweight, foldable
• two grills are included; though, his preference is no grills > white grills > black grills. I guess the grills can cause them to become fatiguing at higher volumes.
• sensitive.. sounds good out of an iPhone jack
• sound is "monitor-like"... linear sound signature.. slightly rounded transients
• there are some sound comparisons to Koss KTX PRO1 & Grado SR325 (originals?) - both are bassier

and yea.. as @k4rstar has mentioned... he doesn't seem to like headphones that require external amps/dacs to sound good, so I imagine that's a big factor as to why they're liked.

 

Thanks @k4rstar for putting up with my questions. I forgot about that Random Thoughts About Our Hobby thread. I recall that being a good read, thanks.
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^
fyi this question was rhetorical. It was referencing your earlier post.
v

 

Wish you well and safe travels back home.

 

Been distracted lately, forget to reply to stuff a lot. yep my comment about amping requirements was more a statement than a question. One of the great things I've heard about ETA stuff is how they actually benefit from more bare systems, which while putting a ceiling in terms of performance does end up saving one a lot of money overall.

That said, can't justify the spend since I'm actually mostly happy with what I have at the moment, but I am looking forward to others' impressions.

Butting out of the the thread to keep things tidy

 

I like it quite a lot from the laptop.
After listening myself and watching Sinas review.
I really can't say much else.
The O2 just reveals quite a bit from the up stream, many might not like it with big stuff because the sound of the big stuff to me really comes out. Really goes against the More is More philosophy.
Wish I had a few dongles to pair with this for more testing.

 

Thanks for telling me the O2 headphones sound bad.

 

This is a surprising conclusion. What’s an example of “time domain issues” in headphones? I’m not sure I follow.

 

First off, Thank you @k4rstar for starting this thread with a unique review video and SBAF fam for taking interest in our newest model, O²! Always grateful to have community support! I know I haven't been posting as often as before, but I read through all the comments and reviews

What ETA tries to achieve with all of our production models (Mini C&S, and now O²) is to be able to enjoy music whether in a portable setting and/or a full-size big boi rigs

Most of the time, I just plug my ETA into a Schiit Fulla E for convenience, but I still use and test all the prototypes on my "big boi, full of inconvenience" modded Eddie Current 2a3 amp. I like that I have the option to choose and hope that our customers resonate with that as well.

I'd like to think they do scale, but I'm clearly biased so grain of salt haha

I won't do a review for obvious reasons, but some random insights on the O²:
- I normally dislike on-ears due to the way they press against my ears, but O² might be the first one I actually adore. YMMV
- we have been working on a flagship model that utilizes even more custom drivers than what we currently offer, but we somehow ended up with O² because we thought it sounded more special than the prototype flagship with [redacted] drivers. Oh, but don't worry we're still planning on releasing "it" eventually
- I feel like O² lore has been a testament to ETA's ethos on "implementation first, driver technology second"

Thanks everyone

 

- One man's trash is another man's treasure.
- Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion, man.
- Reasonable deduction based on (limited) details provided by @k4rstar

Here's a review of Grado's reference series detailing pros and cons including it's time domain issues and specialized frequency response.

 

Time domain issues relate to the presentation of transients and frequency abnormalities in time such as ringing or an unnatural lack thereof.

You can visualize the presentation of transients through ADSR:


The O2 for instance has a rounded attack, a sharp decay, a short sustain, and a normal release. This is what contributes to the 'monitor' like presentation I described in the review. I guess it comes mainly from the acoustic properties of the 3DP housing and is also the main source of listener fatigue. Due to the sharp decay and short sustain, a series of percussive notes such as vocal staccato give the sensation of grain. In my experience this was lessened but not eliminated when removing the rear grill.

Nothing is perfect, the Grado's I love are coloured in their own way.

 

@YMO doesn't like watching (long) videos when the same info could be contained in a 30second to read written paragraph. He thinks you're rude for making getting the information unnecessarily difficult. Give that old school fool a break. Im inclined to agree with him but I'm giving you a break because I appreciate that you started a thread with the first images, details, and impressions of a new and interesting headphone.

(delayed reaction i know, i didnt want to stand up for ymo because he can do it for himself i thought)

 

I understand what you're trying to demonstrate but I want to point out when I use the term clarity in this thread or elsewhere, I am not talking about image sharpness (sonic or otherwise) but clarity of the intelligibility of music in time. The former can be 'faked' as your video showed by twisting knobs to manipulate contrast. The latter cannot be faked (at least you cannot fool an experienced listener), is a quantitative rather than qualitative measure, and for me is the most important indicator of sound quality.

As an example of how this term can differ from the regular audiophile lexicon, author Leo Beranek was one of the first to use 'clarity' as a measure of acoustic sound quality, being a function of ideal reverberant time for a given acoustic space:

http://proaudioencyclopedia.com/com...panels-with-attention-to-data-in-dr-leo-l-be/

 

Honestly, chances of my getting ears on ETA stuff are fairly zilch for the time being owing to a number of circumstances so I'm just poking in my own weird way to maybe get more impressions or reactions from other folk because these are genuinely interesting.

The ADSR concept is something I only really picked up from @E_Schaaf a few years ago (genuinely hadn't heard of it before then and it made understanding what I was hearing and being able to illustrate the same with words much easier) and tracks well with what appears to be ETA's ethos in designing gear. Seems to run at its own pace along its own path relative to how lots of other brands.

As for the video, I have to admit it was a deliberate shitpost. IRL circumstances have been a bit irritating so I was being crass. Doesn't mean it's not in part actually trying to prod at the discourse around the headphones though.