I’d like to hear the Susvara. But there’s all these chifi orthos that look interesting. Last one I bought- the gold planar ortho was kind of a flop though.
Not all that popular here but in my early days in the hobby I was wowed by the HE1000 v2. It'd be interesting to go back to it now that I'm less of a greenhorn.
I see it's now down to $2k. (I wonder if the price'll drop further).
I would love to know what causes the plastic tonality. I’m guessing it’s something with the diaphragm material but I have no idea really. It can’t be fixed with mods it’s a driver issue.
So, as to if the Arya, Arya Stealth and HE1000 all have the same plastic tonality, can't say. I think Arya Stealth was worse than Arya OG, but can't say if it was timbre or FR.
I don't think Sus and Sundara have it either. Nothing Audeze, despite the current LCD-2 I heard having a very, very bad FR. MrSpeakers stuff, I think also not plasticy, although I admit to not liking the timbre on anything Aeon.
My Ananda definitely has a plasticy sound. Having read something along those lines, I thought that many orthos shared that sound, but it seems it’s more a Hifiman thing, then? Damn, I had thought I could concentrate on dynamic drivers. :)
I should have known, though, as the Timeless don’t sound like that at all.
@zottel no, it's definitely not an ortho thing. it's some sort of design flaw. And more than Hifiman orthos are plagued by it but I won't name names. Audeze has none of it in any of their headphones and vintage orthos have none.
Is the plastic timbre the ethereal light thin ghostly sound I associate with orthos? All egg shaped hifimans have this sound, I heard them all except the OG v1 he1k.
Even the Shouer S12 have this sound to a lesser extent after EQ.
So I'm wondering RD, does your mods fix those traits I associate with orthos? The fake light weighted sound? The speed and resolution of orthos and the organic weight of electros would make my dream headphones.
I don’t hear it in the S12 modded with Micropore tape. But orthos should not sound thin or ghostly. They should have weight to notes and at the same time the speed of electrostatic headphones. No one makes drivers that quite come to this level yet but it will happen. My modded Audeze’s have no ghostly tonality at all.
@nishan99 What I think of as plasticy is natural instruments sounding as if a synthesizer was playing. (Not sure if that's the same as other people's definition.) Depends on the recording, too, the most crass case I heard with the Ananda is the 2021 remaster of the Fourplay album.
When I think 'plastic timbre' I imagine a cymbal made out of plastic rather than brass (you guys too, or am I misinterpreting the term?). It's not only in the highs, sure, but I mostly associate it with / attribute it to overly fast decay there. With orthos I'd have guessed it could be fixed at least to some extent by damping mods, but no, eh?
@rhythmdevils Nice I'm looking forward to your impressions, I really like them and will probably upgrade there eventually once I have the budget. Lots of modding potential too with the way the pad system works and its relationship with the air gap.
@Biodegraded I think the unnatural decay theory could have something to it. However, Utopia is very fast but does not have an unnatural timbre, so there must be second or third piece. Perhaps also unnatural attack, and perhaps these characteristics are not the same across the FR.
Read these "rules" AND introduce
yourself before your first post
Being true to what the artists intended
(opinion / entertainment piece)
Comments on Profile Post by rhythmdevils