EnigmAcoustics Dharma D1000 Measurements

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by purr1n, Jan 19, 2016.

  1. Oregonian

    Oregonian New

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    Sounds great out of vintage speaker amps (pictured in my avatar). Bass when I received the new model was quite bad till I ran it for 24 hours............now I love everything about it except the stock pads. Put some Audeze lambskins on it and it really brings out the bass. My favorite headphone...........
     
  2. velvetx

    velvetx Gear Master West/Vendor Spotlight Moderator

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    Funny you say that because I was hunting for a better version and there are only two versions which I found don't have this problem. One of them is the Columbia vinyl pressing the other one is the Japanese CD pressing. Unfortunately the rest seem to suffer from being boosted
     
  3. Maxvla

    Maxvla Friend

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    Heard these at the Austin meet this weekend and thought they were interesting. I could spot some problems, especially bass distortion and the transition between drivers, but it didn't sound bad. Not interested in purchasing, though.
     
  4. Schopenhauer

    Schopenhauer Big Boobs, Big Grin

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    I have a Dharma loaner coming in the next week from TTVJ. Reading through this thread, I see that purrin has described the bass as "unique" and as having a "furry fuzzy" characteristic. I take it that this impression of the bass characteristic is shared by others. Could anyone say a bit more? I'm finding it difficult to imagine this characteristic, i.e. what it sounds like. I'm not grasping how relation between 2nd and 3rd order distortion helps to explain the unique sound of this headphone. But that's because I really don't understand distortion measurements.
     
  5. sorrodje

    sorrodje Carla Bruni's other lover - Friend

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    Ok . My full set of measurements of the one I've on loan :

    FR ( AVG in yellow, raw measurements in grey)
    DHARMA_FR_AVG.jpg

    FR Right (Red) and Left (Blue)
    DHARMA_FR_D_G_AVG.jpg

    Distorsion Right
    Dharma_ Distorsion_D.jpg

    Distorsion Left
    Dharma_ Distorsion_L.jpg

    CSD Right:
    Dharma_CSD_D.jpg

    CSD Left
    Dharma_CSD_L.jpg

    Spectrogram Right:
    Dharma_Spectrogram_D.jpg

    Spectrogram Left:
    Dharma_Spectrogram_L.jpg

    Subjectively, I hear it a bit warmer that what I measured. As I previously said, treble spikes hurt my ears. It's not Beyerish ( I can't stand Beyers more than 10s) but more Ultrasonish ( weird metallic but somewhat fun). YMMV Distorsion in bass was already know but Distorsion in mids /high mids is also so so / bad in my measurements.

    Moreover Left and Right measures a bit differently. Much more distorsion and ringing on the Right Side.

    Red lights are twinking in my head for that treble....

    Textures and finesse are lacking a bit IMO. Bass is extended but one note. Resolution is Maybe So-So. Good but not great. Mids are full and expressive though. Sounds better than measurements suggest and I really enjoyed the Dharma despite its treble but sincerely , I don't rank this headphone better than a K812 (I struggled with its treble as well) or an Ultrasone Ed12 (never struggled with its treble but the buyers found it painful). I Liked both but considered them as severely overpriced. The Dharma is 1700€ in France.

    So IMO it definitely falls into "overpriced enjoyable headphone". On SBAF Scale, I'd say G- (overpriced) .
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2016
  6. Schopenhauer

    Schopenhauer Big Boobs, Big Grin

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    Got the TTVJ loaner in yesterday. My initial impressions align with @sorrodje in that the treble spikes hurt my ears. Transitioning from the Dharma to the HD800 brings home just how spiky that treble really is. I usually find the HD800 too bright. But the HD800 doesn't strike me as too bright after listening to the Dharma for around 10 minutes.
     
  7. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Got the loaner in. First impressions:

    - Sounds worse than I remember from Big Sound. Could be bias after seeing more measurements. Could be product variation. Could just be different time and place.
    - Bass sounds really thick, tubby, bloated. Very unclear sounding, not tight. HD650 sounds way better in bass and has better extension too. It's like they took the 650'd midbass hump, turned it way up, increased distortion (fuzzy blub blub), and rolled it off more at the lowest point.
    - Mids sound sucked out relative to bass and treble.
    - Treble sounds like rough sandpaper mixed with an over sharpened filter. Bright. Yuck. Can be mitigated a bit by different placement on head. I can't even hear past this ragged, bright treble to tell if the headphone is fast or detailed. Maybe in time...
    - Not very comfortable. Lack of headband extension and the pads screw it up.
    - Feels solid. Looks good. But lame HD800 connectors? Why?

    Weird headphone. Disappointing.
     
  8. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Here are my final listening impressions and some quick measurements.

    Subjective Thoughts

    - Still sounds worse than I remember from Tyll's Big Sound event. Could be that I'm at home with my own gear, could be product variation, could be just my current overall state of mind, could be faulty memory.

    - Mid-bass hump still bothers me. With more listening, it's not so much that it's elevated over the HD650's mid-bass hump. It's similar, just more concentrated in that it doesn't smoothly integrate with the bass and mids. It's just kind of there. Couple that with the distortion making everything sound fuzzy and rounded, and, yeah, it's kinda bad sounding.

    - Lacks slam and a subjective sense of low-end extension.

    - Bass and lower-mids in general just sound kind of dirty and low-fi. The upper-end of the midrange and treble sound fairly clean, fast, and detailed.

    - Not quite as resolving as the HD650, but definitely not bad. Pretty good actually, though some details seem to mysteriously go missing.

    - Treble as a whole is very exaggerated and very rough. It's literally hard to listen to these for long. It gives me a headache. Overall less pleasant that an unmodded HD800, albeit the HD800 does sound leaner and more clincal. If the Dharma didn't have the mid-bass hump, the treble would be completely unbearable. (See sand-paper and sharpened filter comments in previous post.)

    - Even despite treble overall sounding horrible, the Dharma does sound fairly clean, fast, and detailed up top. Cymbals in particular are nice and crisp and stand out really well, though no doubt some of this is just how the treble peaks and overall brightness make it seem that way.

    - Staging sounds more 3D than HD650. The stage is a little small and sort of surrounds the front-half of your head, but imaging and placement (especially with Cymbals, as I mentioned) is really quite good. HD650 almost sounds a bit cluttered and smeared at times despite having a wider stage that sits a bit more on a plane in front of you. Again, part of this is definitely due to the Dharma's treble response.

    - Overall u-shaped tone with more treble than bass. Timbre as a whole sounds all sorts of wrong. Nothing sounds natural on this headphone.

    - Solid build quality. A bit stiff and lacks headband adjustment options. HD800 connectors were a stupid idea and are too hard to pull out without feeling like you're going to break something. Pads are a bit too thin and not particularly comfortable, especially with the slight bit of clamping force on the Dharma.

    - I do not like this headphone. Overall sub-par even if it were priced below $100, if I'm being nice. I don't think you could get me to pay anything for this, even if it has a couple redeeming qualities. The fact that this got past production and costs over $1K is just silly. I don't care if it looks cool or has two different types of integrated drivers, because it doesn't sound good.

    Measurements

    I did not feel it necessary to compile a full set of measurements. Just one take of the left channel. The Dharma is at least a consistent performer in both channels and while subjectively changes the sound with placement, does not show as much in measurements.

    Well, that frequency response is pretty nasty. The mid-bass hump is indeed more concentrated than the HD650. Not nearly as integrated, so the hump sticks out more. Then you throw in the high 3rd-order harmonic distortion, and the bass on this just sounds bad. I swear the one at Tyll's sounded cleaner, but even his measurementa indicate otherwise. Oh well. The biggest problem here is the whole response above 2KHz. OW! Distortion is at least pretty good once you get into the mids and above. Tyll's results did show distortion going lower and lower as you moved up the spectrum.

    Dharma Left.PNG

    I made a noted version of the measurements for your convenience.

    Dharma Left with notes.PNG

    I have to say, this is a surprisingly clean and fast CSD result given how nasty the treble is. I don't even want to know how much I'd want to die if this looks like a bird's foot. I think due to the low distortion and fairly clean CSDs, the Dharma sounds pretty clean, fast, and detailed in the upper regions. Again, the emphasized spots make some areas pop more than is normal.

    Dharma Left CSD.PNG

    I know some of you are a bit challenged when it comes to reading CSDs at the angle above, so I made a top-down view just for you!

    Dharma Left CSD Top View.PNG
     

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