MrSpeakers ETHER C

hahaha @purrin should have an open Ether pair to send out on loaner.

 

Indeed. I guess we also have an open Ether given recent circumstances.

I ordered the C with the DUM cable because the regular cable sounds like ass.

 

z

The other possibility is that the C may not yet have be totally ready at the Schiit Show.

 

was Ether-C "totally ready" (enough) for Dan to issue a mini press release the night before the Schiit Show?
just sayin.

 

This is all a bunch of gobbledygook guesswork nonsense based on the Ether C I heard at RMAF, which some other SBAFers from the Denver area can attest did not sound good, and sorta-kinda trying to match that up with what Tyll has measured.

First, quoting what Tyll said in his review (see measurements page):

"THD+noise plots are a tad high, but fairly well behaved across the response range. It is possible that the noise background on the day of measurement was a bit high. The 100dBspl plot remains lower than the 90dBspl plot over most of its range indicating good power handling capability."

I can't rule out noise background of that day, but given what I heard subjectively, and that the Ether open sounded more "right" and "hi-fi" even when ignoring the better response, I'm going to assume the Ether C has well behaved BUT relatively high distortion. Higher than you should expect for the price, not the best I've seen from a closed headphone, getting close to 1% across the board, etc. There are a few different ways you can look at it. (Again, all this goes out the window if this was just noise background for the day.) Still, I'm going to be stubborn, plug my ears, and insist it's a sign the Ether C is not exactly in the high end sphere due to distortion alone. I suppose it is less unpleasant than rough, spiky distortion characteristics (see Alpha Prime).

Moving on, at first glance, the frequency response measurements look pretty good. And, indeed, the overall curve is pretty solid. I remember the Ether C sounding surprisingly lean and somewhat uneven. On closer inspection, maybe these measurements hold some clues:

Green dashed line shows a bit of a rising response from bass to 1KHz. It's possible this means nothing, but it could help explain the somewhat lean character I heard. Hard to tell with the channel balance. The red line might indicate just a bit of bass boost and a bit of 1KHz bump, nothing major. The blue line exhibits more of than downward, lean trend. Then again, the Ether open shows some lean characteristics on Tyll measurements, and I heard it as such...but the pair I auditioned at home actually sounded relatively full and measured as such. That immediately makes this all guesswork with high probability for error.

The yellow dashed circle shows some unevenness. I know some aren't bothered by this (see FA-003, HM5, etc. as a severe example), but sudden unevenness and dips in the midrange seem to make things sound weird when I listen in ways that are sometimes hard to describe or place a finger on.

The blue and purple dashed show that there might be some treble peaks or slight elevation. This stuff is always really hard to tell with Tyll's measurements. Overall, though, the response above 1KHz looks pretty damn solid, I'll give it that.


Took the HD650's response (mustard and light blue), matched to 1KHz-ish, and overlayed it. No surprise, HD650 has more of that mid-bass hump, but is smoother and better integrated throughout. It's almost like the Ether C is doing the opposite of the HD650 from 10Hz-1KHz. One is U-shaped in that region, the other flips it upside down. The response above that is nicely matched. It's possible the Ether C might have more peakiness and elevation around 7KHz (I would not be surprised), and maybe, just maybe, the 9-10KHz area might be a bit hotter (not much of an issue).




Again, this is all just guesswork. Ultimately I'll need to hear a new Ether C at home to judge it for myself. Maybe it will redeem itself from RMAF, and maybe not. I just find guesswork like the above fun but think it should be taken with a grain of salt.