EQ is not my thing so I stay out of it too. But I have tried in a previous life and noticed many interesting things apart from the obvious tonality changes. I think (y)our input could be of value for people who simply want to learn about potential cons.
I think a 1DD discussion could/should only show up on this thread if there were a question from someone asking about differences with planar or whatever. And in that case I think it would be nice if there were a write-up about pros and cons somewhere that could be linked to, which also has a whole discussion from yeah- and nay-sayers. Super educational AND reusable.
Not that this idea is of any higher value than yours but itâs a suggestion for the community.
I have no problem with folks talking about EQ as long as itâs relevant to the set IN THE THREADâŠEQ is not something I use but if it helps them enjoy their set and library more then fair play to them.
What I and the MOD team do have a problem with is when we have to address a shit shower of flags about people disagreeing on the whole EQ subject that my friends is OFF TOPIC!
So letâs move on and keep things on topic and grow up
âŠweâre not allowed to express our opinions why EQ can be detrimental even when people are trolling us and have been trolling us all over the site and mods refuse to pick up on the flags explicitly defining the trilling going on? Even after we were all explicitly told to stop the BS? And the trolling continues? Yeah, youâre going to get flagged! What else should/can we do?
For those interested in 1dd vs planar, I am going to put some quick thoughts between zen and timeless as well as reasoning why.
Planars have this articulate sound that is exceedingly precise. I think there are a few things about it that can come off as unnatural to some people. So instead of trying to describe in terms of timbre, decay and attack which I donât fully understand, I will use an analogy.
Imagine your favorite singer. Now imagine her singing but she no longer needs to breath or even exhale to get to a note. It might sound slightly synthesized to us. Timeless and all planars I have heard have some amount of this quality. In exchange you get this exceedingly precise and fast reproduction technically allowing more clarity and detail to come through more easily.
Now zen. Dynamic drivers immediately bring that breath of texture back into the picture. This sounds more natural to some. To do so, a dynamic driver has to move a lot more air than a planar. Same reason it can generally move more air. This excursion takes time and results in a subtle blending of sound between notes that the planar simply doesnât do. The sound, as a result, feels slower and less precise. Even the ultra fast zen dd adds this subtleness to the music.
Why does dd sound more natural? My theory, because every single speaker most of us have heard all our lives are dynamic. The concerts we are all trying to reproduce: dynamic. Then we put planars on our head and we are like WTF?
The timeless has a wonderful sense of precision. The zen brings that texture of dd. One is not inherently better than the other. But your preferences may have a say.
Was trying to cast some custom eartips for the Timeless (not a success) but in the Process the grill and foam got removed so I thoughtâŠhmmm, I wonderâŠoh baby, yes please !! Suffice to say I wonât be replacing the grill or foam!
Top end comes alive big time. Donât try this at home folks if you already find the treble a bit too much, but for me this lifts them to another level.
Imo it will be more than enough, have no problems running them on both Shanling UP2 and Fiio BTR3K.
I thinks term youre looking for is Decay.
I read somewhere a guy reasoning that this also has to do with how the music is produced and made to sound best on dynamic, since studio equipment is dynamic and also most consumer audio. If planars or BA would be the target, it could be produced to achieve similar/same effect on them. Sounds logical to me.
I think so too. But, as someone who doesnât have a strong grasp on these concepts and never cared about understanding decay until I heard BA, I just want to describe it differently and let experts advise. Rather than potentially misusing a term.
Thatâs a side I havenât though about yet. Itâs really interesting.
I know some master with planars, how does that music compare on dd vs planar?
I think more important would be the target audience, producer might compensate for dynamic knowing the characteristics of planar. But then again he might also not.
Either way would be interesting to hear some tracks that were produced on planars, unfortunately have no clue what producer/album would that be. If you find something dont hesitate to share.
You may want to try with some Stax recordings once theyâre in da house again?
From my experience with planar loudspeakers that could be driven well enough with a 50W amplifier they completely ( as in COM-PLE-TE-LY) opened up when using 200W mono amps. Overkill? In theory, absolutely. In practise, not so much. Planars are notoriously hard to drive if you want to get the very best out of them. This doesnât mean you canât get great results when you donât, but you have to realize you have invested in a gold mine without having the perfect equipment yet. So if you want a sonical upgrade after 5 years donât throw out your planars but try a few amps.
When I sold that kind of monsters myself I always challenged designers with saying that I found planars so much more natural sounding with tube amps that had much less power. I guess 20 years later that discussion still isnât finished and it probably never will be. But I beg everyone to experiment with amping of theyâre not happy (enough) yet with their planars. And it can very well be that the effect Dynamic is mentioning will improve if thereâs a huge engine behind the 7Hz. Remember planar diaphragms by themselves are very light and extremely easy to move. This makes them respond incredibly well to a power surge with unparallelled dynamics and detail where other drivers will start clipping. When geared up you will probably notice that you start turning down the listening volume because your ears canât handle the extreme dynamics any longer. Thereâs some excellent vocal recordings that I really have to power up on my current IEMs because it lacks dynamics, and I bet that on the Timeless I would be turning down the volume 2-3-4 times while scratching my head.
I donât like power monsters and have used 8W tube amps for years, but boy, planars are like hungry beasts. Feed them 1 chicken and theyâre happy. Feed them 25 and they wonât blink.
Timeless best sub $300 IEM? I like it more than the Mangird Tea which everyone was raving about. Kato is having supply issues so probably be a while before I get those. Thor Mjölnir my favorite single DD so far very well balanced sound but just lacks energy compared to the timeless. what do other people think?
I have owned the he6se. I know what power + planar can do. I still say the timeless doesnât need it. but I only have my qudelix currently. So, once a replacement timeless arrives, I will also have a more powerful desktop amp. And I will try it.
