I’m interested in the comments folks are making about them being hard to drive. At 10ohms and 92db/mW they shouldn’t be super hard to drive. Think something along the lines of slightly harder than the HE400i. Yet you’re the second person to mention it here, with the other saying it’s harder to drive than an HE6SE. I wonder if the reported impedance and sensitivity are wrong somehow or if there is some kind of tuning/dampening system applied that’s causing the increased need for power.
When it comes to brightness can you compare them to something popular that you’ve heard like maybe the Sundaras? I can handle aome brightness. I’m trying to get a handle on what to expect on mine. BTW, what signal chain are you using the Starry Nights with?
I think it just needs a butload of current since it is 10 ohm’s. I have it on my burson 3xp w/supercharger fed by my ifi micro iDSD signature. I had it running high gain at 80 which I never really need to use high gain with that amp. It’s hard to explain it being bright, really I think it’s more of the highs are grainy which leads me to believe it’s not being driven with enough power. T and S range is a super easy tell for me and if more power doesn’t cure that then it’s a characteristic of the driver.
I’ll listen more to it since I’ve only used it for maybe 20 or so mins. If I get a chance I’ll hook up my emotiva a100 and see what that sounds like as well.
Take your time. I probably won’t get the chance to sit down with mine for a few months. I’m only gonna be home for 3 days between now and May and I’m not gonna have my girl ship these gorgeous looking headphones to me internationally.
Safe travels man! And just doing some testing tonight. Set the burson into power amp mode and that helped a lot no weird driver distortion now. Treble is still a little grainy and congested but it might be more that it’s a closed back.
Swapping between the SJY and hifiman XS, the XS sounds a bit more laid back. The SJY is definitely more in your face and reminds me of an unrefined focal.
Thanks for the well wishes and for the impressions. Very interesting indeed! It sounds like it could be a fun closed back planar option with the right synergy. It’ll be interesting to see how things unfold as you get more time on them.
BTW, congratulations on the new house! Moving can be a pain, but finding the right home makes it all worth it for sure. That’s been my experience anyways. Here’s to a happy life and a happy home!
Thanks man unfortunately not the forever home but it’ll do for the next couple of years.
I’m going to make a balanced cable for my A100 and see how that does with the SJY seeing how the 3xp changed pretty drastically. Plus I need a headphone amp in my living room for my argons.
Side note these will never run well on a battery powered amp, the signature was falling on its face pretty hard.
Ok got my A100 setup with a balanced adapter for the speaker taps. Man it’s exactly what the doctor ordered. No wonky sounds, deep bass, harsh highs went away. Now I think I’m going to try some felt/cotton in the cups to kill some of the reflections.
Wow, so these things require a speaker amp to drive them properly? The maker’s specs have to be wrong then. The more I hear stuff like this, the more intrigued I am and I can’t wait to get to listen to them myself.
well most headphone amps are made for a minimum of 16ohm loads so generally don’t do well with less, saw someone say a Burson funk worked well with his
I totally get that, but I still wouldn’t expect the need for a speaker amp. Either way, I’ll get to know soon enough. I should have a pair waiting for me when I head home for my birthday break.
The reason I say that is because based on the numbers something like the Drop+DCA Aeon Closed X should present a very similar load for amplification and those don’t require anything like a speaker amp to drive them, IMO. Yet you’re not the only person who’s makibg comments that suggest that the Starry Nights do require something like a speaker amp to drive them. Other planar headphones I know of and have used that generally require, or at least sound significantly better off of, speaker amps have sensitivity ratings in the low to mid 80s db/mW (HE-6, HE6SE, Sus, etc).
These bits of info combined are what make me look at the 10ohms and 92db/mW and think something may be off. There’s definitely something to be said for your thought that maybe some headphone amps are struggling to push the necessary current at 10ohms, but the 12.5ohms of the Aeons I brought up wouldn’t make them appreciably easier as far as current requirements go. It’s no big deal to me either way and I’ll be able to see/hear for myself soon enough.
If I was the maker/designer of the Starry Nights, I wouldn’t want my headphones to get a reputation for requiring niche/elite amplification unless they truly needed it because it would significantly limit those interested in my product. I mean, I still run into people all the time when discussing the HE6 and HE6SE who acknowledge how great they sound, but are unwilling to consider purchasing a pair because of the need to run them off of a speaker amp. Even at the Susvara level where price is much less of a factor I have met people that mention not wanting to purchase them because they don’t want to deal with the novel power requirements. Also, I’m naturally curious as to why these headphones that, given their measurements, shouldn’t require specialty amplification on paper, require just that in reality. I’m definitely looking forward to getting my hands and ears on these.
For the life of me I can’t find the aeon specs but my guess is it’s just a more efficient driver, better sensitivity. Also people do recommend aeons to be driven with an amp that can handle high current loads. It’s supposed to bring some dynamics back that are missing.
I also agree the specs could be off and I was just meaning I trust Jeff.
I agree with needing a speaker amp for the first headphone being sold to the mass. He is working on the efficiency but I hope he changes it sooner than later so he stays in business.
Edit: I’ll try my aeons on my A100 and see what happens.
