Amazon confirmed to me the price as advertised on their site should be all you have to pay.
You can also look that up in their FAQ.
If you go to the Linsoul info in Amazon, in Polices, Tax Information, they kinda say tax could be separately calculated and only āestimatedā in the final order price, so there could be exceptions maybe. I mean, I donāt know what they really mean by that and if it is legal at all, maybe itās not though.
It doesnāt matter what Linsoul says. They are violating Amazonās policy. This is confirmed by Amazon themselves.
However Amazon sofar doesnāt kick them from their site probably due to commercial reasons aka āas long as there are not too many complaintsā¦ā we keep them here and earn a fee.
No the Hybrid pads are very different 850 vs 2000ā¦ Anyone get it direct from linsoul vs Drop and see a difference?
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alright well, I think itās time to get into thisā¦
as usual, these are my thoughts and impressionsā¦ if you like the headphone use it do not let others or my opinion change your enjoymentā¦ your more than welcome to disagreeā¦ we hear things differently and everything in the hobby is subjective.
So, I like and dislike this headphone at the same timeā¦ and I honestly had a hard time contemplating whether to keep it lol. Granted this signature post EQ is very much up my alley but theres reasons keeping me from putting it on my wall so letās get into it a bit here.
Lotās have asked me about this headphone so letās go ahead and get into the sound signatureā¦ this headphone has recessive sub bass, increased upper mids, a small scoop in the treble but raised treble like a hifimanā¦ in otherwords a more brighter planar with emphasized mid frequencies similar to that of something like ananda, sundara, and arya
Lows: lacking is the word I have for this mind you this can definitely be fixed by some simple EQ and warmer amps but sub bass really throws the sound off a bit for meā¦ it still works but I would prefer it to be more neutral or a bit more in the mix as it feels a little too far back. Itās still plenty impactful and there is a good amount of slam and rumble to my ear so a small amount of EQ here does wonders in my opinion. Though considering the signatureā¦ I feel this frequency is better tuned than say the Sundara where the bass is, in my opinion, itās weakest attributeā¦ as an open back thatās this airy I think it hard to maintain a bass presence to begin with so the fact it has this good of bass is quite nice honestly. The headphone here responds incredibly well to bass amplification something as small as the IFI amps bass button fixes this issue immediately and makes the bass extremley satisfying though I donāt recommend this with the leather pads as it makes it rather boomy and too emphasized in my opinion leading to the signature falling apart.
Mids: hollow is the word here. Now mind you, I prefer my minds pushed back as I am not big on the vocals but the fact they sound hollowed out does bug me a bit. You can fix this with units more catered to mids like the adi-2 dac I found helped this quite well but stillā¦ for a $600+ headphone it leaves me a bit disappointed. The sound of the mids can be a hit or miss here depending on how you view it. They are still clear and cleanā¦ quite crisp but just not present or in your faceā¦ they have this slight echo and hollowed out sound without much in the form of texture like the Sundara can pull off. In this regard Sundara I feel is better as it represents the mids much better unless your just not a fan of the vocals.
Treble: big hit or miss here. The weird frequency of the treble here leaves some songs sounding as though they have random spurts of uncomfortable brightness and other cases the music sounds absolutely phenomenal so it depends on the genre and song here. The treble here is fixable through EQ but itās a bit more extensive than the bass to smooth out that scoop and fix the frequencyā¦ detail retrieval is alright but I have other headphones that do the treble and detail a hell of a lot betterā¦ I feel even the 560S does detail better than this headphone in this regard and thats $400 cheaper. Sundara definitely wins in the treble department for me
Soundstage and Air: This is very interesting, this is quite possibly the largest planar I have heard. There is so many layers to this soundstage and so much air itās like sitting in a cinema or a concert. Larger than the sundara or ananda with more layering this is quite impressive. It sounds incredibly good hereā¦ and I have to definitely give this props
Detail Retrieval: as mentioned aboveā¦ this headphone isnāt the best in this caseā¦ the other planars in this regard are betterā¦ this headphone seems better for relaxed listening and music enjoyment instead of wanting to pick out every single detail in the music. Beyers, hifiman, Denon, etc all do detail retrieval better than this headphone in my opinion. Granted, post EQ this headphone can become a detail monster but going this route completely destroys the signature(if you know which EQ I am mentioning that would be Resolves).
Build: the build here is quite sturdyā¦ looks nice feels nice. I donāt like that it terminates to a 4.4mm pentaconn as why the hell would you send a cable thatās not the usual standard plugā¦ the standard is 3.5mm or the usual quarter inch plug. Cable quality is surprisingly nice, case is awesome, overall the build here is very nice but I wouldnāt call it a tank like monoprice or beyer over there. 1570 and just beyer in general are a bit ridiculous.
Imaging: not badā¦ but not laser accurate. I am big on needing great imaging and will definitely call issues when I see them. The imaging here is absolutely not better than the Arya but more in line with Sundara and Ananda so again, not badā¦ but I definitely feel it could be better.
Weight and Comfort: This is an issue I have with this headphone. The pads are made of cheap material and could really use some kind of alternative. The leathers practically destroy the signature in my opinion here and the hybrids swish and move about and in all honestly arenāt the most comfortable I have tried a ton of other hybrid pads that best these by miles. The weight here is more than the Hifimans but less than Audeze at the same time I get heat spots on the top of my head and after a while heat build up from the pads is pretty extensive depending on which I am using. The heft of this headphone keeps me from listening for extended periods of time as it grows tiresome to me. Thereās plenty of padding on the headband but I wish the pads themselves were better, softer, and thicker. The other issue I have I mentioned prevoiuslyā¦ this headphone I cannot see being a good fit for those with smaller heads as out of the box it didnāt need adjustments for me and I have a larger headā¦ it still wobbles a bit and doesnāt hold still so this could be a potential issue for othersā¦ personally, from the overall weight and comfort of this thing makes me despise wearing it to be quite honest. I can love a sound but if the comfort isnāt there well, I am just not going to use it especially as a gamer. Weight distribution is fine.
Timbre: going to be quite honest here, nothing in this signature sound properly ānaturalā or āorganicā. Definitely not a timbre headphone if you ask meā¦
Sound signature issues: the sound here is rather all over the placeā¦ it takes extensive EQ to fix this which is a huge negative in my opinion. I should not need to sit down and eq the living hell out of a $600+ headphone just to get the proper sound out of it that doesnāt sound offā¦ it changes itās sound depending on the amps and dacs as it is and just needs a lot of adjustments. Itās due to this I donāt see this headphone worth itās price tag and thatās the big issue
Sound presentation: this presents itself like walking into a big cinema with vocals singing with a screwed up mic, behind a pair of random loud cymbal crashes and bass sitting in the back with a lacking thump to his drums. It definitely isnāt the best presentation. Nonetheless it sounds more catered to those who want to sit back and relax listening to their music.
Price Tag is it worth it? Short answerā¦ definitely not. Long answer: the competition to this headphone can exceed this headphone pre-equalization and by quite a large margin. This headphone has a ton of other planars to compete with and just doesnāt do it for meā¦ This headphones maybe worth $300ā¦ $400 if I am being a bit generous but damn sure not $600+. I have tried a lot of the other planars as the planar is absolutely my favorite driverā¦ these donāt hold a candle to my buddies Arya and while they do compete with the sundara and ananda the issues here outweigh the benefits until you equalize it. Once equalized I do believe this headphone could potentially be more enjoyable than the Ananda so take that as you willā¦
Gaming: so theres a few issues here. The weight keeps me from using it from extended periods of time, Tarkov has issues with those random spurts in the treble, the imaging isnāt laser accurate but does fine, soundstage is massive but the pushed back nature of the soundstage and signature makes it pretty piss poor in competitives. Post EQ for casual gaming this is quite nice but then you still have to deal with a weighty headphone on your head. Mind you, I canāt stand Audeze for gaming either so if you can tolerate this for gaming by all means but I donāt recommend this in competitive not at all, use the Sundara over itā¦ I definitely had about a 45% improvement over this headphone in competitives with extensive testing and use of modes such as theater to test the extents of this headphones capabilityā¦ this crosses games rainbow six, tarkov, planetside, arma, halo, cod MW CW and WZ, battlefields, valorant, csgo. This headphone performs well in smaller fps but I would still say that something as simple as the HD 560S can outperform this one in gaming.
Adjustments: I highly recommend sitting down and equalizing this headphone on an amp with ample amounts of power. This headphone responds extremely well to very clean setups or warm setupsā¦ I absolutely do not recommend something anemic, brighter, or with heavy colorations to the sound. Use the hybrids less you absolutely prefer the leathersā¦ just be wary the EQ can completely rip apart the sound signature using those leathers.
What this headphone needs: a retune to itās mids as they are too hollow sounding, sub bass adjustments the rest of the tonality is just fine but the sub bass feels very lacking out of the box and post burn in, heavy eq adjustments in the trebleā¦ itās uncontrolled nature is obnoxious, different pads of a higher quality and thicker, a lighter frame
vs the Sundara: Sundara wins on price, comfort, weight, detail retrieval, smoother highs, much better presentation of the mids. It absolutely loses on the soundstage, layering, imaging in some cases, bass presentation, build quality, quality controls
Vs the Ananda: practically the same as Sundaras comparison but practically equal on the pricepoints
VS the Arya: Arya is a bit of a monster in itās own rightsā¦ the imaging is holographic and accurate as hell, soundstage is very well done but in this case it loses surprisingly, itās mids and highs are a hell of a lot better tuned than this headphone in my opinion but it absolutely 100% loses to this headphones bass especially post EQ. Though, I feel this is a bit unfair considering arya is in some cases double the price of this headphone so I will refrain from making a thorough comparison between the two as I feel this pointlessā¦ the two donāt stand up to one another
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Nice write up! What signal chain(s) did you use to test GL2000?
oof, let me thinkā¦ I started with the classic entry levelsā¦ spark, atom, etc. I moved to asgard modius and bifrost 2 to check the differences in dacs. RNHP to bifrost and adi-2. IFI zen can stack, IFI ican(just to test how it would performā¦ not really recommended lol), liquid platinum to bifrost 2 / zen dac / adi-2, Topping a90 stack, aune stack, geshelli stack balanced variant, list goes on and on and on
honestly, I think topping and the ifi responded best
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Gotcha. Thatās a good cross-section of the entry and mid-tier market. Very thorough. Thanks for sharing! 
Did you try crinacles hybrid pad eq? I definitely liked it more than resolves though I gave it a little extra bass.
yep yep, I do like that one a hell of a lot more than resolves, one of the reasons I definitely recommend the EQā¦ it absolutely NEEDS equalizing in my opinionā¦ it can sound fantastic post EQ, but theres just so much wrong while theres so much right that it bugs the hell out of me lmao
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yeah itās the oddest pair of headphones Iāve ever had. I think sitting there and tweaking the sound and being so engaged with them is why Iāve been liking them. They really make you work for it lol.
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Why are GL2000 so controversial? My view is totally opposite to yours in most points, except the price - I think theyāre $450 phones, and the general lackluster sound.
Most frustrating for me is that I can see the good qualities, but they just donāt add up to a comprehensive audiophile experience as a whole.
Incredible write up!
Iām guessing you still have yours coming from Drop too? Iām trying to get the Elex instead of this HP - damn drops bs policies that they wonāt go around.
Anyway, thank you for another great write up and reason that I do not want this HP. I know it will not be to my liking.
yeah, I tried cancelling but they wonāt let me lmfaoā¦ If I canāt cancel it from them I will just sell it for what I paid for itā¦ @MrAyrit has current dibs on that but if that drops out I will be posting them for saleā¦ same price as I paid which I think was likeā¦ $540 or something I would have to look
I mean, it is still a very good headphoneā¦ but itās not to my particular preference for quite a few reasonsā¦ I will stick to my Aeons and Anandasā¦ I have been meaning to get my hands on Verum but thatās something for later
Iāve been following this thread for quite some time and I have nearly purchased these on several occasions but I have held back, mainly due to the polarised views and opinions across the audiophile community. In the end I have followed the advice of many and gone for the Sundaras - its a no brainer at Ā£299. I am sure the GL2ks are good at some things but the general views and opinions on the Sundaras is overwhelming positive. I guess time will tell if I have made the right choice.
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Thanks for keeping me in mind, but I think Iām going to hold off for a while.
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In a few months Iām going to take the plunge and buy the Hifiman Aryaās and compare them. If the Arya is a significant improvement Iām going to sell the GL2Kās. If the Arya provide a similar soundstaging experience and improves everything else then its a win win.
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I donāt doubt it is. It would be my first dip into Planarās. All Iām saying is based off of the themes I have seen for this HP, itās not going to be something I enjoy. I gotta have some bass, some warmth and I do not wish to EQ at all.
Someday Iāll have to either get a Sundara or Aeon for my first Planar.
Iām sure Iāll have no problem selling my Gl2K either since there is no way in hell I would suffer the money loss in returning them to Drop.
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Hype, big expectations. I feel like a lot of cans have polarizing opinions, especially new ones. However, the voices are loud and frequent. With a new product like this, there is no āgroup-thinkā to explain it, so everyone is giving you candid (subjective), real opinions about them.
This experience reminds me of the 5xx launch, which was absolutely mired in obsession about whether they were the rebirth of an ancient unspoken Hifiman fable, or in fact a Deva redux. A bored, overtly serious internet collided with a somewhat overreaching marketing campaign to do war. Nobody assessed them just for their merits or flaws without relating everything to to its genetics. Lost in the shuffle was a focus on, you know, their performance and strengths/weaknesses relative to actual current offerings. Was a weird one.
Some of the virtues of those cans even are duplicated in what I hear often about these from a soundstage, airiness perspective. Granted, they cost 3x the amount, weigh 37x them and by all accounts sound a hell of a lot better.
Beyond the norm, they sound like pretty odd cans which is going to separate further.
This hypetrain is just the perfect storm of uniqueness, costliness, and timing to really get the dust flying. I am glad many folks are enjoying them.
There is so much conversation ABOUT them that the folks that enjoy them may feel required to justify a fair-sized expenditure to those who are assessing them less enthusiastically. Whether it is wine, or cheese, music, cinema or SOUND ā there are some that forget that sensory-dominant things are going to be very subjective - rather than a consumer good that rewards your dollars without question.
Okay, thatās enough words. Bibuy.
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Z, could you please try to get your hands on the D shaped pads that the gl2k are now coming with and let us know if there is any differences?
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