Do you notice any dynamic range compression? That was my main gripe, as they kinda bring everything forward and sound a bit unnatural, and ya know, compress the dynamics of the music. Good aspect for studio usage or if you want to easily hear detail but not for me for traditional listening
Not really, Iād have to listen to some different material to be certain, but they didnāt sound artificial.
I only listened to Lazy by Deep Purple, which has significant (albeit reduced from the vinyl) dynamic range in the opening and some interesting choices in how they mixed the guitar in and In the End by Rush, which while it might be my favorite Rush track is not the best remaster ever.
Iāll try and listen to some better mastered material this evening.
Itās going to be interesting to listen to these over the next couple of weeks as they break in, my initial impressions have changed. They no longer sound thin to me.
There are certain pieces where they sound really good, mostly simple instrumental pieces, the entire Reckless Precision by Tuck Andres album sounds stellar on the Ether CX.
They donāt do bad recordings any favors.
I think I hear what your calling compression, I consider compression to be something very specific, and itās notās what Iād describe it as. When you get a very busy soundstage, it sounds ācrowdedā. Itās worse if I use the additional inserts.
Generally I like them.
Currently with a few possible exceptions Iād take the Elex as a first choice, but theyāll work as a set of closed backs for now.
My impression of the sound has changed a lot in the last few hours, so itāll be interesting to see where it goes.
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And replying to myselfā¦
About 15 hrs on the headphones at this point.
There are moments with the CXās where I really like them, and others where I struggle with them. And I can get both moments in the course of a single song.
They donāt donāt sound fundamentally different, but the soundstage seems to have opened up a bit, and I encountered less of the ācrowdedā sound in tonights listening.
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Theyāre a strange headphone, and I had the same love/hate relationship with them especially at first. I eventually put them down for a few weeks and didnāt have a ton of urge to plug them in again. I got my 789 last weekend, and plugged them in a few days ago and was enjoying them a lot at first but eventually was ready to take them off again. I still plan to keep them, but I could never see them as my daily driver, and not even the first closed backs Iād reach for. I definitely plan to demo the Aeon Closeds for a good bit if I ever think about picking them up. I just donāt know if the Mr Speakers/Dan Clark sound is my thing. I will say that comfort is absolutely top notch and I can keep them on my head for hours. I use them a fair amount for youtube and podcasts but thatās not exactly ideal for a $900 headphone
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I dunno. I think they are overpriced a bit. They are pretty relaxed. Iāve been listening to mostly panel speakers since I was 12, so soundstage, coherence, and āmicro detailā always ranked over dynamics. The E2 would look better at $1500, not $2200 - but it is somewhat relaxed dynamically although the definition is excellent as is the bass. If you get a chance try out the estat Clark makes - the Voce avoids a lot of issues of other estats - lack of push in the bass, and overly clinical in the details.
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I ended up liking the 007mk2 over the voce, although the build and comfort on mrspeakers products is top notch
I think the 007 v2 is the best Stax ever made. I owned a 303 about 20 years ago and its miles behind the 007 v2
The Voce runs really well on the HFM Jr
Iām using mine on the woo 3es elite and itās pretty sweet. Also itās actually comfortable compared to other stax lol. Although I donāt think it competes with higher end estats
Yes the Woo Wes that was going to be my choice to drive an estat - if I bought one, but then the Raal, the threat of the ATM, and the continual HFM price drops, and I decided to wait, then score an HE6SE cheap, that doesnāt sound like my friends 6 screw, ah well, at least itās change.
Next up re-wire the internals of the HEX v2, a guy in New Zealand swears its amazing - after I see if the EQ can fix the HE6SE.
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I think Iāve finally figured out why I have such a hard time with these.
If you play them at high enough volume they sound really pretty good, but if you drop that volume below the threshold they, just sound confined.
Most speakers behave this way, there is a point where they just come alive.
The problem here is while for thinner mixes the volume is reasonable, for a lot of material itās just unpleasantly loud to me.
To me they sound best on well recorded quartets and quintets - with a lot of space between the players and the notes. They seem to highlight everything well and not blend stuff together. āCafe Blueā by Patricia Barber, or Nicki Parrott āNew York to Parisā are good examples, as is Norah Jones āCome Away With Meā.
Can we have this and the official thread merged?
I was going to do that but I donāt know if @JVerbit would want that done. I would want to get his approval first since itās his thread
Yeah, why not? Not like I own anything. Just wanted discourse.
It is done, should be good
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That was my initial impression as well, and I still prefer them on āsimpleā mixes.
A lot of classical guitar recordings sound great, although you can really hear a bad recording setup.
What Iām finding now is at higher volume levels, the clarity is there even on relatively dense mixes where I had issues previously. It just isnāt worth it to me to listen at that volume.
I was shocked when I went to my first HF meet. ~25 people and of the 15 or so I interacted with almost all of them were listening 5-10 db louder than me. One guy was perhaps +15. I think Iām at 85-90 db program.
Yikes thatās fairly loud for normal listening
Yep, and I noticed when people asked him (+15) questions, he usually started with āwhat?ā
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