Anyone have any thoughts and/or experience on/with hybrid cables and the AO? I am considering getting a new cable along with a few more pads in the next few months or so, and I have been eyeing this cable.
Some owners on another forum have said that hybrid cables pair nicely with the AO on a wider variety of amps. I was originally considering the 2K copper cable, but it was noted that it might be to thick in the bass with some chains. Since I use both SS and Tube amps I wonder if a pure copper cable may not be the best choice for me. I am holding off on any cable purchases until after I get my Yggdrasil MIB and Valhalla 3 in, but I am curious what you all think about the cables listed above.
To any AO owners who are interested, Jason from Schiit Audio announced that the Valhalla 3 will be releasing some time in January (hopefully a firm date this time). He stated that it will use the same tubes as the Valhalla 2. I will be picking one up to power my AO as well as some future ZMF purchases.
Hey all,
If interested, please try the following EQ Setup on the Atrium with the Universe Leather pads. Curious to know how others feel. Been getting into EQ with the Element IVs PEQ web app. Personally I’m feeling like they are sounding very nice with this setup, fixes any fatiguing issues and opens up the top end a bit. Bass shelf towards the bottom is just to compensate for the slight roll off. Still sound like ZMF overall with the nice decay factor and timbre.
If anyone tries this out, I’d like to know what you think and what other changes you think might be beneficial.
EDIT: Updated EQ 1/12/25 - I think I’ve nailed it with this one! Loving it! The difference vs stock is pretty significant. It sounds much better, same great timbre, but the clarity and naturalness of the treble and upper mids are much improved without sounding sibilant. Again, using the stock universe leather pads. May try an EQ with the Caldera Thick pads later, given those are the most comfortable.
I used Squiglink to help visualize the changes.
Blue would be a stock measurement with the UNI Leather and Green is with the PEQ Settings above. Bringing up that 8k dip makes a big difference to the top end clarity and fixing those peaks near 3 and 6k significantly improves the fatiguing aspects. Relied on graph, then tuned by ear in the end.
NOTE: IF you do this with typical PEQ software, be sure to set the overall gain to compensate to avoid clipping. Element IV does this automatically. It has very nice PEQ.
After plenty of testing, I’ve found this to be the best EQ correction for the Universe Leather pads on the Atrium.
The main deficiency seems to be the mid treble being very scooped out. This big scoop is in the same spot (roughly 8.3Khz) with the Universe Leather pads on multiple measurements I found. It’s not noticeable in all music but filling it in make a big positive difference with some tracks. It also helps a lot to balance things out with some of the other peaks at 3k and close to 6k, reducing their ‘glare’. Headphones primary characteristics, energy, and timbre remain pretty much 100% intact but just opens them up and improves them very noticeably with a lot of tracks I felt they were previously lacking before. Fixing the bass extension (Sub-bass droop) is always good too.
+4.8db 20hz Q 2.0 (Improves Bass Extension, no extra bass accent)
+4.8db 30hz Q 0.9 (Improves Bass Extension, no extra bass accent)
+12db 8300hz Q 5.0 (Improves mid-treble, no added sibilance, ‘unveils’ the tonality with certain mixes, especially modern pop music. Not as much of a difference with more mid-range focused instrumental or male vocals) (Also +12db does not fill it in completely. Headphone still remains relatively warm leaning with some ear-gain accent, albeit better balanced with the treble, IMO, which reduces the glare of the ear gain as a result)
