Torpedo
-
Posts
10,583 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
6
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Torpedo
-
-
Yep, those MF sound "powerful" and capable to drive many speakers. It's true that I had heard them sounding better driving other speakers like Sonus Fabers, Proac and B&W, but funnily enough all were restricted at LF. I also must agree that overall sound was pleasant and the midrange sounded quite right for SS at that price. In fact I liked them better than later versions, which while more powerful, were less natural sounding.
Who knows, maybe an A3 sounds gorgeous driving the Paradigms. One never knows until trying it.
-
That is seriously fucked up.
I other SP news, a little bird told me that there are at least 13 broken SP amps out there of all types in need of repair and they won't send them to Mikhail. It seems that somebody could make a nice living cleaning up Mikhail's crap.
After all the crap I've been reading about Mikhail I still don't understand how his deceived customers don't start a common well organized lawsuit. -
Any suggestions in the $500-$700 used range that would better the Stratos?
Tough call, it depends very much on the Paradigm's demands and your preferences about detail and all those things. Maybe I'd go for some vintage Luxman like the L550 or a more modern LV105, I love how those amps sounded, very natural.
From more modern production depending on your preferences, I keep good memories from the Arcam A85. Not a world class amp, but still powerful, tidy and "right" for an affordable integrated. In a different vein of sound, more vivid, lots of PRAT and airiness with well controlled bass, the Naim Nait 5i could interest you. But it's only 30wpc IIRC. With some more power and still that kind of "fast" pratty sound, the Densen Beat could be much of your liking.
I don't think any of these is factually better than the Odyssey, just different flavors which could be more of your liking, it all depends on what kind of sound you want to achieve.
-
And yet even these allegedly-crappy planar designs were universally and consistently preferred over just about every "conventional" dynamic speaker in the test. I'd say that makes the result more, rather than less, striking.
Not really if you take into account that among the best selling speakers are B&W, Bose and Dynaudio, and most people is well served with the stock iBuds.
-
Don't hate tha playa, hate tha game, Spaniard.
Hahahaha, I can't go to the playa, I am allergic to sunlight
Spritzer, having listened to several ML speakers after knowing what planars like Quads and Apogees can do, one wonders how they were able to fuck it up that much. Even Maggies are more enjoyable
-
If you can get a Musical Fidelity with Choke Regulation in your price range, do it.
(A3, a3.2, I think most of the others are going to be too far up there, your best chance is with the a3)
Have you heard them Dusty? I had a A3cr pre and power amp combo and while had some "musicality" in it, the bass was overcooked driving the pair of 4312A monitors I had then, which are sensitive and quite an easy load for any amp. Not sure they're a good match for the Paradigms.
Odyssey amps are quite good for the price. I tried a stereo Stratos here. Not the most transparent and clean sounding amp ever, but remarkable performance for the price indeed. Kind of honest, which is the gear I like better.
-
So the conclusion of this is that untrained people under blind conditions prefer the sound of Magnepan speakers to listen to 5 tracks of music for a while. And probably the more tired they were for the high number of tests going on in a single day, the more they liked them
-
Very good point Justin, maybe it's the excuse to contact Ebay before the 7days term, and asking them if that's a fair proposition from the winning bidder. Maybe there's some rule obliging him to pay on his own.
-
No problem, wait those 7 days, start a dispute, let Ebay do his thing, post awful feedback for him, and re-list the amp. I don't think there's much more you can do about it, unless you're willing to contact the second best bidder just in case he's still interested. Maybe Cash Converters gives you more for the amp. Or perhaps you're more lucky selling it on Agon or any of the German Hifi sites.
-
I mostly agree with swt61. I'd just add that you need the VTA adjustment ring to make that Rega really compatible with that cart -or any other being a bit VTA finicky-, and making sure the Hagerman, which I've never tried, has at about 70dB gain or in the worst case 65dB at its MC input. The DL-103 has a low output and requires quite some gain and a very low noise level to shine as it can.
-
EDIT: Dammit, how did I miss the "dynamic" part.
He said dynamic
hahahaha, you edited your post while I was writing my reply -
I'd love to see a list of dynamic headphones that are currently in-production and compete with the HD-650, for approximately the same price.
Apart from the HD600 which are more affordable? Probably none. From an objectively measured performance point of view, they're quite irreproachable. But considering personal taste... we could start a debate hahahaha
-
Uh, before we bring personal issues into this, let me just say that I've talked with Flavio and he also thinks that there is an issue with my headphones. I will send them to Westone to double check, just in case. I don't exactly want to bash these headphones since I also had very high hopes for them.
Still, I don't think there's anything wrong with them personally. If I am allowed to be brutally honest - so far all universal-fit IEMs have sucked, at least the ones that I've heard thus far. All, without exception. There isn't a single one that sounds like a proper high-end headphone. Every one has major sonic problems that you wouldn't accept in a full-size headphone. Why should I be surprised that the W3 isn't any different? I was hoping that it would be, but hopes and reality aren't the same thing. In my experience, if you want really good sound on the move, you get a high-end custom IEM. End of story.
Pricewise, this isn't that unfair of a comparison. Jumping up from $400 for the W3 to $650 for the ES2 isn't that big of a deal considering the amounts we spend on headphones constantly. Toss out the amp, which you don't need for the ES2 to sound acceptable in the first place, and you're financially on even footing.
I won't blame the source either. I could use my Opus 21 and a good amp with the W3, but who will ever use their IEMs from a similar system? I'm using them like they were intended - on the move. The IA7 is better than average for an mp3 player, and the Kenwood is one of the best sonically. All my music is in FLAC or Wave.
It'd be great you listened to the W3 on your big source and amp, just to be sure the Cowon or the Kenwood are as a good source as you're assuming. Not that I think they're not, I don't know since I never listened to any of both, but for all the things I've been reading about them, I'd be cautious in the least. DAPs sounding more than acceptable on average phones, really suck once you plug them into a good amp and you use resolving and well balanced cans.
Maybe your W3s are defective, or maybe they happen to sound just like that. In any case I agree with you, most IEM suck when compared to serious phones and it's all a matter of personal preference to like some better than others for a portable use. I wouldn't expect the W3 to sound like the O2, L3000, PS-1 or not even the HD6xx no matter how good is your source and amp, but who knows, maybe they're more revealing than we would need for a portable use.
-
Common guys, I don't think you all need to make this that personal. I haven't listened to the W3 so far, so I don't have an opinion worth a s*** about them, but I can understand both points of view about their sound. This has happened before with many phones. For some what's balanced and mainly right, it's colored and unbearable for other/s and nobody is right or wrong, is just a matter of personal preference. To me the only truth to know what's balanced and what's not is a response graph properly made, then you can guess how you interpret what you're hearing and say if you like it or not.
I'm sure HA is honest and makes his reviews expressing his opinion as he feels it, and there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe he could be less assertive and could leave more room for doubt, but this could also be said of many other people including myself. Nevertheless I can be in disagreement with many of his opinions, but still I try to respect them, and above all the man writing them.
Call me naive if you want to, but I see no need to start a flame war, and getting too personal, just for how one perceives the sound of a pair of damn phones worth USD300.
-
Come on mate, if your transducer just can convert into sound 60% of the energy that reaches it spending 2ms in doing so, and you're trying to fake the response of a phone capable of converting 80% in just 1ms, it's impossible you can match that no matter how hard you try. It's like pretending to match the acceleration of a 2 strokes engine by overloading a 4 strokes one.
-
I'm not trusting that e-mail at all, looks like a fake thing just to grab some attention to the OP. Were it true, and knowing what did Sennheiser to go from HD600 to HD650, I'm not that excited, not sure about the direction they decided to go. However, were it a real improvement over the HD650/600, they'd be very interesting indeed.
-
I'm sure you'll have a helluva fun playing with that toy, but there are physical limitations that the device cannot overcome. Had you measured yourself several cans and had you seen their different responses, then you'd be as sure as I am that some things can't be "recreated" by software. Yet another whole story is that you can hear that and that you're able to tell the difference between the real thing and the recreation, which I can understand most people won't tell, maybe even myself hahaha.
Keep us posted on your findings, it will be a nice read
-
The issue because I believe it won't work is that no matter how much you try to make an impulse response fast by software/hardware if the phones cannot match it. The same goes for intrinsic driver distortion pattern, it will add its signature over the one you're faking using that device.
-
Kind of not. There's no way you can mimic by EQ, reverb, delaying, phase changing, etc the distortion pattern, impulse response, sensitivity, energy storage and many other features of a pair of cans to make them sound like anything else. There's much more to transducers own sound than frequency response. However I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun trying
-
Catscratch, have you tried the W3 from a good CD/DAC source and amp? Your comment leaves to me some questions about being the problem on the Cowon more than on the own phones. It could be that the phones are just too revealing to the source as to be used on a "regular portable rig" basis.
-
This is just my opinion- but when enthusiasm gets out of hand it breeds irrationality. Which is why myself (and I am guessing others?) prefer it over here.
Yep, I always like reading comments which include a good deal of objectivity. It's not that I like the moronic newbie review dissecting sound in parts and trying to make statements of individual performance aspects, but clever observations of how objective pros and cons manage to produce a result, are the most informative.
I tend not to believe a word when a review is completely raving, nor when it declares as pure crap something that for its maker, building quality and design objectives (if any) should have some good points in the worst case.
-
I don't know how it works in the USA, but I know a bit how it works in Spain, so maybe it's a similar case.
When sending a product to a foreign manufacturer for repair, you need to fill a "temporary export" form, stating the product, real value, serial number... even you need the actual proof of purchase, so they know you already paid the import duties. This saves the manufacturer paying import fees to have the product into his own country, but more importantly, will save you the import fees when the repaired product is sent back to you.
I think your friend should ask to your Customs Offices. BTW, Fedex, UPS, etc don't provide this service -looks like they love charging you to pass Customs every time the product crosses borders- so to send the product using the temporary export condition, he'd need to check the carrier to know if they provide the service.
-
Had you the chance, try the Merlin TSM-xx they're very nice monitors. They produce one of the best mid-bass range I know of on any speaker, which extends to a rather natural midrange. Treble is smooth, nicely extended and blends well with the midrange. They're not resolution or detail monsters, but as most monitors, they image quite well once you use adequate stands and spend some time to place them well into the room.
They're IMHO above the candidates you're considering, but perhaps for the Harbeths, which have their own set of properties. I find voices more natural in the TSM than in the Harbeths, which to my ears have a slight nasal tonality in the midrange. However this could be for room issues, I didn't try them in my own room.
The TSMs have the advantage of being a closed enclosure design, their bass rolls off more smoothly than on ported ones, so subjectively, seem to get lower than they really do, but not causing much troubles in smallish to midsized room. Their 40Hz is quite audible, but where they shine is in the 80-200Hz range, you'll be amazed for the timbre they can reproduce for acoustic basses, guitars, male voices....
They love "neutral" tubes, but I guess they'll sing quite well with your CA amp.
-
You make it sound like 95% of the experienced reviewers share your opinion and preferences, somehow I doubt that's the case or we wouldn't have Grado vs. Sennheiser, O2 vs R10, etc. Just because the W3's didn't meet your expectations or your personal preference doesn't mean they're are not top-tier universals deserving of the praise others have for them. It seems to me to be fairly obvious that if you were expecting the W3's to be a more balanced ER4 that you would be disappointed, in many ways the W3's are the antithesis of the ER4's and trust me, there's many people with good ears and plenty of experience that think that's a good thing.
I don't think GPH meant to say that 95% of experienced reviewers share his preferences, just that when you try to write about some headphones performance keeping observations objective, then impresions get much closer. One thing is what you hear assessing "sounds" which allow you to be quite objective, and another very different one is what you think about those sounds placed together reproducing music, and how you feel about them.
After all the crap I've been reading about Mikhail I still don't understand how his deceived customers don't start a common well organized lawsuit.
hahahaha, you edited your post while I was writing my reply 
Speaker Amp recommendation
in Speakers
Posted
Yep, those MF sound "powerful" and capable to drive many speakers. It's true that I had heard them sounding better driving other speakers like Sonus Fabers, Proac and B&W, but funnily enough all were restricted at LF. I also must agree that overall sound was pleasant and the midrange sounded quite right for SS at that price. In fact I liked them better than later versions, which while more powerful, were less natural sounding.
Who knows, maybe an A3 sounds gorgeous driving the Paradigms. One never knows until trying it.