(This is the same thread as the one I started on that other forum. For the record, the Krell Evolution 505 was definitely better than my Esoteric DV-60. The Grand Utopias were not set up properly yet, but sounded nice nonetheless, though the Krell 402 Evo amp probably wasn't good enough for them.)

So there I was listening to Cecilia Bartoli?s Opera Proibita, auditioning the Omega 2s with the SRM-007t tube amp at my friendly local high end audio shop. On track 3, Handel?s Un pensiero nemico di pace: Aria della Bellezza, her voice broke up in places, basically whenever her voice was ?vibrating?. Not the most technical term but can?t explain it any better than that.

The breaking up is most apparent between 3:05 and 3:20 on the track. Here, Cecilia is vibrating her voice and getting louder and louder at the same time. The Omega 2s just couldn?t cope with this. Now, I never heard this with the 650s, so I thought maybe it was the recording and the Omegas were just being more accurate and revealing. And this happened with both the Esoteric DV-60 and the Krell Evolution 505 as sources. Luckily, there was a pair of Grand Utopia Bes nearby and I tried the same track through them and the Krell Evolution and there was no break up.

So clearly, it was not the fault of the recording or the CD players that the Omega 2s were breaking up. Could be the Omegas? or the 007t amp?s inherent flaw or maybe those particular Omegas (or their amp) I listened to were defective. Can anyone with access to an Omega 2 and Opera Proibita replicate this?

It's possible that there was something wrong with that pair of O2's but I think it's more likely that it was a bad/dying tube in the 007t.

Heh I have nothing to add. Its probably the drivers in the headphones or bad tubes.

Biggie.

The thing is, the sound was breaking up evenly in both the left and the right channels. And I tried about 9 other, non-opera CDs and none of them showed anything resembling a problem. Maybe this is the Omega 2's Achilles Heel? Certainly the "vibrating" sound that broke up is quite unusual.

The thing is, the sound was breaking up evenly in both the left and the right channels. And I tried about 9 other, non-opera CDs and none of them showed anything resembling a problem. Maybe this is the Omega 2's Achilles Heel? Certainly the "vibrating" sound that broke up is quite unusual.

Maybe it was the recording itself ??

No, he said he didn't hear them on the Grand Utopia Be's.

My ps-1's had 2 bad drivers. *shrugs*

Biggie.

If anyone wants to listen to the 10 second clip that clipped the Omegas, just PM me with your email and I'll send you the clip as a Wave file or in the Windows Media lossless format.