Ribbons aren't usually the lowest distortion type of driver though, that's the main drawback I've found.

Ribbons aren't usually the lowest distortion type of driver though, that's the main drawback I've found.

What are the lowest?

What are the lowest?

Tough to beat the SS 9800, Vifa xt25tg, Peerless HDS for example..

Be careful not to overgeneralize. The order of the distortion as well as how the driver is integrated is very important. Also, you might come to find that other factors are more important than raw harmonic distortion numbers anyways.

On second thought, the Fountek JP3 might come close to the domes mentioned above, as well as the Raidho planar.

It might be too early anyway to make any conclusions about LCD-2 vs the O2. The LCD-2 is still only a few weeks old. Who knows what monster amplifiers crazy people might build for the LCD-2 a bit later in the game?

It might be too early anyway to make any conclusions about LCD-2 vs the O2. The LCD-2 is still only a few weeks old. Who knows what monster amplifiers crazy people might build for the LCD-2 a bit later in the game?

True. The O2 is so much older and all possible amps for it are completely exhausted at this point. Who knows what new and innovated analog design might come along next for the LCD-2, we need more people on this intractable problem!

Marc is funny when he's sarcastic...

With all this stat ortho raving going on now, what is it going to look like when transmission audio release their ribbon ear speaker ?

..dB

Transmission audio promises that....

"....it has also been possible to develop a full ribbon headphone with performance parameters that are equal to or surpass the best electrostatic headphones at a fraction of the price."

Lunatique's posts from this one onwards, if you're up for a lot of reading from the perspective of a music producer (and ignore any noise in between his posts) are pretty interesting. I think we've fairly hit the point where most things about them have been covered and people are just going around in circles now anyway (on HF that is).

We need Transmission Audio to pull off ribbon earphones now so there is something else to go hypo about.

Indead. anybody have any idea what the power requirements could be for ribbon speaker headphones?

It doesn't take a lot of power to drive ribbon tweeters, and we're essentially talking about a very similar load I'm sure.

When I communicated with RAAL about their prototype, I got this in response:

Thank you very much for the links, but my amp needs to drive a short circuit, as the ribbon impedance is just 0.018 Ohms, plus cables. Also, it must be proprietary, as there would be no sense in using other circuits that what will be developed here.

I'm not sure if that extrapolates to all ribbons, though.

Ribbons are pretty much a dead short so they will need the mother of all CCS's to power them. Since this isn't practical then transformer interface is the best option. Now cramming said transformers into the headphones would be a very bad solution imo...

It may seem silly, but after seeing ribbon tweeters theorized to have encountered an ultrasonic signal not caught by a high-pass filter which then caused them to combust and shoot flames, I worry a little about putting them on my head; don't really want to look like my profile pic.

Now cramming said transformers into the headphones would be a very bad solution imo...

Yeah, for the record, he wasn't talking about separate headphones, he was talking about a headphone/amp set. And yes, I believe transformers touched into the discussion, which is what triggered my volunteering of links.

It may seem silly, but after seeing ribbon tweeters theorized to have encountered an ultrasonic signal not caught by a high-pass filter which then caused them to combust and shoot flames, I worry a little about putting them on my head; don't really want to look like my profile pic.

pffft Scott no pain no gain

External transformer solution would be the only way to do this but it will also kill any chance of the headphones catching on.

Decca ribbon tweeters. Element resistance, 25 milliohms.

Driver transformer 100:1

.5 inch wide strip of aluminum about 4 inches long. 10 mill thick.

Have a pair, have not played with them in quite some time.

The sound of email going out from my computer is rendered very realistically through the LCD-2. It is a truly superp wooosh sound that emerges. It makes sending email a pleasure.

Doesn't it though? I heard parts of the login sound that had been buried before, kudos to the MS audio engineer

I wish they would get a move on with them ribbon phones, the proto has been there for a good while now, time for a kick in the pants.

The thunderpants even... zing Ok I'll stop now.

I have been talking to Transmission Audio about these ribbon headphones for about a year now. They would have been out all ready if they would not have gotten a huge commercial contract that they just finished. We should be hearing some new news any day. I have been promised the first pair and can not wait to get my hands on them. I am hoping they really blow me away. I have not talked to them in a couple of weeks so I will write an email when I get home to see where they stand. I really believe they will be on the market before Christmas. I am hoping to have my pair before Thanksgiving if all goes well.

Chris

Well the push-pull nature of the planars should make it less important but the large diaphragms do need a lot of damping so lets just say damping factor is important.

First; damping factor has virtually nothing to do with sound on the LCD-2. As a planar magnetic driver, it's diaphragm does not rely upon nor can it be affected by damping factor. Current delivery is what the LCD-2 relies upon.

Spritzer, I just had to look up your post since distinctly remember reading somewhere that damping factor has an effect at the very least