These Ethers were the original Ether C's. Diagonal weave on the fiberglass cups. They were sent back to Mr. Speakers for the upgrade. They came back sounding like a new headphone. There was immediately a deeper, richer Bass and sub Bass that was missing before. A much fuller overall sound throughout the spectrum. The overall balance sounds great to my ears, the treble even more scintillating, than before. I listen to more Jazz and Classical than Rock and EDM style, so my tastes go to a more balanced sound and accurate reproduction. I use minimal EQ with most recordings. At the home set up they are paired w/ the Cavalli Liquid Carbon through a Mojo Audio DAC. But, what I find, is I actually love to listen to these portably. I live in a rural area, where it's relatively quiet, and I love listening to these through the Oppo H2 amp/DAC and played through the iBasso DX50. The DX50 is bit perfect, so with HiRes files, and the Oppo's HiGain, It's amazing all that you can hear out of doors! It's a great pairing and a wonderful treat to be able to be mobile and still hear music like you would late at night, on your home system. That's one of the nice things about the closed cups. Wind, external noise is minimized so you get more music and less outside interference. Very happy with this upgrade. I can highly recommend it to those Ether and Ether C owners who might still be on the upgrade fence.
 
For those who prefer EDM, rap, et.al these will rock your world w/o sounding distorted, bloated or Bass thin. I believe you'll hear "through" alot of the din and into the lyrics with these cans. Certainly worth a demo. Remember the C's do travel, maybe w/ a hoodie over in populated areas.

Just unpacked and started listening. I have the Shiitstack Modi2 Uber/Magni2 Uber to compare with. First off, the Bass coming through the Element is deeper, richer, more detailed, more refined. At the same price point, the JDS Element is doing a better job separating the bass into clear, deep notes. The Shiitstack is looser in the Bass and not as refined. The Doublebass notes become blended and distorted compared to the Element. My HD600's are sounding much deeper, better detailed, with plenty of power to push them effortlessly. As I settle into a music session, I occasionally switch back to the 
Magni/Modi and appreciate the mids and treble, but that Bass really does sound muddy enough that you lose the artist's playing. Instead there is just a continuous bass beat din. Switching back to the Element, you can clearly make out the plucking of each note, the bass line distinctly there, under the Sax, the interplay of the artists is clear and exciting.
 
As for comparing to tube amps, I do not yet own any. But, from all the blogs, and sonic descriptions, I'd say the JDS Lab's ELEMENT is tuned to behave warmly/deeply like the better tube amps, w/o being excessively warm. Vocals and mids are excellent, treble exciting but not at all harsh. From one night's listening I would give the Element a 5 star rating, best designed as a standalone dedicated desktop headphone amp. The design and build are minimalist, w/ a large volume pot the only knob or button visible from the front. There is an on/off push button, a High/Low Gain button, both out of sight along the back. Power, USB2 input and RCA L & R "in" only.
 
The ELEMENT is only a headphone amp/DAC. At the moment I do not see anyway to connect external speakers. There are RCA input jacks, but no RCA (or anything else) going out. I suppose you could add an external pre-amp device?
 
All in all, this would be a great addition to a workstation at your workplace, or at your home.