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MrSpeakers Alpha Dog Revealed! - The World's First Production 3D-Printed Headphones
Oct 18, 2013 at 10:37 AM Post #3,136 of 9,071
Oct 18, 2013 at 10:58 AM Post #3,137 of 9,071
I still don't get the notion of "fast" or "slow" headphones...
All the music seems to play at the same speed on all the headphones I've ever tried.
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 11:12 AM Post #3,138 of 9,071
mechgamer123 said:
  I still don't get the notion of "fast" or "slow" headphones...
All the music seems to play at the same speed on all the headphones I've ever tried.
Click to expand...

It's a vague term that can mean many things, inlcuding bass bloat, lack of extension in the upper-mids/treble and a slew of other things.  I personally don't buy into it too much.
 
Please don't take offense, guys who use the term.  I think it's great that the AD's are getting attention, and it seems to be gathering steam outside the planar magnetic community.  There are many different paths in this hobby of ours- it's a really big tent!
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 11:13 AM Post #3,139 of 9,071
mechgamer123 said:
  I still don't get the notion of "fast" or "slow" headphones...
All the music seems to play at the same speed on all the headphones I've ever tried.
Click to expand...

 
lol
 
It is the speed that the drivers can move, the HD600/HD650 are actually quite fast drivers apparently (someone in the HD650 thread said this) but the sound signature and presentation gives the impression of them being slow...
 
It is the attack / decay speed and the general sound signature of the headphones which can make them sound fast or slow.... Listen to the same song on some HD650 and then use some Ortho's and you will see what I mean... It is not actually faster or slower obviously the song still lasts the same amount of time... It is just the impression of speed of the sound.
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 11:31 AM Post #3,141 of 9,071
swspiers said:
LOL!  Being a 50-year-old bass player, I can barely hear above 10K.  Too many years standing next to crash cymbals, I guess...
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There are so many aspects/parameters to music that do not involve you hearing past 10k..
Timbre/tonality, spacial cues, harmonics, fast/slow, and your brain's interpretation on what your ears are picking up, what it "filters out" .. Last but not least is: your "memory" of how those bass instruments you played and cymbal crashes you were subjected to, should sound!

zowki said:
I think I'll be keeping my ADs for a while. I was so concentrated on the one flaw (the soundstage) that I almost forgot about all the other good aspects of the AD.
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Hey it's not a flaw it's a closed can!
If it actually were an open can then I could see, but I also understand your comparison to open cans so just sayn so others won't think there is any "flaw"(!)

And lastly, you committed a major crime in this thread to put that AKG on top of the beloved Alphas ! Lol!


zowki said:
Want AKG K701 comparisons? I picked one up today. Early impressions: The soundstage and air (similar to the HD600) absolutely destroys the Alpha Dogs. No contest in that regard.
Click to expand...
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 1:59 PM Post #3,143 of 9,071
nicholars said:
 
mechgamer123 said:
  I still don't get the notion of "fast" or "slow" headphones...
All the music seems to play at the same speed on all the headphones I've ever tried.
Click to expand...

 
lol
 
It is the speed that the drivers can move, the HD600/HD650 are actually quite fast drivers apparently (someone in the HD650 thread said this) but the sound signature and presentation gives the impression of them being slow...
 
It is the attack / decay speed and the general sound signature of the headphones which can make them sound fast or slow.... Listen to the same song on some HD650 and then use some Ortho's and you will see what I mean... It is not actually faster or slower obviously the song still lasts the same amount of time... It is just the impression of speed of the sound.
Click to expand...

Yes, I understand that. I know you can see the driver speed from impulse resopnse and CSDs and such, but I haven't really heard that much of a difference between "fast" and "slow" drivers. I haven't directly compared something like the HD650 to orthos or stats. I do however have electrostats which are supposed to be "faster" than the Mad Dogs in theory, but again I can't really hear the difference in speed.
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 2:10 PM Post #3,144 of 9,071
mechgamer123 said:
  Yes, I understand that. I know you can see the driver speed from impulse resopnse and CSDs and such, but I haven't really heard that much of a difference between "fast" and "slow" drivers. I haven't directly compared something like the HD650 to orthos or stats. I do however have electrostats which are supposed to be "faster" than the Mad Dogs in theory, but again I can't really hear the difference in speed.
Click to expand...

You might be trying to hear the wrong things.
 
The 'speed' of the drivers, which some call the transients, results in how real/effortless/textured the produced sound is. It's not brighter/dimmer (those are frequency-response related effects on sound), instead it is the fidelity of the sound, how much of the micro-nuances/dynamics of real life sounds are reproduced by the drivers.
 
Tl;dr hard to describe true meaning of transient speed without sounding pretentious.
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 2:14 PM Post #3,145 of 9,071
I play some of this CD every time I review anything:
 

Jack Roberts describes it as:
This album is like kaleidoscope of colorful and exciting musical material. The first cut Tiden Bara Gar will have you up out of you chair with it’s great energy. Yes, it has some incredible imaging, but I can never get past just how alive it sounds. Track 5 is the best example of a correct soundstage I have ever heard. It is what they refer to as a symphonic band and the placement of the instruments in their own space on the stage is incredible. I could go on and on, but the liner notes explain each cut and have enjoyed the music for over 30 years.
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Here is an Opus 3 recording setup, showing one pair of crossed mikes.   A microphone 30 feet from the artist can sound as if it is inches away - if there is no spurious noise...
 

By the way, the engineer of these recordings often used electrostatic headphones for monitoring...
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 2:22 PM Post #3,146 of 9,071
mechgamer123 said:
  Yes, I understand that. I know you can see the driver speed from impulse resopnse and CSDs and such, but I haven't really heard that much of a difference between "fast" and "slow" drivers. I haven't directly compared something like the HD650 to orthos or stats. I do however have electrostats which are supposed to be "faster" than the Mad Dogs in theory, but again I can't really hear the difference in speed.
Click to expand...

 
Between the electrostats and Mad dogs it is probably not as noticable (not tried) because they are both fast...
 
But if you compare some slow sounding headphones such as the HD650 to the electrostats or Mag Dogs with fast music such as metal or EDM it should be pretty obvious.
 
Oct 18, 2013 at 2:26 PM Post #3,147 of 9,071
jerg said:
  You might be trying to hear the wrong things.
 
The 'speed' of the drivers, which some call the transients, results in how real/effortless/textured the produced sound is. It's not brighter/dimmer (those are frequency-response related effects on sound), instead it is the fidelity of the sound, how much of the micro-nuances/dynamics of real life sounds are reproduced by the drivers.
 
Click to expand...

 
The FR does seem to make a difference to the perceived speed as well, for example the mid bass / lower midrange hump on the HD650 makes them sound slow.
 
jerg said:
Tl;dr hard to describe true meaning of transient speed without sounding pretentious.
Click to expand...

 
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Oct 18, 2013 at 2:29 PM Post #3,148 of 9,071
jerg said:
  Tl;dr hard to describe true meaning of transient speed without sounding pretentious.
Click to expand...

When some people use descriptions like:
 The soundstage and air absolutely destroys the Alpha Dogs. No contest in that regard.
Click to expand...

then all other comments sound pretentious in comparison ! 
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