I want to thank
Todd The Vinyl Junkie for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Dharma loaner program. I was able to audition the headphones for a week, and eventually make comparisons between it and my LCD-X and TH900. I couldn’t resist doing a few comparisons when I first got the Dharma, but I tried to keep them to a minimum, as I wanted to give myself a full week with the Dharma to really let its sound signature set in. So, for a few hours each day of the week, I listened to the Dharma every night. All of my listening was done using the following gear: MacBook Pro/PS4 -> USB/TOSLINK -> Schist Yggdrasil -> Schist Mjolnir 2 (1975 Voskhod 6n23p tubes). While I do have a balanced cable for the LCD-X, I ran it single ended during the comparisons. I believe the SE out of the Mjolnir 2 has been described as a “utility out”, so I wanted to playing field to be fair.
Over the period of time just listening to the Dharma, a few general characteristics became pretty clear. The soundstage is large, dynamic range is high, and everything just sounds balanced and “right” to me. My other headphones tend to impart some sort of character to the sound, but not the Dharma. All of this creates a totally immersive experience that I think only a great pair of headphones can provide. The one other pair of headphones I’ve owned that made me feel the same way were the STAX 007Mk2 (SZ3). That immersive quality is the number one thing I miss about the 007, so I was VERY pleased to be experiencing again, via the Dharma. Even though it’s been about a year since I’ve had my 007, I feel like the Dharma also has some of the “ethereal” nature STAX are known for, which I guess shouldn’t be too surprising. While they don’t sound quite as effortless as I recall the STAX sounding, they still sound pretty surreal.
As far as overall frequency response goes, I can’t say that I went out of my way to carefully examine each region. I put the phones on, listened, and if something sounded “off”, I’ll just tried to figure out what it was. Still, here are my impressions of the frequency response.
Bass
The Dharma definitely has its fair share. The only time I ever felt it was lacking was when I was listening to some seriously bass heavy music (i.e. EDM like NGHTMRE). The kicks always hit hard, and there is some rumble, but the lowest of the lows just aren’t there (at least stock and off my system). This was ONLY when I listened to electronic music. For every other genre, I didn’t miss much compared to the LCD-X and TH900, both of which are considered bass kings. Finally, I think like everybody else, I find it almost impossible to imagine these have such high bass distortion numbers. I just don’t hear it. The bass sounds fast and tight to me, but the measurements are what they are.
Mids
As far as mids go, nothing, good or bad, stood out about them, to me. That’s not to meant to be a shrug or that the mids are “meh”, it’s just that they sounded right to me. They’re not emphasized, recessed, sweet, dry, etc…just natural sounding.
Treble
Yes, the treble is
excellent. I know some have described these as bright, but I might instead say that maybe the treble is just more extended than the bass. “Bright” to me means there is some sort of irritating or piercing area of the treble, but the treble here is quite smooth, and I don’t think there are many bad things to say about the Dharma’s treble.
Comparisons:
I found that all three of the headphones are quite different sounding, and so it’s be hard to say that any one of them is “best”. I found the Dharma to be the most immersive with the widest soundstage. However, it’s
relatively thin sounding and bass lite
compared to the LCD-X and TH900. I only felt this way when doing the side-by-side comparisons. As I listened thought the week, I never actually felt it sounded all that thin, and the only time I truly felt it lacked bass was while listening to bass driven electronic music. So, while I wouldn’t recommend the Dharma for electronic, I think it’s excellent for classical, jazz, and rock. The TH900, on the other head, is fantastic with electronic, and does the other genres very well. To me, the TH900’s major drawback is the recessed mids. The LCD-X is a pretty good all rounder, and I love how full bodied it sounds, but I wish it was more open sounding, dynamic, and had more of that LCD “creaminess” (I find the X a little dry). Oh, and I REALLY wish the LCD-X was more comfortable, but hopefully the new carbon fibre headband will address that.
On to the details. I apologize for their somewhat vague and brief nature, as well as the occasional lack of comparison or rank, but as I was comparing the headphones, I kept writing the same things down over and over again, so the notes ended up being pretty short and redundant. Still, if you’d like to see them, here they are. Throughout, D = Dharma, X = LCD-X, and 900 = TH900.
General:
Detail: Tie
Body: X > 900 > D
Bass Quantity: 900 > X > D
Mids: X > D > 900
Treble: D > 900 > X
Speed: D > 900 > X
Soundstage: D > 900 > X
Immersiveness: D > 900 > X
Sweetness: 900 > D > X
Effortlessness: D > 900 > X
Comfort: 900 > D > X
Classical: Pascal Roge - Satie Gnossienns
D: impact of each keystroke is palpable, and and each note feels as if it floating in space
X: warmer tone than the Dharma, but the soundstage is much smaller and almost suffocating in comparison
Ranking: Dharma > X
Classical: Olafur Anrnald - Nocturn in C# Minor
D: Violin takes on a delicate sound
X: Rapid succession of notes sound a bit smushed together compared to the Dharma
900: Violin sounds a little sharp compared to the other two
Rank: D > 900 > X
Electronic: Machinedrum - Gunshotta
D: thwack of snare drum is fast, but you may wince if the volume is up too high. Around 3:05 a low bass line drops in, and while the depth isn’t totally there, the texture is great. Soundstage is also fantastic.
X: I thought the bass was actually a bit blurrier in comparison to the Dharma, which was a surprise. Again, the LCD-X had a more full bodied sound compared to the Dharma
900: Mids are clearly recessed compared to the other two, but the that bass line comes to life and really drives the track, making it a more engaging experience.
Ranking: 9 > X > D
Electronic: Nghtmre - Street
Hardly “audiophile” music, but it’s got a TON of bass, so it seemed like a good bass test track
D: Kick drum is impactful, and it’s cool to hear and feel how the compressor affects the bass line when the kick goes on and off. While the quality of bass is great, the track really loses a lot of it’s excitement because the bass doesn’t go quite low enough
X: Again, surprisingly, the kick drum doesn’t feel as tight on the X. While there is more subass than on the Dharma, it too seems to lack the amount this track demands
900: Incredibly fast sound, with a wider soundstage than the X, but less than the Dharma. No surprise here, but the TH900 brings the bass, really allowing one to hear the full glory of this bass monster of a track
Rank: 900 > X > D
Rock: Black Sabbath - Planet Caravan
D: Bongo’s dance left and right above your head, Ozzy’s vocals feel very natural
X: A richer and smoother sound than the Dharma, especially when the guitar solo comes in, but the placement of the bongo’s seems less distinct.
900: A mix of the Dharma and X
Rank: D > 900 > X
Rock: Black Sabbath - Iron Man
Whenever I listen to Planet Caravan, I can’t wait to get to Iron Man!
D: As with Gunshotta, the kick and snare are fast and hit hard, bringing the track to life. You really get that out-of-head experience here
X: More full bodied than the Dharma (again), but somehow is relatively dull sounding. I think this may be because the snare doesn’t seem to have as much impact
900: Body is somewhere between the Dharma and X. Like the Dharma, the 900 is very fast sounding
Rank: All do different things well, so I called this one a tie.
Rock: Mogwai - Chocky
D: bass and kick sound to be very well separated. The piano that occasionally sweeps across the soundstage really feels like it starts way outside of you head, moves through it, and then far out the other side
X: Kick and bass seem less distinct compared to the Dharma
900: Again, somewhere in between the Dharma and X
Jazz: Miles Davis - Blue in Green
D: Plenty of bass for this track, but the trumpet can occasionally sound a touch sharp
X: More full bodied and warmer sounding than the Dharma
900: Sweet sounding, and no sharpness to the trumpet.
Conclusions
I greatly enjoyed my time with the Dharma, and again want to thank
ToddThe Vinyl Junkie for giving me the chance to participate in the loaner program. I really do think all three headphones are fantastic, and each on excels in different areas, so there is no overall “best”. I do realize that the Dharma has some wonky measurements, but even so I think it’s a worthy contender, and for some could be their one and only headphone. I think this would especially be the case if you listen primarily to classical, jazz, and rock. And, if the Audeze ear pads really do bring up the bass, then I think the Dharma could make many happy. For me, personally, I feel like the Dharma and TH900 complement each other, which sort of obviates my need for the LCD-X, which I’ve felt is a jack of all trades, but master of none. As such, I may put it up for sale, and get the Dharma along with a pair of Audeze earpads. Or, maybe I’ll put the money into a pair of speakers. The fact that I’m actually having trouble deciding between the Dhrama and speakers reflects just how much I enjoyed the Dharma
On a final note, while the Dharma is far from inexpensive, in this time of insanely priced flagships, I also feel it’s a true value. It was beyond competitive with the more expensive TH900 and LCD-X, and (to me, from memory) somewhat reminiscent of the substantially pricier STAX 007. So, I truly hope that the Dharma gets the attention it deserves, and that Enigmacoustics is encouraged to continue on the path of creating amazing headphones at (relatively) sane prices.
