[LSD25]

Quote:

I've had 212pro's for a long time, and they're really fun headphones to listen to and have by far the most bass of all the cans I own, even more than HD650's and HFi2400's. BUT, if I were to listen to music on either of those or Q701's,  and then switch to HD212's, I'd feel like my ear canals are stuffed with some kind of foam, or the headphones are broken....
Usually you don't notice a big difference when going from lesser headphones to better headphones, but you notice a massive drop in quality when going from better to lesser headphones, it's really obvious then. 
 
One thing you gotta be prepared for, HD800 won't have even NEARLY as much bass impact or presence as the HD212's do, or even as much as the HD25's.

They are fun, I've had them for about 4 - 5 years by now lol they just lost their charm for me.
Though the Essence One did help it a lot, they sound more lively and detailed now.
But, how would you compare the quality of bass going from 212pro to HD650? Considering the impact of bass in 212s is probably greater because they're closed.
and I'm a complete newbie on the whole frequency response charts, but from what I see,
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=853&graphID[]=503&graphID[]=513
the 650s and HD25s have higher bass response? Whereas 212pro don't do well in the really low frequencies?

but since the 212s have a steep inclination, the bass probably sounds less detailed but punchier (being closed headphone makes it punchy too). I'm just making wild guess here lol
because when it comes to the slow deep bass sounds that go deeper and deeper, the 212s really struggle to keep up

 

[Funky-kun]

From my experience you can't really get much information on the bass of closed cans from charts. In every single case, trying the headphone myself revealed they have much more bass response than a graph reveals, probably due to resonances and/or seal. Open headphone bass response generally correlates to graph data.
 
212 have a boomy bass response. They reach relatively low, but 650 reach lower, and you can clearly feel the difference. The fact that 650s have less midbass compared to 212 makes their subbass more prominent, and it also is a lot more revealing - for one, you can distinguish between bass notes now. 212 have more impact on the bass, but it is created through resonances within the earcup (from what I hear) and you just get hit by a wash of bass whenever something goes low. 650 are generally less impactful, but don't overrepresent the bass when it is not callde for. This makes notes that go really low clearly different from the rest, and these bass dynamics are a clear difference between these cans. In any case, bass is just scratching the surface when comparing them.

 

[LSD25]

Quote:

From my experience you can't really get much information on the bass of closed cans from charts. In every single case, trying the headphone myself revealed they have much more bass response than a graph reveals, probably due to resonances and/or seal. Open headphone bass response generally correlates to graph data.
 
212 have a boomy bass response. They reach relatively low, but 650 reach lower, and you can clearly feel the difference. The fact that 650s have less midbass compared to 212 makes their subbass more prominent, and it also is a lot more revealing - for one, you can distinguish between bass notes now. 212 have more impact on the bass, but it is created through resonances within the earcup (from what I hear) and you just get hit by a wash of bass whenever something goes low. 650 are generally less impactful, but don't overrepresent the bass when it is not callde for. This makes notes that go really low clearly different from the rest, and these bass dynamics are a clear difference between these cans. In any case, bass is just scratching the surface when comparing them.

Oh wow! thanks for explaining that really well!

So I guess the frequency response graphs are very relative
Kind of like in painting (not sure if good analogy)
but its like when you put one color of paint, and put a second color around it - the second color determines whether the first color is warm or cool
and the whole presentation and the visual experience is determined by the balance of colors throughout the image
If one part grabs too much attention, it changes the meaning of the whole image, whereas if it is more balanced and subtle throughout, the image becomes much more pleasing - of course depending on the personal taste

 

[derbigpr]

 
Quote:

They are fun, I've had them for about 4 - 5 years by now lol they just lost their charm for me.
Though the Essence One did help it a lot, they sound more lively and detailed now.
But, how would you compare the quality of bass going from 212pro to HD650? Considering the impact of bass in 212s is probably greater because they're closed.
and I'm a complete newbie on the whole frequency response charts, but from what I see,
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=853&graphID[]=503&graphID[]=513
the 650s and HD25s have higher bass response? Whereas 212pro don't do well in the really low frequencies?

but since the 212s have a steep inclination, the bass probably sounds less detailed but punchier (being closed headphone makes it punchy too). I'm just making wild guess here lol
because when it comes to the slow deep bass sounds that go deeper and deeper, the 212s really struggle to keep up

 
I'd say 212's have about 50% more bass than HD650. In general, 212's even have more sub bass, but relative to mid bass, HD650's have more sub bass. So in 212's it seems like the bass rolls off more. But if you put a lets say 40hz loop track on both headphones, set to volume levels you know are identical when listening to music, you will find 212's have more sub bass.
HD650's bass is more balanced, controlled and textured. Its a far better quality bass definitely. But, of all the cans I've heard, 212's have by far the most bass impact and rumble, and it's not a very loose bass either. I mean, it is boomy, but the headphone construction is very solid (which you can see if you put them on and tap the headphone enclosures with your knuckles, you'll hear a really solid sound).  Most boominess (if that's even a word ) comes from the driver, not the bad driver enclosure, so the bass actually sounds pretty good, and there's no rattles from the driver enclosures. Its a perfect headphone for music with artificial bass, but it's not for reproducing natural sources of bass, such as bass guitar, double bass, or even organs, because then there's simply not enough texture and detail, and its too boomy to sound realistic.

 

[LSD25]

 
Quote:

 
 
I'd say 212's have about 50% more bass than HD650. In general, 212's even have more sub bass, but relative to mid bass, HD650's have more sub bass. So in 212's it seems like the bass rolls off more. But if you put a lets say 40hz loop track on both headphones, set to volume levels you know are identical when listening to music, you will find 212's have more sub bass.
HD650's bass is more balanced, controlled and textured. Its a far better quality bass definitely. But, of all the cans I've heard, 212's have by far the most bass impact and rumble, and it's not a very loose bass either. I mean, it is boomy, but the headphone construction is very solid (which you can see if you put them on and tap the headphone enclosures with your knuckles, you'll hear a really solid sound).  Most boominess (if that's even a word ) comes from the driver, not the bad driver enclosure, so the bass actually sounds pretty good, and there's no rattles from the driver enclosures. Its a perfect headphone for music with artificial bass, but it's not for reproducing natural sources of bass, such as bass guitar, double bass, or even organs, because then there's simply not enough texture and detail, and its too boomy to sound realistic.

Well, that's good that its more textured and controlled, I can't seem to fully enjoy classical or ambient music on 212s, it does sound like foam stuck in my ear already, in comparison to the more cleaner sound I got from hd25s
 
Though boominess in electronica music might be one thing that I'll be missing in HD800s i guess.. dunno.. we'll see when I hear them
I guess I could probably get some better closed ear headphones just for the bass driven music.
 
Till then i could just have the HD800s plugged in the the headphone jack of essence one, and have the subwoofer playing at the same time to just feel the vibration lol
Though that's one thing I love about E1, having both, speaker system and headphone working at the same time, and being able to control their sound levels separately.

 

[marc0vca]

Hi guys! Does e1 work with mac os x lion?

 

[derbigpr]

 
Quote:

 
Well, that's good that its more textured and controlled, I can't seem to fully enjoy classical or ambient music on 212s, it does sound like foam stuck in my ear already, in comparison to the more cleaner sound I got from hd25s
 
Though boominess in electronica music might be one thing that I'll be missing in HD800s i guess.. dunno.. we'll see when I hear them
I guess I could probably get some better closed ear headphones just for the bass driven music.
 
Till then i could just have the HD800s plugged in the the headphone jack of essence one, and have the subwoofer playing at the same time to just feel the vibration lol
Though that's one thing I love about E1, having both, speaker system and headphone working at the same time, and being able to control their sound levels separately.

 
Yea that is awesome, especially if you have some near field monitors. You can create a nice sound stage with them and give some weight to the sound, and still get all the detail and resolution from the HD800's.  That's what I do sometimes with my home cinema system. I plug in my Q701's trough the 6 meter long cord, then sit back, and use both the surround sound (at low volume) and headphone sound. Might sound crazy, but it works better than just using one of the systems.
 

 

[LSD25]

 
Quote:

Hi guys! Does e1 work with mac os x lion?

 

It does, If you have a macbook pro, you can use the optical cable, and it works with the USB as well, no drivers needed.
If you go to System Preferences > Sound > Output, you can select SPDIF Output  USB from the list, instead of Internal speakers/built-in

 

[marc0vca]

I have iMac. Does it has optical output? Can i plug e1 by optical cable to imac?

 

[LSD25]

 
Quote:

I have iMac. Does it has optical output? Can i plug e1 by optical cable to imac?

 
Most likely, the optical output is the same port in which you plug in your headphones.
You just need a mini toslink adapter on one end of your cable, it goes inside the headphone jack of your iMac
 

 

[derbigpr]

Decisions, decisions...

 

[ROBSCIX]

 
Quote:

USB should not sound any worse than S/PDIF. The Xonar DX does not have Dolby Headphone on the digital output, as far as I know.
 

 
I tested the Xonar DX with the Essence One through S/Pdif and it works fine with Dolby Headphone.

 

[derbigpr]

Can someone compare only the headphone amp section of Essence One to any standalone amp? I have no clue in which league the amp on E1 is...does it compare to 200$ standalone amps or something a bit better? 
 
I'm in big dilemma now, as I can get a slightly used Musical Fidelity M1DAC in mint condition for half the price of a E1...I assume as far as DAC goes, M1 should beat the E1, but what I don't know is whether I can buy an amp for the rest of the money (250-300 dollars) that will be as good as the amp in E1.
 

 

[Mad Max]

You could always lend me your One to compare to my M-Stage. 

 

[derbigpr]

 
Quote:

You could always lend me your One to compare to my M-Stage. 

 
 
 
Fck it, I ordered my Musical Fidelity M1DAC now. I guess a 800$ DAC must sound better than a 500$ dac+amp+preamp, especially when you get the 800$ DAC for 300$.

   I reckon, an opportunity to get a world class DAC for 300$ won't come that fast again, and Asus E1 can be bought whenever I want.