[scootsit]

The guy at that website swears by them, but he also loves G-cush pads (and he also has a vested interest in selling both). I have experimented with a few different  things, and really love the sound of my Bowls with my 325is (not yet magnumed), while they are slightly uncomfortable, I can't seem to get the same SQ with anything else. But, I get where you are coming from, they can be painful. Anyway, have you tried just bending the head-band straighter so that there is less pressure on your ears?

 

[t-crisis]

Quote:

Hmm wonder if anyone has actually tried those comfort rings haha .... thanks for the link mate =)

Seems like way too much effort to me - to be putting those on each time you want to listen, and adjusting them and what not. 

 

[Questhate]

Quote:

 
 
Dude. I have no idea why. My Magnum build is also with a silver recable and it's in an RS-2 cup so it's a lot tighter in there than a lot of the widemouth cups yalls been using. I have a rev 1, but apparently it's not that much of a difference...
 
I'm also using a fairly janky cable on this so who knows. 
 
And yeah Questhate, I am a gigantic Gradophile, thats why I have a library of them and I won't sell them off even if I have to do questionable acts for money on the street for Chipotle money

 
Some things to consider are variances in LCD-2 models, production variances of Magnum drivers and different build properties.
 
There's lot of subjective impressions as well as objective measurements that show a huge range of variability in LCD-2/LCD-3 sounds between units.
 
Not sure what the conclusion was regarding the sound differences of different Magnum batches. Seeing how well the drivers are matched in the Magnums, it seems unlikely but I've personally heard a big difference between a grey driver V4 vs. black driver V4 -- and greatly preferring the grey driver.
 
And then as you alluded to -- different Magnum builds.
 
Could be the case of "bad" LCD-2+"good" Magnum driver+synergistic build vs. "good" LCD-2+"subpar" Magnum driver+unsynergistic build.
 
And of course that's not even counting personal preferences.

 

[dgcrane]

+1

I have regretted selling my all grey driver magnum headphones every second since I have done so.

I only do so since I was assured the all black ones were identical. I would bet my house that the all grey ones were a lot better...... I wish I could find an all grey pair to verify and confirm. I have to say I am not as in love with the magnums since I made that mistake. I assume that some of the hype has died cause the only option is all black now which just aren't as spectacular. Just my thoughts....

Darren

 

[Questhate]

Quote:

+1
I have regretted selling my all grey driver magnum headphones every second since I have done so.
I only do so since I was assured the all black ones were identical. I would bet my house that the all grey ones were a lot better...... I wish I could find an all grey pair to verify and confirm. I have to say I am not as in love with the magnums since I made that mistake. I assume that some of the hype has died cause the only option is all black now which just aren't as spectacular. Just my thoughts....
Darren

 
Yep, my thoughts echo yours. I actually ordered two grey drivers -- one for me and one for my friend. I traded my pair of greys for the blacks. As soon as I received the black pair, the difference was immediately noticeable. After a few days of listening to them, I had my friend bring over his grey drivers to A/B just to assure myself that I wasn't crazy. We had them in same cups, same wood, same cable, same pads -- only difference was the driver batches. Also had woodied 225 there as a reference. The grey was just so much smoother, yet still detailed. There was just an effortlessness about its sound. The black version is closer to the Grado drivers in that there is a hardness/edginess to them.
 
The difference between the grey and black V4s was much wider than the difference between the black V4 and 225, IME.

 

[thelostMIDrange]

I hate to jump in again, as my views are well known, but it's frustrating to see what i feel is some distortion here when i've heard 13 sets of them.........to anyone who loves their magnum as is or doesn't like nitpiking or engaging in constructive criticism or feels there is no variation in drivers, please feel free to move over this post to the next one that is less controversial. The views expressed in the following may seem hardened, intractable or overly confident, but I've got decent ears, 25-30 years of listening to essentially the same record collection, and I know what i've heard in my system and where the magnum driver may fit in, as well as having built and played traditional stringed instruments out here in the real world for the same 25 years. so I feel a right to try and clarify. After all, the more clear we can be about what we hear in v4's, the better chance we have of getting a neater variation v5. To that end, i'd like to offer two things:
 
I would say dcrange should not regret selling grey drivers because they were the color grey necessarily. If there be any regret, have regret selling X particular set of drivers that had a category of a sound signature you liked.........I've had 3 sets of greys and at least as many blacks all with essentially that same darker, smoother, mellower signature of the greys. Now how could that be if the greys were unique?,,,,,,,,,,having said that, feedback and folklore does seem to point to a possible observation that there may have been less variation within the greys (but in reality, maybe not as not every grey's signature is known) but still, you can likely find that signature in black as well if that is the magnum you desire. No worries. The problem is it may take a few orders/attempts worse case scenario......
 
and to questhate, I would say while it's true there is a difference in those two sets you had/have (i've heard those exact two sets as well as you know), it is not true or fair to brand all blackie's with that edgy label. In fact the more brittle/presence sets seemed to be exceptions ime, as I never came across another with that signature. (In fact it may not be fair at all to even mention them since they were so oddball.  the general populous may imagine that magnums have such issues when to my ears, they have more real issues that we could be discussing like some coloration, in the hopes we can get a slightly more natural V5 in the future   Still, No one hears some issue with acoustic stringed instruments and snare drums being a little colored/artificial ? Doesn't anyone have a turntable? Just by hearing the exaggerated surface noise (which has a touch of 'radioacitve' color) of vinyl would tell you something's up..........  Back to the variation issue. There seems to be a range from the extreme oddballs on the 'edge' all the way to the much more common and smoother greys. questhate had the two extremes at once fortunately/unfortunately. That is where the problem is. But at least he knows the range of v4's and while it's large, it's not so extreme - (for others reading who haven't heard the range).............and the more basic piece of info I have is that there are other sets in the middle of those two extremes. So, unless things have changed at the 'ol 'factory', at the very least there are 3 categories they might be lumped into, to keep it simple. 2 if we disregard the edgy sets as flukes, More, depending on how finely one wanted to divide them up. The only way for us end users to do make such a division is to order a dozen sets, mount them in identical cups and cables and listen and i've probably come as close to doing that as anyone else besides the maker? In my dreams if he had me help out in a v5, I'd strive for the sets that had a little more presence than the 'greys' and I would like to hear some more natural sound in strings and snares. That would truly make them 'top tier' imo. Although I'm sure it's not an easy task, or even possible to tweek drivers and get them to come out all sounding the same. I imagine that's where companies come up with the offereing of 'choice' to a consumer or why there's pepsi and coke. Variations on a theme. It can be seen as a + but only if the buyer knows in advance if he is buying pepsi, coke or cherry coke. Otherwise it's kind of frustrating.
 
but then again, all my listening has been in wood cups except for one set in symphones metal, so those with metal cups may not have any use in the details of the above info, and that includes the maker, who designed these for metal. Although the variation issue would still be valid, the sound signatures i've heard may not.

 

[jinteddy7]

Quote:

The guy at that website swears by them, but he also loves G-cush pads (and he also has a vested interest in selling both). I have experimented with a few different  things, and really love the sound of my Bowls with my 325is (not yet magnumed), while they are slightly uncomfortable, I can't seem to get the same SQ with anything else. But, I get where you are coming from, they can be painful. Anyway, have you tried just bending the head-band straighter so that there is less pressure on your ears?

 
Quote:

Seems like way too much effort to me - to be putting those on each time you want to listen, and adjusting them and what not. 

Cool, I initially planned to visit some foam manufacturers this coming saturday (i only have 3 in mind) but saturday is a public holiday and my working hours as a graphic designer do not permit me to visit manufacturers on weekdays (i work from 9am - 9pm and later, its normal if there are at least two days in a week where i stay up as late as 2am) So it will have to be the saturday after this coming saturday.

Drew up some designs and plan to come up with the smallest angular circumaural pad possible just a tad bigger than L cushes and much smaller than g cushes. Angular so that the driver barely / does not touch the ear, and lastly, since i am a designer by heart, must look good. Goofy is not acceptable, i do not care what people say about sound first looks later, but im a graphic designer, so sue me =). (no offense guys); It probably will not see the light of day because there are a lot of things that come into consideration, foam material is the thing i am most concerned about (i want to keep it at the same density as the grado L cush) and whether or not the manufactures will actually take on my project. But what the heck, If you never try you will never know right? haha =) Fingers crossed, i will have at least one of the manufactures out of the three who will be willing to take on the project.

Cheers

-jin-

 

[Mullet]

I can verify the differences as well. I originally had black drivers and never expected the harshness/sibilance when I got them from Ohrenholz. He exchanged them for me with the grey drivers he had on hand and they are night and day. They are smooth and I can listen to them for hours at hand with no sibilance issues.
 
I'd love to see what the results would be if someone sent woodied black Magnum v4s to Tyll for measurement.
 
One last thought... theLostMIDrange is right when he says that the variations might have nothing to do with driver color. So basically YMMV when it comes to v4s in wood.

 

[thelostMIDrange]

The set in limba I sent in to innerfidelity were not only black , they were personally verified by Rydon as being 'to spec'. And they were as 'grey' sounding as any grey set I heard. Which leads me to suspect that somewhat darker mellow driver is the end-goal of the magnum, whereas any other variations are happy and unhappy accidents depending on one's perspective. And for me, I liked the sets in the middle for wood, whereas maybe the mellower sets were meant for metal, which all makes sense. Maybe there could be another version developed specfically for wood (limba or tiger maple please

 

[t-crisis]

Quote:

Drew up some designs and plan to come up with the smallest angular circumaural pad possible just a tad bigger than L cushes and much smaller than g cushes. Angular so that the driver barely / does not touch the ear, and lastly, since i am a designer by heart, must look good. Goofy is not acceptable, i do not care what people say about sound first looks later, but im a graphic designer, so sue me =). (no offense guys); It probably will not see the light of day because there are a lot of things that come into consideration, foam material is the thing i am most concerned about (i want to keep it at the same density as the grado L cush) and whether or not the manufactures will actually take on my project. But what the heck, If you never try you will never know right? haha =) Fingers crossed, i will have at least one of the manufactures out of the three who will be willing to take on the project.

Cheers

-jin-

 
Awesome, I am super excited to hear about/see your results! I agree, I'd go with the same density of foam as the L-cush, which seems slightly firmer than the s-cush. I've put a lot of thought into how I could make them more comfortable (without reducing the pressure on my ears, because I like my Grados to stay on my head when I move) and I think it would be ideal if you could make a velour cover for the pads, but I just haven't come up with an easy way to do it. Anyway, best of luck to you

 

[t-crisis]

Quote:

I can verify the differences as well. I originally had black drivers and never expected the harshness/sibilance when I got them from Ohrenholz. He exchanged them for me with the grey drivers he had on hand and they are night and day. They are smooth and I can listen to them for hours at hand with no sibilance issues.
 
I'd love to see what the results would be if someone sent woodied black Magnum v4s to Tyll for measurement.
 
One last thought... theLostMIDrange is right when he says that the variations might have nothing to do with driver color. So basically YMMV when it comes to v4s in wood.

 
I have a set of black v4s in mahogany from Sylvan, how long does it usually take for TYLL to test a pair (excluding shipping time because obviously that varies)? 

 

[Mullet]

When I sent mine he told me a week. I guess it depends on how busy he is as well. I think it's worth it to do if you don't mind not having them for 2 to 3 weeks tops.

 

[scoopbb]

i got the black version and i really dont think mine are sibilant at all. they feel very very smooth. ive listened to ms1i and sr60i. the sr60i were WAAAY more sibilant. to the point that i could hardly listen to them. i used my hd650 bfore then, since getting the magnum i dear say i dont even want to listen to the hd650. i never thought they were "veiled" until i listened to the magnums for 6 hours, then put the 650s on. it sounded like someone threw a literal veil over the sound. i can blast the magnums and dont get a hint of sibilance. i got them literally a few days ago.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

The set in limba I sent in to innerfidelity were not only black , they were personally verified by Rydon as being 'to spec'. And they were as 'grey' sounding as any grey set I heard. Which leads me to suspect that somewhat darker mellow driver is the end-goal of the magnum, whereas any other variations are happy and unhappy accidents depending on one's perspective. And for me, I liked the sets in the middle for wood, whereas maybe the mellower sets were meant for metal, which all makes sense. Maybe there could be another version developed specfically for wood (limba or tiger maple please

 
This is tempting me to get another set of drivers.

 

[Twinster]

So for the folks that has experience with two variation on the sound signature would you say that the less smooth version sound closer to the Grado Signature? I personally owned the first batch of Magnum driver and they were very smooth but I was hoping for a bit more sparkles on top. For the record I'm not sensitive to sibilance. 
 
So if anyone here feel that their Magnum drivers are too bright and would like to try a different set of drivers let me know.