pippen99 said:

If you plan to buy new the LCD-3 would be a budget buster by a little bit. For most of the past year I have had the LCD-X and the ETHER as my headphones. The X saw at least 80% of head time as I felt it did everything a bit better especially the low end. I went ahead and spent the money to upgrade my ETHER to FLOW status hoping it would surpass the X. Unfortunately for me it still fell short of the X so it has been sold. As a matter of fact it gets shipped out tomorrow. The X falls into the same budget range that you have targeted. I cannot comment on the Z1R as it is one of the few cans in that range I have not auditioned. Just more food for thought!

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You can get new LCD 3 for 1400-1500 in the Classified section

I loved my LCD2, and the LCD3 I demoed before buying the 2. However, I only lasted two weeks with the LCD2 (and I was away on business most of that time) before I sold them. I'd have returned them but I missed the window by a day and AdvancedMP3Players were not at all flexible. The LCDs are just too heavy and have too high a clamping force, even with the band bent (I suspect its induced by the weight). I just could not cope with them for more than 20 mins before I got a headache.

The Ether C Flow on the other hand I can wear for much longer. I do have to fidget with the cups because the gimbals are too tight so they don't adjust to position automatically - until I find the sweet spot it puts too much pressure to the front or the rear. I do like the sound of these, though they still lack a little bass for my sensitive ears - so I boost the lower frequencies by 2db in EQ. They work better for studio monitoring than my LCDs did, and they are far better to travel with to use in a hotel due to being much lighter.

I’m currently running the flows with a mojo and HA2. At times, the midbass with the mojo can get overwhelming. When I switch over to the HA2 its less so, but at a loss of detail. I hope the upcoming Hugo 2 can fix this. Anyone here prefer the flows on a brighter dac/amp?

Originally, I bought mojo because I love how it sounds with my ether c.

Torrs said:

I’m currently running the flows with a mojo and HA2. At times, the midbass with the mojo can get overwhelming. When I switch over to the HA2 its less so, but at a loss of detail. I hope the upcoming Hugo 2 can fix this. Anyone here prefer the flows on a brighter dac/amp?

Originally, I bought mojo because I love how it sounds with my ether c.

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The mid bass is a characteristic of the ETHER Flow, which is better on the C Flow, if the open version is too much for you. If the HA-2 compensated this for you then that may be your preference. Have you tried using EQ?

I have the Hugo2 tour unit here now and it actually has more bass impact than the Mojo but it's also more incisive in the detail (listening to the ETHER Flow open), but doesn't 'correct' the slight mid bass hump from the headphone.

I'm amazed when I see comments about too much bass on the Ether Flow. I need a tiny bit more. Maybe the Cs have less bass than the open?

zerolight said:

I'm amazed when I see comments about too much bass on the Ether Flow. I need a tiny bit more. Maybe the Cs have less bass than the open?

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I think 'too much' is a relative term. Compared directly to the Flow C the open Flow has more mid-bass, while the Flow C has more low-bass / less mid-bass, compared to the open Flow.

The closed version (I have the original) are not as mid bass heavy as my open flows. The C’s are known to be bass light, but I do find that the C’s extend quite a bit deeper maybe due to the nature of being a closed headphone. It’s not that I prefer a bass light headphone. I bought the mojo originally to improve the low end on the ether c. I think it may be a power issue with my mojo. I tried the flows with both the liquid carbon and CMA600i’s and found the bass to have better separation and slam. I had to return the two amps due to others reasons outside its sound quality and I am currently looking for an upgrade to both the mojo and ha-2.
Anyone here have recommendations on a portable/transportable amp with plenty of power to drive my ether flows?

Torrs said:

The closed version (I have the original) are not as mid bass heavy as my open flows. The C’s are known to be bass light, but I do find that the C’s extend quite a bit deeper maybe due to the nature of being a closed headphone. It’s not that I prefer a bass light headphone. I bought the mojo originally to improve the low end on the ether c. I think it may be a power issue with my mojo. I tried the flows with both the liquid carbon and CMA600i’s and found the bass to have better separation and slam. I had to return the two amps due to others reasons outside its sound quality and I am currently looking for an upgrade to both the mojo and ha-2.
Anyone here have recommendations on a portable/transportable amp with plenty of power to drive my ether flows?

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Firstly, it's not a power issue with the Mojo, it's synergy. I find with the Mojo it's a pretty honest source and the character of the headphones comes through despite its smooth tuning, and as you say the ETHER C is pretty bass light (the C Flow improves this somewhat). There's more than enough power from the Mojo to easily drive the ETHER headphones. I had the Liquid Carbon and it has a sweet tone to it. That's the Cavalli house sound so that's what you were hearing through the Liquid Carbon, not more power, unless you cranked the volume to unlistenable levels. I haven't heard the CMA600i’s so I have no comment.

You may want to look at an ALO Cv5 portable tube amp, which isn't too pricey. There's also a Woo WA8 you may want to check out if you want more warmth. Both of these amps by the way are less powerful than the Mojo, but can drive the ETHER headphones.

Torrs said:

The closed version (I have the original) are not as mid bass heavy as my open flows. The C’s are known to be bass light, but I do find that the C’s extend quite a bit deeper maybe due to the nature of being a closed headphone. It’s not that I prefer a bass light headphone. I bought the mojo originally to improve the low end on the ether c. I think it may be a power issue with my mojo. I tried the flows with both the liquid carbon and CMA600i’s and found the bass to have better separation and slam. I had to return the two amps due to others reasons outside its sound quality and I am currently looking for an upgrade to both the mojo and ha-2.
Anyone here have recommendations on a portable/transportable amp with plenty of power to drive my ether flows?

Click to expand...

Torrs said:

The closed version (I have the original) are not as mid bass heavy as my open flows. The C’s are known to be bass light, but I do find that the C’s extend quite a bit deeper maybe due to the nature of being a closed headphone. It’s not that I prefer a bass light headphone. I bought the mojo originally to improve the low end on the ether c. I think it may be a power issue with my mojo. I tried the flows with both the liquid carbon and CMA600i’s and found the bass to have better separation and slam. I had to return the two amps due to others reasons outside its sound quality and I am currently looking for an upgrade to both the mojo and ha-2.
Anyone here have recommendations on a portable/transportable amp with plenty of power to drive my ether flows?

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x RELIC x said:

Firstly, it's not a power issue with the Mojo, it's synergy. I find with the Mojo it's a pretty honest source and the character of the headphones comes through despite its smooth tuning, and as you say the ETHER C is pretty bass light (the C Flow improves this somewhat). There's more than enough power from the Mojo to easily drive the ETHER headphones. I had the Liquid Carbon and it has a sweet tone to it. That's the Cavalli house sound so that's what you were hearing through the Liquid Carbon, not more power, unless you cranked the volume to unlistenable levels. I haven't heard the CMA600i’s so I have no comment.

You may want to look at an ALO Cv5 portable tube amp, which isn't too pricey. There's also a Woo WA8 you may want to check out if you want more warmth. Both of these amps by the way are less powerful than the Mojo, but can drive the ETHER headphones.

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I

x RELIC x said:

Firstly, it's not a power issue with the Mojo, it's synergy. I find with the Mojo it's a pretty honest source and the character of the headphones comes through despite its smooth tuning, and as you say the ETHER C is pretty bass light (the C Flow improves this somewhat). There's more than enough power from the Mojo to easily drive the ETHER headphones. I had the Liquid Carbon and it has a sweet tone to it. That's the Cavalli house sound so that's what you were hearing through the Liquid Carbon, not more power, unless you cranked the volume to unlistenable levels. I haven't heard the CMA600i’s so I have no comment.

You may want to look at an ALO Cv5 portable tube amp, which isn't too pricey. There's also a Woo WA8 you may want to check out if you want more warmth. Both of these amps by the way are less powerful than the Mojo, but can drive the ETHER headphones.

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I'm using an ak300 to an RSA Intruder amp and it's got all the power you want and sounds great

Are the ether e pads deeper than the orignal or does it only have a wider opening?

Torrs said:

Are the ether e pads deeper than the orignal or does it only have a wider opening?

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It's a large round hole, very much more spacious.

mrspeakers said:

It's a large round hole, very much more spacious.

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Thanks, are the ear pads angled? It's hard to tell from the pictures.

Torrs said:

Thanks, are the ear pads angled? It's hard to tell from the pictures.

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Yes, all pads are angled except the original ETHER.

Since we're on the topic of ear pads, I just rolled and stuffed some tissue paper in the back part of the ear pads lifting them off my ears a little (my ears don't touch the foam now) and tilting them slightly more. It's not directly in front of the driver so I can't hear too much of a difference in SQ, but the comfort increased. It's cheap enough to try it on your own.

Torrs said:

Are the ether e pads deeper than the orignal or does it only have a wider opening?

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Definitely not deeper. Actually shallower.

I couldn't stand them. Sound was great. Comfort was awful. Got very close to throwing them.

Re-installed the original pads. That experience has put me off my Flows. I haven't listened to them for a month. My other HP has all the listening
time now. Interestingly they supplied a pad option that worked.