MIRPH-1

MIRPH-1 by Mirph Designs

If you don't like reading, here's the video version of this review:

---

Introduction, Foreword & Disclaimer

Earlier this year, in July at CanJam London I found a couple of MIRPH-1s to try out, and was pleasantly accosted by Homero, the creator of this headphone and owner of Mirph Designs.
By the end of our conversation I was offered one of the demo models to borrow for the purpose of this review, so many thanks to Homero.

Now, having been fortunate enough to spend over a month with this headphone, I feel I’ve had more than enough time to get a full understanding of this headphones personality.

As a disclaimer, the unit reviewed is an older showroom floor model and does not represent the most up to date version of the headphone design.

---

Build

First of all, let’s give this some context.
This headphone is made by one man. Of course, by that I mean the design and the tuning, as there are custom machined and mass produced parts here, but in my mind, this is the result of many months of experimentation, trial and error and the process of creating and modifying a headphone to achieve very specific targets in sound, design and ergonomics.
A close look at the website tells us that the MIRPH-1 is actually the result of 3 years of research.



I’m a big fan of the resin cups.

The rigidity and texture of this material presents a quality that is far above most kinds of ‘normal’ plastics used in any other headphone I’ve tried, and there is even a small lip that perfectly hides the edge of the pad mounting ring.



The 3.5mm socket mounts perfectly match the machined parts in the headband.

There are no traditional Left and Right indicators, however both the right side socket and friction bushings are red, which has been an industry standard marker for over half a century and I’m very happy to see more companies adopting this over lettering.



Even people suffering from colour-blindness can immediately discern which side is which by the difference in contrast between both sides. The same goes for those enjoying colour-blindness, we don’t discriminate here.

The headband is made of Portuguese leather, which is bad for vegans but great for longevity. You won’t have to worry about flaking protein leather after 2-3 years of use.



Another great point about longevity is covered by the hybrid ear pads.
The part that actually touches you, and collects all your acidic, salty sweat is fabric. So once again the pads should last a lot longer than typical fake leather pads.
The only negative point is that some people may find this synthetic fabric slightly itchy. Personally it never became irritating, but I there are some people more sensitive to this sort of thing.

The cable weave is very light and flexible and is built just about as well as any other I’ve seen, with even quite a healthy dose of strain relief. So full marks there.

Now onto my only complaint in the whole build. The headband rods.
Anyone who has owned or even auditioned a Grado knows the struggle.
The difference here is that it’s actually worse.

The thin rods don’t have as much friction as those on Grados, so they spin around just as freely, but more than that, they also slide up too easily.
I have to readjust the headband every single time I put them on.

If I owned these, I would add some kind of rod lock on each side to prevent them sliding down. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would be worth it, as it’s something I did on one of my old Grado’s which saved me a lot of pain.
(I have been informed by Mirph Designs that the rod sliding problem has been brought up enough by others that it's actually been already fixed, and should provide far superior grip and a slow precise action)


(Rear grills are held on magnetically!)

Finally at the heart of these headphones is the 50mm hybrid paper-dome Peerless driver that is found in a few others; to name a few the

• Kennerton Odin​
• Aurorus Borealis​
• DMS Project Omega​

Due to their availability and excellent quality control, the drivers have also garnered a loyal following in the headphone DIY and modding scene.

Covering the driver is a very delicate looking grill, which I think is more of a suggestion than a mechanical defence, and that is surrounded by a dense felt damping material.
This grill is easily the weakest part of the build, but it’s also one of the most redundant due to how far recessed the driver is in these cups, so I don’t mind this.

As for overall ergonomics, while they’re on the heavier side at 400g the extra large pads, work together with the well padded headband to distribute the weight very well and I have been able to wear these almost all day without discomfort, so full marks there.

---

The Sound

The blurb on their website describes these headphones as,

“smooth-warm, with extended bass response and lowered treble presence.”

That’s almost all you need to know.
But there’s a little more to it.



Looking at the graph, the MIRPH-1 has the kind of linearity from 10-1000hz that some planar companies can only dream of, but of course with an added warm tilt.
It’s also coming out of a dynamic, and the reality is that most dynamics don’t have the dry, fast and layered bass of planars.
So instead you get that typically dynamic lush, thicker, slower, full-bodied bass with plenty of thump and slam.
In my opinion, both planar and dynamic are the correct answer, it just depends on your question.

Then the dip from 1-2KHz is on point. This is just about where you’d want a dip to be if you were going to put one into your tuning. It’s a tried-and-tested dip that just works.

From there on, there’s just a few bumps that have no more than 5dB deviation up or down, which is a phenomenal achievement.
Between the bass and lower mids, and the upper mids and treble, there is an average deviation of 10dB which is pretty much what I keep saying is the maximum that any headphone should ever have.

Just from a pure measurebator’s point of view, this graph is a thing of beauty.

Sure, it’s not neutral, but that was never the goal. The reality is that this target was hand-crafted, and it’s damn near perfect.
What’s even crazier is how this tuning is achieved with the drivers being so incredibly far away from the ear.
Any headphone modder and DIYer with some experience under their belt will tell you that this concept is flawed from the start, just don’t bother, it’s stupid, you will lose all the bass and enter upper-mid and treble hell.

This headphone actually breaks all the established rules of headphone tuning.
Just look at any Grado, you’ll see that they stick their driver at the front of the tube, not the back.

With that said, the extra space between the drivers and the ears does some interesting things to the staging.
There is a huge amount of width added to the stage, which is also slightly diffused.

---

Use Cases

Ultimately, I think it works well for most stereo music, with imaging remaining fairly well intact, but it’s absolutely not good for 3D video games, with positional cues in place, but not pin-pointed because of that diffusion.

I think in some cases this actually can sound more musical than more accurate headphones as it blurs the staging a bit making it deceptively relaxing to listen to.

If you’re worried that there isn’t going to be enough sparkle up top or that timbre is going to sound broken, I think your worries are valid. I think there will definitely be people out there who think it sounds wrong, because upper mids especially are missing some bite, but since most of the upper mids and treble are on the same level, it doesn’t sound broken at all.

It’s much more like listening to a very hefty set of floor-standing speakers with a dark tuning.

---

...I can't shut up about the sound & a DIY Comparison

Before I wrap things up, I just want to reiterate what a great achievement this tuning is.

A dynamic driver tuned with linearity down to 10hz is extremely rare, and no weird peaks or dips anywhere.
To illustrate this point, with about 10 years of modding experience, I decided a few years ago to also try my hand at DIY’ing my own headphone with this driver using or modifying spare parts, and the best combination I ever achieved got only about 80% of the way there.



Mine was closer to a traditionally neutral tuning and ended up sounding more energetic, V-shaped and slightly aggressive.
The MIRPH-1 is so much calmer, with no treble spiciness and just forces you to relax to any music you can throw at it.

The only caveat is the above average total harmonic distortion present in the sub bass frequencies, which is likely a result of pushing the driver so far away from the ears.

As a result, with some electronic music tracks that have a tendency to push transducers to their limits, those limits will become audibly evident on the MIRPH-1, especially at higher volumes.
Some may find this distortion enjoyable but at that point it’s a good cue to turn the music down and enjoy this headphone for what it is was designed for, so try to keep your gain on low and use the headroom on your amp as much as possible to minimize the chance of distortion.

---

Comparisons

To make some interesting comparisons, here is the MIRPH-1 vs the Sennheiser HD650 just as a standard benchmark, the Altiat Cal.1H which is probably the closest modern comparison and the vintage Ultrasone HFI-2000.



As you can see, the MIRPH-1 shown in white is the polar opposite of the HD650 shown in grey. Everything it gains in the bass it gives up in the upper mids and treble.

The Cal.1H, the green graph, follows mostly the same curve as the MIRPH-1 with less sub-bass emphasis and more energy in the upper mids, which makes them sound more lively and fun and dare I say more accurate, especially in it’s timbre and imaging.

Finally the Ultrasone HFI-2000 shown in orange also follows quite a similar curve overall, although is a touch darker. When I first heard the HFI-2000, I always thought that it was one of the best Ultrasones I ever heard. It really did provide a listening experience that lowered sound pressure and reduced all treble fatigue, providing an extremely relaxed experience, especially for anyone suffering from treble sensitivity.

The MIRPH-1 does the same, but better.

---

Conclusions

At 550 EUR, these are absolutely worth the price, to the right people.

There is currently no directly comparable headphone on earth with this tuning and presentation, and as mentioned only a few others I can think of that have done something similar.

The only negative thing I can say about the sound is that you won’t do it justice on a smaller amplifier.
If your amp is only putting out around 1 Watt @32 ohm, that likely won’t be enough.
I would recommend something in the 2-2.5 Watt range.
It does actually sound a touch mushier on weaker amps, like the transducer is not being controlled properly and it’s a much bigger difference than I’m used to hearing.
This could be another symptom of the driver to ear distance, but at least it’s something easily remedied with brute force!

To sum it up, this is the most relaxing headphone on earth, and is, in my opinion, something of a masterpiece in it’s own right.
There was a clear goal here, and it has been achieved.

Objectivists and purists need not apply.
This headphone is crafted for people looking for something different, and I can especially recommend it to anyone with treble sensitivity issues.