I was lucky enough to be sitting with Dan Clarke in his office at the moment Jude's video about the original Ethers went live and my experiences with them before, and during CanJam SoCal 2015 lead me to buy the demo pair I'd taken home with me. Dan had bet his entire company on the product and subsequent Ether C headphones, his Foxtex-based models going into retirement. It thankfully paid off.
Not one to rest, for even a moment, Dan released V1.1, a simple update consisting of a piece of specially chosen foam. I forgot to grab that for my own pair, but thankfully didn't forget to grab a pair of the new Ether Flow at the San Francisco meet this year. The name covers the primary upgrade to the original Ether -- a set of wave guides that improve how air moves through the holes above the planar drivers.
Original Ether on the left, new Flow on the right with inserts above.
Aside from the main metal chassis, gimballs and headband, the cups, grill and many parts of the driver enclosure are 3D printed in the MrSpeakers workshop, after which they are spray painted with automotive paint by hand. One of the most tricky parts of a headphone to get right, the headband and arc is one area where Dan hit a home run. Trying different materials, one of Dan’s employees suggested a metal alloy known as NiTinol. Used in denistry, NiTinol is a memory wire, one that will always return to its original shape, even after being severely bent. It is so effective at this that Dan even considered shipping the Ethers twisted into a long tube. NiTinol is also relatively lightweight for its strength, meaning that the headband could be light, yet extremely flexible and strong. For fit, the Ether uses a fairly common system with a neatly carved chunk of metal to connect the two NiTinol wires for the arcs to the gimball and offset swivel that holds the cups.
Along with a simple headpad system, a piece of shaped leather screwed onto a block that slides up and down the arc wires, with adjustable stoppers limiting the movement. How readily the blocks slide can also be controlled via the tightness of the headpad screw, so while my prototype loaners would slip too easily, tightening the screw fixed that. After initial customer suggestions, a smaller headpad will also be offered. Finally, the earpads are leather and foam and remove and replace easily and are flat rather than sloped.
Most important, the overall combination of materials results in a pair of headphones that weigh under 400 grams and adjust very easily, but still sit reasonably firmly in place on your head. That means excellent comfort while listening, though air guitar practitioners might find them too loose.
The original Ethers were somewhat strong in the mid-bass and rolled-off in the very low-end, that being their only real weakness. For that reason I ended up preferring the Ether C, the closed cups of which cause a reduction in the mid-bass to balance things out better. The updates in the Ether Flow seem to address their tonal weaknesses, while also tightening up their overall presentation significantly. I felt that the Ethers were heading towards electrostat-fast, if they weren't quite there overall. With the Flow update, they still have the punch of planars, but now I'm feeling that they are closer, at least in HD800 territory in precision. For example, That treble, while it doesn't have the airy delicacy of a 'stat, is so distortion-free it makes listening a pleasure, and doesn't hesitate to reveal the ability of upstream components.
If there has been one feature of new high-end headphones and IEMs that I've tried this year it has been coherency. By that, I mean the relationship between frequencies when listening to music. Most of the time listening casually, the thought didn't even enter my mind about bass-this or mid-range that, the whole presentation was closer to the 'stat-like "just as the music is" presentation. The Flow still has something of a slight mid-range boost, but it less pronounced, enough that I don't feel as much that I wish I had the Ether C instead.
The mid-range, which I felt with the original Ethers put it in the territory of the best I've listened with now delivers vocals and instruments even more precisely than before, without any sense of false detail. There are two kinds of smooth -- one is a result of harmonic distortion or frequency roll off, and the other is a result of speed and a lack of distortion at all. The Ether Flow are in the latter category. Rather like 'stats, there is only the music through the mid-range and the usual questions aren't even in the equation.
As well as the earpads being made from a much higher grade of leather and having a slight slant from back to front added, the Ether Flow and C Flow now ship with the DUM cable by default. Some time ago I got both a Moon Audio Silver Dragon and a Norne Audio cable with MrSpeakers terminations. Initially I felt the Silver Dragon dulled the treble too much for taste and it sat in my drawer for quite some time (according to Drew, they need some use before they sound their best -- take from that what you may). Very likely a result of my preferences for slightly brighter-tuned headphones, the Ether Flow initially sounded a bit dull when I listened with them initially at the SF meet out of my Chord Mojo, possibly due to the pair being fresh from the factory and not having sufficient hours on them*. When I got home, I ended switching in the Silver Dragon, as for whatever reason, I have gravitated towards a presentation closer to the Massdrop K7XX, which doesn't have a much of a peaky treble.
My usual listening fare is jazz or quite a bit of the eclectic variation of music on Radio Paradise. Making my way through the Jazz Things playlists on TIDAL the Ether Flow's slightly boosted, yet deliciously precise bass hit the proverbial nail on the head bringing the beat across. Likewise pop and rock classics like Superstition by Stevie Wonder, which tended to be mastered with somewhat weak bass.
Wristband by Paul Simon, somewhat unusually for a pop song, has a deep bass rumble. Switching between the original Ethers and the Flow version, the rumble isn't noticeable in the former but is perfectly present in the latter confirming the improvements. Where I found the mid-bass a bit strong in the original Ethers, the tighter presentation from the Ether Flow makes it more enjoyable, nailing that last concern.
Sennheiser's HD800s in comparison can sound too spacious and thin. For preference I have replaced the inner liner with non-slip matting and re-cabled them, which has the effect of making their presentation less treble-peaky and makes the imaging more precise (not something everyone who has tried the mods prefers). The Ether Flow is more intimate in soundstage but with a degree of precision that balances this up nicely. I neither feel that I lose my connection with the music nor feel I can't locate each instrument.
On the opposite spectrum, I've just install the V7 Symphones drivers in my old Symphones Magnums, what were (albeit not specifically described as such) an attempt to reproduce something akin to the old Grado HP1000/HP1 series of headphones. These are my cans for rocking out, as they push the mid range right up in my face. Guitars and vocals are right in front of me and after listening with them, other headphones simply seem asleep.
The Ether Flow sits in between these two extremes, delivering enough punch and presence to connect with the music, and enough precision to make each note delicious. What is more, they will power out of a phone. With both old and new plugged into the Studio Six, I found the new Flows are louder at the same volume, suggesting greater sensitivity.
In another direction altogether are the HiFiMan HE1000s. They have a magical, almost electrostat-like delicacy of sound which co-exists with fantastic bass, as if someone had combined speed, spaciousness and a degree of impact all at once. They left me scratching my head a bit at their $3000 asking price, as I felt there was a bit of imperfection in the treble and the detail didn't come out properly until I re-cabled them (with Moon Audio's Silver Dragon in this case) the build didn't quite feel like that of headphones at that price. I ended up applying surgical tape to some reflective surfaces under the earpads (in the manner of a clever mod someone thought up for Sony's Z7s) which turned up the magic to the level I expected. The Ether Flow doesn't quite have the magic I have managed to extract out of the HE1000s, but that is the only thing fundamentally different now.
If anything, the Ether Flows do so much right that I cannot think of any reason for them not to be my primary recommendation for high-end headphones. Dan Clark bet his whole company on the Ethers, giving up his Fostex mods. It was a very nervous time for him a year ago, but it totally paid off, as now the Ether Flows have made a solid mark into the world of high-end headphones.
Notes:
- I will add Audeze LCD-X comparison later. I hope to be able to review the Focal headphones at some point to compare.
- I am not a paid reviewer for Head-Fi. There aren't any paid reviewers here.
- *Dan Clark stated that the drivers need run-in time before they sound their best.