[DCofficehack]

Three words: Oh, my God.
 
Mind you, my point of comparison is a set of much loved and oft worn Senn HD 448s.  But these blow them out of the water. Why? Mainly on the trebel: I've been sampling Beethoven cello sonatas and the Late String Quarters and am hearing them essentially for the first time. Everything sounds different. Brighter. More detailed. I am hearing the sound of string instruments better than I ever have coming out of a recording.
 
For a change up I just threw on Bjork's Homogenic. Wow. It's almost brash; perhaps that might settle down a bit after burn in? The good news is that the bass definitely is not lacking.
 
I'll post more impressions later. But so far I feel like I've entered a whole new aural world.
 
By the way: I got these five days after ordering them from Musica Acoustics.

 

[yello131]

I dont think DBA02 are made for Classical stringed music. DBA02 are just too dry sounding and with small soundstage. Can;t reproduce the soul of the performance so to speak..
For Stringed classical music Radius DDM is what I use

 

[DCofficehack]

I've heard otherwise, which is precisely why I bought them. LFF among others has noted the DBA-02s' ability to handle classical.
 
 

 

[DCofficehack]

Well, after a few hours' listening, I beg to differ. Du Pre's cello sounds fantastic, as does the string section of the Berlin Philarmonic. Most of all, the Tokyo String Quartet playing Beethoven op. 131 sounds incredibly real to me. The bad news with all of this is that I hear far more weird little noise than I ever did bore. Breathing. Fingering. People shifting in their seats. I want to kill the guy coughing throughout my DuPre/Barenboim CD.
 
Oh, and Zeppelin II and IV are dynamite.
Quote:

I dont think DBA02 are made for Classical stringed music. DBA02 are just too dry sounding and with small soundstage. Can;t reproduce the soul of the performance so to speak..
For Stringed classical music Radius DDM is what I use

 

 

[shane55]

Congrats on the new DBA's.
I listen mostly to classical - acoustic. The DBA's do very well with classical. The uber-clarity gives breath and a sense of place to the instruments.
 
They can never match the AH-D7000 for sonority and weight, but I haven't found an IEM that can, including the SM3. In-ear units can only do so much with impact. I have heard IEM's that have more heft in the lows, but most have seemed forced and unrealistic to me. The DBA's are remarkably neutral and faithful.
 
As for detail... oh yeah, now you're in real trouble.

'Recorded Live' will never sound the same. There is always one guy with a cold.

Wait until you hear Glenn Gould hum and sing his way through the Bach catalogue.
 
Cheers.
 
EDIT: As for 'soundstage'. With IEM's it's mostly an acoustic anomaly, usually having very little to do with the recorded sound.

 

[DCofficehack]

I know Gould's humming well. A greater problem is that I find my recording of Simone Dinnerstein's version of the Goldberg Variations to be intolerable. I don't know if it's the relatively low bitrate of my recording or not, but either way, I keep going back to Glenn.
 
I find the clarity to be wonderful with the mids and highs. Human voices are wonderful.  My recording of Fischer-Dieskau singing Schumann Lieder is superb.  At the moment I'm listening to du Pré playing a Schumann concerto, and her instrument is just gorgeous. The DBA-02 does the cello very, very well.

 
An interesting point of comparison of the DBA-02 and my HD 448s. With the Senns I found it necessary to use the iTunes EQ's classical and rock settings to give the music a little extra something. Sort of like when I add a few drops of Tobasco to a soup...not to make it spicy but to make the flavors "pop" just a little.  With the DBA-02s, the extra EQ boost is too much. So I don't use it anymore.
 

 
Quote:

Congrats on the new DBA's.
I listen mostly to classical - acoustic. The DBA's do very well with classical. The uber-clarity gives breath and a sense of place to the instruments.
 
They can never match the AH-D7000 for sonority and weight, but I haven't found an IEM that can, including the SM3. In-ear units can only do so much with impact. I have heard IEM's that have more heft in the lows, but most have seemed forced and unrealistic to me. The DBA's are remarkably neutral and faithful.
 
As for detail... oh yeah, now you're in real trouble.

'Recorded Live' will never sound the same. There is always one guy with a cold.

Wait until you hear Glenn Gould hum and sing his way through the Bach catalogue.
 
Cheers.

 

 

[yello131]

 if you like DBAs for classical music, you cant even imagine how amazingly  Ortofons e-Q7 projects the instruments and voices... E-q7 is designed for Classical music , according to the makers..

 

[goodvibes]

I've never seen anything from Orto other than a declaration of their 'accuracy in sound' and ability to delineate subtleties in musical expression. To me, that's needed in all genres.

 

[DCofficehack]

I'm sure the Ortofon's are great, and I'd love to hear them. Frankly, I'm delighted that people are recommending that if I like the DBA-02 I should try X, when X is an item that costs significantly more ($200 in the case of the Ortos....so that's how much I have to spend to do better than the DBA-02?)
 
No, to be fair, I suspect I might like the Ety ER-4 better, and they cost a mere $230. I think I did alright.
 
Some more notes: so far I'm not wowed by the symphonic music. It's good but not fantastic.  This might of course be a case of unreasonable expectations. In contrast, I get real pleasure out of the smaller pieces, the chamber music, duets, lieder, etc. And rock music's great.

 

[yello131]

 
Quote:

I'm sure the Ortofon's are great, and I'd love to hear them. Frankly, I'm delighted that people are recommending that if I like the DBA-02 I should try X, when X is an item that costs significantly more ($200 in the case of the Ortos....so that's how much I have to spend to do better than the DBA-02?)
 
No, to be fair, I suspect I might like the Ety ER-4 better, and they cost a mere $230. I think I did alright.
 
Some more notes: so far I'm not wowed by the symphonic music. It's good but not fantastic.  This might of course be a case of unreasonable expectations. In contrast, I get real pleasure out of the smaller pieces, the chamber music, duets, lieder, etc. And rock music's great.

 
Ortofon e-Q5 is another option for Classical lovers and cost  only small fraction more expensive then DBA02 from Dimitris on MusicaAcoustics site
 
 

 

[Shroker]

The way you phrased that made me have a good chuckle. I don't mind the fingering and the shifting on the playing itself. The in and out inhaling and exhaling of music playing.
On the other hand, if its from the audience than it can be frustrating.
 
Quote:

Well, after a few hours' listening, I beg to differ. Du Pre's cello sounds fantastic, as does the string section of the Berlin Philarmonic. Most of all, the Tokyo String Quartet playing Beethoven op. 131 sounds incredibly real to me. The bad news with all of this is that I hear far more weird little noise than I ever did bore. Breathing. Fingering. People shifting in their seats. I want to kill the guy coughing throughout my DuPre/Barenboim CD.
 
Oh, and Zeppelin II and IV are dynamite.


 

 

 

[DCofficehack]

I can't help but repeat myself: I'm listening to Schumann's cello concerto in A minor, with Du Pre on the cello and Barenboim conducting. The DBA-02s simply shine.  Rather, Du Pre shines.  There's a passage in the third movement in which she's playing the cello's deeper notes while the orchestra lends bass tones...and then flutes come in. Low range. Mid range. Upper range. All together in glowing clarity. But oh! that cello sound!

 

[FlySweep]

Glad you're digging the DBA's.. they're among my favorite IEMs too.. they never cease to amaze.. with the comply P-series tips you get an wonderfully cozy fit & they get some end-to-end grunt and show off even more.