[ES_EF]

Hey @ES_EF, I don't have my pair with me ATM, they are with @grizzlybeast. This is by memory, but I agree, the HD800 didn't have enough bass, especially sub bass quantity to fully enjoy movies. I think the AR-H1 does a better job. I also find the AR-H1 to have less fatiguing treble than the HD800 because the HD800 treble spike is at 6kHz which is hard to tame, the 10kHz peak of the AR-H1 is less offensive, creating air and a more lively sound, which can be mellowed out with a warm amp.

The sound stage of the AR-H1 is really impressive for a planar. One of the best that I've heard, and as I've said it's due to the similar dip around 4kHz as the HD800. Hard left and right sounds will not be as in front of you as the HD800 but it's not much different.

Also, here is an update:

I received a replacement sample since I found that the left side's lower bass output was caused by a weak seal with the pad and the cup. Here is the updated frequency response of the new AR-H1:

Average of first AR-H1 with leaky left pad in Red, Average of the second AR-H1 in green:

thank you, this is immensely helpful

placing a order tonight

these seem to check a lot of the right boxes

btw ill be getting their earpad mounting rings replicated/ 3-d printed for sure

ill post my results here

 

[cskippy]

Please do! I have a bunch of pads that should work but need the proper mounting ring. I'll be sure to post measurements of what I have if you get a set to me.

 

[ES_EF]

Please do! I have a bunch of pads that should work but need the proper mounting ring. I'll be sure to post measurements of what I have if you get a set to me.

definitely and that's a fair trade

 

[Level5]

anyone who owns this or have listened to this mind sharing their opinion regarding these for movie watching

i really like hd800 for movies because of the wide sound stage but the bass impact is a bit lacking

i'd love to hear your thoughts about their soundstage

thanks

I have the HD800 again so I'm able to compare them more accurately instead of by memory.

For movies, I still preferred the HD800 because of its airiness and most importantly the feeling of ambiance which lags a bit on the AR-H1 due to a combination of the drivers/magnets/pads being so close to the ears, but its still airy nonetheless.

If you yearn for more bass then the AR-H1 wont disappoint specially with movies and that's where I feel it being better at.

Make no mistake, the HD800 is still the undisputed KING of soundstage BUT for a $600 Planar, its soundstage is unsually good for a planar.

 

[ES_EF]

I have the HD800 again so I'm able to compare them more accurately instead of by memory.

For movies, I still preferred the HD800 because of its airiness and most importantly the feeling of ambiance which lags a bit on the AR-H1 due to a combination of the drivers/magnets/pads being so close to the ears, but its still airy nonetheless.

If you yearn for more bass then the AR-H1 wont disappoint specially with movies and that's where I feel it being better at.

Make no mistake, the HD800 is still the undisputed KING of soundstage BUT for a $600 Planar, its soundstage is unsually good for a planar.

Thank you

Agree on the aireness / ambience part

Part of the reason why I'll be persuing getting earpad adapter rings, hoping to experiment with thicker pads to put some distance between the ears and drivers

 

[Level5]

Thank you

Agree on the aireness / ambience part

Part of the reason why I'll be persuing getting earpad adapter rings, hoping to experiment with thicker pads to put some distance between the ears and drivers

Oh man I'd love to pad roll these so much! I have a good stack of pads waiting...

 

[Alcophone]

I had a friend's Ether Flow at home for a few days. Compared to the Ether Flow and the ÆON Flow Open (auditioned at a store), the AR-H1 sounds hollow.

While the AR-H1 sounded detailed to me, and seemed faster to me than the HD650 that I briefly tried, the mrspeakers cans run circles around it. So fast! Huge difference with guitars, for instance.

And the mrspeakers are also more intense. Everything has an impressive amount of heft to it, more like what you'd expect from an instrument in the room. This makes them engaging even at lower volumes, which is good.

Compared to the ÆON, the Ether has better bass extension and more bass in general. The AR-H1 has less bass, but it rolls off nicely, while that seemed a bit abrupt with the ÆON. The Ether didn't have that problem.

I had comfort issues with the Ether, needing quite a bit of fiddling to avoid pressure points. The huge surface of the earpads tends to stick to my skin and lightly pull on it, so I never forgot that I'm wearing headphones. The AR-H1 is much lower maintenance in that regard, I can just put it on, done. Nothing to adjust on the headphone itself, maybe the occasional repositioning on the head.

The AR-H1 is easy to listen to. The Ether I found fatiguing at times, though apparently more because of discomfort + volume than their heft, as I first assumed. It sounds just a tad cold to me, though, making me like it, but not love it.

The soundstage of the AR-H1 seemed a bit wider to me - at least the closest end of it seems further away. My friend perceived it the other way around, though he acknowledged that the frugal opening in the earpads seems to reduce the size of the soundstage. The ES pads are supposedly better in that regard.

When no music is playing, the AR-H1 let me easily hear everything around me. The Ether isolate quite a bit, more like a poorly isolating closed can than an open one. That's what I would expect from a semi-closed can, and is not ideal for my use case.

I have to try the ÆON more to see how much of the Ether they retain. My hunch for now is that the ÆON is the better bargain than the AR-H1 (especially if you want to run them balanced, since you will be able to order the ÆON with a balanced cable soon, saving the expense for a custom one), but its clamping force was even higher than the Ethers. Will have to see how much of that I can fiddle away next time, and whether the earpads are as sticky despite having a lower surface area. With the one-notch pad installed, the ÆON sounded annoyingly muffled to me, so I took that out within minutes.

The AR-H1 is still a good headphone. Many of the differences vanish into the background with continued listening - but you can't unhear them.

 

[Level5]

I had a friend's Ether Flow at home for a few days. Compared to the Ether Flow and the ÆON Flow Open (auditioned at a store), the AR-H1 sounds hollow.

While the AR-H1 sounded detailed to me, and seemed faster to me than the HD650 that I briefly tried, the mrspeakers cans run circles around it. So fast! Huge difference with guitars, for instance.

And the mrspeakers are also more intense. Everything has an impressive amount of heft to it, more like what you'd expect from an instrument in the room. This makes them engaging even at lower volumes, which is good.

Compared to the ÆON, the Ether has better bass extension and more bass in general. The AR-H1 has less bass, but it rolls off nicely, while that seemed a bit abrupt with the ÆON. The Ether didn't have that problem.

I had comfort issues with the Ether, needing quite a bit of fiddling to avoid pressure points. The huge surface of the earpads tends to stick to my skin and lightly pull on it, so I never forgot that I'm wearing headphones. The AR-H1 is much lower maintenance in that regard, I can just put it on, done. Nothing to adjust on the headphone itself, maybe the occasional repositioning on the head.

The AR-H1 is easy to listen to. The Ether I found fatiguing at times, though apparently more because of discomfort + volume than their heft, as I first assumed. It sounds just a tad cold to me, though, making me like it, but not love it.

The soundstage of the AR-H1 seemed a bit wider to me - at least the closest end of it seems further away. My friend perceived it the other way around, though he acknowledged that the frugal opening in the earpads seems to reduce the size of the soundstage. The ES pads are supposedly better in that regard.

When no music is playing, the AR-H1 let me easily hear everything around me. The Ether isolate quite a bit, more like a poorly isolating closed can than an open one. That's what I would expect from a semi-closed can, and is not ideal for my use case.

I have to try the ÆON more to see how much of the Ether they retain. My hunch for now is that the ÆON is the better bargain than the AR-H1 (especially if you want to run them balanced, since you will be able to order the ÆON with a balanced cable soon, saving the expense for a custom one), but its clamping force was even higher than the Ethers. Will have to see how much of that I can fiddle away next time, and whether the earpads are as sticky despite having a lower surface area. With the one-notch pad installed, the ÆON sounded annoyingly muffled to me, so I took that out within minutes.

Great comparison!

I'm glad more people are confirming the stock pads limiting these to its full potential. I suggest you guys email AR to let them know about it to expedite the replacement pads or maybe even adapters.

I'll be able to demo the Focal clear and a few other new releases in the same price bracket this weekend so watch out for a brief comparison. Maybe I might even bring home a new one...

 

[Alcophone]

Great comparison!

I'm glad more people are confirming the stock pads limiting these to its full potential. I suggest you guys email AR to let them know about it to expedite the replacement pads or maybe even adapters.

I'll be able to demo the Focal clear and a few other new releases in the same price bracket this weekend so watch out for a brief comparison. Maybe I might even take home a new one...

Just to make sure there's no misunderstanding: I was talking about the Ether's pads. Huge surface + pressure + stiffness results in stickiness (for me), less so with the AR-H1. But yes, I'd still like my ears to stay clear of the driver. Different earpads might mess up the tuning, though - I'd prefer this addressed in the design from the get go (HD800 shows it's possible). But maybe that results in too much variety in the distance between driver and ear, which might be problematic, too.

 

[Level5]

Just to make sure there's no misunderstanding: I was talking about the Ether's pads. Huge surface + pressure + stiffness results in stickiness (for me), less so with the AR-H1. But yes, I'd still like my ears to stay clear of the driver. Different earpads might mess up the tuning, though - I'd prefer this addressed in the design from the get go (HD800 shows it's possible). But maybe that results in too much variety in the distance between driver and ear, which might be problematic, too.

Yes of course I agree alternate pads will most likely FUBAR the tuning but I've had some pleasing result with HE560 using ori pads so I'm not against it and besides I'm pretty satisfied with it stock honestly.

 

[crabdog]

Just to make sure there's no misunderstanding: I was talking about the Ether's pads. Huge surface + pressure + stiffness results in stickiness (for me), less so with the AR-H1. But yes, I'd still like my ears to stay clear of the driver. Different earpads might mess up the tuning, though - I'd prefer this addressed in the design from the get go (HD800 shows it's possible). But maybe that results in too much variety in the distance between driver and ear, which might be problematic, too.

I agree with this but since it's AR's first planar I'm hoping they'll learn a lot from this experience and continue to make many more and improved models in the future. They can only get better from here (here being already pretty awesome).

 

[Burt Macklin]

Damn, so many options
I was sure I'll go for LCD-2 .. and then saw these.

Are they available somewhere in EU?

 

[FredA]

Great comparison!

I'm glad more people are confirming the stock pads limiting these to its full potential. I suggest you guys email AR to let them know about it to expedite the replacement pads or maybe even adapters.

I'll be able to demo the Focal clear and a few other new releases in the same price bracket this weekend so watch out for a brief comparison. Maybe I might even bring home a new one...

I find the ar-h1 very interesing. Was looking at the He-560 just before. I want a neutral, uncolored, transparent and resolving hp set. Built quality is a big plus, I intend to use this set for the next 10 years at least. Also looking at the Aeon, and Amiron Home as well. I have a capable amp (nfb-1amp). Any thoughts?

 

[FastAndClean]

Also looking at the Aeon, and Amiron Home as well.

Amiron Home sound bright and warm at the same time, very strange headphones

 

[conquerator2]

I find the ar-h1 very interesing. Was lookoing at the He-560 just before. I want a neutral, uncolored, transparent and resolving hp set. Built quality is a big plus, I intend to use this set for the next 10 years at least. Also looking at the Aeon, and Amiron Home as well. I have a capable amp (nfb-1amp). Any thgouhts?

I did not like the Amiron much when I heard it (but it was only a short audition). It's down to Aeon vs ARH-1 for me