[akwok]

The Omega II is no different. I find it has even more flaws than the HE90, so it's just a matter of which flaws you prefer.

 

[F1GTR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif It isn't easy for me to ship them out of the country and the Sennheiser dealer here isn't all that great. I'm not bashing the He90 but they aren't as perfect as people say they are. They aren't bad but they do many things wrong.

I have no experience in mailing something out of Iceland, but I just can't understand how it's that much more difficult for you to achieve mailing to Germany, when you consider how much closer you are than the many in the US that have sent their's in for maintenance/updating over the past year?

Regarding whether you are or are not "bashing" the HE90's, you are clearly the most outspoken person here against these flaws you claim the headphone has, you make an effort to reiterate that almost every opportunity you get, and regardless of whether people agree with you or not you present yourself as though it is your head-fi mission to enlighten and convince the rest of us to "see the light". I'm just confused as to why you won't consider it being something specific in your system or, as Gary suggested, something off with your particular HE90. It's obvious you haven't tried your HE90's with any of the new "next generation" amps that have come out over the past 18 months, so for you to say that the HE90's definitely have x and y flaws, without exhausting all opportunities to hear what they may or may not be capable of is kind of odd, don't you think? You even said this yourself, in akwok's thread about his Omega I's arriving:

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sure normal PCB's are cheap but not so when you want them to be 0.5mm and made out of exotic materials with heavy copper and gold plating. Stax first tried the mesh approach with the SR-X and while it is better then metal plates it still does ring a little and it is hard to controll. Corrosion can also be a problem since it is nearly impossible to coat it properly with an insulator. Sennheiser used PCB's as spacers in the He90 but for some odd reason used glass for stators which resulted in no two pairs sounding alike.

If no two pair of HE90's sound alike, then how can you not consider that something may be off with your's specifically, or that your system isn't quite as optimized for them as you may feel it is? When the majority of people that have heard the HE90 and OII clearly side with the HE90, that says something. I just don't know why you would spend time and energy trying to talk people in to hearing what you're hearing instead of possibly upgrading your amp, or sending the headphones in to Sennheiser Germany, and exhausting all opportunities to get the most out of them so that you would actually know with certainity if these flaws persist?

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by F1GTR /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have no experience in mailing something out of Iceland, but I just can't understand how it's that much more difficult for you to achieve mailing to Germany, when you consider how much closer you are than the many in the US that have sent their's in for maintenance/updating over the past year? Regarding whether you are or are not "bashing" the HE90's, you are clearly the most outspoken person here against these flaws you claim the headphone has, you make an effort to reiterate that almost every opportunity you get, and regardless of whether people agree with you or not you present yourself as though it is your head-fi mission to enlighten and convince the rest of us to "see the light". I'm just confused as to why you won't consider it being something specific in your system or, as Gary suggested, something off with your particular HE90. It's obvious you haven't tried your HE90's with any of the new "next generation" amps that have come out over the past 18 months, so for you to say that the HE90's definitely have x and y flaws, without exhausting all opportunities to hear what they may or may not be capable of is kind of odd, don't you think? You even said this yourself, in akwok's thread about his Omega I's arriving: If no two pair of HE90's sound alike, then how can you not consider that something may be off with your's specifically, or that your system isn't quite as optimized for them as you may feel it is? When the majority of people that have heard the HE90 and OII clearly side with the HE90, that says something. I just don't know why you would spend time and energy trying to talk people in to hearing what you're hearing instead of possibly upgrading your amp, or sending the headphones in to Sennheiser Germany, and exhausting all opportunities to get the most out of them so that you would actually know with certainity if these flaws persist?

It's called the Icelandic customs and they are a pain.

I have spent huge amounts of time lately to upgrade my system rolling PC's, IC's and experimenting with different wire's for internal wiring. I won't buy any of the "new" amps because they are more of a side step rather then an upgrade. Some might even be a step backwards. I'd rather spend some thousands to upgrade the BH with better components and wait for somebody to build a great amp.

All headphones have flaws and I'm not on a crusade against the He90 like many of its fanboys think. I do think that many will prefer the He90 on a level playing field and there is nothing wrong with that. The He90 is a plug and play headphone while you have to work for most of the SR-007's performance.

Others have said that two He90's sound different but I've never confirmed it. I do know however, as I'm designing my own electrostatic headphones, that glass is very hard to control at the tight tolerances needed for stator duty.

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif It isn't easy for me to ship them out of the country and the Sennheiser dealer here isn't all that great. I'm not bashing the He90 but they aren't as perfect as people say they are. They aren't bad but they do many things wrong.

Have you ever listened to any HE90s beside your own? Are your conclusions based solely on your one, and possibly malfuctioning, HE90?

 

[mikeg]

I didn't actually compare the output of each earcup. I just compared my HE90 to Guss2's and found mine wanting. Apparently Sennheiser agreed, and replaced whatever parts they decided needed replacement. It required many months for them to fabricate the parts, and to return my HE90. I think that it now sounds great, but I'll do a final check in June, when I hope to have the opportunity to again compare it with Guss2's Orpheus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhorn /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did our HE90 lack bass / fullness of sound in both earcups? If so, it's kinda strange, I mean, what might have been that part that did not function correctly by pair?

 

[milkpowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg /img/forum/go_quote.gif I didn't actually compare the output of each earcup. I just compared my HE90 to Guss2's and found mine wanting. Apparently Sennheiser agreed, and replaced whatever parts they decided needed replacement. It required many months for them to fabricate the parts, and to return my HE90. I think that it now sounds great, but I'll do a final check in June, when I hope to have the opportunity to again compare it with Guss2's Orpheus.

Completely off-topic, but did you have to pay for the new parts? If so, how much?

A certain member who sent his HE60 back to Sennheiser to get new earpads, headband pad and stators was charged in excess of £400 not including postage.

 

[electrathecat]

Those stators sure are damn expensive! I purchased new HE60 earpads and headbands directly from Sennheiser a few weeks ago and I thought that was expensive at around $80 (about 40 pounds)! At least Senn is still providing service for the Baby Os. I'm not sure there's anyway left to get Qualias serviced.


PMs sent to krmathis and f1ghtr by the way.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you ever listened to any HE90s beside your own? Are your conclusions based solely on your one, and possibly malfuctioning, HE90?

I have listened to the full setup some years ago but I haven't compared them directly. I wasn't impressed back then but it didn't stop me when Jan offered the He90's. I'm a collector and I have studied their design because I'm working on a design that will be better then any of these phones, at least on paper.

It will dwarf the He90 is cost though...

I'm sure that mine aren't broken, because I know if something goes wrong in a electrostatic driver, and my findings echo many others over the years. You can search on Headwize and you'll find similar comments to mine dating back to '98 or '99 and there are also some comments here. I think it was Kelly that asked, if the Orpheus II ever came out, whether it would have bass response. It isn't that bad and it's mainly the diffused soundstage and shrill upper midrange that drives me nuts.

This will be the last time I'll talk about He90 this aside from the odd snide remark but I can't help my self...

I know I have said this before but we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm glad that you enjoy your headphone and I am really glad for you and other He90 owners for owning such a rare piece. I do ask you to try the SR-007 for an extended period of time with a powerful amp in a well matched system and they might win you over. They are the most problematic phone to master but when you do they are simply sublime.

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif Completely off-topic, but did you have to pay for the new parts? If so, how much? A certain member who sent his HE60 back to Sennheiser to get new earpads, headband pad and stators was charged in excess of £400 not including postage.

It was free. They are covered by a 5 year warranty and this was obviously a manufacturing defect.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have listened to the full setup some years ago but I haven't compared them directly. I wasn't impressed back then but it didn't stop me when Jan offered the He90's. I'm a collector and I have studied their design because I'm working on a design that will be better then any of these phones, at least on paper. It will dwarf the He90 is cost though... I'm sure that mine aren't broken, because I know if something goes wrong in a electrostatic driver, and my findings echo many others over the years. You can search on Headwize and you'll find similar comments to mine dating back to '98 or '99 and there are also some comments here. I think it was Kelly that asked, if the Orpheus II ever came out, whether it would have bass response. It isn't that bad and it's mainly the diffused soundstage and shrill upper midrange that drives me nuts. This will be the last time I'll talk about He90 this aside from the odd snide remark but I can't help my self... I know I have said this before but we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm glad that you enjoy your headphone and I am really glad for you and other He90 owners for owning such a rare piece. I do ask you to try the SR-007 for an extended period of time with a powerful amp in a well matched system and they might win you over. They are the most problematic phone to master but when you do they are simply sublime. It was free. They are covered by a 5 year warranty and this was obviously a manufacturing defect.

I had the Omega II for well over half a year, and was running it out of an ES-1 tuberolled specifically for the OII. It was really good, but there are so many aspects I find favorable over it in the HE90 + Aristaeus setup. The only thing I missed from the OII & ES-1 was the bass response. If anything, the OII's upper veil and dark signature is much more of a flaw than the somewhat bass shy response of the HE90 -- and I really don't hear the diffused soundstage and 'shrill upper midrange' you speak of.

That's not to say that either one of these headphones 'suck' per say -- otherwise I wouldn't be rebuying the OIIs! But the HE90s just aren't nearly as bad as you make them out to be.. at least not in comparison to the OII. Perhaps this will change with the OIII.

 

[Downrange]

Wow, this thread took off once I left it!

Great comments and good reading. As a fairly new O2 owner, I've reached just a few conclusions:

The SRM-007tII suffers from the general bashing of all Stax amps, (especially anything "new") and is actually a good performer. How good, I don't know yet, but I've also ordered a KGSS from HeadAmp, and will at least be able to compare those two shortly.

The SRD-7 PRO transformer is a far, far, distant second to the 007t, at least to date (see my recent posts in the new Stax thread for details).

I will probably end up with a Blue Hawaii at the rate I am going. This dang hobby is addicting!

I don't think the Omega IIs are such a challenge to drive; I think the challenge is in re-learning how to listen, i.e., losing the addiction to "forward-sounding" equipment, like the Lambda line, which bring musical excitement at the expense of realism and natural sound. I haven't heard the Senn e-stats yet, and hope to, some day. Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the Omega IIs.

Can't wait for my KGSS!

 

[mikeg]

Sennheiser did it all without charge. They are an exceptionally fine company IMHO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif Completely off-topic, but did you have to pay for the new parts? If so, how much? A certain member who sent his HE60 back to Sennheiser to get new earpads, headband pad and stators was charged in excess of £400 not including postage.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had the Omega II for well over half a year, and was running it out of an ES-1 tuberolled specifically for the OII. It was really good, but there are so many aspects I find favorable over it in the HE90 + Aristaeus setup. The only thing I missed from the OII & ES-1 was the bass response. If anything, the OII's upper veil and dark signature is much more of a flaw than the somewhat bass shy response of the HE90 -- and I really don't hear the diffused soundstage and 'shrill upper midrange' you speak of. That's not to say that either one of these headphones 'suck' per say -- otherwise I wouldn't be rebuying the OIIs! But the HE90s just aren't nearly as bad as you make them out to be.. at least not in comparison to the OII. Perhaps this will change with the OIII.

The diffused soundstage is easy to compare. Take two very familiar songs with a strong center image and different sound stages. The SR-007 locks onto the center image and shows the differently sized soundstages. All other stats I've heard do this, though some do it better then others.
With the He90 the center image isn't as strong, it's floating and soft around the edges i.e. diffused. The soundstage is the same size on both songs so the one that's supposed to be smaller sounds very odd. Off the top of head The Who - Who's Next is a great example of this. Very small soundstage that the He90 stretches out of proportions.

It's easy to tame the midrange shrillness with warm IC's and tubes but it's hiding underneath. It did nearly completely disappear with my carbon IC's (modded van den Hul) but it is very clear with my silver wires. Since I value clarity above most other aspects this bothers me probably more then others.

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I want to welcome you to the Black Omega II club! As you understand, I have black Omega II's as well and they are in the low 71xxx range. So the colour don't seem to matter in numbering. Seems like the US ones started low (probably at 0), while the European ones started at 70000. Strange it is...

My black Omegas are labelled SZ1 -1205.I guess this is the serial number.They were originally bought in the U.K. from the official distributor.

 

[Duggeh]

Mine are labelled 71998 (black). They were also bought from Symmetry UK.

I amp mine with an SRM-717 and its my ultimately favourite headphone of the ones I have, but on a day to day or week by week basis the headphone ill pick up varies depending on my mood and the music.

I think that theres a lot more I can get out of any of my main headphones with better amplification. All of them are very very difficult loads in some way or another.

 

[Downrange]

Back after some months absence here, I've been actively evaluating both amps and the KGSS is pretty clearly on top. Thanks to all who've provided advice. The SRM-7T2 is a fine amp, but suffers a little in dynamics and also puts a slight veil over the ultimate resolution the KGSS is capable of with the O2s. The KGSS can be a trifle harsh, but really not objectionable on most material. I had originally planned a full review on both these amps, but life and work have intervened. Anyone facing the choices I had, definitely get the KGSS.