[DavidA]

 
Man, I don't know. It's possible, but hard to imagine. These cans aren't hand-made so it is odd that they would sound so different.
 
As I've mentioned previously, my EL-8 responded better when fed from my Pono or my Geek Out 1000. The soundstage was narrower on the Pono and the SQ was characteristically smooth. The soundstage, attack and bite were all improved by the GO 1000, understandably, considering it has a much better DAC and ballsier amp. My Bifrost Uber and Lyr 2 exhibited a much larger soundstage, but the added air and power seemed to never translate to the bass response of the EL-8. The mids and treble certainly shined, although the treble occasionally had some grain; not a lot, but audible every now and then.
 
Bottom line, probably like some folks, I was hoping to get the famous Audeze bass at a fraction of the flagship prices, but it was not to be. I believe Audeze designed this HP to compete with like-priced cans, and to sound good to great with portable devices. I have no doubt it can sound good with other systems, but I couldn't justify keeping the EL-8 given how it sounded on mine. To me, it came down to a matter of sonic priorities and wise investment of limited money and time.

Thanks for the reply,
Yea, with my Lyr2 and bifrost the EL8 didn't really get better than from S5 or Fiio X3.  The sound stage does get better with the Teac UD-301 and project ember but like you said the added "air and power" doesn't translate to better performance from the EL8.

 

[rs0cal]

Thank you

One more question (although unrelated to the thread). How do the LCD 2/3 fare in the bass department? I'm willing to forego bass for overwhelming SQ.

 
If you want a bigger soundstage, I think you should go for an open can compared to a closed one if you are able to sacrifice the isolation.
 
My FIRST-EVER headphone purchase was a Momentum so I know the feeling of a congested soundstage, and the Momentum actually is a very solid SQ can for a isolation-on-the-go use when it originally came out.
 
If you want to know how the EL-8 bass extension is compared to the Momentum, I would say there is a very huge difference.
 
The Momentums certainly do not lack bass (on the sub-bass department), which I love. However, the EL-8 bass QUALITY is  miles ahead better than the momentum. It will hit harder and you will feel that impact, and I can see it delivering even better when amped to your E12 (which is a solid portable amp and enough to drive the EL-8 a little further).
 
Now I haven't heard the CLOSED El-8 for myself yet, but if you really want soundstage and great sound quality combined, I think you should check out the Open El-8. This is because it will provide more Air when listening to your music, so you get a more "out-of-your-own-head experience" and you will feel a more different experience compared to the Momentums when hearing instruments in your music. 
 
For example, you will be able to hear a guitar being plucked through the left channel of your ear as if the instrument is being played organically close to you from a certian direction you are projecting the musician.
 
Also, The LCD's are suppose to have a even better bass quality and impact compared to the EL-8, but....they are definitely going to be much harder to drive compared to the EL-8. So have a budget in mind.

 

[money4me247]

Wow, the impressions on these are more contradictory than on most any other headphones I have read about on Headfi.

Any possibility that there may be fairly significant frequency response variations from unit to unit?
Thats the first thought that came to my head after reading many posts in this thread.

probably because some people are upgrading to the EL-8 from mid-fi headphones & others are jumping over to the EL-8 from flagship options. also, keep in mind everyone is coming from a different sound signature preference, so their comments are relative to their preferred sound sig.
 
only comments that you can really take & apply it to your own situation are comments that include a direct comparison against another pair of headphones that you have personally heard as well (if the reviewer concluded the same thing as you about the shared reference headphones used for comparison).

 

[Beagle]

  Hi Dave: Listening to them now...they aren't dark, but neither bright. Playing them straight from my Concero HP right now and I'm finding them quite balanced actually. They are a bit brighter than the LCD-X's, but still not K701 or HD700 bright...not even close.

 
Thanks Peter.....(another one of my trusted ears")

 
 

They were forward right out of the box, surprisingly so. Over a period of 24-36 hours of burn-in, the soundstage opened somewhat, but the mids and treble remained dominant. The bass was present but never developed proportionately to the mids and treble response.

 
This was a comment I got from other listeners.....that they actually got brighter with burn-in.
 

Wow, the impressions on these are more contradictory than on most any other headphones I have read about on Headfi.

Any possibility that there may be fairly significant frequency response variations from unit to unit?
Thats the first thought that came to my head after reading many posts in this thread.

 
You may well be right. I thought the same thing. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Hey guys.I'm a newbie, currently own a Momentum first gen and occasionally enjoy a deep, thundering bass performance which the momentums have almost satisfactorily delivered.I hate the small soundstage. So my questions are 1. How would the EL-8 fare with my x5+e12 and 2. Is buying an EL-8 a good choice for me?
Thanks.

 
If you want thundering bass: http://www.head-fi.org/t/716711/the-best-bass-headphones-are-the-extreme-bass-club
 
If you get the EL-8 and are disappointed with "not enough bass" or whatever, remember that you can always use a parametric equalizer to boost the bass or tweak the sound in many other ways.
 
And if you want to take it to the next level and equalize your headphones (any headphones) to be as close to neutral as possible, based on objective techniques and your own hearing, you can follow the instructions in these threads:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial
http://www.head-fi.org/t/587703/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial-part-2
http://www.head-fi.org/t/615417/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-advanced-tutorial-in-progress
 
Of course, there's only so much EQ can do, but most people don't bother to use serious EQ in the first place. I'd bet impressions of headphones in general would be more positive if more of us did.

 

[cute]

 

Hey guys.I'm a newbie, currently own a Momentum first gen and occasionally enjoy a deep, thundering bass performance which the momentums have almost satisfactorily delivered.I hate the small soundstage. So my questions are 1. How would the EL-8 fare with my x5+e12 and 2. Is buying an EL-8 a good choice for me?
Thanks.

 
If you want thundering bass: http://www.head-fi.org/t/716711/the-best-bass-headphones-are-the-extreme-bass-club
 
If you get the EL-8 and are disappointed with "not enough bass" or whatever, remember that you can always use a parametric equalizer to boost the bass or tweak the sound in many other ways.
 
And if you want to take it to the next level and equalize your headphones (any headphones) to be as close to neutral as possible, based on objective techniques and your own hearing, you can follow the instructions in these threads:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial
http://www.head-fi.org/t/587703/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial-part-2
http://www.head-fi.org/t/615417/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-advanced-tutorial-in-progress
 
Of course, there's only so much EQ can do, but most people don't bother to use serious EQ in the first place. I'd bet impressions of headphones in general would be more positive if more of us did.

At this level of headphones, from Audeze, EQ should not be needed, if the design is correct to begin with!

 

[glockhit]

Thanks for the reply,

Yea, with my Lyr2 and bifrost the EL8 didn't really get better than from S5 or Fiio X3.  The sound stage does get better with the Teac UD-301 and project ember but like you said the added "air and power" doesn't translate to better performance from the EL8.

I agree 100% with you. I also sent mine back. To me it's a good headphone but just average. Very impressive solid build. Definately German design. Sound wise on par with the headphone market you mention. Definately to heavy to be portable. There is no question Audeze makes a great headphone. Though this one is far from exceptional.

 

[Head Injury]

 
At this level of headphones, from Audeze, EQ should not be needed, if the design is correct to begin with!

No headphone is perfect, all headphones benefit from EQ.

 

[bavinck]

probably because some people are upgrading to the EL-8 from mid-fi headphones & others are jumping over to the EL-8 from flagship options. also, keep in mind everyone is coming from a different sound signature preference, so their comments are relative to their preferred sound sig.

only comments that you can really take & apply it to your own situation are comments that include a direct comparison against another pair of headphones that you have personally heard as well (if the reviewer concluded the same thing as you about the shared reference headphones used for comparison).

This, imo, is spot on money. The problem with some people (very few) on this thread is they are not presenting impressions of the el8 like you suggest. Instead they are making general declarative statements to "their ears" about the sound signature of the el8,without much (any) comparison to other headphones. I have never seen a thread where new people will ask about the el8 and get told it is not what they want so stop asking about it without any kind of discussion and comparison of the headphone. It's a shame as many people here know what they are talking about and have very good impressions to share and their voices are being drowned out.

 

[Oregonian]

Anyone yet try the EL-8 (either open or closed) out of a vintage speaker amp?

 

[bfreedma]

 
At this level of headphones, from Audeze, EQ should not be needed, if the design is correct to begin with!

 
People aren't EQing because the design is bad, they are EQing to get the headphone to meet their personal preference.  Nothing wrong with that, but it hardly connotes an incorrect design.

 

[money4me247]

 
People aren't EQing because the design is bad, they are EQing to get the headphone to meet their personal preference.  Nothing wrong with that, but it hardly connotes an incorrect design.

sorta similar to cable & tube swaps

 

[cute]

 

 
At this level of headphones, from Audeze, EQ should not be needed, if the design is correct to begin with!

 
People aren't EQing because the design is bad, they are EQing to get the headphone to meet their personal preference.  Nothing wrong with that, but it hardly connotes an incorrect design.

Help me here, what are your EQ setting for the EL8, I'd like to try them!

 

[bfreedma]

 

 
At this level of headphones, from Audeze, EQ should not be needed, if the design is correct to begin with!

 
People aren't EQing because the design is bad, they are EQing to get the headphone to meet their personal preference.  Nothing wrong with that, but it hardly connotes an incorrect design.

Help me here, what are your EQ setting for the EL8, I'd like to try them!

I don't EQ headphones. I find models that sound good to me out of the box.

I've spent 3 decades EQing stereo and home theater setups where the room dominates sound at the listening position. One thing I like about headphones is taking the room out of the equation.

Help me here. What are the design defects you mention in the EL-8?

 

[crixnet]

 

 
At this level of headphones, from Audeze, EQ should not be needed, if the design is correct to begin with!

 
People aren't EQing because the design is bad, they are EQing to get the headphone to meet their personal preference.  Nothing wrong with that, but it hardly connotes an incorrect design.

Help me here, what are your EQ setting for the EL8, I'd like to try them!

I don't EQ headphones. I find models that sound good to me out of the box.

I've spent 3 decades EQing stereo and home theater setups where the room dominates sound at the listening position. One thing I like about headphones is taking the room out of the equation.

Help me here. What are the design defects you mention in the EL-8?

I believe he's referring to the tuning of the cans.