[SomeGuyDude]

  You know... I'm kinda curious how the open EL 8 would compare to the Hifiman HE X, 

 
LMAO if anyone wants to let me borrow an X I'd happily do an in-depth review. They'd be powered by a Vali, though, and I don't know how much oomph the X needs.

 

[Makiah S]

   
LMAO if anyone wants to let me borrow an X I'd happily do an in-depth review. They'd be powered by a Vali, though, and I don't know how much oomph the X needs.

it really depends, an the X isn't mine It's hifimans 
 
I might just snag one off Amazon, an return it if I hate it 

 

[SomeGuyDude]

  it really depends, an the X isn't mine It's hifimans 
 
I might just snag one off Amazon, an return it if I hate it 

 
I just meant that if some generous Head-Fi'er out in the world was willing to part with their X for a little bit ol' SGD would happily put together as in depth a comparison as I could, haha.
 
That's really the motive to wanting to be a headphone reviewer: getting to hear tons of headphones without selling blood and organs to afford it.

 

[zambz]

I spent many hours A/Bing the open EL-8s with the LCD-2F today and ended up with the EL-8s.
 
The reasons are as follows:
 
* I actually prefer the sound of the EL-8 a pinch more, it is a tad less laid back
* The EL-8 are much easier to drive and sound wonderful out of my MBP
* The appearance and weight, man these are some sexy headphones
 
So I'm now listening to these babies and love them, but I do have a few questions if anyone may help:
 
1. Is it possible to reduce the clamping force by stretching the headband a bit?
2. My right cup is more stiff when rotating than the left cup, is that normal?
3. I notice 2 screws on my right cup in the rotating area, but I don't see these on the left ear cup
 
Thanks heaps
zambz

 

[SomeGuyDude]

The right cup is stiffer on mine as well, huh. I can see the screws, though. As for clamping force, just stretch it over something like a box and leave it overnight, that should fix it.
 
Interesting you prefer them to the LCD-2F, any other notes?

 

[zambz]

  The right cup is stiffer on mine as well, huh. I can see the screws, though. As for clamping force, just stretch it over something like a box and leave it overnight, that should fix it.
 
Interesting you prefer them to the LCD-2F, any other notes?

 
Thank you so much for the reply
 
Honestly, the LCD-2s and EL-8s sound REALLY similar imho, the bass hits a pinch harder on the LCD-2s but the LCD-2s are also a pinch darker.  The treble on both is equal to my ears as are the mids.
 
Overall, the LCD-2s were a little more "full sounding", but honestly for me, all the pros of the EL-8 were too hard to pass up for a slightly bigger sound.  Besides, the more laid back sound of the LCD-2 sounded a bit too dark on warm recordings.
 
The LCD-2s really need a stand, you can't really put them down on a table without them falling over, their design is clumsy when comparing to the EL-8, and I much prefer the ear cup adjustments and cable on the EL-8 too.
 
If the LCD-2 is the upgrade to the HD650, then I think that the EL-8 is the upgrade to the Hd600
 
Just to reiterate, I spent hours A/Bing because I had a very VERY hard time deciding which to buy.
 
P.S.: I'll post some pics of the screws when I get home to show you what I mean

 

[zambz]

Oh and another little question, does anyone feel that the EL-8s need an amp to shine?  I think they sound just perfect through my MacBook Pro output and get very loud without amping.
 
I listen to them at 3 - 4 bars of volume (out of 16!)

 

[DavidA]

   
Thank you so much for the reply
 
Honestly, the LCD-2s and EL-8s sound REALLY similar imho, the bass hits a pinch harder on the LCD-2s but the LCD-2s are also a pinch darker.  The treble on both is equal to my ears as are the mids.
 
Overall, the LCD-2s were a little more "full sounding", but honestly for me, all the pros of the EL-8 were too hard to pass up for a slightly bigger sound.  Besides, the more laid back sound of the LCD-2 sounded a bit too dark on warm recordings.
 
The LCD-2s really need a stand, you can't really put them down on a table without them falling over, their design is clumsy when comparing to the EL-8, and I much prefer the ear cup adjustments and cable on the EL-8 too.
 
If the LCD-2 is the upgrade to the HD650, then I think that the EL-8 is the upgrade to the Hd600
 
Just to reiterate, I spent hours A/Bing because I had a very VERY hard time deciding which to buy.
 
P.S.: I'll post some pics of the screws when I get home to show you what I mean

 

  Oh and another little question, does anyone feel that the EL-8s need an amp to shine?  I think they sound just perfect through my MacBook Pro output and get very loud without amping.
 
I listen to them at 3 - 4 bars of volume (out of 16!)

After reading your 2 posts I went back and put on my LCD-2f and EL8 for a listen, the EL8 will scale a little with a better DAC/amp while with the LCD-2f the amp is mandatory for driving it properly.  Out of my computer headphone jack the LCD-2f sounds lifeless, thin and lacks dynamics while the EL8 sounds pretty good.  I have an Asus DG sound card in the computer I used to do this little experiment so its got a little more juice than most motherboard built in sound chip sets.
With my LCD-2f I usually use a Lyr2 or Ember, hardly use the EL8 anymore but I still keep it for using on the go, it sounds really good out of Fiio X3

 

[zambz]

   

After reading your 2 posts I went back and put on my LCD-2f and EL8 for a listen, the EL8 will scale a little with a better DAC/amp while with the LCD-2f the amp is mandatory for driving it properly.  Out of my computer headphone jack the LCD-2f sounds lifeless, thin and lacks dynamics while the EL8 sounds pretty good.  I have an Asus DG sound card in the computer I used to do this little experiment so its got a little more juice than most motherboard built in sound chip sets.
With my LCD-2f I usually use a Lyr2 or Ember, hardly use the EL8 anymore but I still keep it for using on the go, it sounds really good out of Fiio X3

 
Thanks so much for the information, really helpful!

 

[zambz]

I am now doing my first comparison of the EL-8 to my ADAM A7 studio monitors, and damn, I like the EL-8 sound more!!!!  The most surprising thing here is that the EL-8 has a pinch more present upper octave treble and just such a wonderful sparkle that even the ribbon tweeters on the ADAMs don't have.  This is saying a LOT since the treble on my ADAMs was (up until now) the best I had ever heard anywhere.
 
The EL-8s are damn close to neutral, maybe a pinch laid back on the upper mids (like -1db max), but apart from that, they sound as flat as my studio monitors.
 
I wonder if engineers have looked into these or other Audeze headphones for mixing and mastering.  If I were still producing, I sure would use them!

 

[zambz]

  3. I notice 2 screws on my right cup in the rotating area, but I don't see these on the left ear cup

 
My mistake, when I was at my folks place, the lighting was such that I could barely see the screws on one of the cups, but now that I'm home and have looked it over more carefully, there are indeed two screws on the swivel mechanism for each cup, sorry about that

 

[Maconi]

Stock the EL-8 is probably fine being driven by whatever. If you use EQ you'll run into a wall with clipping without some power to back it up though. My HA-2 on High Gain (which is only ~200mW power into the EL-8) is enough to eliminate the clipping.  They really came alive when I used an iFi iDSD Micro though (which was putting about ~1W into the EL-8). Most Audeze headphones will eat up to ~4W of power happily (and having 15W of headroom for the transients is preferred), the EL-8 included.
 
I have a Yggdrasil/Ragnarok, Liquid Carbon, Norne Zoetic balanced cable (for the EL-8), and LCD-XC on the way though. Looking forward to putting the EL-8 through its paces with some real equipment. 

 

 

[DavidA]

  I am now doing my first comparison of the EL-8 to my ADAM A7 studio monitors, and damn, I like the EL-8 sound more!!!!  The most surprising thing here is that the EL-8 has a pinch more present upper octave treble and just such a wonderful sparkle that even the ribbon tweeters on the ADAMs don't have.  This is saying a LOT since the treble on my ADAMs was (up until now) the best I had ever heard anywhere.
 
The EL-8s are damn close to neutral, maybe a pinch laid back on the upper mids (like -1db max), but apart from that, they sound as flat as my studio monitors.
 
I wonder if engineers have looked into these or other Audeze headphones for mixing and mastering.  If I were still producing, I sure would use them!

​I still like my speakers better than any headphone that I have, Rauna TYR, Magnepan 1.6 and KEF Ref 103.3,driven by either SAE X10A or Harmon Kardon Citation XX, they are old but still work great.

 

[inthere]

  I am now doing my first comparison of the EL-8 to my ADAM A7 studio monitors, and damn, I like the EL-8 sound more!!!!  The most surprising thing here is that the EL-8 has a pinch more present upper octave treble and just such a wonderful sparkle that even the ribbon tweeters on the ADAMs don't have.  This is saying a LOT since the treble on my ADAMs was (up until now) the best I had ever heard anywhere.
 
The EL-8s are damn close to neutral, maybe a pinch laid back on the upper mids (like -1db max), but apart from that, they sound as flat as my studio monitors.
 
I wonder if engineers have looked into these or other Audeze headphones for mixing and mastering.  If I were still producing, I sure would use them!

I have the EL-8C but I actually prefer the Audioquest Nighthawk for mixing and mastering as it's much more natural in the highs the the EL-8. The EL-8 still has slightly boosted treble which accentuates detail like most mid-fi and summit fi cans, even with the 6k dip. 

 

[zambz]

 
I have the EL-8C but I actually prefer the Audioquest Nighthawk for mixing and mastering as it's much more natural in the highs the the EL-8. The EL-8 still has slightly boosted treble which accentuates detail like most mid-fi and summit fi cans, even with the 6k dip. 

 
To be honest, I would personally be a little weary of mixing on the EL-8C and particularly the Nighthawks.  I found the Nighthawks extremely coloured, I was also not personally a fan of the EL-8C, I think that Audeze didn't quite nail the closed version of the EL-8 to be honest.  I would highly suggested listening to the open EL-8 if you get a chance some day, they sound completely (and i mean COMPLETELY) different to the closed version.
 
I used to use a pair of Shure SRH-840s which is also rather well balanced, but naturally lacks the soundstage and smoothness of an open headphone, it also rolls off a bit in the bass region.  I also really like the HD600 / HD650 sound for that purpose but they offer a pinch less resolution and the HD600 rolls off at around 50 Hz in the low end (but then again, so do my monitors which only have 6" woofers).
 
But it all really comes down to what you are used to.  I used to know a friend who would mix great sounding tunes on a pair of HD25s which he knew really well.