[faran]

Did any of you ever get the weird "crackling" sound with your EL-8s? I kept getting this intermittently so my dealer asked me to send them back to him and he got back to me today saying that it's an issue with the cable. He was able to duplicate it by twiddling the 3.5mm end when connected to his amplifier but it worked perfectly fine when he put in the cable from his display model. So he's going to order a new cable for me. All this time I thought there was a problem with the headphones themselves.

@zambz, I have the travel case and it really does protect the headphones well when travelling. One tip though that really helped me from @twister6 as I found the case to be a tad too tight and his method really made it much easier.

I'm using my phone so I hope the link below works fine. It's post #106 in case it doesn't.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/761161/audeze-el-8-closed-version-impressions-thread/105#post_12131022

 

[inthere]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/764120/fatal-flaw-with-audeze-el-8Quote:

Did any of you ever get the weird "crackling" sound with your EL-8s? I kept getting this intermittently so my dealer asked me to send them back to him and he got back to me today saying that it's an issue with the cable. He was able to duplicate it by twiddling the 3.5mm end when connected to his amplifier but it worked perfectly fine when he put in the cable from his display model. So he's going to order a new cable for me. All this time I thought there was a problem with the headphones themselves.

@zambz, I have the travel case and it really does protect the headphones well when travelling. One tip though that really helped me from @twister6 as I found the case to be a tad too tight and his method really made it much easier.

I'm using my phone so I hope the link below works fine. It's post #106 in case it doesn't.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/761161/audeze-el-8-closed-version-impressions-thread/105#post_12131022

Well, there are a number of issues with the headphones themselves and even a thread dedicated just to faults with the EL-8:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/764120/fatal-flaw-with-audeze-el-8
 
..........I'm on my 5th cable now so there are also issues with the cable. 

 

[SomeGuyDude]

From what I've noticed, those were a fault with early issues. I actually love the connectors on these because mine are plenty snug and not goin' anywhere. 
 
As for crackling, yeah, there's an occasional tiny crackle if I move my jaw, but I've noticed that with other planars as well (my old LCD-2's did it). I think it has to do with the airspace and the incredibly thin diaphragm. 

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Side note... I sat for like an hour A/B'ing with the Nighthawks and I'm just... not sure.
 
They're significantly bassier, but in the strangest way. It doesn't feel like the drivers are failing to reproduce other frequencies, just the impact of the bass is more forceful so some of the fine details are lost simply by virtue of the extra sound. I'm really unable to figure out if the Nighthawks are full and dynamic compared to the thinner EL-8 or if the EL-8 are wide and natural compared to the muddy Nighthawk.

 

[zambz]

  Side note... I sat for like an hour A/B'ing with the Nighthawks and I'm just... not sure.
 
They're significantly bassier, but in the strangest way. It doesn't feel like the drivers are failing to reproduce other frequencies, just the impact of the bass is more forceful so some of the fine details are lost simply by virtue of the extra sound. I'm really unable to figure out if the Nighthawks are full and dynamic compared to the thinner EL-8 or if the EL-8 are wide and natural compared to the muddy Nighthawk.

 
In my opinion it's the latter without a shadow of a doubt.  The Nighthawks to me were probably one of the muddiest open headphones I've ever heard EVER!  So bloated in the lower mids and bass region yet still lacked punch.  I can honestly say that they were my least favourite headphones in the bunch I tried.  The EL-8 is far far far FAR FAR FAR .... closer to neutral.
 
If you do want a bit more punch and low end, you're much better off with the LCD-2s or a good pair of closed back headphones.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

   
In my opinion it's the latter without a shadow of a doubt.  The Nighthawks to me were probably one of the muddiest open headphones I've ever heard EVER!  So bloated in the lower mids and bass region yet still lacked punch.  I can honestly say that they were my least favourite headphones in the bunch I tried.  The EL-8 is far far far FAR FAR FAR .... closer to neutral.
 
If you do want a bit more punch and low end, you're much better off with the LCD-2s or a good pair of closed back headphones.

 
That's what I thought too, but people kept saying "give them time" and damned if they don't start to "click" after about 15 minutes. They have a very different sound, they don't sound like any headphones I've experienced before and I still can't decide if I like it or not. 
 
What it seems like is the EL-8 gives a perfect experience of experiencing the sound, the Nighthawk gives a more visceral experience of "feeling" the music against your head, if that makes sense. Percussion actually thudded and cracked rather than simply having sound. I'd never for a second say the Nighthawk can touch the EL-8 for accuracy, but there's something about them that keeps saying "hey... try me again..."
 
Need another round of comparing, I think. 

 

[inthere]

  Side note... I sat for like an hour A/B'ing with the Nighthawks and I'm just... not sure.
 
They're significantly bassier, but in the strangest way. It doesn't feel like the drivers are failing to reproduce other frequencies, just the impact of the bass is more forceful so some of the fine details are lost simply by virtue of the extra sound. I'm really unable to figure out if the Nighthawks are full and dynamic compared to the thinner EL-8 or if the EL-8 are wide and natural compared to the muddy Nighthawk.

 
I have both headphones, although I have the EL-8C which is a brilliant sounding headphone. Nighthawk definitely has more clarity in the bass, even with the extra weight. The Fostex TH600 has more bass than the Nighthawk and also has more clarity than the Nighthawk. 
 
EL-8C feels thin in the middle compared to the other two headphones, but thicker than the Ether C. EL-8C sounds muddy compared to Ether C at first listen, but once you give it some time on its own you realize it doesn't really miss detail at all-everything just has more weight on it...........bass on the Ether lacks detail simply due to lack of weight sometimes. By contrast, the mid bass on the Nighthawk really helps with clarity and definition on bassy tracks in lower regions. The EL-8C is slightly sibilant/strident, the TH600 has more stibilance/stridence, and the Ether C is the most sibilant/strident. The Nighthawk has very smooth and non fatiguing treble-which is my personal preference. 
 
Listening level has to be adjusted for each headphone-no way I can listen to EL-8C at Nighthawk levels, it feels like I'm scraping my eardrums raw. Also I get a more full listening experience with the Nighthawk-it just feels more balanced with itself than my other headphones.
 
Not that my other headphones sound bad by any means-each one is sensational imo, and I enjoy them all. But my preferred way of listening is loud and clean without the edge on the treble. Nighthawk checks those boxes for me. 

 

[DavidA]

   
......  The EL-8 is far far far FAR FAR FAR .... closer to neutral.
 
If you do want a bit more punch and low end, you're much better off with the LCD-2s or a good pair of closed back headphones.

Just curious as to what other headphones you consider "neutral".  I was looking in some threads on what others considered "neutral" and one had the Sony MDR-V6 as "neutral" based on the FR graph, most have the HD-600.
For me its either my HE-400i or HD-600.  The EL8 I would say is more warm/neutral for my ears, LCD-2f closer to "my" definition of neutral.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Gonna be doing some serious auditioning this week...

 

[zambz]

 
Just curious as to what other headphones you consider "neutral".  I was looking in some threads on what others considered "neutral" and one had the Sony MDR-V6 as "neutral" based on the FR graph, most have the HD-600.
For me its either my HE-400i or HD-600.  The EL8 I would say is more warm/neutral for my ears, LCD-2f closer to "my" definition of neutral.

 
I'd say that the HD600s are pretty damn close to neutral tbh.
 
So my list would go like this:
 
warm neutral
 
LCD-2
open EL-8
HD650
 
neutral
 
HD600
 
bright neutral
 
SRH-840
DT880
 
nowhere near neutral
 
ATH-M50 (and x variant)
Bang & Olufsen H6
Audioquest Nighthawk
Ultrasone Perfromance 840
Sennheiser HD800 / HD700
DT990 / DT770 / DT250
Momentum 2.0
closed EL-8
Oppo PM-3 (tough call, but huge treble roll off, way too laid back to be considered neutral, though bass and mids are pretty spot on)
 
The ones I need to listen to further to confirm are
 
Mr Speakers Ether (remember this being bright neutral)
HE-560 (i remember this being far from neutral)
Dharma (remember these being bright neutral)
 
This is just my opinion based on past experience with studio work.

 

[DavidA]

@zambz, thanks for the reply, added some other headphones that I have and what I think they sound like
 
Neutral-Bright
HE-560
Ether (had my friends for a few months, too bass lite for me)
SR-009
HD-800
HD-700
 
Neutral-Warm
SRH-1840
X1
SennGrado
Momentum over-ear
Momentum on-ear
MDR-1A
EL8 open
 
Close to Neutral
K7XX
K553
SR-60 drivers in Walnut wood cups
 
Not Neutral - but fun
TH-600
HE-400
RS2e
SR-225e
DT-990
Stax SRM-41
 
Looks like we have some similar thoughts on sound.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

   
I'd say that the HD600s are pretty damn close to neutral tbh.
 
So my list would go like this:
 
warm neutral
 
LCD-2
open EL-8
HD650
 
neutral
 
HD600
 
bright neutral
 
SRH-840
DT880
 
nowhere near neutral
 
ATH-M50 (and x variant)
Bang & Olufsen H6
Audioquest Nighthawk
Ultrasone Perfromance 840
Sennheiser HD800 / HD700
DT990 / DT770 / DT250
Momentum 2.0
closed EL-8
Oppo PM-3 (tough call, but huge treble roll off, way too laid back to be considered neutral, though bass and mids are pretty spot on)
 
The ones I need to listen to further to confirm are
 
Mr Speakers Ether (remember this being bright neutral)
HE-560 (i remember this being far from neutral)
Dharma (remember these being bright neutral)
 
This is just my opinion based on past experience with studio work.

 
This all sounds accurate to my experiences (though I haven't heard all of these, just most).

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Further testing states I 'm going to have to decide exactly what I'm looking for in headphones, because these and the 'hawks present two different opinions on what headphones should do and I'm not able to decide yet.
 
The EL-8, I'm still in awe of them for what they do at under $1000. The Nighthawks, it's like they said "headphones are doing it wrong, here's what should be happening" and it's a whole new presentation. As it stands, music in the EL-8 once in a while sounds too thin, and in the Hawk once in a while too thick. But that makes sense, I listen to music with WILDLY different recording qualities, it's just a question of which side I prefer to err on.
 
I'll tell you what, it's an insane time to be alive when headphones on this calibre are not only readily available but don't require thousands in equipment to run properly.

 

[utee05]

What is a good amp for these? I currently have a magni+modi stack for my HE-400 and looking to get these. I have been thinking of upgrading my stack to a vali 2 or asgard so curious if these benefit better from tube or SS amp. Any thoughts?

 

[DavidA]

  What is a good amp for these? I currently have a magni+modi stack for my HE-400 and looking to get these. I have been thinking of upgrading my stack to a vali 2 or asgard so curious if these benefit better from tube or SS amp. Any thoughts?

EL8 is very easy to drive, an amp is really not needed.  If you really want to get an amp for both your HE-400 and EL8 I would suggest a tube hybrid amp like a Ember or Lyr2 where you can tune the sound with different tubes.  I haven't heard a vali 2 so can't comment on it but there seems to be many that like it in other threads.