[goldendarko]

IAMBLEST, my thoughts exactly, I think the Oppo wins hands down on portability, price, comfort and (IMO) looks. All that being said, if the EL-8 sound significantly better I may still go that way because I'm weak sauce like that I guess when it comes to sound quality.

 

[IAMBLEST]

IAMBLEST, my thoughts exactly, I think the Oppo wins hands down on portability, price, comfort and (IMO) looks. All that being said, if the EL-8 sound significantly better I may still go that way because I'm weak sauce like that I guess when it comes to sound quality.

well that's the thing.  I have the LCD3's so if i want amazing quality, ill use those on my desktop amp.
 
For travel, it looks like ill most likely use the PM3 paired with HA2 or with my Colorfly C4 depending.
 
I think the price/portability and ease of use of the PM3s really do make them stand out. 
 
Ill be home in around 3 hours and begin to audition them both then.

 

[goldendarko]

Sweet, looking forward to hearing your first impressions of them

 

[money4me247]

IAMBLEST, my thoughts exactly, I think the Oppo wins hands down on portability, price, comfort and (IMO) looks. All that being said, if the EL-8 sound significantly better I may still go that way because I'm weak sauce like that I guess when it comes to sound quality.

honestly, I guess from my experience extensively trying out a ton of mid-fi and summit headphones, the sound quality between nice mid-fi to even $1k+ summit-fi is very small & subtle. for "sound quality" attributes: I think of things like 'speed,' sound stage/imaging, detail retrieval/resolution/clarity, and dynamics... it is honestly generally not that big of a jump between headphones after you reached a certain solid mid-fi quality.
 
the biggest glaring differences is always just sound signature. I personally think ppl should primarily pick headphones based on sound signature preferences.
 

Spoiler: from my personal experiences on SQ

in terms of sound quality between headphones: the speed of most orthos are quite similar though different sound signatures may give the impression one is faster than the other (generally boosted bass or more bass reverb or increased richness or warmth would decrease the spacing between notes leading to an impression of decreased transient responses). Sound stage is more dependent physical design over anything else: whether the headphones are open or closed, damping, earcup size... etc. The differences from my direct comparisons is like a few inches this way or a few inches that way. Imaging differences are a lot more subjective, like you feel like you may be able to pick out this particular instrument more on this set-up and a different instrument more on another (honestly more dependent on the source than the headphones). The only open headphones that I have heard that dramatically improved sound stage a large margin beyond a solid "sound staging" mid-fi like the Q701 was the HE1000. yes, the hd800 does have a slightly larger sound stage than competing flagships which in turn have a slightly large sound stage than mid-fis, but honestly after owning and doing multiple direct side-by-side comparison with orchestral tracks, the difference is more akin to inches rather than feet from my experience. I do feel like the clarity and detail resolution of most mid-fis are honestly probably at 70-90% of flagships (probably even a bit less when you aren't hyperfocusing on micro-detail). this is all imo. ymmv

 
that being said, greatly looking forward to comparisons & can't wait to do my own evaluations!

 

[elwappo99]

Originally Posted by money4me247 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
honestly, I guess from my experience extensively trying out a ton of mid-fi and summit headphones, the sound quality between nice mid-fi to even $1k+ summit-fi is very small & subtle. for "sound quality" attributes: I think of things like 'speed,' sound stage/imaging, detail retrieval/resolution/clarity, and dynamics... it is honestly generally not that big of a jump between headphones after you reached a certain solid mid-fi quality.
 
the biggest glaring differences is always just sound signature. I personally think ppl should primarily pick headphones based on sound signature preferences.

 
Yup. I read a post once where a guy said he liked the AKG Q701 more than the Beyerdynamic T1 and thought they were better. I thought he was crazy at the time, but now I agree with him. Time and experience has changed my perspective a lot. 
 
A lot of flagship phones also have major flaws in them which can really throw off the sound in some songs. 

 

[IAMBLEST]

Impressions soon http://www.head-fi.org/t/759030/audeze-el-8-vs-oppo-pm-3-impressions#post_11412869

 

[geogga]

Hey guys. So I kinda forgot about the EL-8 and am not updated. If I'm correct the first pairs out were open back right? Have and are there reviews on the closed back?
 
Seems like the PM-3s are also being compared and are very nice due to its price.

 

[IAMBLEST]

  Hey guys. So I kinda forgot about the EL-8 and am not updated. If I'm correct the first pairs out were open back right? Have and are there reviews on the closed back?
 
Seems like the PM-3s are also being compared and are very nice due to its price.

check my thread in the link above - i do a mini review of both from first hour impressions.

 

[guslabu]

Has anyone compared the EL-8 to the Hifiman HE-560 or HE-500 yet?
If so, how do they compare sonically?

I plan on doing this once I get my EL-8 open back 

 
I loved the HE-500 and now the HE-560...but could only keep one. HE-500 had to go as the HE-560's were much more comfortable 

 

[YtseJamer]

 

[Profoundsoup]

 

BUT how do they sound?!!??!!?!?!! :O 

 

[citraian]

BUT how do they sound?!!??!!?!?!! :O 

Lovely?!?

 

[TheMiddleSky]

  @TheMiddleSky which one you tested? Closed or opened. Anyhow, glad to hear that 8s has good mid and sparkle treble
 
hope that I will get my 8s before April

 
 

   
 


Wondering the same thing, can you also do a comparison with the LCD-3 and such? TY

@Lorspeaker
 
For more complete info, my set up when tried EL8 was: Marantz CDP + Grace M902 + Bakoon Amp HDA-5520 + Audeze EL8 (Open)
 
 
The most different between EL8 and 3F is that 3F defintiely has bigger (and more accurate) imaging. Tonality wise I found they more simlar rather than different. LCD 3F win in term of resolution detail and more cleaner sound. Both can be considered as dark sounding headphone.
 
But, when I back at EL8, that beautiful lush midrange, that full body yet polite bass, that tonality, that black background, that smooth sparkle treble, I don't think they far behind 3F, in fact, I think it's very close.

 

[money4me247]

 
@Lorspeaker
 
For more complete info, my set up when tried EL8 was: Marantz CDP + Grace M902 + Bakoon Amp HDA-5520 + Audeze EL8 (Open)
 
The most different between EL8 and 3F is that 3F defintiely has bigger (and more accurate) imaging. Tonality wise I found they more simlar rather than different. LCD 3F win in term of resolution detail and more cleaner sound. Both can be considered as dark sounding headphone.
 
But, when I back at EL8, that beautiful lush midrange, that full body yet polite bass, that tonality, that black background, that smooth sparkle treble, I don't think they far behind 3F, in fact, I think it's very close.

 
I've extensively listened to the entire Audeze line-up... still waiting on getting my hands on the EL-8, and they are all darker headphones compared to their competition. Their whole LCD line-up in general are much closer in performance between each model than the pricing suggests & overall shares very similar sound signatures. that is a pretty good thing for more budget-orientated enthusiasts.

 

[KT66]

 

 
Found my pics from January when I heard them in London.
The open did actually isolate quite well in a noisy room.
 
I hope to get either, pref closed in May.