[Music Alchemist]

  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.

  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.

 
Exactly. Even the most neutral headphones can still get even closer to neutral with the use of EQ. And after that, it's easier to tweak it to your liking. But doing that first part (following the instructions in the threads I linked to) is a little tricky, so I guess most people would do casual EQ instead of bothering with serious EQ...which is akin to throwing paint at a wall as opposed to painting with a fine-tipped brush.
 

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

 
I will share my parametric EQ settings for the EL-8 if/when I get it.

 

[AN94Master]

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.

Hey, the Momentum is my first love too!
I get what you're trying to say and yes I have a budget ($1500,HP+amp).I think the LCD 2+lyr 2 would be a good pairing. All that power!!

 

[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?

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

Perhaps, but the statement Cute made that I originally responded to specifically referenced the design of the EL-8s being incorrect. That's a pretty bold claim about technical design that is most likely just a personal preference issue, not a design failure.

EQ away to meet personal preference. I would never take issue with that.

 

[crixnet]

In the final analysis, no subjective impression or comparisons to other HPs can compare to actually listening to the EL-8 with one's personal system, music and ears. Even one's listening environment preferences are crucial determining factors worthy of serious consideration.

Every one of us is different. Different ages, hearing abilities, critical listening experience, sources, systems. And, most important, different personal preferences in music genres and ideal headphone response characteristics.

What I love, you might hate. Or it just might leave you cold. At any rate, no harm, no foul.

No one can hear for you, just as no one can spend your money or time. These are supremely individual, personal resources and discretionary decisions. Revel in them. They're yours to do with for your personal listening pleasure.

Others' opinions are just that, theirs. Caveat emptor.

 

[Music Alchemist]

In the final analysis, no subjective impression or comparisons to other HPs can compare to actually listening to the EL-8 with one's personal system, music and ears. Even one's listening environment preferences are crucial determining factors worthy of serious consideration.

Every one of us is different. Different ages, hearing abilities, critical listening experience, sources, systems. And, most important, different personal preferences in music genres and ideal headphone response characteristics.

What I love, you might hate. Or it just might leave you cold. At any rate, no harm, no foul.

No one can hear for you, just as no one can spend your money or time. These are supremely individual, personal resources and discretionary decisions. Revel in them. They're yours to do with for your personal listening pleasure.

Others' opinions are just that, theirs. Caveat emptor.

 
I 100% agree with this post.

 

[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!

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?

Let me restate that, not design defects, but how Audeze decided to tune the EL8, possibly just the new driver design/model!

 

[achristilaw]

My open EL-8's are going back..... to flipping BRIGHT anyway you slice it.

 

[cute]

 

  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.

  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.

 
Exactly. Even the most neutral headphones can still get even closer to neutral with the use of EQ. And after that, it's easier to tweak it to your liking. But doing that first part (following the instructions in the threads I linked to) is a little tricky, so I guess most people would do casual EQ instead of bothering with serious EQ...which is akin to throwing paint at a wall as opposed to painting with a fine-tipped brush.
 

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

 
I will share my parametric EQ settings for the EL-8 if/when I get it.

I just rolled in some different tubes into my Kenzie Headphone Amp, and the EL8 sounds like a different headphone.  RCA 12SL7 NOS tubes 1944.....more dynamic more bass quantity, bigger wider soundstage, really sounding quite nice right now....gee, I believe they just scaled up!

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I just rolled in some different tubes into my Kenzie Headphone Amp, and the EL8 sounds like a different headphone.  RCA 12SL7 NOS tubes 1944.....more dynamic more bass quantity, bigger wider soundstage, really sounding quite nice right now....gee, I believe they just scaled up!

 
Yup, that's why I'm going to try to tweak it to my liking with a free equalizer and perhaps use more expensive mechanical modifications like tubes in the future. But at first, I'll see how much I like it in "normal" mode. I know some people get annoyed when I ask for comparisons, but how do you feel the EL-8 stacks up against the HD 800 and HE-6?

 

[cute]

 

  I just rolled in some different tubes into my Kenzie Headphone Amp, and the EL8 sounds like a different headphone.  RCA 12SL7 NOS tubes 1944.....more dynamic more bass quantity, bigger wider soundstage, really sounding quite nice right now....gee, I believe they just scaled up!

 
Yup, that's why I'm going to try to tweak it to my liking with a free equalizer and perhaps use more expensive mechanical modifications like tubes in the future. But at first, I'll see how much I like it in "normal" mode. I know some people get annoyed when I ask for comparisons, but how do you feel the EL-8 stacks up against the HD 800 and HE-6?

Audeze did recommend allowing 24 to 48 hours, whether you want to call it burn in or whatever.  Mine have passed 60 hrs, and I think the bright, shouty sound is gone, and I am getting more bass quantity for sure, whether it is the tube change, or the mechanical burn in that Audeze recommended!

 

[VoodooSamurai]

Asked in the other thread, but wondering if these are portable, and worth having alongside the LCD-3?

 

[notsimar]

Mine sounded great out of the box, my only concern is the retention on the connectors, going to possibly look into a balanced set of cables shortly after they are available.

 

[Beagle]

Perhaps, but the statement Cute made that I originally responded to specifically referenced the design of the EL-8s being incorrect. That's a pretty bold claim about technical design that is most likely just a personal preference issue, not a design failure.
 

 
At any price point above $400, a headphone should at least make a semi-serious attempt at a balanced FR.
 

  My open EL-8's are going back..... to flipping BRIGHT anyway you slice it.

 
Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse

Always look on the BRIGHT side of life...(Whistle)
 
If the EL8 seems jolly rotten
There's something you've (they've?) forgotten

 

[wahsmoh]

Hehe, I always wait a few weeks after the initial discussion before I make decisions about new headphones. There are some people on Head-fi who are only interested in the latest flavor and the next month they're throwing stones at it before buying a (subjectively) worse sounding headphone and loving it. That is why you trust your OWN ears and be wary of the many people who swap out headphones like they're socks.
 
and then.. there's the people who own $$$$ worth of headphones yet listen out of a $ DAC. those people you really gotta watch out for as well

 

[lamode]

 
No headphone is perfect, all headphones benefit from EQ.

 
So true, and there is no "perfect" for everyone anyway, regardless of the price of a headphone someone will always want it brighter or darker.
People are not using high quality digital EQ nearly enough, in my opinion.
I would never pick a headphone based solely on its frequency response, which can be easily corrected in most cases, but instead other factors such as rise time, ringing, distortion, etc.