[NZtechfreak]

Well the HE-1000 has a significantly larger driver...

 

[money4me247]

Well the HE-1000 has a significantly larger drive...

that is true, but I do believe the thickness of the diaphragm, the asymmetric single-ended magnets, the set-up array of the magnets, strength of the electromagnetic forces, tension of the diaphragm, damping, and total weight of the driver would have a much larger impact on sound quality than just purely driver diameter. imo. feel free to dosagree.

 

[NZtechfreak]

that is true, but I do believe the thickness of the diaphragm, the asymmetric single-ended magnets, the set-up array of the magnets, strength of the electromagnetic forces, tension of the diaphragm, damping, and total weight of the driver would have a much larger impact on sound quality than just purely driver diameter. imo. feel free to dosagree.

I don't really have a position in this, only pointing out the driver size of the HE-1000. I don't know enough about headphone design to say which aspects contribute the most to sound quality.

 

[lamode]

  if driver size had a really big impact on sound quality, you would think the large planar magnetic companies will have their higher end models utilizing larger drivers rather than spending so much time developing other technologies. really I think other elements of driver design (fazor, se vs de, etc) make a significantly larger impact on sound quality. 

 
I didn't say the impact was *really* big, I was just explaining how larger diaphragms have an advantage, all else being equal - lower distortion.
 
Just look at flagship headphones - they are always the largest diaphragm models in the range. HE-1000, Ether, HD-800, T1, etc.
 
As for why more headphones don't use larger diaphragms, it seems the answer is obvious: larger diaphragm headphones are more heavy, large and expensive.

 

[Sonic Defender]

And again, I was not saying larger is a one-to-one relationship with sound quality, I was referencing the impact on scale. And circling around, if all else is equal, a more realistic sound scale will sound better, but what the magnitude of the effect is difficult to say, but there is no question that our brain uses all of the sensory information coming from sound to complete the picture and therefore scale is important, but only in so much as it is part of the picture. Nothing more, and nothing less.

 

[Zulkr9]

  lcd-2, lcd-xc, lcd-x, and lcd-3: all 106 mm
PM-1/PM-2: 85 x 69 mm
he-300 50mm (dynamic)
couldn't find the driver size specs for the other Hifiman headphones, but the HE-400, HE-400i, HE-500, HE-560, HE-6 all have the same driver size.
 
if driver size had a really big impact on sound quality, you would think the large planar magnetic companies will have their higher end models utilizing larger drivers rather than spending so much time developing other technologies. really I think other elements of driver design (fazor, se vs de, etc) make a significantly larger impact on sound quality. 

Im pretty certain that there is a difference between the HE-400, 400i and the driver sizes of the other cans, HE-6 just has gold tracings

 

[baritone]

what amplification are you using with your el8's

 

[mikroski]

Any phones of LCD line have similar sound signature with EL-8 open?
 
I like my el8 but its pad is too small for my ear and it hurt after few hours.

 

[money4me247]

  Any phones of LCD line have similar sound signature with EL-8 open?
 
I like my el8 but its pad is too small for my ear and it hurt after few hours.

well, some people have been calling them a baby LCD-X, so I imagine that would be the closest within Audeze's line-up.

 

[seamonster76]

Well, I had LCD2.2 and have LCDX currently.
 
The EL8 closed back sound very different from both of them. I broke in my pair for about 72 hours before any critical listening, but they sounded dry in Audeze standard. A range from upper bass to low mid was missing from the EL8 and I heard less bass even compared with Beyerdynamic T5p and T70p, not the mention the Audeze big brothers. The treble was also a bit harsh. I heard these problems with all my current amps, namely Schiit Lyr, Fiio X5, and Alo Pan Am (which pairs very well with LCD2 and LCD3).
 
We had a headphones meet in my company few weeks ago and two pair of closed EL8 showed up (one was mine). They sounded identical so I believed my pair was not necessarily a bad copy. Amazingly, except the owner of the other pair, nobody else liked the sound in the meet.
 
 
I was also disappointed in the build quality as the hinges and/or the cups make some annoying squeaky noise...
 
 
I have heard open back sound a lot better but I have not heard them.

 

[money4me247]

  Amazingly, except the owner of the other pair, nobody else liked the sound in the meet.

lol. not that surprising. people who buy & keep a pair of headphones are much more likely to like the sound of those headphones. that's ownership bias for you.

 

[seamonster76]

I was not amazed by the other owner liking his EL8, but the fact that nobody else liked them.  =)

 

[24grant24]

Since the El-8 is so poorly received what would you guys suggest for a headphone in the $600-$700 price range, I've tried the th-600, which I found too uneven in it's frequency response, the pm-2 which wasn't as detailed as the th-600 and was very uncomfortable to me, the Lcd-2 which was way too laid back, and both the open and closed El-8. The open El-8 walked away from all of those as my favorite headphone. What else is even in that price category?

 

[daphen]

  lol. not that surprising. people who buy & keep a pair of headphones are much more likely to like the sound of those headphones. that's ownership bias for you.

Have you both heard and disliked the closed EL-8?

 

[NZtechfreak]

Since the El-8 is so poorly received what would you guys suggest for a headphone in the $600-$700 price range, I've tried the th-600, which I found too uneven in it's frequency response, the pm-2 which wasn't as detailed as the th-600 and was very uncomfortable to me, the Lcd-2 which was way too laid back, and both the open and closed El-8. The open El-8 walked away from all of those as my favorite headphone. What else is even in that price category?

Final Audio Design Pandora Hope VI. Comfort isn't it's strongest point, but I liked the sound a great deal more than the open EL8 I heard (proto though).