[antdroid]

I'm so jelly of ur photography skills Dx no foolies. were the focals just there or did you put them there for the photo heh

Thanks. Bokeh shots are fun. Though I did this rather quickly. Manual focus + fixed prime lenses are great for product photography.
I was listening to the Focals when I saw your post so I put them down and took a photo of what I had already done on the Mobius.

Is the mobius headband uncomfortable enough to warrant a sheath over it? This would be a worry as these should be on my head for hours during my frequent Asia-Europe flights.

I have gone back and forth with the band on and off. I used the same band on the Sine previously. I kind of like the softness of it, but does get a tad warm.

 

[KMann]

Ready for Measurements?



Original post: http://www.antdroid.net/2018/08/audeze-mobius-measurements-initial.html

The following should be taken with a grain of salt and use it how you want. They are using the MiniDSP EARS unit. I wasn't able to measure channel matching unfortunately because I think I did something to my left mic and need to figure out why it's giving me elevated bass responses. The measurements are off my Right Ear Driver and all are in Hi-Res mode and are using a USB connection to my PC.

I set target SPL to 84-85dB for every measurement and then normalized it to 0 dB. It looks like they default normalize to 300Hz.

Click on the photos to enlarge them as desired.

First off, here is the DEFAULT Raw Frequency Response, Compensated using Harman Target Curve, Total Harmonic Distortion (awesome!) and the Waterfall chart to show decay time






Next up, these are the music presets: Default (Audeze House Sound) vs Flat EQ vs Music EQ



Finally, here are the gaming presets (Footsteps, Ballistics, Racing, RPG) :




Click on the photos to enlarge them as desired.

@antdroid Thank you very much for your impressions and sharing your measurements. As you have suggested, one should not read too much into measurements made using EARS unit. MiniDSP EARS cannot be used reliably for absolute measurements. There is no real ear coupling with correct acoustical impedance like in GRAS or other calibrated acoustic measurement rigs. We see a lot of variations between EARS units when measuring the same headphone. Using raw response from EARS will give very a different frequency response and may not be representative of actual response. We have also noticed that 3KHz ear canal resonance is not reproduced correctly when using EARS. This is the reason we see the rapid raise to 4kHz followed by the sudden drop while using EARS.

That said, MiniDSP EARS is a economic option for may enthusiasts and is better than having no tool. We ourselves have multiple EARS units that we use to do quick comparative measurements when making revisions on prototypes. The measurements we have made of Mobius using EARS unit in our labs is similar to what you have shown. However, we are not sure how the compensation curve was used. The ideal Harman curve stays flat below 200Hz, so we do not know why your compensated response shows a 5dB drop.

Here are the frequency response and THD measurements of Mobius we made. We have shown the Default and Music preset.


Here is the distortion measurement measured at 105 dB


We like to see a steadily raising response starting from 200Hz and reaching 10 to 12dB at 3kHz, then a falling response that about 6dB down from 1kHz. You will notice this below. Mobius is well extended at both the low and frequencies.

 

[acia]

how does mobius compared with sine and isine please?

 

[antdroid]

@antdroid Thank you very much for your impressions and sharing your measurements. As you have suggested, one should not read too much into measurements made using EARS unit. MiniDSP EARS cannot be used reliably for absolute measurements. There is no real ear coupling with correct acoustical impedance like in GRAS or other calibrated acoustic measurement rigs. We see a lot of variations between EARS units when measuring the same headphone. Using raw response from EARS will give very a different frequency response and may not be representative of actual response. We have also noticed that 3KHz ear canal resonance is not reproduced correctly when using EARS. This is the reason we see the rapid raise to 4kHz followed by the sudden drop while using EARS.

That said, MiniDSP EARS is a economic option for may enthusiasts and is better than having no tool. We ourselves have multiple EARS units that we use to do quick comparative measurements when making revisions on prototypes. The measurements we have made of Mobius using EARS unit in our labs is similar to what you have shown. However, we are not sure how the compensation curve was used. The ideal Harman curve stays flat below 200Hz, so we do not know why your compensated response shows a 5dB drop.

Here are the frequency response and THD measurements of Mobius we made. We have shown the Default and Music preset.


Here is the distortion measurement measured at 105 dB


We like to see a steadily raising response starting from 200Hz and reaching 10 to 12dB at 3kHz, then a falling response that about 6dB down from 1kHz. You will notice this below. Mobius is well extended at both the low and frequencies.

Thanks for the response. The HEQ file that MiniDSP supplied uses what I believe is the updated Harman curve which raised the lower end response up 3 dB. In their manual the say the curve can be +/- 3 dB from linear and they suggested +3 dB in it, assuming that is what was supplied in their target calibration file. At some point, I'd like to tweak the curve they supplied and lower the low end response down to match a linear bass response as seen in the raw data.

I agree, it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. It works to compare back and forth but not as absolute. The GRAS is much better for that. I cant afford that

 

[antdroid]

how does mobius compared with sine and isine please?

Similar to Sine overall, but better bass extension and slightly wider and better imaging to me. The driver is a 25% larger which helps. I'll have to listen to both of them side-by-side more. Love both of them. Sine is smaller and, to me, still one of the most attractive and well built headphones on the market.

iSine (10 in my case) is darker out of the box. Cant comment on iSine with cipher but iSine is easily EQ'd just like any planar headphone. With the Audeze reveal or audeze supplied EQ, the iSine will sound like a miniature version of the Sine/Mobius. Less extension for size reasons, less impact, full sounding and less detailed. These are more limitations, I think, of the driver size. The iSine was a great portable for me.

 

[kozio_]

Is the mobius headband uncomfortable enough to warrant a sheath over it? This would be a worry as these should be on my head for hours during my frequent Asia-Europe flights.

A bit uncomfortable at first, but I've worn them for a few hours now and haven't felt any discomfort since the first 10 or so minutes

 

[tinyman392]

Is the mobius headband uncomfortable enough to warrant a sheath over it? This would be a worry as these should be on my head for hours during my frequent Asia-Europe flights.

They are heavy and although there is some padding, it doesn't quite distribute the weight evenly across the head so a modification like this would be useful.

 

[feilb]

When can we expect the software to be available to all of us new Mobius owners?

 

[antdroid]

When can we expect the software to be available to all of us new Mobius owners?

https://www.audeze.com/audeze-hq-application

 

[kozio_]

When can we expect the software to be available to all of us new Mobius owners?

https://www.audeze.com/audeze-hq-application

I'm not sure where to report bugs, maybe you've experienced this @antdroid but the app seems to disconnect after a few minutes? Like I'll have to remove the USB connection and put it back in for the app to start working again

edit; no problems after updating the software

 

[antdroid]

I'm not sure where to report bugs, maybe you've experienced this @antdroid but the app seems to disconnect after a few minutes? Like I'll have to remove the USB connection and put it back in for the app to start working again

I haven't had issues with the app in my limited use. I've spent most of today on LDAC Bluetooth though.

I've used my own USB-A to USB-C cable as well. Have not taken the supplied cables out of packaging yet.

 

[tinyman392]

https://www.audeze.com/audeze-hq-application

Darn, no OSX version :/

 

[kozio_]

I haven't had issues with the app in my limited use. I've spent most of today on LDAC Bluetooth though.

I've used my own USB-A to USB-C cable as well. Have not taken the supplied cables out of packaging yet.

Do you have a USB C port on your PC? I'm curious if the issue I'm having is somehow with my computer, not Mobius software
edit; it was my drivers, all works fine now

Darn, no OSX version :/

They've confirmed this a while ago. The windows version is still pretty early tho... Hopefully it doesn't end up like the previous waves NX software. It got no updates whatsoever after initial release, forever stuck on a 2ch only mode with no customization whatsoever

 

[tinyman392]

Do you have a USB C port on your PC? I'm curious if the issue I'm having is somehow with my computer, not Mobius software



They've confirmed this a while ago. The windows version is still pretty early tho... Hopefully it doesn't end up like the previous waves NX software. It got no updates whatsoever after initial release, forever stuck on a 2ch only mode with no customization whatsoever

I'm not too worried about it honestly, I tend to do all my listening on mobile anyways. Mainly bought these as a BT planar headphone that can be used "on the go".

 

[antdroid]

Do you have a USB C port on your PC? I'm curious if the issue I'm having is somehow with my computer, not Mobius software



They've confirmed this a while ago. The windows version is still pretty early tho... Hopefully it doesn't end up like the previous waves NX software. It got no updates whatsoever after initial release, forever stuck on a 2ch only mode with no customization whatsoever

My laptop does have a USB C port. I am actually indirectly plugged into it. The computer is attached to a USB C docking station which is connected to a hub which the Mobius was connected to... It's two or three hubs away from the laptop. Works fine.

I haven't tried a direct USB C to C connection.

 

[Zenvota]

So I've got a question, how would you use the Mobius over USB with a bass shaker system, subpac, etc.?