[conquerator2]

Should finally receive my pair tomorrow.
Excited to hear them
EDIT - Since UPS is having a field day with the package, no idea when they'll actually deliver it

 

[conquerator2]

Out of the box impressions are positive. The tonality and timbre is pretty much perfect to my ears and they match my studio monitors pretty closely. Natural, effortless, analogue, musical sound. I am particularly impressed with vocals, both male and female, as they sound exquisitely realistic and natural. The sound overall lacks a bit in dynamics and weight, and bass is on the soft side, not very punchy, sub-bass is not particuarly present either and not rumbly, the texture is vey good though. The treble might be a little smoothed over but I wouldn't say they are dark and are tuned very well (I am sensitive to that arrea though, so a little roll off goes a long way). They sound quite airy though! The midrange is excellent and is thier strongest suit. Separation and technicalities are pretty good, adequate, though slightly on the melded, gray background sound. I find these headphones really good at immersing you in the music and just making you listening. My only criticism is really just the soft punch overall, but overall musical tonality deserves much praise. I prefer them to the Sundara in that regard; while that headphone is supeior technically, it is not musical and the timbre of the Hifiman is cold. They do sound quite close to the R70X, though the Audio Technicas certainly have more punch and sub-bass. I think I prefer the Planar's timbre slightly overall. Comfort is decent; the headband is malleable and so clamp can be adjusted, unlike the Sundara! Build quality feels solid.
EDIT - whether I am keeping these or not remains to be seen however. I am a little worried about long term comfort with my pointy ears lol.

 

[Angel III]

Out of the box impressions are positive. The tonality and timbre is pretty much perfect to my ears and they match my studio monitors pretty closely. Natural, effortless, analogue, musical sound. I am particularly impressed with vocals, both male and female, as they sound exquisitely realistic and natural. The sound overall lacks a bit in dynamics and weight, and bass is on the soft side, not very punchy, sub-bass is not particuarly present either and not rumbly, the texture is vey good though. The treble might be a little smoothed over but I wouldn't say they are dark and are tuned very well (I am sensitive to that arrea though, so a little roll off goes a long way). They sound quite airy though! The midrange is excellent and is thier strongest suit. Separation and technicalities are pretty good, adequate, though slightly on the melded, gray background sound. I find these headphones really good at immersing you in the music and just making you listening. My only criticism is really just the soft punch overall, but overall musical tonality deserves much praise. I prefer them to the Sundara in that regard; while that headphone is supeior technically, it is not musical and the timbre of the Hifiman is cold. They do sound quite close to the R70X, though the Audio Technicas certainly have more punch and sub-bass. I think I prefer the Planar's timbre slightly overall. Comfort is decent; the headband is malleable and so clamp can be adjusted, unlike the Sundara! Build quality feels solid.
EDIT - whether I am keeping these or not remains to be seen however. I am a little worried about long term comfort with my pointy ears lol.

It would be useful to know the amplifier and dac used.

 

[mobbaddict]

Out of the box impressions are positive. The tonality and timbre is pretty much perfect to my ears and they match my studio monitors pretty closely. Natural, effortless, analogue, musical sound. I am particularly impressed with vocals, both male and female, as they sound exquisitely realistic and natural. The sound overall lacks a bit in dynamics and weight, and bass is on the soft side, not very punchy, sub-bass is not particuarly present either and not rumbly, the texture is vey good though. The treble might be a little smoothed over but I wouldn't say they are dark and are tuned very well (I am sensitive to that arrea though, so a little roll off goes a long way). They sound quite airy though! The midrange is excellent and is thier strongest suit. Separation and technicalities are pretty good, adequate, though slightly on the melded, gray background sound. I find these headphones really good at immersing you in the music and just making you listening. My only criticism is really just the soft punch overall, but overall musical tonality deserves much praise. I prefer them to the Sundara in that regard; while that headphone is supeior technically, it is not musical and the timbre of the Hifiman is cold. They do sound quite close to the R70X, though the Audio Technicas certainly have more punch and sub-bass. I think I prefer the Planar's timbre slightly overall. Comfort is decent; the headband is malleable and so clamp can be adjusted, unlike the Sundara! Build quality feels solid.
EDIT - whether I am keeping these or not remains to be seen however. I am a little worried about long term comfort with my pointy ears lol.

You may want to try aftermarket pads to improve the bass, I find that leather pads greatly improve the bass response on the Planar, without messing too much with the rest of the frequency response (at least with perforated leather earpads). I have other planars with stock velour or hybrid pads and I think velour materials just don't cut it when it comes to deep bass, it just sounds too soft.

 

[conquerator2]

You may want to try aftermarket pads to improve the bass, I find that leather pads greatly improve the bass response on the Planar, without messing too much with the rest of the frequency response (at least with perforated leather earpads). I have other planars with stock velour or hybrid pads and I think velour materials just don't cut it when it comes to deep bass, it just sounds too soft.

But is there an easy way to get aftermarket pads for the Planar?

 

[conquerator2]

It would be useful to know the amplifier and dac used.

I run them off the Audio GD R2R11

 

[mobbaddict]

But is there an easy way to get aftermarket pads for the Planar?

No unfortunately lol. You can get some standard oval pads that would typically fit something like the HD600 but you'll need to find a way to attach them with velcro. I didn't attach mine (I'm using some cheap Brainwavz pads that do the job fine).

 

[SUSSUS AMOGUS]

Mine are 916 and are metal. I'm one who believes that transducers benefit from use and there is improvement in sound up to a point. Do planar headphones have a break in period?

No it sounds the same day 1 as it does day 500

 

[conquerator2]

I mean, if you're tired, or otherwise irritated, your listening experience can be effected by such things

 

[Angel III]

The Avantone Planar is very compatible with equalisers. You will see what a beautiful transformation, without changing the pads.

 

[conquerator2]

I ended up putting them on sale, if anyone is interested. It was an enjoyable time with them, but I'll be moving on

 

[jjss]

And another positive review
https://majorhifi.com/avantone-pro-planar-headphone-review/

Bought the Planar last summer and lately listened to it again to try and recollect its sound as haven't use it for quite a while. I was comparing it with Austrian Audio Hi-X55. To my very surprise (in a nice way) I find the Planar is very detailed, capable of reproducing micro tonal changes that would have been missed if listen with X-55! In short I would say the Planar is very vey textured! However when it comes to sound field, I find the planar is very boxed in terms of space size, whilst the X-55 gives a wider soundstage. Don't get me wrong the Planar still maintain a good separation of sound images its just that they tend to be "boxed" in a smaller space. My impression on sound field somewhat doesn't align with what this review says. The chain I used was: A&K SE200 --> iFi Diablo --> Centrance Ampersand --> headphone. The diff experience could due to a number of possible reasons incl. this reviewer's chain was somewhat soundstage enhancing, or the tracks he used was one inducive to expanded soundstage. Anyway, my "A/B" between this Planar and X-55 clearly shows that former's soundstage is smaller and quite "boxed". But the texture is just superb.

 

[plmon]

Bought the Planar last summer and lately listened to it again to try and recollect its sound as haven't use it for quite a while. I was comparing it with Austrian Audio Hi-X55. To my very surprise (in a nice way) I find the Planar is very detailed, capable of reproducing micro tonal changes that would have been missed if listen with X-55! In short I would say the Planar is very vey textured! However when it comes to sound field, I find the planar is very boxed in terms of space size, whilst the X-55 gives a wider soundstage. Don't get me wrong the Planar still maintain a good separation of sound images its just that they tend to be "boxed" in a smaller space. My impression on sound field somewhat doesn't align with what this review says. The chain I used was: A&K SE200 --> iFi Diablo --> Centrance Ampersand --> headphone. The diff experience could due to a number of possible reasons incl. this reviewer's chain was somewhat soundstage enhancing, or the tracks he used was one inducive to expanded soundstage. Anyway, my "A/B" between this Planar and X-55 clearly shows that former's soundstage is smaller and quite "boxed". But the texture is just superb.

I agree, I don't find the Avantone's soundstage to be particularly wide or spacious. But I do find it to have great layering and the positions of instruments/vocals are quite distinct within that smaller space, which seems to be what the reviewer was trying to express. But I'd usually refer to that as imaging ability rather than soundstage.

 

[ResidentAlien]

Heres my updated EQ profile for the Avantone Planar. I was looking at Oratorys graph and noticed after EQ there was still a dip at 3.8khz. I decided to fix that . Sounding damn good now. For anyone wanting more low end, low shelf at 70hz with 4.0 db should be more than enough.


Quick update.
The EQ under is my final EQ. I don't feel the need to do any more tweaks at all. This unlocks full potential of the Avantone Planar.

I do give alot of praise to Oratory as I only tweaked his eq slightly. But I personally do feel that this EQ is the final touch. Happy listening and enjoy.

So I’m on IOS and the best Parametric EQ app that supports Qobuz I can find is VOX player. I tried to interpret your EQ settings into it. Does it look right ? The four adjustable dots were set to your low shelf and high shelf settings.

 

[HardstyleLoco96]

This is my eq. Are you able to adjust your Q value?