[ManuCV]

Hi there, I am very happy with my Avantone Pro Planar but I've been offered a nice deal for a brand new Arya Stealth. Does anyone here have the Arya Stealth? How do they compare to the Planar?

 

[mjobolks]

I'm also in a similar boat wondering which headphones you guys consider upgrades. My biggest gripe with these headphones is their very intimate soundstage. (at least compared to some cheaper hifimans I have)

 

[Rakyan]

Hi folks, how are these headphones nowdays? I read the topic, almost pushed the button, then saw the QC problems. After that read that with the planar II, the problems are MAYBE solved, or a part of them solved, but is not too reliable status for a blind buy. What about with them now? I thinking about these or the edition xs. Dunno what to do.

 

[Haden2866]

Hi folks, how are these headphones nowdays? I read the topic, almost pushed the button, then saw the QC problems. After that read that with the planar II, the problems are MAYBE solved, or a part of them solved, but is not too reliable status for a blind buy. What about with them now? I thinking about these or the edition xs. Dunno what to do.

I bought a set of brand new Planar 1, serial number 8xx, at a very attractive price on fleabay and it seems to be OK.
Haven't had a chance to use it a great deal, but no immediately apparent QC concerns for me.
Will get around to doing the balanced mod, at some point, as my sources (Cayin RU7 dongle, Sony JP NW-ZX707 DAP) are marginal in terms of power in SE mode (ie 3.5mm connector) but should hopefully drive the Planars more acceptably out of their balanced, 4.4mm, outputs.
My basic advice would be to check you have a serial number >350 or so (others, please jump in if this is incorrect), whether buying new or used, to ensure you have a set with the improved, metal, headband.
Others have raised additional QC concerns, IIRC, on here, so probably worth a re-read if you haven't already.
I'm happy with my purchase, especially for the price I paid.

\m/

Edit: I can see now you're asking about Planar II. Anyway, hope my post is somewhat helpful to someone.

 

[mjobolks]

Hi folks, how are these headphones nowdays? I read the topic, almost pushed the button, then saw the QC problems. After that read that with the planar II, the problems are MAYBE solved, or a part of them solved, but is not too reliable status for a blind buy. What about with them now? I thinking about these or the edition xs. Dunno what to do.

The Edition XS and Avantone planar will have very different presentations. The Edition XS will come off thinner but with more raw information due to the upper mid scoop and very present treble. The Planar on the other hand will sound thicker and warmer. I think both are good headphones you just gotta know what type of sound you want, ie the more clarity focused and wider edition XS or the warmer and more musical Avantone.

 

[mjobolks]

Also as a side note when I get to my computer later today I can attach the planars frequency graph if you’d like to be able to compare it to other headphones on squiglink

 

[Tubenoob]

Hello everyone. probably too late to the party or has been done before, but I was bored today and decided to make pad rolling easier for myself, as I have a few around.

Here is a file you can print and roll pads on, I tried the brainwavs xl and some custom leather hifiman pads I had laying around and they fit well. Some felt or loop material would be needed on the side that meets the headphones, I'm temporarily using double sided tape that seals enough, just testing.

Edit: Tested the Brainwavs XL, they look weird on the headphone but the sound is mostly unchanged, a bit more mids and more open soundstage, I think.

 

[Tubenoob]

Hello everyone. probably too late to the party or has been done before, but I was bored today and decided to make pad rolling easier for myself, as I have a few around.

Here is a file you can print and roll pads on, I tried the brainwavs xl and some custom leather hifiman pads I had laying around and they fit well. Some felt or loop material would be needed on the side that meets the headphones, I'm temporarily using double sided tape that seals enough, just testing.

Edit: Tested the Brainwavs XL, they look weird on the headphone but the sound is mostly unchanged, a bit more mids and more open soundstage, I think.

Further testing...

So I glued some felt that sticks to the original velcro decently but not as good as original, but pads are held in place and don't move whilst being worn.


I'm not sure how other square shaped pads behave, but I found with the round (hybrid) and angled (leather) pads that as long as the shape is different the soundstage is improved. The original pads give me a feeling of "pumping the sound straight into my ear canal". Such is not the case for the other two. As expected the big round shape and the increased distance of the angled ones sacrifice the bass impact; treble remains pleasant on all three. If anyone's interested I can drop proper pictures later

Edit: After this last little tinkering session I want to move on to something else. If anyone here is from Germany or close to the southern border PM me.

 

[Demetrios]

Hello everybody,
sorry for my english. I hope you can understand my point.
I own a pair of AKG-K702 and looking for an upgrade. The AKGs have a wide soundstage, but all centered musical content is inside my head. As an example. when I listen to this song (binaural wild soundstage), I hear a huge soundstage from left to right and behind my head (feels like 2m away). However, forward soundstage stays inside my head. From what I read in this thread the planars cover all my sound requirements, so my only other concern is that the center instruments are residing outside my head.
Can some owner of the planars listen to this song "" and tell me whether he can hear the forward projection of sound?

 

[mjobolks]

Hello everybody,
sorry for my english. I hope you can understand my point.
I own a pair of AKG-K702 and looking for an upgrade. The AKGs have a wide soundstage, but all centered musical content is inside my head. As an example. when I listen to this song (binaural wild soundstage), I hear a huge soundstage from left to right and behind my head (feels like 2m away). However, forward soundstage stays inside my head. From what I read in this thread the planars cover all my sound requirements, so my only other concern is that the center instruments are residing outside my head.
Can some owner of the planars listen to this song "" and tell me whether he can hear the forward projection of sound?

I'm not sure any headphone is going to completely remove that inside head feeling like an even just decent pair of studio monitors will. Especially if forward staging is what you want to improve.

 

[sofastreamer]

Hello everybody,
sorry for my english. I hope you can understand my point.
I own a pair of AKG-K702 and looking for an upgrade. The AKGs have a wide soundstage, but all centered musical content is inside my head. As an example. when I listen to this song (binaural wild soundstage), I hear a huge soundstage from left to right and behind my head (feels like 2m away). However, forward soundstage stays inside my head. From what I read in this thread the planars cover all my sound requirements, so my only other concern is that the center instruments are residing outside my head.
Can some owner of the planars listen to this song "" and tell me whether he can hear the forward projection of sound?

i own the k702 and the avantone next to many others. i say, that if you listen to music that is mixed the way you get inner head localization with the akgs, you will hardly find a headphone that presents this kind of mix located out of head. did you bass port mod the akgs? if so, this cramps the soundstage and gives less of a out of head experience than stock.
if i dont forget it, i will listen to your example later in the day.

 

[Demetrios]

I'm not sure any headphone is going to completely remove that inside head feeling like an even just decent pair of studio monitors will. Especially if forward staging is what you want to improve.

What makes me believe there should be a way to get front staging, is that I get a huge back staging when it exists in the recording...

i own the k702 and the avantone next to many others. i say, that if you listen to music that is mixed the way you get inner head localization with the akgs, you will hardly find a headphone that presents this kind of mix located out of head. did you bass port mod the akgs? if so, this cramps the soundstage and gives less of a out of head experience than stock.
if i dont forget it, i will listen to your example later in the day.

No, my AKGs are stock. I would be really interested to see how you perceive the soundstage of that song with the Avantone compared to the K702.


As a reference, I mainly listen to Classical & Jazz music.
Thank you mjbolks & sofastreamer for the replies

 

[sofastreamer]

I'm not sure any headphone is going to completely remove that inside head feeling like an even just decent pair of studio monitors will. Especially if forward staging is what you want to improve.

i think the same but believe it or not i listened to more than 1000 headphones the past 20 years (without wanting to show off) and the one that comes closest to a speaker like experience are the cheapo Tozo open buds. Maybe the Raal Headphones or the AKG K1000 are even better in this regard, as they are basically small speakers bound to your head. And maybe it depends on the shape of the ear too with all the reflections that happen, so at least with my ears i dont miss my dts speaker system when wearing the tozos for watching movies.

You also can learn to percept sound as out of the head. you will have much harder time to experience it with your eyes shut. When sitting in front of a wall it will also be harder. Best thing you can do to train your brain is to go outside on a wide field without borders and with the right recordings and headphones or iem suddenly the soundscape opens up. Psychoacoustics is a bitch

Honestly if out of the head experience is what you are looking for, you should look into flathead earbuds. you would be surprised how good they are these days and the best i heard definitely beat 99% of the overears in this regard at least. There is a lot to read about it in the earbud thread here on headfi.

But i know that many dont believe that small drivers can produce big sound. Some even think an iem with for example 8 custom ba drivers and a 4 way crossover that pushes each frequency thru dedicated acoustic tubes directly to your ear drum as they are calculated cannot be better than an over ear, that has to fight against different earshapes and is only one single driver and what not. Many people still think the bigger the better. Specially on one of the continents. So YMMV

 

[Demetrios]

i think the same but believe it or not i listened to more than 1000 headphones the past 20 years (without wanting to show off) and the one that comes closest to a speaker like experience are the cheapo Tozo open buds. Maybe the Raal Headphones or the AKG K1000 are even better in this regard, as they are basically small speakers bound to your head. And maybe it depends on the shape of the ear too with all the reflections that happen, so at least with my ears i dont miss my dts speaker system when wearing the tozos for watching movies.

You also can learn to percept sound as out of the head. you will have much harder time to experience it with your eyes shut. When sitting in front of a wall it will also be harder. Best thing you can do to train your brain is to go outside on a wide field without borders and with the right recordings and headphones or iem suddenly the soundscape opens up. Psychoacoustics is a bitch

Honestly if out of the head experience is what you are looking for, you should look into flathead earbuds. you would be surprised how good they are these days and the best i heard definitely beat 99% of the overears in this regard at least. There is a lot to read about it in the earbud thread here on headfi.

But i know that many dont believe that small drivers can produce big sound. Some even think an iem with for example 8 custom ba drivers and a 4 way crossover that pushes each frequency thru dedicated acoustic tubes directly to your ear drum as they are calculated cannot be better than an over ear, that has to fight against different earshapes and is only one single driver and what not. Many people still think the bigger the better. Specially on one of the continents. So YMMV

All your suggestions make sense. I have to check the earbud thread for the flatheads and will definitely check the tozos. It will be a fun experiment. They look like miniature K1000!

First of all, though, I will try to train my brain to perceive sound as outside my head, see what happens.

Thank you for your time and suggestions.

 

[mjobolks]

i think the same but believe it or not i listened to more than 1000 headphones the past 20 years (without wanting to show off) and the one that comes closest to a speaker like experience are the cheapo Tozo open buds. Maybe the Raal Headphones or the AKG K1000 are even better in this regard, as they are basically small speakers bound to your head. And maybe it depends on the shape of the ear too with all the reflections that happen, so at least with my ears i dont miss my dts speaker system when wearing the tozos for watching movies.

You also can learn to percept sound as out of the head. you will have much harder time to experience it with your eyes shut. When sitting in front of a wall it will also be harder. Best thing you can do to train your brain is to go outside on a wide field without borders and with the right recordings and headphones or iem suddenly the soundscape opens up. Psychoacoustics is a bitch

Honestly if out of the head experience is what you are looking for, you should look into flathead earbuds. you would be surprised how good they are these days and the best i heard definitely beat 99% of the overears in this regard at least. There is a lot to read about it in the earbud thread here on headfi.

But i know that many dont believe that small drivers can produce big sound. Some even think an iem with for example 8 custom ba drivers and a 4 way crossover that pushes each frequency thru dedicated acoustic tubes directly to your ear drum as they are calculated cannot be better than an over ear, that has to fight against different earshapes and is only one single driver and what not. Many people still think the bigger the better. Specially on one of the continents. So YMMV

Flatheads and IEMs are something I've wanted to try for a while now but the mass amount of them is very overwhelming to say the least lol. I believe music should be an experience and the way an earpiece, headphone, etc presents sound is just as important as tuning so with that in consideration do you recommend any?