[RockStar2005]

Brand new review!

See my post in comments section at bottom as well. lol

 

[stenog]

Brand new review!

See my post in comments section at bottom as well. lol

I agree with most of his review. For SQ alone I miss Ella, but for comfort no. They are heavy and do have an awkward design and for me not comfortable in the long run. But I do like the warm natural signature and still sometimes regret that I send them back. I have never heard EL-8 but what I have read about them I think I would prefer Ella.

Rock I am not sure these are for you. You want bright and sparkly treble. Personally I didn't miss any treble details with the Ella, but I am not sure it's enough for you.

Blue needs to make a different design

 

[RockStar2005]

I agree with most of his review. For SQ alone I miss Ella, but for comfort no. They are heavy and do have an awkward design and for me not comfortable in the long run. But I do like the warm natural signature and still sometimes regret that I send them back. I have never heard EL-8 but what I have read about them I think I would prefer Ella.

Rock I am not sure these are for you. You want bright and sparkly treble. Personally I didn't miss any treble details with the Ella, but I am not sure it's enough for you.

Blue needs to make a different design

Hey stenog,

That's cool. I guess regarding comfort I'd have to try them out to see since there seems to be "mixed feelings" regarding that topic. Having had tried the Lola, I felt they were QUITE comfortable, but they didn't have a built-in amp included either.

See that's the thing. Once again (not sure if it was you the last time or not), I hear someone basically say that having a "bright and sparkly treble" is different than having lots of detail in the treble. I feel that they're one and the same. What MAKES treble "sparkly" to me is that it's EQ'd in a way (the BEST way IMO lol) that allows ALL the details to shine through (which the Lola wasn't), LIKE the beautiful "chimey" sound an acoustic guitar fitted with steel strings makes. So I dunno. The fact that you say you DIDN'T miss any treble details with the Ella makes me like it even more. lol But that price tag lol............................... it's hard to consider when I have already (seemingly) perfect headphones like my AKG K551.

I dunno man. I think the "racecar suspension system" look makes Blue stand out, and I'm ALL FOR thinking outside the box. They do have the BT/NC "Satellite" coming out later this year which looks much more "traditional" than all their other headphones do. Part of the appeal of Blue to me IS that unique look. I think they need to CONTINUE to further research and explore ways to make their headphones continually comfortable so less people say they're not.

 

[stenog]

Buy them from Amazon and return them if you don't like them. This is an expensive hobby and 700 usd is not too much...compared to other headphones.

Regarding treble, I don't know!! I think we have different demands and expectations. I am not a treble guy and don't want my treble to be too bright or sparkly and therefore maybe without thinking about it accept less details. As far as I know AKG generally are bright headphones, Blue Ella is not. But I have no doubt that Ella will blow your K551 far out in the water .

Agree with you about "thinking out of the box", I don't know maybe if I had spent more time with them I've got more used to them.

 

[RockStar2005]

Buy them from Amazon and return them if you don't like them. This is an expensive hobby and 700 usd is not too much...compared to other headphones.

Regarding treble, I don't know!! I think we have different demands and expectations. I am not a treble guy and don't want my treble to be too bright or sparkly and therefore maybe without thinking about it accept less details. As far as I know AKG generally are bright headphones, Blue Ella is not. But I have no doubt that Ella will blow your K551 far out in the water .

Agree with you about "thinking out of the box", I don't know maybe if I had spent more time with them I've got more used to them.

I dunno. My fear is that I WILL like them more than my K551s, and then I'd have to PAY for them. LOL I may check them out though when their price comes down a bit!

Well compared to the $200 I spent on my K551s, they're A LOT! lol

I dunno if I'm a "treble guy" as much as I am a "details guy"! lol That's a BOLD statement stenog! If the Ella DOES NOT offer the same level of treble detail the K551s do (and trust me, offer it they DO! lol), then I will never choose them over the K551, unless perhaps a custom EQ of some type could remedy that?

Nice, glad you agree. Yes that's possible!

 

[akg fanboy]

AKG is not really known for very bright headphones as in treble actually, the q701 for example has much less treble than the hd700/hd800 or any of the beyer 770/880/990/t1 headphones. The treble is slightly forward but it cuts back heavily in the higher frequencies around 10k and above. AKG is more about forward upper mids that make them seem bright, personally I have gotten treble fatigued from trying headphones before but not upper mids fatigued.

The k551 is kind of an exception where it does have treble that is more forward than usual, but treble quantity can EASILY be boosted or cut, in fact it's the easiest frequency region to boost or cut if you're unhappy with it. No doubt rockstar, you won't like the "less detailed than k551" part when you first try it, but the detail levels should be pretty similar assuming the ella is a proper flagship. But once you phase out the "k551" sound from your brain and get used to the ella, you might end up really liking it, and I know you will since you liked their lola. I would imagine the ella to be a more refined lola with less bass quantity but tighter bass all while retaining a still north of neutral in the bass department sound (enough to no longer satisfy bass heads).

As far as "upgrading", I used to believe a headphone that was $500 has ought to be vastly superior and an "upgrade" to a $100 one, but I soon learned that not to be true, I kept my q701 over a lot of more expensive headphones like the w5000, hd700, t1, etc. Once your reach the $300 and above category, the refinements and improvements are only subtle and the biggest differences are usually in sound signature and micro improvements that are not heavily noticeable. If you're happy with your k551, there is no reason to actually upgrade, especially if you enjoyed the k551 sound more than the lola sound.

Now if you really want wireless and "planar bass" isn't your biggest priority, then I think going for the satellite will be great. Those can easily be tuned for your EQ desires as you want as well and you would have less remorse in doing so since they are so much cheaper

 

[RockStar2005]

AKG is not really known for very bright headphones as in treble actually, the q701 for example has much less treble than the hd700/hd800 or any of the beyer 770/880/990/t1 headphones. The treble is slightly forward but it cuts back heavily in the higher frequencies around 10k and above. AKG is more about forward upper mids that make them seem bright, personally I have gotten treble fatigued from trying headphones before but not upper mids fatigued.

The k551 is kind of an exception where it does have treble that is more forward than usual, but treble quantity can EASILY be boosted or cut, in fact it's the easiest frequency region to boost or cut if you're unhappy with it. No doubt rockstar, you won't like the "less detailed than k551" part when you first try it, but the detail levels should be pretty similar assuming the ella is a proper flagship. But once you phase out the "k551" sound from your brain and get used to the ella, you might end up really liking it, and I know you will since you liked their lola. I would imagine the ella to be a more refined lola with less bass quantity but tighter bass all while retaining a still north of neutral in the bass department sound (enough to no longer satisfy bass heads).

As far as "upgrading", I used to believe a headphone that was $500 has ought to be vastly superior and an "upgrade" to a $100 one, but I soon learned that not to be true, I kept my q701 over a lot of more expensive headphones like the w5000, hd700, t1, etc. Once your reach the $300 and above category, the refinements and improvements are only subtle and the biggest differences are usually in sound signature and micro improvements that are not heavily noticeable. If you're happy with your k551, there is no reason to actually upgrade, especially if you enjoyed the k551 sound more than the lola sound.

Now if you really want wireless and "planar bass" isn't your biggest priority, then I think going for the satellite will be great. Those can easily be tuned for your EQ desires as you want as well and you would have less remorse in doing so since they are so much cheaper

That's interesting about the upper mids-fatigue vs. treble-fatigue. I could see how the treble could cause fatigue much easier than the mids could.

I really doubt I could notice a difference b/t the K551 and the K550. I even bet if I applied your awesome custom EQ for my K551 to the K550, it would be JUST as effective. lol

Well for me akg I'd have to play 1 or 2 specific songs on it to determine whether or not the Ella has enough "sparkle" to it or not. Either I here the chime or I don't. You might be right about the Ella's sound. I guess I'd have to really give it a good 3-4 weeks before determining whether or not I like it more than the K551, and NOT listen to the K551 during that time too. lol

Yeah I'm with you there. I think $300 is an accurate price point to "draw the line" at. Trying out the Ella would be more a curiosity thing than something I feel I NEED to do. It would help if my HTC 10's amp WASN'T as strong as it is (1.009 volts max output), but since it is, that makes needing that built-in amp the Ella offers even less necessary.

Wireless? Meh. lol I AM curious about the Blue Satellite though. But it's more so I know if I should suggest it to ppl who like NC headphones than for myself. I would be very happy to hear that it outdoes the Sony MDR-1000X since that seems to be the current NC (and BT) headphone champion right now. I believe the Satellite's dedicated NC/dedicated speaker driver combo will give it an edge, whenever Blue gets around to FINALLY releasing it that is! lol

 

[stenog]

AKG, thanks for the very informative post.

I have never heard any AKG headphones, I have always stayed away from them because I thought they were too bright and lacked bass. I need to try one

 

[akg fanboy]

You can see in the graph how the k701 (the brightest 700 series variant) has more treble in the 7-10k treble frequencies, but once it goes to 10k and above it dips significantly, to the point where even the hd600 has more treble beyond 10k, which I believe is good since from my experience and EQ, those frequencies don't matter nearly as much as the 200-10k spectrum. I don't want to mislead you into thinking that they are as toned down and "dark" as the hd600, but if you like the dt1990 treble, the q701 treble will not fatigue you, if beyer stuck to their sound then it should have slightly less than the dt1990. Beyers are usually about going up from 5k that will constantly keep going uphill even beyond 10k which I find more fatiguing for long term.

Some people will argue that frequency charts can never be trusted, but I find them pretty accurate, especially since I at least heard most of akg, beyer, and sennheiser products to know how accurate they are. I found the q701 bass response to be fairly similar to the t1, so it will probably be lower than the 1990, but far from anemic. Akg does upper mids very well which is something I never liked with beyers or sennheisers 700/800 (guitars usually sound brighter but don't have as much forwardness).
Most people will recommend the k7xx and k712 as the ones to go for as they have more bass, but personally I don't recommend them at all. They add more bass, sure, but the increase is solely in QUANTITY, and the sub bass drop off still exists, it also sacrifices a lot on soundstage and upper mids which is the whole point of an akg. Not every headphone will satisfy everyone's bass/treble/mids requirements, but if they all did, then none of them would be unique. If I want to recommend a headphone, then I'd go by recommending the best representative of akg's sound signature which is the k702/q701/k612

 

[akg fanboy]

Wireless? Meh. lol I AM curious about the Blue Satellite though. But it's more so I know if I should suggest it to ppl who like NC headphones than for myself. I would be very happy to hear that it outdoes the Sony MDR-1000X since that seems to be the current NC (and BT) headphone champion right now. I believe the Satellite's dedicated NC/dedicated speaker driver combo will give it an edge, whenever Blue gets around to FINALLY releasing it that is! lol

No doubt the satellite will beat the crap out of the mdr 1000x, maybe not in quality, but definitely in sound signature.... and probably ANC as well. Blu at least knows how to make a somewhat balanced sound signature while sony went all crazy with the dark and not exactly v shaped but still withdrawn mids xba series, to the v shaped 1000x, to the l-shaped? mdr z7. Their actually good products don't count because they are either completely outdated and discontinued or just insanely expensive

 

[RockStar2005]

For those of you interested in the Blue Satellite......we now have a date! May 12th! See Amazon site here to pre-order. (Currently only the black version is showing as available to pre-order, but that could change anyday now.)

Update: Newegg.com has both available for pre-order, though the White version is currently on back order.

This review I think isn't AS good because of the issue with the NC. But apparently they received what seems like a bad model, so you SHOULD take that into account too. Sound quality-wise though, they say it's incredible! At $399.99, it sounds like a winner to me if you care about NC + great sound quality!

Update: This Forbes review is even more positive!

 

[AlwaysForward]

Satellite reviews seem pretty mixed. Based on trends it seems like it:

-Sounds awesome like Blue's other cans.
-Has a Bluetooth noise issue that -might- get fixed with a software update.
-Starts with a heavy/uncomfortable clamp pressure that seems to ease over time according to one reviewer (MoFi was/is like this)
-Has "passive" wireless mode? There must be an amp driving it but maybe just phone level power?
-ANC works well but might be closer to the last Bose generation than this one
-Some people dislike the control scheme and lack of beeps/alerts about battery
-On+ was scrapped for battery life.

I'm actually pretty happy with the price point considering it's sibling's prices. They had to compete with Sony/Bose and did.

Overall it's just as divisive as their other first gen headphones, which I love. The Bluetooth noise floor is probably my only real concern. Also, I love On+. A lot. Missing that is super disappointing. Now it feels kind of like a trade off where I either have the musical versatility of On+ or the world engulfing ANC.

I'm not too worried about the controls which are nitpicked. I tend to get the hang of unwieldy interfaces pretty quick. If it makes sense to the guy who designed it, I'll be fine.

The reviews were mostly tech publications, which is awesome for marketing/branding. I'm wanting to hear an audiophile take on it.

For me, between Bose ANC superiority, Sony Interface/design and Blue's better sound, I lean toward the better sound quality.

So they overall seem like a purchase for me if they can fix the Bluetooth noise.

 

[RockStar2005]

Satellite reviews seem pretty mixed. Based on trends it seems like it:

-Sounds awesome like Blue's other cans.
-Has a Bluetooth noise issue that -might- get fixed with a software update.
-Starts with a heavy/uncomfortable clamp pressure that seems to ease over time according to one reviewer (MoFi was/is like this)
-Has "passive" wireless mode? There must be an amp driving it but maybe just phone level power?
-ANC works well but might be closer to the last Bose generation than this one
-Some people dislike the control scheme and lack of beeps/alerts about battery

I think the "passive" wireless mode simply just lets the sound through without the aid of an amp. I mean, how do other BT headphones that don't have amps work then?

Yeah but I wonder how you update their software? Hopefully there's a way.

I think overall they're worth a shot. I'd love to see someone compare these to the Sony MDR-1000X too. Anyone reading this who wants to find out.................go for it! lol

 

[AlwaysForward]

I think the "passive" wireless mode simply just lets the sound through without the aid of an amp. I mean, how do other BT headphones that don't have amps work then?

Yeah but I wonder how you update their software? Hopefully there's a way.

I think overall they're worth a shot. I'd love to see someone compare these to the Sony MDR-1000X too. Anyone reading this who wants to find out.................go for it! lol

All Bluetooth headphones have a DAC/AMP built in. They have to take a digital Bluetooth signal and convert/drive it. Bluetooth doesn't carry any power, either.

I think Blue's marketing of an amp is kinda geared toward it being a really audiophile amp driven design. They partnered with FiiO on the MoFi and have been designing amps in house for the new generation.

Firmware updates can happen via MicroUSB or Bluetooth. Their Bluetooth design would need some compute for DAC. Probably a Qualcomm chip since you need one for Apt-X.

Sad that AAC wasn't mentioned.

 

[RockStar2005]

All Bluetooth headphones have a DAC/AMP built in. They have to take a digital Bluetooth signal and convert/drive it. Bluetooth doesn't carry any power, either.

I think Blue's marketing of an amp is kinda geared toward it being a really audiophile amp driven design. They partnered with FiiO on the MoFi and have been designing amps in house for the new generation.

Firmware updates can happen via MicroUSB or Bluetooth. Their Bluetooth design would need some compute for DAC. Probably a Qualcomm chip since you need one for Apt-X.

Sad that AAC wasn't mentioned.

Oh yeah that's right......... forgot about that (BT having a built-in DAC/AMP). I guess maybe the Satellite just uses a "low-power" version of the amp in passive mode? lol

Yes that is all correct about FiiO and then them going "in-house" for production of amps thereafter. Interesting that they decided to do that.

Yeah I just didn't see anything about it being upgradeable, but I guess that isn't necessarily something they'd feel the need to advertise on the main website.

Yeah, but that could be upgraded too. So does that mean it CAN'T transmit AAC files then????