[Sonic Defender]

Well, I won't make any judgment yet untill I hear it from the Chord Mojo. I suspect the iPhone 6S is holding back the true performance. If it's the same on the Chord Mojo than I'm sticking with the Shure SE846.

It shouldn't be significantly different. I suspect you heard the fairly overblown mid-bass. Shame, as the midrange is gorgeous. The Mojo will only impart it's tonality on the headphone, and it may control the bass a tiny, tiny bit better, but the biggest part of any pairing will always be the headphone.

 

[ubs28]

I hear how the iPhone 6S plus holds back other headphones like the HD 650 for example. The HD 650 is much better on the Chord Dave or on the Chord Hugo + Auralic Taurus MKII and it wouldn't be fair to judge it's sound based on the iPhone 6S plus. 
 
But we shall see if I bring the Chord Mojo with me next time. I'm not ruling out the B&W P9 just yet.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  I hear how the iPhone 6S plus holds back other headphones like the HD 650 for example. The HD 650 is much better on the Chord Dave or on the Chord Hugo + Auralic Taurus MKII and it wouldn't be fair to judge it's sound based on the iPhone 6S plus. 
 
But we shall see if I bring the Chord Mojo with me next time. I'm not ruling out the B&W P9 just yet.

Not at all the same thing, the HD 650 is less sensitive, and it also has a massively higher impedance and as such is not remotely meant to be driven by a smartphone whereas the P9 is.

 

[CluelessAudio]

I'm still amazed that after spending hundreds of pounds on headphones you need an amp for some of them. I'm a complete noob at all this audiophile business but that just seems wrong to me. Who wants an extra box hanging out of their phone. At home, it's different (still not something I'd ever do), plus some like the chord mojo cost £400. I'll happily spend thousands on a computer but on headphones? I'm almost speechless. Rant over

 

[Sonic Defender]

I'm still amazed that after spending hundreds of pounds on headphones you need an amp for some of them. I'm a complete noob at all this audiophile business but that just seems wrong to me. Who wants an extra box hanging out of their phone. At home, it's different (still not something I'd ever do), plus some like the chord mojo cost £400. I'll happily spend thousands on a computer but on headphones? I'm almost speechless. Rant over

Like many with audio, if you are spending thousands on a computer, you are likely buying far more than you actually use. Unless you are doing CPU intensive, crazy gaming, 3D or video editing, an entry level computer at under $1000 is quite capable. It does depend on the user, but in general if you surf the we, send e-mail, watch movies, play average games, social network and the like, hell even a decent duo-core processor with 4GB of RAM is enough. Most modern computers are woefully under-utilized by the vast majority of users. Sure, spending the extra money on an amp may be less necessary, but so is getting a CPU with 8 cores and the rest of bells and whistles associated with such machines.

 

[CluelessAudio]

Like many with audio, if you are spending thousands on a computer, you are likely buying far more than you actually use. Unless you are doing CPU intensive, crazy gaming, 3D or video editing, an entry level computer at under $1000 is quite capable. It does depend on the user, but in general if you surf the we, send e-mail, watch movies, play average games, social network and the like, hell even a decent duo-core processor with 4GB of RAM is enough. Most modern computers are woefully under-utilized by the vast majority of users. Sure, spending the extra money on an amp may be less necessary, but so is getting a CPU with 8 cores and the rest of bells and whistles associated with such machines.

True, I guess it's not a priority of mine in a sense that I'd happily spend several thousand on a computer but not hundreds and hundreds on an audio setup.

PS. How do you rate this so called mid bass hump on the P7 wireless vs the P9s? Is it non existent on the wireless P7s or not as noticeable?

 

[akg fanboy]

Like many with audio, if you are spending thousands on a computer, you are likely buying far more than you actually use. Unless you are doing CPU intensive, crazy gaming, 3D or video editing, an entry level computer at under $1000 is quite capable. It does depend on the user, but in general if you surf the we, send e-mail, watch movies, play average games, social network and the like, hell even a decent duo-core processor with 4GB of RAM is enough. Most modern computers are woefully under-utilized by the vast majority of users. Sure, spending the extra money on an amp may be less necessary, but so is getting a CPU with 8 cores and the rest of bells and whistles associated with such machines.

I am often maximizing my quad core i7 and eating up 16gb ram far too quick and I'm just a power user. I'll be needing an 8 core with 32gb ram soon

 

[quiet listener]

I hear how the iPhone 6S plus holds back other headphones like the HD 650 for example. The HD 650 is much better on the Chord Dave or on the Chord Hugo + Auralic Taurus MKII and it wouldn't be fair to judge it's sound based on the iPhone 6S plus. 

But we shall see if I bring the Chord Mojo with me next time. I'm not ruling out the B&W P9 just yet.

I just purchased the p9 a week ago and I can testify that the P9 does sound much better with DAC/AMP, I am now pairing it with Dragonfly Red + iphone 6s. A little burn in time ( 40-50 hrs) will also improve the sound as recommended by the manufacturer.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I am often maximizing my quad core i7 and eating up 16gb ram far too quick and I'm just a power user. I'll be needing an 8 core with 32gb ram soon

What are you doing to use that type of resources?

 

[akg fanboy]

  What are you doing to use that type of resources?

illustrator, notes, word processing, bunch of chrome tabs, several music players, steam, secondary browser, EQ plugin, occasional ide, a chat program, color control panel, malwarebytes, msi afterburner, logitech software, pdf reader. Nothing too unorthodox. Sometimes chrome has memory leakage
 

 

[Mikeoscar]

Well, I finally heard them. I suspect they require serious power and an iPhone 6S plus doesn't do them justice.

 
 
Quote:

I just purchased the p9 a week ago and I can testify that the P9 does sound much better with DAC/AMP, I am now pairing it with Dragonfly Red + iphone 6s. A little burn in time ( 40-50 hrs) will also improve the sound as recommended by the manufacturer.

 

  It shouldn't be significantly different. I suspect you heard the fairly overblown mid-bass. Shame, as the midrange is gorgeous. The Mojo will only impart it's tonality on the headphone, and it may control the bass a tiny, tiny bit better, but the biggest part of any pairing will always be the headphone.

 
I've been testing these cans quite a bit over the last few days, both in the store and now at home. In my experience these headphones absolutely require a dac/amp combo. I tried the pair in the store with a Samsung S5 and tried these at home hooking them directly to my laptop. In both cases it sounded absolutely terrible, as in "I can't believe anyone would spend $200 for this, let alone $900" terrible. Sure, there was enough volume to make you deaf but there was no music coming out of them, just a collection of sounds. Hook them up with my OPPO HA-2 and these really start to shine.
 
I'm still trying to get used to the midbase hump. Sure, it's there during some songs. But over the last day I've gotten more used to it and it only affects certain songs. Currently I'm experimenting with a very subtle equalizer correction in foobar2000 which seems to remove 90% of the negative tendencies. Since I've only had them for a couple of days I still need test this a bit more - but overall the experience with these headphones is overwhelmingly positive. Songs where the hump is not present are absolutely fantastic to listen to across the full spectrum - they are comfortable and they look good. They do absolutely need a DAC/amp though - without it you're not doing them anywhere near justice.

 

[quiet listener]

I've been testing these cans quite a bit over the last few days, both in the store and now at home. In my experience these headphones absolutely require a dac/amp combo. I tried the pair in the store with a Samsung S5 and tried these at home hooking them directly to my laptop. In both cases it sounded absolutely terrible, as in "I can't believe anyone would spend $200 for this, let alone $900" terrible. Sure, there was enough volume to make you deaf but there was no music coming out of them, just a collection of sounds. Hook them up with my OPPO HA-2 and these really start to shine.

I'm still trying to get used to the midbase hump. Sure, it's there during some songs. But over the last day I've gotten more used to it and it only affects certain songs. Currently I'm experimenting with a very subtle equalizer correction in foobar2000 which seems to remove 90% of the negative tendencies. Since I've only had them for a couple of days I still need test this a bit more - but overall the experience with these headphones is overwhelmingly positive. Songs where the hump is not present are absolutely fantastic to listen to across the full spectrum - they are comfortable and they look good. They do absolutely need a DAC/amp though - without it you're not doing them anywhere near justice.

I agree with your findings completely .

 

[Sonic Defender]

  illustrator, notes, word processing, bunch of chrome tabs, several music players, steam, secondary browser, EQ plugin, occasional ide, a chat program, color control panel, malwarebytes, msi afterburner, logitech software, pdf reader. Nothing too unorthodox. Sometimes chrome has memory leakage
 
 

I rest my case, the VAST majority of users will never come even close to using that much processing/memory resources with a computer, not even close. Yes, you are a power user indeed.

 

[Kukua]

I've been testing these cans quite a bit over the last few days, both in the store and now at home. In my experience these headphones absolutely require a dac/amp combo. I tried the pair in the store with a Samsung S5 and tried these at home hooking them directly to my laptop. In both cases it sounded absolutely terrible, as in "I can't believe anyone would spend $200 for this, let alone $900" terrible. Sure, there was enough volume to make you deaf but there was no music coming out of them, just a collection of sounds. Hook them up with my OPPO HA-2 and these really start to shine.

I'm still trying to get used to the midbase hump. Sure, it's there during some songs. But over the last day I've gotten more used to it and it only affects certain songs. Currently I'm experimenting with a very subtle equalizer correction in foobar2000 which seems to remove 90% of the negative tendencies. Since I've only had them for a couple of days I still need test this a bit more - but overall the experience with these headphones is overwhelmingly positive. Songs where the hump is not present are absolutely fantastic to listen to across the full spectrum - they are comfortable and they look good. They do absolutely need a DAC/amp though - without it you're not doing them anywhere near justice.

absolutely accurate evaluation in my opinion

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
 
I've been testing these cans quite a bit over the last few days, both in the store and now at home. In my experience these headphones absolutely require a dac/amp combo. I tried the pair in the store with a Samsung S5 and tried these at home hooking them directly to my laptop. In both cases it sounded absolutely terrible, as in "I can't believe anyone would spend $200 for this, let alone $900" terrible. Sure, there was enough volume to make you deaf but there was no music coming out of them, just a collection of sounds. Hook them up with my OPPO HA-2 and these really start to shine.
 
I'm still trying to get used to the midbase hump. Sure, it's there during some songs. But over the last day I've gotten more used to it and it only affects certain songs. Currently I'm experimenting with a very subtle equalizer correction in foobar2000 which seems to remove 90% of the negative tendencies. Since I've only had them for a couple of days I still need test this a bit more - but overall the experience with these headphones is overwhelmingly positive. Songs where the hump is not present are absolutely fantastic to listen to across the full spectrum - they are comfortable and they look good. They do absolutely need a DAC/amp though - without it you're not doing them anywhere near justice.

Well maybe that phone you used sounds terrible, but when I used my G4 the first time the P9 sounded good, not as you are describing your phone experience. The next time I went back with a decently powered portable amp it sounded the same as far as I could tell, but it could go louder. I'm not saying this is fact, but you could easily be experiencing confirmation bias when using the HA-1, plus, I'm sure it was able to go louder and I'm sure you know at a certain point, louder is perceived as sounding better. I am not suggesting an amp can't make some difference, but no amp will change the sound signature of the headphone significantly. If you are comparing adequately designed amps, which most in this hobby certainly are, and even some built in phone amps while not exceptional or overly powerful are still adequate, so if you are comparing to adequate amps unless they are tuned very differently the headphone should sound the same.
 
Now in the case of the HA-1 of course it is also a different DAC so you are now hearing the interaction effect of two changes being applied to the P9 so you are also describing those devices. My point is you aren't hearing simply the effect of more power, unless you are listening at higher volumes, you are hearing the total audio chain and you can't apportion what sound change comes from the amp, as from the DAC, as from the volume, as from the fact that it was a different day .... all you can do is describe the chain.
 
The P9 should be a very easy load to drive so I'm not sure why all the power unused in the HA-1 will make it sound better? In order to drive the P9 to the SPL level you reached from the phone, the HA-1 will output the same power as it is load determined. Now of course if the amp in the phone was quite poor and had very bad crosstalk and distortion, and I mean audible levels, certainly that would be an issue. My long-winded and repetitive point remains, the P9 is an easy load and the sound signature should remain very similar with any competent supply of power with room for sound signature changes of course as amps can be tuned differently.