[Zachik]

100% agree!! Unfortunately, nowdays most video reviews are 25+ minutes... sigh...

I try to do 10 - 15 minutes for video reviews (?)

George - you're definitely NOT one of the offenders
(and your reviews are very good, IMHO)

 

[Dobrescu George]

George - you're definitely NOT one of the offenders
(and your reviews are very good, IMHO)

Thank you!

I was afraid always of this thing to be honest, because of a little backstory. When I wanted to purchase a display monitor for my desktop, I could only find videos 1 hour long and you can imagine, it wasn't the most fun experience to watch 1 hour of random talk about a monitor (display TV).

When trying to ask some specific questions to the reviewers, they were extremely unfriendly, eventually had to purchase and return one display, which was waaaaay not what I needed...

In the end, I couldn't understand much, went to a large electronics store and got the monitor I liked most.

I won't review display monitors, because I don't have the space and logistics to do so, but getting a good upper midrange display to work with can be tricky

 

[Makiah S]

So why didn't you make the comparison between the discounted price of the Alara and the discounted price of the HE560/LCD2? See what you've achieved with that?

Secondly - there isn't much of a mid-bass hump on the Alara. At most its about 4dB. The bass is still fairly linear - nowhere near as flat as the HE560 or LCD2 though

Third - of course I've heard of (and tried) hybrids. You mentioned "tubes " in general in your review though. And the purpose of the tube in the path of a hybrid is to add distortion (second order harmonics) - which is weird if you consider the strength of a planar is the lack of distortion. So if adding a tube adds warmth - why would you add one when there is already warmth present? Again - does not make sense.

Anyway - I'll stop with the critique.

FWIW - any more than 5-7 minutes and I won't view most video reviews. Reason - most of them are full with fluff and little actual content.

Hey thank you! Your right I should specify hybrid, also at the time I shot my review in February the price was still at $499, it's on me for waiting so long to post the review and honestly your right. I've been working to trim down my own content lately, I tend to over explain which as you experince can create some confusion. Though I like to have the time stamps with "labels" as it helps people view the portions of the review that matter most to them

Either way shorten content is on the way! In fact my last three reviews have been 15 12 and 10 mins each, and I'll likely keep around that 10 min mark

 

[PaganDL]

Thank you!

I was afraid always of this thing to be honest, because of a little backstory. When I wanted to purchase a display monitor for my desktop, I could only find videos 1 hour long and you can imagine, it wasn't the most fun experience to watch 1 hour of random talk about a monitor (display TV).

When trying to ask some specific questions to the reviewers, they were extremely unfriendly, eventually had to purchase and return one display, which was waaaaay not what I needed...

In the end, I couldn't understand much, went to a large electronics store and got the monitor I liked most.

I won't review display monitors, because I don't have the space and logistics to do so, but getting a good upper midrange display to work with can be tricky

@Dobrescu George,

Just my random off topic two cents as someone who appreciates your review style & personality.

The important thing whether you decide to expand what you review or not or even things for your own use, is to ask yourself the following in no particular order :

What purpose does said thing serves you?
What value does said thing bring to you?
Can you justify having said thing in your life?
Do you like said thing? (Perhaps the most important question)


As a final side note, good displays need decent to good graphics cards & decent to good CPUs to work their best.

Keep being awesome !

Hope you have a great day !

 

[trellus]

I'm confused as to whether this thing is available right now since Brainwavz' page for this says "out of stock" but allows me to put in my cart at the 20% off discounted price right now... very confusing.

I guess these didn't really take off, which is kind of sad... Z gave them high praise, but yes, I know, that doesn't always convince everyone, lol.

 

[razzer001]

Not sure why at the top the link to the bottom of page is saying out of stock, it is in stock and we are still producing, but we only sell it through our own webstore.

 

[trellus]

Not sure why at the top the link to the bottom of page is saying out of stock, it is in stock and we are still producing, but we only sell it through our own webstore.

Ah, thanks, so it sounds like it's just an issue with the top of the page misreporting that it's out of stock... just FYI, if your sales have been low on that lately, maybe it's partially because of that -- and Joshua Valour's channel on YouTube had a video recently about "why the Brainwavz Alara failed" and one thing he mentions is that it's "out of stock", so that mistake on the website fed into his narrative that Brainwavz has discontinued it, which further probably hurt sales. :O

 

[razzer001]

Ah, thanks, so it sounds like it's just an issue with the top of the page misreporting that it's out of stock... just FYI, if your sales have been low on that lately, maybe it's partially because of that -- and Joshua Valour's channel on YouTube had a video recently about "why the Brainwavz Alara failed" and one thing he mentions is that it's "out of stock", so that mistake on the website fed into his narrative that Brainwavz has discontinued it, which further probably hurt sales. :O

Didn't see that video, could you post or point out which video it is. I guess it was a fair assumption but the reason we haven't marketed or pushed the Alara since the start of the summer is more of supply issue than sales.

The Alara is in stock and out of stock often as we get components to do the final assembly, (someone probably forgot to remove the OOS from when it last came back into stock ). Since June its taking very long for the components to clear China customs into Hong Kong and we can't ship many at one time, the heavy screening at customs is due to the ongoing unrest here in Hong Kong, so we aren't making a lot at any one time.

With the current sale we have this weekend and the orders coming in, it will probably be out of stock again by later today, so jump on it while you can, its a great pair of headphones (although my view is probably biased )

 

[trellus]

Didn't see that video, could you post or point out which video it is. I guess it was a fair assumption but the reason we haven't marketed or pushed the Alara since the start of the summer is more of supply issue than sales.

The Alara is in stock and out of stock often as we get components to do the final assembly, (someone probably forgot to remove the OOS from when it last came back into stock ). Since June its taking very long for the components to clear China customs into Hong Kong and we can't ship many at one time, the heavy screening at customs is due to the ongoing unrest here in Hong Kong, so we aren't making a lot at any one time.

With the current sale we have this weekend and the orders coming in, it will probably be out of stock again by later today, so jump on it while you can, its a great pair of headphones (although my view is probably biased )

He mentions it basically in the very beginning of the video (around the 17 second mark so worth listening from beginning lol):



Even the very positive reviews (Z Reviews, for one) and mildly positive reviews (Currawong) mentioned the problem with them not fitting smaller heads, so I think that's the biggest major gripe with the headphone, but if I do get these, I plan on getting some Dekoni Nuggets to help lift them up a little so they don't droop on my ears as I have a somewhat smallish head and I anticipate they wouldn't fit well otherwise.

 

[Lurk650]

Nuggets are what I have mine, they are perfect for the fit. Being traded to another member now.

 

[razzer001]

He mentions it basically in the very beginning of the video (around the 17 second mark so worth listening from beginning lol):



Even the very positive reviews (Z Reviews, for one) and mildly positive reviews (Currawong) mentioned the problem with them not fitting smaller heads, so I think that's the biggest major gripe with the headphone, but if I do get these, I plan on getting some Dekoni Nuggets to help lift them up a little so they don't droop on my ears as I have a somewhat smallish head and I anticipate they wouldn't fit well otherwise.

Ah, should have looked harder on his youtube page , thank you for posting the video.

He has many valid points, which we have considered before, especially on price, but the Alara was never intended for a mass seller, more us pushing our in house production capabilities.

Just would point out, Brainwavz actually is not a earpad company, it just so happened that our earpad line is really well liked and in recent years that is what people most associate our brand with. Probably the way things are going in the coming years we'll be soon be known as a gaming/gadget accessories company but at the heart we are what we started out as, a brand that makes great sounding, bang for buck earphones (have you seen our HEX? )

 

[dpump]

I recently posted here asking about leather pads for the Alara that would be similar to the ones that come with the Quad ERA1. Brainwavz posted last year that they were working on the leather pads for the Alara but nothing else has been said about them. Does Brainwavz still plan on releasing a leather pad for the Alara? Also, I don't see the stock pads that come with the Alara for sale as an accessory.

 

[Mhog55]

Received Lurk650s Alara on trade. So far, I'm enjoying the sound quite a bit. Has anyone added a suspension strap to these... Or can anyone point me in the right direction for one that will work with this headphone? The Dekoni nuggets work no doubt, but they just look to wonky for me. I've located a strap for these and the Quad era-1 on ebay. It's awfully large and wide. Anyways, if anyone can help, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[Mhog55]

These headphones seem to have a lot in common, but there are also some differences.
- the headbands seem a bit different. The Alara one is thinner, the Quad one plusher. I prefer the latter, but the difference is small.
- the arcing of the headband is also a bit different, with the Alara being more elongated and the Quad slightly wider.
- the drivers look identical from what I can observe
- the pads work on both headphones
- the internal wiring from what I can see has a different colour, so probably different wires connecting the plug to the driver
- the build quality seems really good with both models, with metalic cups for the enclosure. The gimbals seem to be made out of plastic, but that might not matter at all.
- most important so far: the actual sensitivity of the drivers is not the same. The Quads I have are a bit more inefficient, so I had to adjust volume for comparison.

After a few hours playing the first impression, using the same leather pads from the Quads, sound wise they have unsurprisingly quite a few things in common. That said my Quads pair have a faster, more focused, more resolving and more dynamic sound. The Alara have slower more rounded bass, and are softer smoother, slightly more dense sounding. The high treble is more present on the Quads. Some of these differences are relatively small, some a bit bigger and there's a lot in common sound wise, such as the midrange.

For sound reasons I do not like the pads that come with the Alara or the velour pads for the Quads. They hold the headphones back in my opinon, reducing the stage 3D and overall size, dynamics and transient/edge focus, and hence resolution. The angled leather pads are a must have for me. I suggest to consider adding this option to Alara, looking at the Quad example.

Of course the Alara might open up more with more hours on them and I will update accordingly. The Quads I've had for a few weeks and they were ex-demo so any burn-in should that matter is a done deal.

Since I really like the Quads, and I think they offer tremendous performance for the price, the same goes for the Alara, the latter being cheaper, with the caveats I mentioned. Despite the delay shipping, once they got shipped they were delivered to me in 4 working days using free shipping, so I think that's great.

Which angled leather pads were you referring to? Do they come with the Quad era-1? Please let me know where I can get a set. I think a little more distance between my ears and the drivers could potentially provide more head room, and that's the only area regarding the sound I find lacking at this point.

 

[Asahi Templar]

I recently posted here asking about leather pads for the Alara that would be similar to the ones that come with the Quad ERA1. Brainwavz posted last year that they were working on the leather pads for the Alara but nothing else has been said about them. Does Brainwavz still plan on releasing a leather pad for the Alara? Also, I don't see the stock pads that come with the Alara for sale as an accessory.

Yeah for me the Alaras earpads were ultimately the deal breaker as they just werent comfortable for me. Would have been nice to be able to get some thicker ones.

Looks like the Alara is sold out again.