[Tassie Devil]

These arrived the other day and I listened to a variety of music ex the Sooloos system (FLAC FILES) fed into a modded Benchmark DAC1.  The verdict was yes, better than the Jays and Etymotic E4s.  Very comfortable and quite sensitive. All types of classical music sounded fine & jazz/pop was exceptionally good.  But maybe because of impedence matching, they sounded best via the Cowan although the heavier than usual cabling was more challenging.
 
Fed from the Vaughan DAC the AQ was similar to that via the Benchmark BUT put on the Sennhjeiser HS800 and a different and more airy sound emerged. Not a fair comparison I know as the more expensive HD800-s were fed a balanced signal from the Blockhead HeadRoom amp but it was an interesting exercise.
 
Maybe they will improve when broken in more and they could represent a peak in ear speaker transducer at the $400-$500 price level.  But for non headphone listening, particularly with the portables, the Cardas will take precedence over others in he cupboard.
 
Recommended,

 

[HiFlight]

These arrived the other day and I listened to a variety of music ex the Sooloos system (FLAC FILES) fed into a modded Benchmark DAC1.  The verdict was yes, better than the Jays and Etymotic E4s.  Very comfortable and quite sensitive. All types of classical music sounded fine & jazz/pop was exceptionally good.  But maybe because of impedence matching, they sounded best via the Cowan although the heavier than usual cabling was more challenging.

Fed from the Vaughan DAC the AQ was similar to that via the Benchmark BUT put on the Sennhjeiser HS800 and a different and more airy sound emerged. Not a fair comparison I know as the more expensive HD800-s were fed a balanced signal from the Blockhead HeadRoom amp but it was an interesting exercise.

Maybe they will improve when broken in more and they could represent a peak in ear speaker transducer at the $400-$500 price level.  But for non headphone listening, particularly with the portables, the Cardas will take precedence over others in he cupboard.

Recommended,

I think you will find your Cardas SQ to improve drastically with additional hours of use. It is one of the few headphones that I have noticed a marked improvement with "burn-in".

 

[fzman]

I use the Cardas with my Cowon X7, and they sound very good together as well.  My 901 sounds better, but the Cowon is a workhorse and quite listenable...

 

[Tassie Devil]

I think you will find your Cardas SQ to improve drastically with additional hours of use. It is one of the few headphones that I have noticed a marked improvement with "burn-in".

You are so very right.  I gave them a week using the suggested Cardas technique of connecting the earpieces together played into by a radio and hey presto - excellent results.  These earphones are extraordinary.  Only negative is the heavy cord requiring support with the supplied clip, but that is a small price to pay for superb audio.
 
John

 

[fusionramjet]

I love my Cardas EM5813.  I've burned them in for 100+ hours and I've used the Cardas Clarifier app.
I listen to them mostly with my iPod nano - CLAS [original] - RSA SR71b.
For me, the sound is spectacular - I listen exclusively to big orchestral soundtracks - and they sound grand, epic, and spacious through the Cardas EM5813.  
 
Regarding the garden hose-like cable, I found a way to deal with it that works well for me.  I put on a lanyard with a binder clip on the end and slip the cable into it, so that the Y-split housing rests on the binder clip.  This takes most of the weight off the earpieces.  Works great for me.

 

[nicdub]

Anyone try these with the new Dragonfly, v1.2?  I'm interested in getting a pair, and would love it if that pairing worked well.

 

[ehab abusahmen]

i haven't but on paper it should be a very good pairing but personally i wouldn't go for it because the dragonfly sounds analytical and you will loose some the smoothness of the em5813 i would try something like the meradian explorer again that's only my personal preference 

 

[Tassie Devil]

And I now have a Sony NWZA15 with memory maxed out and 600 albums on board and the AQ is superb using the Cardas EM 5813. And headphone cords make a difference to AQ from the Sony with the Sennheiser 650s but that is off topic.