[mrspeakers]

I am not sure if I am imagining things but I have a feeling Expanse is becoming warmer and fuller sounding with time? Anyone else to comment on that? I guess people that didn't like Stealth will love Expanse.

Yes soundstage opens and bass gets a bit tighter are the main burn in changes.

I was even satisfied with out of Topping G5 which is very flat and clean portable DAC/amp.

I was listening last night. Gobs of power amd a very clean delivery for portable.

 

[Nimzerz]

Given the customizability of the metamaterial, I wonder if there will ever be slight variations in sound signature we can get on the same headphone.

 

[gammi]

Given the customizability of the metamaterial, I wonder if there will ever be slight variations in sound signature we can get on the same headphone.

Interchangeable AMTS would be very cool, wink wink Mr Clark.
It's like tube rolling for headphones.

 

[commtrd]

Power is good, pairing is not. Listened to this and the GSX Mk2 yesterday in private setup and they both are overly thin and analytical IMO to make a great team up with DCA flagships. I recommend adding some body/slightly warm of straight flat neutral presentation.

Well darn it. Figures. This will make it prohibitive right now to get Expanse if necessary to change out the amp as well. I wanted to get an uber powerful top-end tube amp someday but not able right now to pull that off.

 

[mightytison]

Power is good, pairing is not. Listened to this and the GSX Mk2 yesterday in private setup and they both are overly thin and analytical IMO to make a great team up with DCA flagships. I recommend adding some body/slightly warm of straight flat neutral presentation.

I just ordered my Expanse yesterday and was looking at upgrading my Jot 2 to a Mini, as most reviews say that it has a slightly warmer tilt already when compared to Burson, Phonitor, or even Schiit. Have you heard the Expanse on any other SS amp around the Mini price point that you thought was better? I'm not interested in going down the tube route at this point. I'm using a Bifrost 2/64 as DAC for reference. I understand personal preference will be the ultimate judge, but where I live it's a buy-and-try scenario so I would like to at least target something that makes sense.

 

[gammi]

I just ordered my Expanse yesterday and was looking at upgrading my Jot 2 to a Mini, as most reviews say that it has a slightly warmer tilt already when compared to Burson, Phonitor, or even Schiit. Have you heard the Expanse on any other SS amp around the Mini price point that you thought was better? I'm not interested in going down the tube route at this point. I'm using a Bifrost 2/64 as DAC for reference. I understand personal preference will be the ultimate judge, but where I live it's a buy-and-try scenario so I would like to at least target something that makes sense.

I'd suggest trying it with your current setup first. I have the jot2 and bifrost2 and love it so far with the Expanse. Doesn't feel lacking warmth to me (and I say that as someone who prefers a warm sound signature)

 

[iamoneagain]

I know I should probably wait a little longer but think the Utopia may be put up for sale this week. I put on an old favorite The Cure - Faith. This album is mostly bass oriented with electric guitar. Very basic compared to other stuff they did. But the bass comes thru so amazing and the Expanse captures the electric guitar perfectly. Most headphones can’t get that twangy, metallic sound right. I thought Utopia nailed it, but this is a step up. I guess I should give this album a full listen with the Utopia before making up my mind.

Yeah, just put on the Utopia and the bass is about the same but slightly looser in comparison. But the guitars don’t compete. It so weird how a headphone I’ve know for so long can change knowing how I can get more out of the recording. It still sounds great on the Utopia but just not as good.

 

[commtrd]

I may order the Expanse anyway even though I have a mini amp. Then later possibly upgrade to a Wells Audio Milo or better amp as funds permit.

 

[commtrd]

I'd suggest trying it with your current setup first. I have the jot2 and bifrost2 and love it so far with the Expanse. Doesn't feel lacking warmth to me (and I say that as someone who prefers a warm sound signature)

I have had Schiit amp and dac in the past, if Bifrost and Jotunheim sound good with Expanse then i would gamble that GSX Mini with DENAFRIPS Ares II is going to work OK at least until I can get a different amp. The amp i want is well into five figures so not feasible right now. However if the nas futures stay volatile to downside that will change LOL.

 

[mightytison]

I'd suggest trying it with your current setup first. I have the jot2 and bifrost2 and love it so far with the Expanse. Doesn't feel lacking warmth to me (and I say that as someone who prefers a warm sound signature)

Great to hear, thanks. At least I know it will be a usable pairing until further reviews are done and people test the Expanse with more gear to see what my upgrade path may be.

 

[iamoneagain]

Ok, I did one last test with my wife trying both. I had the Utopia already hooked up. She had her eyes closed and wouldn’t know the difference since doesn’t listen too much. I played The Cure - The Drowning Man. This is the song on that album that really shines on electric guitar. She listened to about halfway through and then I switched to the Expanse.

After the test she said when she first heard the Utopia she was going to say it was the better headphone. But after hearing the Expanse, she liked it better. She said that she noticed the guitars were more tinny, in a good way. Then she’s like I think I’m thinking of a different word. I said maybe twangy or metallic. But she said they were much better on the Expanse. She also said the vocals were much clearer.

So at CanJam, there were lots of great headphones I heard but once you hear the clarity of the Expanse mids, it’s hard not to notice them missing from other headphones. So the Meze Elite would probably have really peaked my interest before but I can tell it’s slightly lacking in detail in comparison. Now just having great resolution doesn’t make it a great listen but I’m enjoying the Expanse more and more. And maybe because they are opening up as the break in. Still shocked how my first impression was complete disappointment.

 

[Icenine2]

Anyone here own the Expanse and the Stealth? I own the Stealth and maybe these for day listening?

 

[801evan]

If anyone owns GSX Mini amp and Expanse, please post thoughts on synergy (or not) between the two? I suspect the mini will drive Expanse just fine, would like confirmation if possible. Thanks

Mini gsx too noisy for...most stuff, more so for Stealth/Expanse.

 

[gammi]

I was expecting this to be harder but to put it simply, I haven't been able to find a category where any of these beat the Expanse. As you can tell by the fact I have 4 totl headphones, I have a bit of trouble finding a one size fits all and keep them all around for different reasons so I figured this would be more of the same and the Expanse would win some and lose some. It was not.

Note: I tested these all with EQ and without, with the exception of the Expanse which was only played via direct WASAPI. My thought is I'm going to use them EQed when I listen, I should compare them that way and not handicap them by not EQing. So each headphone should be putting its strongest foot forward.

First off, the Verite is a clear drop below the others in clarity. Even when EQed it sounds veiled compared to the others. That more or less made me move on right away to the Utopia. Utopia picked up a lot of clarity and openness but at the expense of being shouty/sharp even with EQ (but less so). Better impact/bass than the Verite too. Onto the Empyrean, my most regularly used. I think the Emp trades blows in the impact category with the Utopia, winning some tracks losing others but doesn't have the shouty-ness of the Utopia, instead it is always lush/rich sounding which is precisely what I love about the Emp. I had thought the Emp was going to be my endgame, personally I don't have any faults with it but gave the Expanse a shot anyway to see what it could do. Glad I did.

Impact/bass: Expanse wins out of the 4, which I wasn't expecting, with Utopia and Emp trading blows for second and not that far behind. Out of them all, it's the only one where I really get that sensation of the air pressure on my ears, almost like a closed back. I get it some with Utopia and Emp, not much with Verite. Prodigy on the Expanse gets me bouncing in my seat, The Expanse brings so much energy and drive to heavy hitting electronica like that.
Separation/Soundstage: Expanse again. The strings in Fleetwood Mac's Never Going Back Again stand out razor sharp. The drums in Radiohead's Where I End and You Begin fade into the background of the vocals on the others, you have to look for them, but are easily discernable on the Expanse. Bubbles by Yosi Horikawa is just insane on the Expanse, totally surrounded in detail, each and every sound sticking out in its own location in space. The Smith's A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours performed the best on the Expanse as well, the opening where his voice fades in is perfectly tracked right to left and I can feel it transition exactly across that whole space like it's circling around my head.
Detail: Guess what? Expanse... There's this interesting effect with the Expanse where sometimes notes will sustain longer and I believe this is due to an increase in resolution whereas on the others I'm losing part of the sound because it drops below their resolution whereas the Expanse lets me hear it as it fades out all the way to nothing. Don't confuse this for meaning it's syrupy/smeared, it doesn't hold the note any longer than it's actually supposed to be there, it's more that the others are missing it. It still attacks very sharp and can cut off abruptly when needed. For example, when the drums kick in at the beginning of Deftones Feiticeira, they hit hard and fast, each one having its own sharp impact.
Comfort/Usability: I think you know at this point... Expanse ties the Emp for earpad/strap comfort but Expanse takes the edge with a lighter cable that disappears and convenient collapsibility. When I put on the others I found myself fidgeting with the cable to get its weight off me, the Utopia is too heavy and starts to hurt after a while and Verite is well, a wood circle. Only negative to usability for the Expanse is that it's the hardest to drive but the Jotunheim doesn't care about that. Expanse attenuates sound the best which is nice, since sometimes my room is noisy.

Wish this review didn't sound like a paid advertisement lol, but I genuinely couldn't find an area where the Expanse was outperformed. I think I'll finally be selling my other sets. I'll be doing some more direct comparison with the Empyrean since I think that's the Expanse's closest competitor. Those two have a fairly similar sound signature to my ear, they both fall in that sweet spot where everything is clear but has warmth/body/richness and is never harsh. I think if you're looking for a "cheap" Expanse, used Empyrean is the way to go, similar sound, the Expanse just adds on a bit more; more impact, more detail. If I find any tracks where the Expanse gets beat in something, I'll update.

We've got another trader here, huh, commtrd? I bought some SPY 408 9/26 puts when it was at 430. In just the last couple weeks, that paid for every piece of audio equipment I've ever bought. Thank you, Powell.

Anyway, I fired up the Feliks Echo and that made some big changes, reminded me why I kept it around, it really wakes up the Verite. Completely flipped the bass impact situation on that, taking it from the worst to maybe even slightly more than the Expanse + Jotunheim 2, although it's very close. Removed most of that veil as well. BIG improvement. Interestingly the Expanse is quite bad with the Echo, the bass is downright ruined, it gets crispy/overblown like if you cranked a cheap subwoofer to max and played some bass boosted 192kbps mp3 electronica track on it. Tried the Utopia and Empyrean with the Echo as well, I like the Empyrean slightly better on the Jot and Utopia is kind of 50/50 where bass is better with the Echo but losing the black background of the Jot makes it sound less clear/sharp.

So I need to retest with the Verite + Echo but the others are fine as they were considering I mostly prefer them on the Jot.

 

[commtrd]

Ha yeah I trade the NQ nas futures contract. Made a bag this evening, don't usually trade Globex. Bag = 1k. I really want to get a Headtrip to work with the Expanse so better be on point while trading. The current volatility is crazy. Love it!