[BoxBoxBox]

I prefer plastic / wood sound over metallic, because metallic sounds feels a bit sharp on my ears. Does the HF 2 have this at all? I see that it is both wood and metallic.

 

[MD1032]

The materials don't have a significant effect on the sound. So don't worry, they hardly sound "metallic".

 

[grawk]

they sound rubbery

 

[El_Doug]

sounds like psychological suggestion to me. a metal housing will not make the sound metallic - a recessed upper midrange does that

this is similar to those who find copper "warm," silver "bright," and gold "lush." strange how this matches the color of these metals, no?

 

[azncookiecutter]

They are smoooooooooooooooooooooooth.

 

[Xan7hos]

IMO it did have that metallic ting/brightness right out of the box, but quickly went away after you clock in more burn in hours. If anything, I'd say they are very musical, with tons of PRaT

 

[DayoftheGreek]

Okay mine definitely sound kinda like wood... but with metal on the outside of the wood.

With leathery overtones.

 

[Bilavideo]

I think the question is interesting. It's a reflection of how people look at a material and form assumptions or impressions on that basis. The reason for using aluminum, in the first place, was that aluminum has a very low resonance. That's also the reason for using mahogany. Yet a lot of people think the metal or wood is going to give their headphone a distinctive "wood" or "metal" sound. This is one reason people complain about the 325. Imagine how odd it is, now, for those same people to save up for a PS-1000, which has an aluminum hat. If anything, the use of the aluminum hat is to avoid coloration from a full mahogany shell - to the degree to which the wood in the shell colors the sound at all. On a cheap pair of SR60s I bought to tweak, I damped the plastic to cut down on the resonance. Doing so may not have created the stuff of dreams, but it went a long way toward damping some of those HF spikes. The result was a sound I found addicting.

My HF2s don't ring. They don't sound sharp or metallic. They're quite mellow. If anything, the wooden RS-1 has more of the upper mids and lower treble than the HF2, which is not because of the air chambers at all. It's because of the way in which the driver is doped. If anything, the wood may have been marketed as a method of "adding warmth" by absorbing some of that HF - or at least by not allowing resonance to echo back in from the walls of the air chambers. But anything the mahogany could do the aluminum should also do. If not, a little foam would fix the difference.

 

[Valens7]

I like it when my headphones are made from candy. That way, they sound like candy!

 

[Shoreman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilavideo /img/forum/go_quote.gif If anything, the wooden RS-1 has more of the upper mids and lower treble than the HF2, which is not because of the air chambers at all. It's because of the way in which the driver is doped.

Interesting analysis...but, if you can, please enlighten us as to what you mean by "the way in which the driver is doped." I've often wondered as to what the main tweaks/tuning adjustments are to the Grado drivers which differentiate and nuance the sound among the various models in the line. However, the fact that, with few exceptions, they all seem to retain, and you'll forgive me, the Grado "house sound," suggests (to this novice at least) that the drivers retain many of the same (or similar) characteristics and qualities.

I could be totally off base. That's why I'm intrigued by your explanation.

 

[debitsohn]

out of the box mine sounded completelywrong. sounded tinny and horrible. ive put maybe 10 hours on them (sold my amp) but they were almost immediately better. maybe after 10 mins or so.

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by debitsohn /img/forum/go_quote.gif out of the box mine sounded completelywrong. sounded tinny and horrible. ive put maybe 10 hours on them (sold my amp) but they were almost immediately better. maybe after 10 mins or so.

Sounds like you might be having other issues with your amp or source if the sound is changing significantly in 10 minutes.

 

[debitsohn]

hm. i dont know because my other headphones sounded fine and the same throughout the time i used them. maybe 10 mins is an exaggeration. i guess i was letting them burn in for a while. i just left them on the desk and when i got back not too long later, they sounded different. /shrug.

 

[grawk]

Honestly, a 10 minute break in time is more realistic than most of the numbers thrown around. It just doesn't take that long.

 

[rhythmdevils]

it doesn't sound metallic, and niether does the HP1000, which not only has a metal chamber, but metal enclosure, rods, screws, headband, etc.

I did thinnk the old siver SR325 sounded metalic, but I think that's just cause it was a bad headphone