[kushanukum]

Buttery smooth.I couldn't have said it better myself. .I just swapped out the original pads with the Alpha Dogs and it opened the soundstage quite a bit. Really enjoying them. 

 

[HurricaneBob]

I was between Hifiman HE400is and AudioQuest Nighthawks, but now I'm thinking of getting in on the drop. Thoughts?

 

[ProfFalkin]

  I was between Hifiman HE400is and AudioQuest Nighthawks, but now I'm thinking of getting in on the drop. Thoughts?

 
I've demoed the 400i 3 or 4 times, I've owned the Nighthawks, and vastly prefer my Teak over both.

 

[Lickumms]

Does anyone know where can you buy just the wood cups from?

 

[fjrabon]

  Does anyone know where can you buy just the wood cups from?

you can't buy just the teak.  But you can buy rosewood, zebra wood and ebony.  
 
email enquiry@emu.com

 

[ProfFalkin]

  Does anyone know where can you buy just the wood cups from?

Directly from Chan.   enquiry@emu.com

 

[Jozurr]

I have the teaks, ebony and rosewood on the Emu and THx00 mahogany.

I find the rosewood to be the best sounding middle ground. As much as I love bass, I feel the bass on the ebony overpowers other freqs a little. The teak are pretty good and lush sounding and have the best sound stage, but I want a bit more bass on them. They have less bass than thx00 mahogany. The rosewood seem to fit in the middle of ebony and teak. I like the rosewood better than the THx00 mahogany too. I might end up selling some of this stuff if some of you are interested.

 

[jamor]

I have the teaks, ebony and rosewood on the Emu and THx00 mahogany.

I find the rosewood to be the best sounding middle ground. As much as I love bass, I feel the bass on the ebony overpowers other freqs a little. The teak are pretty good and lush sounding and have the best sound stage, but I want a bit more bass on them. They have less bass than thx00 mahogany. The rosewood seem to fit in the middle of ebony and teak. I like the rosewood better than the THx00 mahogany too. I might end up selling some of this stuff if some of you are interested.

 
sent pm

 

[Jozurr]

I also wanted to note, that from reading the impressions on the THX00 PH, the PH has slightly better bass and treble (more "fun" sounding), and it should therefore essentially be very close to the rosewood since I have the rosewood and mahogany and I feel the rosewood too has slightly better bass and treble. It feels slightly more refined too, compared to mahogany. So I'm not sure if it will be beneficial for someone to consider the Rosewood and PH at the same time, considering they would essentially be very similar.
 
I think bass wise I'd rate them as follows:
 
Ebony > Rosewood > Mahogany > Teak
 
Soundstage:
 
Teak > Rosewood > Mahogany = Ebony
 
Treble quality
 
Rosewood = Teak > Mahogany > Ebony
 
Teak is much more natural sounding than all the other woods with no exaggerated frequencies and everything is just honey smooth and pulls you in to the music. It's however not exciting and fun sounding.

 

[ProfFalkin]

  It's however not exciting and fun sounding.

 
I think we have extremely different definitions of exciting and fun sounding.  I think the Teak cups are very fun and exciting.

 

[Jozurr]

   
I think we have extremely different definitions of exciting and fun sounding.  

 
When I say fun sounding and exciting I  mean a more V shaped sound signature, as it is generally assumed, which teak is not. I'm open to listening to what your definition would be.

 

[CoFire]

It's funny how "audiophile sound" is more or less flat response and "fun sound" is a V-shaped response but that's what I gather from most people's use of the terminology.

 

[ProfFalkin]

   
When I say fun sounding and exciting I  mean a more V shaped sound signature, as it is generally assumed, which teak is not. I'm open to listening to what your definition would be.

 
I do agree completely with the first part of that paragraph.  The teak cups do sound the most natural and they do much better at just pulling you into the music.  The part I would disagree with is that it loses the fun and exciting sound.  It just doesn't imo.
 
In my experience, all of the different wood cups only net you subtle differences in sound. The overall characteristics of the headphone are largely the same, and it retains a fun and exciting sound despite cup changes.  By going from a PH or ebony cup to the teak cup, you're not magically transforming the FR so that they sound neutral (and boring) like the HD600s.   Putting teak cups on won't give them the staging of the HD800.  The changes aren't so drastic that they lose any of the fun or excitement.
 
Simply put:  I feel the changes between wood cups are being overstated.

 

[ProfFalkin]

It's funny how "audiophile sound" is more or less flat response and "fun sound" is a V-shaped response but that's what I gather from most people's use of the terminology.

 
Yes, and that's why I hate these terms.   They utterly fail to describe sound, yet we use (and overuse) them all the time.   People get all butthurt when someone disagrees with their opinion, when everyone is probably trying to express the same thing.

 

[Jozurr]

   
I do agree completely with the first part of that paragraph.  The teak cups do sound the most natural and they do much better at just pulling you into the music.  The part I would disagree with is that it loses the fun and exciting sound.  It just doesn't imo.
 
In my experience, all of the different wood cups only net you subtle differences in sound. The overall characteristics of the headphone are largely the same, and it retains a fun and exciting sound despite cup changes.  By going from a PH or ebony cup to the teak cup, you're not magically transforming the FR so that they sound neutral (and boring) like the HD600s.   Putting teak cups on won't give them the staging of the HD800.  The changes aren't so drastic that they lose any of the fun or excitement.
 
Simply put:  I feel the changes between wood cups are being overstated.

 
Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my post, but I meant fun sounding and exciting compared to the other woods. Yes they are still fun sounding compared to the HD600/650 to me and I'd take the teaks over them any day.