[Audio Addict]

  I tried Dharma at AudioConcept in Stockholm today. Wow! Unfortunately I was not allowed to buy the one they have, but Robert will order more Dharmas tonight. I will get one of those when they arrive.
 
The setup in the shop was Tidal > Mac > NADAC > Dharma. So that wasn’t fair... But at least I cannot blame anything on the DAC. The Dharma was not broken in yet, though. They got it this Monday.
 
My first impression was that they sound like one of the shop’s high-end speakers. Bass via mids to treble is very smooth and integrated, nothing stands out. I thought that the treble was somewhat elevated, very extended and smooth. At the same time as everything sounded smooth attacks were razor sharp and distinct. Of course the DAC probably helped here. The sound stage was good, reminiscent of HD800 but not as extreme and wide. The sound is more in your head like a “normal” headphone, with a good center image. Whether it was NADAC and/or Dharma, you got that impression of being able to pinpoint different sounds with excellent separation, you could almost “touch” them.
 
I didn’t notice the bass especially, it was not “boomy” or anything, it was just there. I didn’t get any impression of sub-bass, but that was due to the songs I listened to. However in one song I heard real sub-bass. When I got home I played the same songs in my home setup, using HE-6 and HD800, to compare and verify what I heard in the shop.
 
The midrange was soft, almost “woolly”. Excellent voices with much separation, it was for example easy to separate overdubbed voices and to separate voices in small choirs.
 
The treble was very smooth, detailed and extended. However I thought that the highest treble was elevated compared to what I’m used to. Violins almost had too much treble. But as I said the cans were brand new. Much of these impressions are probably caused by my knowledge of the construction. When I get my Dharma I will probably try to eq them a little bit in the treble.
 
When I got home I discovered that Dharma’s sound signature has much more in common with HD800 than with HE-6. HD800 sounds like a small monitor that tries hard to produce some clean bass while Dharma sounds more like a full-blown speaker.
 
I had one problem though. While the ear cups where reasonably comfortable (like an AKG can), the head strap did put a lot of pressure on top of my head. I have a pretty big head. I wonder if this will change over time, if the rubber bands (or is it some kind of built-in springs?) will wear out so that it will be more comfortable for me. You can perhaps tie up the strap with a piece of string to lessen the strain.
 
Compared with HE-1000, I don’t know... Dharma is more like a “normal” headphone. You can hear it has dynamic drivers.
 
Hmm, a lot of words just for listening to Dharma for half an hour or so in a shop. So don’t pay much attention to this nonsense! This is why I don’t write much at head-fi, someone may actually believe what I write! 

Always listen for yourself.

 
I was the lucky first on Todd The Vinyl Junkie loaner program and have been listening for over 3+ hours and I agree with everything you have written except I am not noticing the treble issue mentioned.  Todd did spend some time with them so they may have more hours on them.  Also, and this could be factor is the 5 foot split single ended Cardas Clear headphone cable.   These are a must audition headphone.  I currently have them paired with Roon feeding a PS Audio PWD MKII connected balance to a RSA Apache.

 

[Oregonian]

   
I was the lucky first on Todd The Vinyl Junkie loaner program and have been listening for over 3+ hours and I agree with everything you have written except I am not noticing the treble issue mentioned.  Todd did spend some time with them so they may have more hours on them.  Also, and this could be factor is the 5 foot split single ended Cardas Clear headphone cable.   These are a must audition headphone.  I currently have them paired with Roon feeding a PS Audio PWD MKII connected balance to a RSA Apache.

I'm third on the list and really looking forward to them! 

 

[grizzlybeast]

 

   
I was the lucky first on Todd The Vinyl Junkie loaner program and have been listening for over 3+ hours and I agree with everything you have written except I am not noticing the treble issue mentioned.  Todd did spend some time with them so they may have more hours on them.  Also, and this could be factor is the 5 foot split single ended Cardas Clear headphone cable.   These are a must audition headphone.  I currently have them paired with Roon feeding a PS Audio PWD MKII connected balance to a RSA Apache.

I'm third on the list and really looking forward to them! 

I am second to last so they will be back in Oregon near Gresham again before going back. 

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Finally I can get a pair of Enigma (Dharma and Athena), got loaned for a night.
 
Dharma is indeed an unique headphone, it's like nothing I ever heard in headphone world. Hybrid design really create something new type of sound that I never found in dynamic or planar or electrostat (stax in this case). 
 
Overall impression:
This headphone is quite balance through all spectrum, though could be feel a bit bass light to some people, but this is not a headphone with lack of bass (will explain more detail in bass section). Presentation is like in middle row, not too forward, not too laidback, just right in the middle. Everything sounds neutral, clear, fast paced (not aggresive, it's just fast, short decay), good 3D imaging, kind remind me of beyerdynamic T1's soundstage, but with more height, and I think slight wider too. Musicality is there, I found no problem to play TOP 40 songs (Taylor Swift, Tove Lo, Echosmith, etc) in this headphone, you will still get the engaging part nicely, unlike other "dead neutral" or "boring" headphone.
 
At loud volumes could be troublesome for some people because the presetation of the treble, not sharp, it's just very very clear (imagine stax lambda 404 LE treble). At medium to low volume it sounds awesome though.
 
Down to more detail about each spectrum:
Bass
Bass has very good extension, deep down to sub bass notes, the presentation is a bit unique though, the low bass is full body, easy to feel the vibrant/impact, but at the same time the midbass is relative small especially compare to Audeze or Oppo house sound, the bass is there, but the midbass is not punchy. This is the reason i wrote for some people could be a basslight headphone, though in fact, the deep bass is very good. Excellent bass for slow jazz/opera/orchestra or stockfisch recordings like David Munyon which is use bass guitar as main instrument. I still like it for pop music too, but could be not enough punch for techno or metal songs.
 
Midrange
Female vocal is near perfect, very hard to beat at this price range, very clear, you can feel every emotion from each word, not lush or syrupy sounding, but more to accurate and colorless presentation, sibilance is not something easy to pick, every transition is smooth. There's no dry or cold or something nasty like that in this section. Currently now I'm listening Norah Jones "come away with me" while typing, it sounds so clear, relaxing, and smoothhh! No peak, no aggresivity. Male vocal sounds a bit more recessed compare to female voice, and slight lack of weight. It's still sound very acceptable, but for me the star is for reproduction female vocal
 
Treble
The stat part! Undoubtly very very clear and accurate. Hi-hat is sound so real, and somehow sounds too real compare to other spectrum (I cannot find the right words to explain, you need to hear it yourself). I think this is the main reason why this headphone is so special, because you can combine pros from dynamic headphone, but with super clarity from electrostat.
 
Soundstage
Very spacious, easily to get image and insturment placement in songs, Even in pop recording, this headphone is like enchant the soundstage become 3D, big, and spacious, in natural and good way. Easily can wow many people in soundstage part, even with their "crappy" mainstream songs. More like T1 than HD800 in shape of soundstage. (It's still not like T1 though, Dharma is a step up above already)
 
Last but not the least, a photo:
 

 
Thanks 

 
 
p.s: Had listened to them for 2 hours straight, I cannot detect fatigue (Beyer T1 and Senn HD800 are tiring for me), so I think this pairing is relax and smooth enough to most people out there. Have to give credit to Athena, this hybrid tubeamp sounds very very good! Warm musical, fluid, smooth, very relaxing sound, spacious sundstage and good micro detail.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

 
I'm third on the list and really looking forward to them! 

Our tastes are pretty similar, as are our setups, really looking forward to your impressions! 

 

[mrfcpa]

Finally, listened to Dharma D1000 (final production model) at Moon Audio's table at RMAF CanJam here in Denver. (No, CanJam doesn't start until tomorrow, but I unpacked a bunch of stuff for Moon Audio).
 
Using my iPhone 6 Plus, running AmpliFlac 192/24 files with Chord Hugo, Silver Dragons throughout and the Dharmas, I found this to be an excellent headphone - and, a lot of fun with rock music and current pop with songs by such artists as Arianna Grande and The Weekend. Even Metallica sounded great as did Dusty Springfield. Played around with the Dharma a lot more through the Chord Hugo TT and Aurender Music Server. Almost everything was great. On one bad recording, I did hear the sibilant sound I detest, but like I said, a bad recording.
 
Met Wei Chang of Enigmacoustics who suggested I try the Dhama straight into the iPhone. That was no match for the Hugo, but the Dharma still was pretty darn good.
 
At least, that's my two cents on the subject.

 

[snejk]

  I tried Dharma at AudioConcept in Stockholm today. Wow! Unfortunately I was not allowed to buy the one they have, but Robert will order more Dharmas tonight. I will get one of those when they arrive.
 

 
Thanks for the info about AudioConcept carrying the Dharmas. I guess I need to arrange a lunch in the vicinity of AudioConcept very soon! Did Robert spill the beans on Swedish pricing?

 

[Hansotek]

Wow. The wait was worth it. The production version is much improved.

That weird treble crossover "glitch" we were hearing in Chicago is totally gone, to my ears.

 

[conquerator2]

Nice! I wonder if all the faults I heard were down to the preproduction unit. If yes, then wow, that was one seriously flawed unit! 

 

 

[grizzlybeast]

The preproduction Dharma is sibilant and the vocals sound recessed at the same time ( there must be a dip in the treble but also a spike in the 4-5K area). Which would be the drawbacks. Bass is great - punchy and deep. Midrange is neutral. Treble is extended and the soundstage is big and airy. Comfort is decent.
But unless the drawbacks are fixed in the production version, I can't have these
And I really wanted these to be it...

Sibilance is a flaw but can be fixed... Recessed vocals may not be an easy fix if you say the mids are neutral. That's two people that have said something bad about the vocals.

 

[Stillhart]

I concur that this production unit is much improved over the preproduction units I heard. Off the $6k Questyle dual mono stack, it was simply wonderful. Off the Moon Inspire amp with 2qute DAC, it was thicker and had a different great flavor.

The sibilance from the preproduction unit was gone.

 

[kapanak]

Is the crossover still at 10KHz like the pre-production or 8KHz like they had said?

 

[screwdriver]

id like to hear more impressions on the production model  compared to the hd800 , hifiman he6 , he1000, abyss , lcd4 ( for peeps who attended RMAF/canjam)

 

[CanDude]

   
Thanks for the info about AudioConcept carrying the Dharmas. I guess I need to arrange a lunch in the vicinity of AudioConcept very soon! Did Robert spill the beans on Swedish pricing?

 
No, he didn't know. Since they are $1200 in US he guessed the normal $ x 10 = SEK. AFAIK he is ordering them from the manufacturer directly. I guess the price will be 12000 SEK - 13500 SEK, i.e. as HD800 or a little bit higher.
 
BTW They are pretty damped, not much happened when moving your hands outside the cups. As I said their sound signature has more in common with HD800 than with HE-6, as far as I remember.

 

[Stillhart]

FYI, I spoke with Wei and he said these should be in retailers' hands by the end of October.