[bazelio]

  Been listening to the Dharma for the last two hours.  Almost like there are two different headphones inside, to my ears they sound weird at the crossover.  Back and forth between the bass and tweeter is kind of wonky, for lack of other words to describe it.  Noticing that on all three amps, tube and SS.  Cymbals to my ears have a funny clinky sound that I don't hear in my other phones, almost like the cymbals are disjoined from the rest of the instruments, things just don't sound smooth like I expected.  I really want to like these!

 
 
Oh boy.  The first piece of feedback that really gives me pause because I was going to place an order over the weekend for these....  Now, I may wait to see how this progresses for you....  or go to the HD800.

 

[TPSRA]

Didn't they say the crossover problem was fixed in the product version?

 

[Sfox7076]

Mine come in tomorrow.  I will let you know what I hear....

 

[Fastnbulbous]

  Since a few posters in this thread mentioned they are relatively new to the hobby, I thought I'd mention an important caveat to all sonic impressions posted by forum members.  One person's "neutral reference" can, is another person's "colored and fun" can.
 
Impressions, assumptions and preferences vary radically in the head-fi world, some of which is caused by physical differences in our ears and some of which is the result of pure subjective assumptions about what constitutes a "neutral" or "reference" sound.
 
In case anyone has doubts about the above, all one needs to do is read Innerfidelity's "Big Sound 2015" multi-part article. The testers were all very experienced, including famed audio mastering engineer Bob Katz, listening to music he personally mastered. TOTL can rankings of these testers was sort of all over the place.
 
Bob ranked the Dharma #3 overall- a very high ranking.  Other testers in the article thought the Dharma had a more unique sound signature.  Given Bob's findings (he was the only tester that would have the ability to have a sense of what truly constitutes reference sound), and the varying opinions of other testers, I would cautious when drawing any final conclusions about the Dharma.
 
I would continue to encourage those that have listened to the Dharmas to post feedback and input in this thread.  It is much appreciated!
 
The cans tested in Big Sound:
 
Sennheiser HD 800 ($1599)
Audeze LCD-3 ($1945) and LCD-X ($1699)
JPS Labs Abyss AB-1266 ($5495)
Stax SR-009 ($4450) and SR-007 ($2350)
HIFIMAN HE-1000 ($3000)
Mr. Speakers Ether ($1499)
Enigmacoustics Dharma (~$1200)
Audio Zenith PMx2 ($1398)
Read more at http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/big-sound-2015-biting-bullet-bob-katz#GAJEqiGu45lPiGwG.99

 

• Stax SR-007
• Audeze LCD-3
• Enigmacoustics Dharma
• Sennheiser HD 800

 
The fact that Katz rated it over the Abyss has perked my interest!  I have to admit I've been dismayed about the hype over the Abyss because there is really no hope of it ever being affordable. That a headphone less than a quarter its price can even compete has me stoked. I'm not loving this trend of $3K to $5K prices. Too bad LCD-4 wasn't in that test.

 

[Focker]

Didn't they say the crossover problem was fixed in the product version?

 


Yep, in the pre-production version that was one of the criticisms, even though the headphones still received quite a bit of praise...and I haven't heard any of the professional reviewers state any issue at all with the final production headphone. I'll be able to provide some feedback of my own on this (hopefully) later on tomorrow evening.

 

[Fastnbulbous]

Okay, I just finished watching the video, and Bob never freakin' listened to the Abyss! It sat on the lower shelf, overlooked and untested! Tyll acknowledged in the comments that it had been forgotten. Since that was way back on Sep 7, he really should have taken the Abyss off the list by now. Very misleading. And disappointing. So now I'm curious how it would have fared. You don't see blind tests like that between so many headphones at once very often, by a guy using recordings he worked on that he knows intimately. What a wasted opportunity.

 

[TPSRA]

  Okay, I just finished watching the video, and Bob never freakin' listened to the Abyss! It sat on the lower shelf, overlooked and untested! Tyll acknowledged in the comments that it had been forgotten. Since that was way back on Sep 7, he really should have taken the Abyss off the list by now. Very misleading. And disappointing. So now I'm curious how it would have fared. You don't see blind tests like that between so many headphones at once very often, by a guy using recordings he worked on that he knows intimately. What a wasted opportunity.

No wonder Abyss receive 0 point

Still, Dharma got 3 point while being the most inexpensive one among them.

 

[Jozurr]

The Dharmas and the HE-6's have really different signatures, but my impression is the Dharma bass hits noticeably harder. I've listened to the HE-6's on many TOTL amps, but the Ragnarok (delivering 10 clean watts / channel into the 50 ohm HE-6) and Crayon CHA-1 (1.8W/50 ohm) come to mind. Although the Dharmas sound a lot different than the HE-6's they don't have the "airiness" of the current HiFiMan line--which might be more to your liking at the low end.

How exactly are the signatures different? Can you give some details please. From what I can read, Dharmas hit harder and are more airy. Thats what the HE6 are prinarily known for too.

Also, regarding ratings and big sound, please take into account what genres of music you prefer and if the headphones will work the best for that genre or not, regardless of how well they are rated. The HE1K are rated amongst the best headphones in the world, and I understand they are for genres like jazz, but dont work well for the music I listen to like techno and deep house. Please consider genres before just going by the ratings.

 

[prot]

How exactly are the signatures different? Can you give some details please. From what I can read, Dharmas hit harder and are more airy. Thats what the HE6 are prinarily known for too.

Also, regarding ratings and big sound, please take into account what genres of music you prefer and if the headphones will work the best for that genre or not, regardless of how well they are rated. The HE1K are rated amongst the best headphones in the world, and I understand they are for genres like jazz, but dont work well for the music I listen to like techno and deep house. Please consider genres before just going by the ratings.

Not sure if it will help much but I'll try. Keep in mind that I tested Dharma & He1K in meet conditions and all others comparisons are from memory.

Dharma vs. he1k. Very different. You are right that the he1k should be very good for Jazz ... I'm a fan of jazz/classic/chillout and he1k's relaxed sound signature fits very well ... and I liked it a lot. Wont ever buy it though, because I think the price is ridiculously high and IMHO the bass is not exactly TOTL .. plus the usual hfman BQ issues. The Dharma was more dynamic, airier, faster ... hard to explain that "faster" thing but if you put a TOTL Stax near any hfman (or almost any other HP) you'll hear it immediately. The Dharma should be a much better match for your techno/house music .. or any other fast/energetic music like most metal/rock genres, etc.

Dharma vs. HE6. Different but not that much to my ears. Both are quite fast, dynamic, punchy. The Dharma has an extra airiness/clarity/ease in the treble area. He6 is no slouch there but if you put it near a stax 007/9 you'll hear the diff in 10 seconds. I would say the Dharma did sound like a midlevel Stax with more bass. For me Dharma vs. He6 would be a pretty close call in terms of SQ but I'd still take the Dharma without hesitation because of the much better comfort (HE6 is too heavy for my head), much easier amp pairing, etc.

The Dharma pair measured during the BigSound seems to have quite a lot of distort in the bass area. I did not hear any of that during my meet tests (Burston & Bakoon amps IIRC) and it might have been just an issue of that particular BigSound pair. Also, did not hear anyone complaining about that bass distort but I would surely like to re-test a production pair in better conditions.

All in all, I think the Dharma is an excellent HP and quite amazing as a first-effort from Enigmacoustics ... and in terms of P/Q a *much* better option than almost any other new TOTL can. $1000+ is still *a lot* of money to pay for a HP but in the current landscape the Dharma price almost sounds like a bargain ... and at least in this case one can understand that Enigmacoustics had a big initial investment that has to be covered.
Not so easy to understand what many other HP producers like audeze and lately hfman do with their latest top models: turn the marketing-hype to max, add a little bit of shinny and a few cheap tweaks and then release a "new" model for $1-2000 more .. well, screw that!

 

[BlakeT]

Also, again, keep in mind that the Dharma in Big Sound 2015 was the pre-production version.

 

[prot]

Also, again, keep in mind that the Dharma in Big Sound 2015 was the pre-production version.

The one I heard was also pre-production ... no idea whether older or newer than the BigSound one.
And btw, for cute & anyone else who hears that crossover point so clearly, where exactly is it? I did not hear anything suspicious during my meet test and the Dharma page does not seem to mention the exact frequency anywhere.

 

[Frank I]

The Dharma is making a road trip to NY meet.

 

[NightDayAudio]

I really think you should get an hour or two of listening with your own music with the Dharma headphones (preferably well burnt in) before making a purchase. But that applies to any headphones purchases of any brand or model. Nothing will beat an extended audition. Beat the trend and get ears on gear before buying. Do not buy blind. That's what head-fi makes you do, but resist it and get ears on it one way or another.

 
that's really great advice, albeit not always possible for all customers.  I would expand upon it to say hear all the options including different amps/dacs/cables in addition to all the headphones so you can truly hear what is going on with the sound and what is responsible for the sound you are hearing.... if you are set on not changing anything at all about the rest of your system and just want to try headphones, fine... then make sure you listen with your setup only...
 
but if you are open to trying different things and have the option to build the entire system together as a system to get the most out of it, finding the combination of things that results in your desired sonic signature is the way to go... it takes a while (it's rare in my experience for a headphone related demo appointment here to be less than 4 hours unless the customer really just wants to hear one or two things only..  it's fairly common to have 8+ hour demo appointments running into the wee hours of the night)... but it never seems to get old to see the reactions of people when they hear how much of a difference in sound there is swapping just the headphone cable... or hearing the same headphones on 4 different amps back to back... they think they know what the headphone sounds like.. and then you change something upstream and they have to re-evaluate....
 
the age of the internet has created all sorts of opportunities to be exposed to gear that may not ever be known without it... but it also altered the business model where it's hard to hear a bunch of stuff all in one place at the same time... brick and mortar dealers are more rare and aren't in every small town across the country... and what they have in stock and on display is usually limited (sometimes extremely so) for a multitude of reasons... for example, we have 24 different headphone amplifiers here available for demo (25 when the ZOTL gets here next week to try out and more when the iFi Audio Pro series iCAN starts shipping soon)... but that's a small fraction of the options out there and may not be enough choice to fit what the customer really needs or wants...
 
if no local options exist, it's rare that someone will order 20,30,40+ different things at the same time to do a comparison like what Tyll was trying to do... its a lot of work and a lot of cash to put up front... but its the only way to really know for sure what is the best option for a customer's tastes...  depending on where the budget is, it's sometimes worth it to get on a plane to go hear everything at a dealer that does have it on display for audition... that couple day trip and airfare may end up saving you money in the long run...  it's quite common for folks to drive from up to 10 hours away to visit us to demo... or plan to stop in when in town on business or vacation or whatever... or you can just do like a couple guys have done recently with me... order one of everything we carry and keep it all  I don't recommend that unless you really just want to collect and say you have one of everything... 
 
in all seriousness, until someone's extensively heard a wide array of stuff, they may not really know what they like or be able to put into words exactly what they are looking for... I guess that's why forums like head-fi and others exist... to help guide to narrow the choices... 
 
anyways, rambling now.... the Dharma really is an exceptional first product in this space by ENIGMAcoustics.  As painful as it seemed at times to wait for the production units to actually ship, the feedback and improvement cycles they went through with prototypes was well worth it based on the final result now available... it's hard to call a headphone that costs >$1K a bargain... but it really is a great option for a lot of folks that want a TOTL headphone....

 

[bazelio]

  Also, again, keep in mind that the Dharma in Big Sound 2015 was the pre-production version.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/big-sound-2015-pyrates-aboard#MJLWEaKbojJEg0kO.97

 
While that's a good point, I still find it concerning that a recent contributor to this thread is reporting crossover sound quality issues with a presumably production unit.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

The one I heard was also pre-production ... no idea whether older or newer than the BigSound one.
And btw, for cute & anyone else who hears that crossover point so clearly, where exactly is it? I did not hear anything suspicious during my meet test and the Dharma page does not seem to mention the exact frequency anywhere.

Hey Guy's I thought in Aaron's review on the Headphonguru.com Enigma Accoustics said there was no crossover point. With both drivers were operating at full range augmenting each other at the extremes.