earwicker7
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2007
- Posts
- 1,741
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- 11
Woo-hoo! The Ergo AMT and Amp2 showed up to my doorstep on Friday. I wasn't expecting them anytime soon, as they hadn't shipped from Europe to the distributor until Tuesday. I got a knock on the door in the mid morning; I peeked through the keyhole and saw a guy holding a big box. Without a second of hesitation, I opened the door. "Sorry about being in my underwear... I didn't want you to run off." "Um, yeah, you just wanna sign it?"
Once the traumatized delivery guy had left, I rushed to my bedroom and opened the box. Inside were the ugliest headphones I have ever seen. Nothing can compare to the lack of coolness factor that these headphones display; no person in their right mind would be caught dead with these on. This is literally "Birth Control in a Box." Sweet.
The Amp2 didn't exactly inspire confidence based on its looks. The power cord looked like it was ripped off of a discarded lamp from Wal-Mart. The rest of it looked like a basic two-bit, made in China amp. Ergo seems to be decidedly against making something that looks good.
After connecting everything, I fired them up. My first thought was "Damn, these are loud!" My second thought was "Man, that midrange is distorting something fierce!" I assumed that I had turned the volume up too loud, but upon looking at it, I saw that it was barely at 9 o'clock. I turned it down to 8 o'clock, and the right channel almost disappeared. I basically had the ability to go from barely there to full blast without anything in between. Something had to be wrong.
Luckily, after reading the manual, I found that you can adjust the volume levels for each channel by inserting a small phillips head screwdriver into the back of the amp and twisting a screw clockwise to lower the volume and counter-clockwise to raise it. It turns out that Ergo had set the volume levels far too high and had also left the channels out of balance... the left channel was at a much higher level. The adjustment screws were tweaky as hell; the slightest turn made a really substantial difference in volume. However, after fiddling with them for about 15 minutes, I was able to get the channels in near perfect balance with plenty of space between levels on the volume knob.
Now that that was fixed, it was time to listen to them. As many people have mentioned, the lack of bass volume could be a problem for some people. It's similar to the HE60 in that it is there, you can hear it extend fairly low, but it's certainly not powerful. However, if you can get past this, you will find something incredible.
The treble on these cans is simply the best I have ever heard. The AMT has an incredible way of allowing the treble to shine without it being overbearing. These cans are somehow bright and smooth at the same time. It's spooky. Midrange is also very, very smooth, with probably the most tonally accurate electric guitar I've ever heard.
And the details... oh, the details. These cans trump even the Omega2 in this department. The old cliche of "Oh my god, I've never heard that part of this album before!" will be thrown about many times when you hear these. There is almost no blending of instruments; you can easily reach out and "grab" an instrument, focus on it, and forget about everything else in the track you're listening to.
And let's not forget what these and their predecessors, the Jecklin Floats, are famous for... the comfort. These are the only headphones I've ever worn that didn't eventually lead to discomfort. Most of the time I'm feeling some pressure on my ears within half an hour, and depending on how bad it is, I'll usually limit my sessions to an hour or two. These cans disappear on your head. They are actually very heavy, but the weight is spread out over so much surface area that you only feel the slightest downward pressure on your head. The drivers themselves don't touch your ears as there is a piece of foam between them and your head; the foam is placed just behind your ears, forcing the drivers away from your head. The foam exerts almost no pressure at all. Sooooo comfortable and sooooo immersive.
Overall, I put these in the same league as the Omega2. The Omega2 sounds ever so slightly better because of it's fuller bass. However, the comfort factor of the AMT more than makes up for this. I'll take a tiny bit of bass loss any day if the end result is being able to lose yourself in the music. As great as the Omega2 sound, I'm always aware that I've got headphones squeezing my ears, and this takes away from the immersion factor. The Omega2 will be my choice for absolutely critical listening, as it has a much more extended frequency range, but from a fun factor, the AMT is the winner.
Highly, highly recommended.
Once the traumatized delivery guy had left, I rushed to my bedroom and opened the box. Inside were the ugliest headphones I have ever seen. Nothing can compare to the lack of coolness factor that these headphones display; no person in their right mind would be caught dead with these on. This is literally "Birth Control in a Box." Sweet.
The Amp2 didn't exactly inspire confidence based on its looks. The power cord looked like it was ripped off of a discarded lamp from Wal-Mart. The rest of it looked like a basic two-bit, made in China amp. Ergo seems to be decidedly against making something that looks good.
After connecting everything, I fired them up. My first thought was "Damn, these are loud!" My second thought was "Man, that midrange is distorting something fierce!" I assumed that I had turned the volume up too loud, but upon looking at it, I saw that it was barely at 9 o'clock. I turned it down to 8 o'clock, and the right channel almost disappeared. I basically had the ability to go from barely there to full blast without anything in between. Something had to be wrong.
Luckily, after reading the manual, I found that you can adjust the volume levels for each channel by inserting a small phillips head screwdriver into the back of the amp and twisting a screw clockwise to lower the volume and counter-clockwise to raise it. It turns out that Ergo had set the volume levels far too high and had also left the channels out of balance... the left channel was at a much higher level. The adjustment screws were tweaky as hell; the slightest turn made a really substantial difference in volume. However, after fiddling with them for about 15 minutes, I was able to get the channels in near perfect balance with plenty of space between levels on the volume knob.
Now that that was fixed, it was time to listen to them. As many people have mentioned, the lack of bass volume could be a problem for some people. It's similar to the HE60 in that it is there, you can hear it extend fairly low, but it's certainly not powerful. However, if you can get past this, you will find something incredible.
The treble on these cans is simply the best I have ever heard. The AMT has an incredible way of allowing the treble to shine without it being overbearing. These cans are somehow bright and smooth at the same time. It's spooky. Midrange is also very, very smooth, with probably the most tonally accurate electric guitar I've ever heard.
And the details... oh, the details. These cans trump even the Omega2 in this department. The old cliche of "Oh my god, I've never heard that part of this album before!" will be thrown about many times when you hear these. There is almost no blending of instruments; you can easily reach out and "grab" an instrument, focus on it, and forget about everything else in the track you're listening to.
And let's not forget what these and their predecessors, the Jecklin Floats, are famous for... the comfort. These are the only headphones I've ever worn that didn't eventually lead to discomfort. Most of the time I'm feeling some pressure on my ears within half an hour, and depending on how bad it is, I'll usually limit my sessions to an hour or two. These cans disappear on your head. They are actually very heavy, but the weight is spread out over so much surface area that you only feel the slightest downward pressure on your head. The drivers themselves don't touch your ears as there is a piece of foam between them and your head; the foam is placed just behind your ears, forcing the drivers away from your head. The foam exerts almost no pressure at all. Sooooo comfortable and sooooo immersive.
Overall, I put these in the same league as the Omega2. The Omega2 sounds ever so slightly better because of it's fuller bass. However, the comfort factor of the AMT more than makes up for this. I'll take a tiny bit of bass loss any day if the end result is being able to lose yourself in the music. As great as the Omega2 sound, I'm always aware that I've got headphones squeezing my ears, and this takes away from the immersion factor. The Omega2 will be my choice for absolutely critical listening, as it has a much more extended frequency range, but from a fun factor, the AMT is the winner.
Highly, highly recommended.
