[BournePerfect]

Ok these are HUGE. And the ear pads are so soft! Seriously ear pillows.. they are on-ears but may as well be be around-ears cos the pads just envelope the entirety of your ears anyway.

Need to burn these in but initial listen is very positive with vocals. Such a beauty!



Question: where do u guys grab to put them on / take them off? I tried holding the wooden cups but feels like I may loosen them if I keep doing that.

They really put effort into the wood… just beautiful

I hope you have the world's tiniest head, or else I'm gonna need to install some double doors.

 

[justanut]

I hope you have the world's tiniest head, or else I'm gonna need to install some double doors.

Haha... you can see that the top of my head is already touching the top of the headbands.... More or less maxed out....

Mmmm I'm constantly being amazed with what I'm hearing. I might just spend the next 10 days with them on my head non-stop for the burn-in~

 

[BournePerfect]

Those cups should come with whiskers lol. So wide. Not complaining, I'm used to huge cups, but nothing that wide yet. But hey if it's what gives a superb soundstage, I'm all for it!

 

[justanut]

Those cups should come with whiskers lol. So wide. Not complaining, I'm used to huge cups, but nothing that wide yet. But hey if it's what gives a superb soundstage, I'm all for it!

Soundstage and imaging is one... the wooden reverb qualities are really apparent with these, no wonder owners have often compared these with music instruments. These are not just wooden ear cups on the outside, they are really a significant part of the overall sound signature produced.

Man, this track has never sounded so.... binaural to my ears, before... It was impressively wide on the 800S, but there's just something room-like with the R10 - width, height, and surround like qualities. Sorry but I can't help gushing over these... I came in with very low expectations really but they've completely blown me away.

 

[mulveling]

@justanut
Great impressions! I am beyond excited for mine to arrive and you're just fanning the flames.
The size will be no surprise to those of us who had an OG R10 lol. Grip them by the metal frame. The wood cup mounting is supposed to feel a bit loose/squishy like that. The unfinished inner "lip" of wood is also exactly how I remember my OG, so I don't think ES Labs should change that. The gimbal magnesium piece looks too dark, which is only a minor disappointment - it should be the same lighter color gray metal like the headband. The wood cups look absolutely amazing in every pic so far - they nailed it!

Massive soundstage, especially impressive and unexpected for a closed headphone, was one of the hallmarks of the OG R10. Amazing midrange and gorgeous natural timbre is another.

 

[mulveling]

Here, this was my OG circa 2007. Gimbals match the headband piece. Seems an odd detail for them to change:

EDIT: Saturation is amped way up and blanks are cast to purple thanks to my crappy D40 of the time, so don't worry about the cups looking more brilliant orange here than on ES R10.

 

[justanut]

@justanut
Great impressions! I am beyond excited for mine to arrive and you're just fanning the flames.
The size will be no surprise to those of us who had an OG R10 lol. Grip them by the metal frame. The wood cup mounting is supposed to feel a bit loose/squishy like that. The unfinished inner "lip" of wood is also exactly how I remember my OG, so I don't think ES Labs should change that. The gimbal magnesium piece looks too dark, which is only a minor disappointment - it should be the same lighter color gray metal like the headband. The wood cups look absolutely amazing in every pic so far - they nailed it!

Massive soundstage, especially impressive and unexpected for a closed headphone, was one of the hallmarks of the OG R10. Amazing midrange and gorgeous natural timbre is another.

IKR~ I doubt you'd be disappointed, I'd believe it if they told me it's 9/10 of the OG, but maybe the OG were really that much more godly~

Yes timbre.. that's the word. That wood instrument timbre. My god, it's difficult to describe. Not forgetting mine aren't even burnt in, and I'm using stock cables! I'm just deliberating if there's any benefit to getting balanced cables for them or staying SE. And if my HA-6A would bring them to yet another level of enjoyment when it finally comes.

 

[justanut]

Here, this was my OG circa 2007. Gimbals match the headband piece. Seems an odd detail for them to change:

Mmm the ES-R10's frame feels like plastic too. I suppose the OG was aluminium or some other metal? Anyhoo, what's more important is the wood, the cup, and the drivers and they really nailed it there.

 

[mulveling]

Mmm the ES-R10's frame feels like plastic too. I suppose the OG was aluminium or some other metal? Anyhoo, what's more important is the wood, the cup, and the drivers and they really nailed it there.

The OG metal parts are magnesium, a very light (somewhat like plastic) but also rigid (unlike plastic) metal finished in a fine texture that has a wonderful tactile feel. We'll see how the ES parts stack up when Purk and I get ours. I agree the wood cups and then the correct proportions / shaping are more important. And of course, the drivers!

 

[justanut]

Ok I take it back. Diablo + WA8 is significantly better than just the Diablo in terms of bass, sub-bass (royal rumble!) and mids. Shall continue burn-in, enjoying, and experimenting with the limited source gear that I have to play with.

 

[mulveling]

You're definitely allowed to change impressions and feel confused at gear matchings for a while. I'm like "What" at myself when I think of how I drove the OG. I had a Singlepower OTL tube amp that sounded glorious in midrange but contributed heavy bass distortion when the source material had high demands there. But at lower volume levels it "filled in" for the R10's bass roll off (this even with a "bass heavy" OG) and sounded amazing.

This time I will be driving them balanced. But I still have that old Singlepower tube amp too.

 

[justanut]

You're definitely allowed to change impressions and feel confused at gear matchings for a while. I'm like "What" at myself when I think of how I drove the OG. I had a Singlepower OTL tube amp that sounded glorious in midrange but contributed heavy bass distortion when the source material had high demands there. But at lower volume levels it "filled in" for the R10's bass roll off (this even with a "bass heavy" OG) and sounded amazing.

This time I will be driving them balanced. But I still have that old Singlepower tube amp too.

Looking forward to your impressions on balanced vs SE as well, before I splurge on cable upgrades!

I might just grab 4.4mm cables just so I can play them straight out of the 3Max without needing to run them through the WA8 though, but will consider 3.5mm if SE proves to be better~

 

[protoss]

@justanut

Congrats bud. You got to hear what Hifiman Fang Bian was jealous of all these years. And still is!! Most do not understand this <-----

Horrible recording but damn Marc vocals is insane. Loop daddy at his finest. ES-R10 produce great bass here.
Try to find Z review post.

This is me and @rsbrsvp smiling

Marc is a national treasure

 

[purk]

@justanut

Congrats bud. You got to hear what Hifiman Fang Bian was jealous of all these years. And still is!! Most do not understand this <-----

Horrible recording but damn Marc vocals is insane. Loop daddy at his finest. ES-R10 produce great bass here.
Try to find Z review post.

This is me and @rsbrsvp smiling

Marc is a national treasure

Fang had the chance to pay a proper homage to Sony MDR-R10 but his designs are more profit driven. Using a real and proper Zelkova woodcuts must eat into his profit margin and that sadness of a headband. Did he actually use a real wood on his version of the R10 or just a veneer?

 

[mulveling]

Fang had the chance to pay a proper homage to Sony MDR-R10 but his designs are more profit driven. Using a real and proper Zelkova woodcuts must eat into his profit margin and that sadness of a headband. Did he actually use a real wood on his version of the R10 or just a veneer?

You can see from the HiFiMan product page that the cups are carved from a block of wood. But otherwise, it is such a shamefully poor homage, especially in contrast to the ES Labs version. That HFM headband doesn't even belong on a $200 headphone.