[justanut]

It's the ECP Walnut 5 DAC. Love it - sounds great! Warmer, smoother, more analog-like than other DACs. Not gonna compete with my big turntable back home, though haha.

I'm progressively more impressed by these ES R10 after comparisons to the re-cabled Sony SA5000, which again I really like (and am so sad was discontinued - this should have been more popular than the HD800). I think the ES R10 asserts its dominance with a sound that's simultaneously cleaner and more natural. It might not be a headphone that leaps out the box and grabs you at first listen, but it will creep up on you. Really nice articulation and space around instruments. There's even some bass slam too!

Very low listening fatigue factor on these. Physical comfort is excellent as well.

The HD650 is still on the floor, where it belongs now haha.

Lol.. same for my brand new 650 with custom can mods.. sigh..

I would not have been as wowed with the ES-R10 if I had listened to them out of the 3Max - WA8 combo too.. thankfully there’s extremely good synergy with the Diablo.

I haven’t been able to bring myself to listen to my other headphones.. not even my beloved 800S. The wife is happy though cos she can’t hear me blasting music thru the night now

 

[purk]

Yay!

 

[mulveling]

These are fun! Rockin little portable setup with iBasso or Walkman 1A. There is more bass power here than I remember from even bass heavy R10. I do find myself craving even more resolution, and want to hear them with a silver cable.

 

[Mufti]

These are fun! Rockin little portable setup with iBasso or Walkman 1A. There is more bass power here than I remember from even bass heavy R10. I do find myself craving even more resolution, and want to hear them with a silver cable.

So sexy!

 

[protoss]

silver cable

@rsbrsvp was raving about pairing the ES-R10 with a silver cable. It is a must for more detail.

I actually like it stock. Good enough for me.

 

[purk]

@rsbrsvp was raving about pairing the ES-R10 with a silver cable. It is a must for more detail.

I actually like it stock. Good enough for me.

I also think that a really good silver cable will make them better as well.

 

[justanut]

Yay!

I wonder if anyone's selling the OG wooden earcups... wouldn't mind swapping them over haha

 

[BournePerfect]

Soundstage is finally starting to open up a bit after about 10 hours of burn in. That was my very first issue straight out of the box, as they seemed a bit congested. A week straight of burn in and a silver cable should be just the ticket I feel. Oh and no claustrophobic, in your head bass, which is usually my main issue with closed backs, other than soundstage congestion. Definitely a more balanced sound so far than my AWKTs which I recently sold due to those two peeves of mine. The AWKT was a bit more detailed, and textured in the bass, and went deeper...but that was also using an Audio Sensibility silver Statement cable too, which I'm currently having re-terminated for these.

My quick .02

 

[SHAMuuu]

Yay!

I must have enterted some alternate universe. That is just crazy! But its amazing how they look so similar, and yet you can tell them apart so easily.

Even the cups the lines look slightly different.

but I wonder how Dr. Fang Bian feels about this. XD

 

[justanut]

I'm surprised that the DAC between two modern portable units makes such a difference. I would have expected that if the Woo 8 was a bad match, it would be for its tube amplifier section alone. I know OTL tube amps could be challenged by the OG R10 (I experienced driving mine into bass distortion), but your Woo 8 even has output transformers and seems to offer ample power at 32 ohms. Mini tubes and transformers in a portable unit...mind blown. We didn't have this back then lol.

Prob not so much the DACs but how they tuned their products. Although I'm quite happy with just the amp section of the WA8~ I've always disliked ESS too so yeah maybe the DAC as well haha..

Anyway I bought the WA8 just for portable tube use with my DAP and not for the DAC.

40+ hrs later, I'm still loving the R10, and am mostly preferring the Diablo + WA8 combo over the 3Max + WA8 or Diablo alone. No 4.4mm/3.5mm cables yet so I can't use it out of the 3Max solely sadly.

 

[purk]

I opened up and replaced the original R10’s larger and smaller foam rings last night and it was an absolute mess really!

I purchased this pair back in 2007 as a NOS unit from an audio shop in Norway and the last few years I notice that the bass output is getting to be near non existent while the treble is slightly harsher and overall tonal balance is brighter. Replacing both the inner larger and outer smaller rings sure fix those problems. My old R10 now has more bass output, couple with a slightly warmer tonal balanced. Definitely more forgiving and definitely an improvement to my ears. See pics below of the work and thanks to ES labs for making these replacement parts for the original R10 owner as well.

 

[justanut]

Another interesting pairing I've found is the Cayin RU6 (R2R) to the WA8 and to R10. Makes the mids so lush at the expense of some detail fall-off. Still, a very enjoyable experience albeit on the warmer side of things. I need to get a 4.4mm terminated cable! Everything is being fed through the WA8 because that's the only amp with 6.5mm plugs that I have >..<

Update 4hours later:

I can't stop listening to this combo for vocals! Itching to grab a Denafrips R2R and try it out now lol...

 

[mulveling]

I’m back at my “audio playground” looking for the “magic” with pairing the ES R10 to my high end vinyl rig (Koetsu and more) and didn’t find it at first. So I suspected maybe the Max Balanced isn’t the best pairing. It’s technically very good there (as evidenced by beating the recabled Sony SA5000), but definitely missing the soul and beauty I was looking for. A bit too cut and dried compared to how I like to enjoy my tunes.

Found it with the old Singlepower SDS tube amp! The bass loosens up, but every time this amp messes something up it does it in a beautiful way here. Music just flows. Midrange is gorgeous! Very liquid and lush. Still pretty good technically overall, but now with the soul and energy that was missing before. This is a good time! It’s not so blown away by my big Tannoy speakers anymore. These ES R10 can even kinda rock now. Such natural sound. I am reminded of a lot of the magic from my OG R10 for sure. This headphone is no joke!

And yes, of course that’s a TungSol round plate 6SN7

 

[BournePerfect]

Was literally just playing Heat of the Moment on these when I read your post, crazy!

 

[mulveling]

Was literally just playing Heat of the Moment on these when I read your post, crazy!

Nice!! I love the whole album.