[theveterans]

Got my Mini C with BT+mic cables

I seriously like that Mini C is not very source picky and as such sounds very engaging with any source out there. Kudos to Tommy and Evan for designing these portable headphones with those tidbits in mind

 

[carlman]

I agree, they're very easy to drive. If you give them a good source, they let all the extra detail come through, top to bottom. I'm really happy with the 'S'.
It's really satisfying straight out of my phone's headphone jack, too. I especially like the light weight, portability, and general ease of use. Makes it easier to have them when I want them.

Now I just need a case.

 

[theveterans]

I agree, they're very easy to drive. If you give them a good source, they let all the extra detail come through, top to bottom. I'm really happy with the 'S'.
It's really satisfying straight out of my phone's headphone jack, too. I especially like the light weight, portability, and general ease of use. Makes it easier to have them when I want them.

Now I just need a case.

I use the Dan Clark Aeon Flow Case with my Mini C and I don't need to detach the cables while storing, saving the sockets and plugs from being worn out

 

[carlman]

Has anyone experimented with cables on the mini's?
I usually listen through a ifi dac, that has 1 4.4mm balanced out and 1 6.6mm out.
I have a ninja cable 4.4mm balanced.
I'd like a 3.5mm stereo replacement cable, and if it came with a 6.6mm size adapter, that'd be great. I have checked out the cables on hifiman, but I have no idea what they sound like. Seems like they like silver cable.

Practically, I'd like something lightweight, hard to tangle, and about a meter long. The Ninja cable is a bit too heavy for my preferences. I don't have anything to compare and I like the sound but I bet I could find something that delivers a little more air, presence, or finer details... not sure... but usually I get more refinement and yields better imaging when I climb the cable ladder. Wasn't sure if that was the case with headphones or not.

What have you tried?

 

[theveterans]

I have a Plussound Exo copper cable used as BT for my Mini C. They’re very lightweight and are actually intended for IEMs but you can choose almost any headphone connector that’s available on the market

 

[trackballfrumpy]

This is my review of the ETA MS, MC, MO & O2. thought i'd share my impressions after nearly a year of eta ownership.

All of my listening is from my pc, ipad air 1 or iphone 11 pro max. no amp or dac.

Here is a spider chart I made up, also a few references like the ksc75, hd6xx and the discontinued MO so people who haven't heard recent eta maybe have a better idea.

Mini semi closed 32ohm - MS
Mini closed 32ohm - MC
Mini open 32ohm - MO
Open 2 32ohm - O2

highlighted quick dotpoints of what I think each standout for

MS • Bass punch, wider stage, semi open sound
The MS has a neutral tone and can be altered by sources slightly, and offers great extension. with this semi open design the bass is there but isn't as weighty like the MC rather more quick and punchy, mids are a little recessed but are clear and free of bass bleed. highs are clean with no nasties. soundstage and openness is very nice, perfect amount flow/vent from the front and rear to give great distance and accuracy with imaging while maintaining that semi closed environment. transients are snappy and enjoyable. detail and layering is very impressive all the sounds amazingly executed from multitasking creating a perfectly clear listening experience.

MC • Bass extension, bass weight, isolation
The MC has a neutral tone and can also change slightly off sources, also offers even more extension, Bass has some nice weight that is quite enjoyable when outside, really feel theres more tactility of it on my ears compared to the MS. sometimes the bass bleeds into the mids which can make listening blurry/fuzzy, but this can be changed with pad selection or tuning dot placement change which i found helped greatly. highs still remained clean with no nasties. for a closed back the soundstage is still quite wide similar to the 6xx but not as wide as the MS. Isolation is great for putting these on to ignore the outside or household noises and enjoy what you're listening to, though outside in a rather noise city these will not isolate enough. the imaging is quite enjoyable and remains accurate but is ever so slightly blurred off perfect, slightly trailing behind the MS. transients are again snappy and enjoyable. the MCs detail and layering are great for a closed back, defined and well spaced separation for enjoyable listening.

MO • Impacting/intense, earfeel, tactility • sadly discontinued. only 4 32ohm MO's in the wild

The MO has a neutral tone which doesnt really change off source, and offers less extension, but as this is an on ear the bass/rumble grit and impact/intensity or tactility are far greater/exaggerated, something about the foam pads and the driver being so close with a far smaller room between ear to driver, which provides an incredibly exciting listening experience. mids are free flowing with alot of bite, very open sounding. highs are great with alot of sparkle in the top end. soundstage is sorta lacks, but i think the MO suits the close-ish staging, it makes for that upclose and personal tactile impacting sound that all the owners love. openness the MO is a very open on-ear with only the foam ear pads, front grille and rear tuning nylon mesh to go through, so open that you can see through the driver. Imaging is well defined but soundstage too pretty close to make good use of the imaging accuracy. transients are yet again snappy and enjoyable. detail and layering are as good as i can ever dream for, almost cant think of something with better detail and layering.. oh wait the O2..

O2 • Airflow/openness, effortless, clarity/detail
The O2 has another neutral tone which i found changed the most by source over the others above, and offered similar extension with a little less impact from the far more open design. there is a minor low end bump that gives abit more grunt to the bass, but sometimes towers over the remainder of FR. mids have abit more emphasis and energy than the MO, highs have a nice little sprinkle of ev's tuning juice giving them some top end sparkle. soundstage lacks the most, id suspect its because of how close the O2 is to my ears. this is etas most open headphone publically sold, crazy amount of frontal and rear venting creating such an effortlessly easy sound from unrestrictions. imaging is well defined but the soundstage is too close to make full use of the defined and accurate imaging. transients are the best of the bunch being responsive and snappy but theyre no ksc75. detail and layering are the O2's strongest points with the openness of this headphone they're are so well executed from the openness removing any restrictions that cause a lazy/heavy driver sound

O2 MO ↓

i did not enjoy on ear headphones previous to biting the bullet with eta.

eta should definitely appeal to those who are wanting competitive high end low priced hifi that can be driven off just about anything. only compromise for me is the aesthetic, but i spend more time wearing than looking at my headphones.

performance > appearance

links:
https://etaheadphones.com/

thanks:
MS, MC, MO measurements yoinked from Vtory

O2 unverified measurements yoinked from E_Schaaf

 

[theveterans]

Just a quick update with my Mini C. I've been using mine for a couple of months sparingly at my work cubicle already but it wasn't until maybe 3 weeks ago that I felt that my Mini C has 100% settle down or burned in. The largest change that I've noticed is the improvement in the refinement in the "wetness" of the timbre of the instruments. Whereas a brand new Mini C have a more neutral tonality to it, the 100% settled one still does have that general neutral sound, however, unlike most neutral headphones, it is very "wet" sounding in the mids and you'll notice this greatly if you have planar headphones in your collection. It truly made my portable BT listening experience using PlusSound V3 exo series copper cable a sublime bliss as I'm not looking for the absolute speed when on the go, but the most natural timbre (i.e. plankton in terms of resolution of the wetness in timbre) reproduction

Absolutely love the sound of this headphone and it's incredibly work friendly due to its discreet looks

 

[chesebert]

Do you all feel Mini S and Mini C have just that slightly grainy mid and treble when you compare it to say Utopia or HEK. I wish the mid and treble of my MC were just a bit more liquid and smoother. The sound quality is mid-range and not high-end. However, for the price, these cans are hard to beat.

 

[theveterans]

Do you all feel Mini S and Mini C have just that slightly grainy mid and treble when you compare it to say Utopia or HEK. I wish the mid and treble of my MC were just a bit more liquid and smoother. The sound quality is mid-range and not high-end. However, for the price, these cans are hard to beat.

Absolutely not in my case in the mids and maybe slightly grainy in the treble. ETA MC doesn’t have the blackest background of the very best planars and dynamic drivers such as the aforementioned headphones you mentioned hence you might notice the ETA as “grainy”. I notice this grey background when comparing my BT setup to my dektop Bifrost 2 with my big boy KT88 triode strapped SET amp using my Dan Clark Aeon X Open which sounds superbly clean with tons of plankton and an excellent inky black background. I cannot use the Mini C with my SET amp since it’s too sensitive and I hear hum with it.

 

[chesebert]

I should have said upper mid - 2-4khz range. Mid-mid and lower-mid do not have any graininess.

 

[theveterans]

I should have said upper mid - 2-4khz range. Mid-mid and lower-mid do not have any graininess.

Not with my unit for sure. Upper mids are velvety smooth and resolving while being wet (lots of upper mid tonal inflections or microdynamics in the notes, surprisingly a feeble AAC BT codec from my iPhone is enough to resolve this level of detail) without grain or Sennheiser veiling, having tested this on lots of piano concerto recordings and lots of smooth jazz tracks. It just doesn’t have that “ethereal” high end sound that the very best headphones can reproduce

 

[carlman]

It's interesting what you're describing, Chesebert. I was struggling with that last piece of refinement that I was looking for in a nice set of 'phones. I am genuinely content with the S version and they are far better than the cans I've had in the past. But they whet my appetite for that 'what could be even better'... but I liked the overall character of the mini S... so that's when I started looking for cable upgrades. The Ninja cable I had was the only one I had. With no relative comparison, I couldn't tell if it was a factor or not. I just knew it was really heavy, like draping a garden hose over myself whenever I wanted to listen. I have a light/flexy single ended cable I can use directly from my phone when I want to get seriously portable... but the DAC sounds a lot better.

Now for the really 'interesting' part ... Tom has built and sent me a new cable to try.. and I must say it pretty much addresses exactly what you're describing. I can turn the volume up a lot higher now because it removes that little grain or glare that exists... and it's not a lot.. but man it's the exact right change. It's a 5% improvement type thing.. but it's like every one of those percent were put in the exact right areas to improve the overall sound. Everything is a little better but that little etch is gone. It ends up being a little sweeter but more detailed. You can hear the harmonics better so the voices and room effects are part of the performance in a more musical and clear way. It's pretty astounding.

Also, they weigh nothing and make the experience of listening to the headphones better.. because I don't have to drape a hose over me, and they're not tugging down on the headphones... which is like another percent improvement on its own. Your brain becomes un-taxed with that burden/minor annoyance... freeing you to enjoy music.

I am pretty sensitive to many things... I have a lot of sensitivity in the ~4-8,k range so my experience with this change is astounding (musically) but to some it may not be so much. But it does take these headphones into a little bit of a true hifi experience for me... and a solid step up from mid-fi.

 

[theveterans]

^ Bingo

Yes I concur the Audiophile Ninja exhibited some peaks that is on the fatiguing side on my other headphone (Dan Clark Aeon X Open) hence why I don’t have it for my Mini C. As long as you have a Litz OCC wires in your cable, it should help with that glarey peaks in the mids.

 

[carlman]

This cable does appear to be a Litz braid of some sort. I'll take a photo soon. Work has been high demand this week.

 

[theveterans]

This is the close up of my copper cable. You clearly see Litz wiring and lots of wire strands that are twisted is a giveaway