[Slim1970]

E2's beat lots of cans. HE-560? Hell yes. HEX v2? Oh yes, LCD-2 and LCD-3 - yes. Better than Arya. Yes. HE-6se - that's close - at $699 my nod is HE, but at full list, no.

I fully believe that these are well under rated. I think its the opinion of some that the treble is depressed - a bit perhaps, easily fixed with EQ.

The E2 is not as good as the Susvara, HEK se, LCD-4, Emp, 007, and the Voce but its better than almost everything else.

The Ether 2’s are great. I agree with your list as I have owned or heard all of them except the Voce. I EQ’d my Ether 2’s when I first had them with suede pads attached. Now that I the perforated pads on my Ether 2’s they fit my ideal sound signature a lot better. They are definitely worthy of their TOTL status.

 

[Xcalibur255]

@TMRaven

Excellent post, thanks for sharing those graphs.

 

[MakubexGB]

I modded my HE560 with the Voce pads, which have the biggest earholes I've ever used. They are the most comfortable pads that I have by far. There would seem to be less contact between the pads and my skin since there is so much less surface to the pad. But if the crucial contact area is circumference, then I guess I understand what Dan's saying here. Anyhow, the Voce pads took the 560 to the next level both comfort and sound wise.

I almost exclusively listen to classical music, and I have found HifiMan headphones well-suited to the genre. But I really want to buy American this time. I was looking at Abyss, but they're just too expensive. Reading this thread, I'm curious about the Ether 2 but was really turned off by some negative YouTube reviews from Joshua Velour and others. It's hard to judge since I find most reviewers either don't listen to classical or classical is just an afterthought to them.

I'm sure you saw Resolve's review, right? It's generally positive and he listens to a lot of jazz.

I was listening to Renee Olstead just now on my Ether 2 (using the suede pads & the perforated pads) and I loved it.

 

[Brahmsian]

I'm sure you saw Resolve's review, right? It's generally positive and he listens to a lot of jazz.

I was listening to Renee Olstead just now on my Ether 2 (using the suede pads & the perforated pads) and I loved it.

Resolve’s review i found lukewarm. He said it crinkled all the time and also didn’t like the highs, which he said were too muted. Valour‘s review was one rip after another, and Max Settings called them dead sounding. Those reviews, as well as gripes about comfort, scared me away from Dan Clark for now. The Chinese wound up with my money again even though I wanted to buy American. Hifiman has some open box Anandas for $599 and I snatched one up after seeing a slew of glowing reviews. Still intrigued by the Ether 2, though. Maybe next time. Definitely on my radar.

 

[MakubexGB]

Resolve’s review i found lukewarm. He said it crinkled all the time and also didn’t like the highs, which he said were too muted. Valour‘s review was one rip after another, and Max Settings called them dead sounding. Those reviews, as well as gripes about comfort, scared me away from Dan Clark for now. The Chinese wound up with my money again even though I wanted to buy American. Hifiman has some open box Anandas for $599 and I snatched one up after seeing a slew of glowing reviews. Still intrigued by the Ether 2, though. Maybe next time. Definitely on my radar.

Gotcha. One thing to remember is that they didn't try the other pads. I personally haven't experienced any crinkling but I have yet to try the stock pads. I've tried the suede and perforated pads. I certainly don't find the highs muted, especially compared to my Verite Closed. I sold the Hifiman Arya and got these, and I don't regret it for a second, especially with how comfortable the Ether 2 are (I didn't like how the long pads of the Arya put pressure on my jaw).

If you find a good deal on the Ether 2 somewhere, such as a used pair here, I do recommend you give them a shot. You can always sell them.

 

[ZappaMan]

just switched the pads back the original, while listening to some relaxed ambient electronic music 'Spectrum 1', and im noting that the bass is rumbling more, so def more bass on the original pads i think.

 

[mrspeakers]

just switched the pads back the original, while listening to some relaxed ambient electronic music 'Spectrum 1', and im noting that the bass is rumbling more, so def more bass on the original pads i think.

What happens is the perf pads reduce the mid and lower mid relative to bass and treble. Perceptually, the overtones of bass reach into the lower midrange, and these overtones are easier to hear than the actual low frequencies, especially at lower volumes. How people perceive this seems to vary based on volume and if they queue bass level more on the fundamental or its overtones.

Also, the pads will have slightly different fit and seal, which again is user specific. So you really have a few variables floating around that can create different perceptions/experiences.

So technically the perf pads has the most relative bass, but due to overtones, fit, and psychoacoustics some people may find the original or suede to have more bass. Hence we switched to the 3 pad paradigm to let people self-optimize.

As an annecdote, it was pretty amusing watching professional reviewers debating this at a meet once, they walked away with the same debate raging and totally disagreed with each other on the same units. YMMV.

 

[bagwell359]

Resolve’s review i found lukewarm. He said it crinkled all the time and also didn’t like the highs, which he said were too muted. Valour‘s review was one rip after another, and Max Settings called them dead sounding. Those reviews, as well as gripes about comfort, scared me away from Dan Clark for now. The Chinese wound up with my money again even though I wanted to buy American. Hifiman has some open box Anandas for $599 and I snatched one up after seeing a slew of glowing reviews. Still intrigued by the Ether 2, though. Maybe next time. Definitely on my radar.

Ouch E2 >> Ananda. E2's just needs a touch of EQ in the treble - but less than many think. I listen to well recorded music, E2 supports that w/o ridiculous treble such as say a Beyer 770 - made for people brought up on electronic playback and little or no acoustic instruments in a non amplified setting.

The Ananda is a fine even great deal for the money - but the bass isn't anywhere near as good as the E2, and it's bright yet somehow short of harmonics and subtle details. Both w/o EQ the E2 will seem short of dynamics, add appropriate EQ and it's like a HEX v2 being made into a HE-6se with a really nice sound stage.

 

[ra990]

The Ether 2’s are great. I agree with your list as I have owned or heard all of them except the Voce. I EQ’d my Ether 2’s when I first had them with suede pads attached. Now that I the perforated pads on my Ether 2’s they fit my ideal sound signature a lot better. They are definitely worthy of their TOTL status.

I had the Ether 2 and Empyreans at the same time and concluded that the Ether 2 were far more capable of expressing texture and resolution from midrange to bass. The bass was no competition between the two, Ether 2 was accurate and linear with extension that Empys couldn't reach. The Empyreans were only superior in soundstage and comfort. Haven't heard the Voce yet, but it's on my list to try. The Ether 2 are severely underrated, IMO. It's not one of those headphones you put on and get blown away with immediately. But after a few weeks with it and a good break-in period, they reveal themselves to be something truly special. Based on everything I've owned (listed in my signature), the Ether 2 is #3, right behind the Abyss and Susvara.

 

[bagwell359]

The Voce is more natural than the top Stax IMO because the Stax esp. the 009 kneel at the feet of hyper definition, and yet misses more subtle things - and they are bright. The 007 is better than the 009 IMO and a somewhat reasonable match to the Voce. The Voce has the best bass of the 3, and has some 3-D density on instruments, so often the Stax just hit you with the fiendish definition and a spray over overdone treble. Funny thing is the Voce sounds like live unamplified music, sometimes plain, not always hyper kinetic.. Its my favorite estat. You cannot run it off some 12 year old underpowered Stax amp, you need one of the expensive amps that's got lots of juice - BH, HFM Jr, etc. Which is why the Susvara is my likely next stop.

 

[Slim1970]

I had the Ether 2 and Empyreans at the same time and concluded that the Ether 2 were far more capable of expressing texture and resolution from midrange to bass. The bass was no competition between the two, Ether 2 was accurate and linear with extension that Empys couldn't reach. The Empyreans were only superior in soundstage and comfort. Haven't heard the Voce yet, but it's on my list to try. The Ether 2 are severely underrated, IMO. It's not one of those headphones you put on and get blown away with immediately. But after a few weeks with it and a good break-in period, they reveal themselves to be something truly special. Based on everything I've owned (listed in my signature), the Ether 2 is #3, right behind the Abyss and Susvara.

Yes, they have become one of my favorite listens when I want to switch up from the wide open sound of the my Abyss and Hifiman headphones. I even prefer them to my Audeze LCD-4z's when I want to listen to warm, yet detailed headphone. The Ether 2's have wonderful tonality to them from top to bottom with the perf pads. The bass is really punchy and I find it a very pleasing and engaging listen. I just got a Formula S amp and the combo is down right fantastic.

 

[vermaleneric]

Hi all,
Just one question about the Ether 2 : are these " all rounder " headphones ??
I listen all genres of rock.
Thank you
Éric

 

[MakubexGB]

Hi all,
Just one question about the Ether 2 : are these " all rounder " headphones ??
I listen all genres of rock.
Thank you
Éric

I'd say so, especially with the ability to tune them a bit by pad rolling. I'm a rock guy myself and I'm very much enjoying the Ether 2. YYZ is one of my test tracks and the Ether 2 do a good job with the imagine and slam in this song.

 

[vermaleneric]

Cool ... I think that I will try them very soon.
I was hesitating between Ether 1.1 Flow and Ether 2.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Cool ... I think that I will try them very soon.
I was hesitating between Ether 1.1 Flow and Ether 2.

I owned both -- upgraded EFO to 1.1, then purchased Ether 2, then sold EFO. E2 definitely has better bass.

E2 doesn't seem like a 'direct upgrade' to EFO. To my ears E2 response is more 'linear' except a bit of reduced treble energy while I was always futzing around with the damping material on EFO, trying to smooth out what sounded like somewhat peaky response (peaky at different points in the frequency spectrum depending on which damping material was installed).

All that with the stock angled pads. Completely different sounding with the Voce e-stat pads -- much brighter than stock EFO or E2. Honestly, I considered keeping them just for that sound, but decided that niche was adequately filled by my HEK, Auteur & Utopia.