[milkdudd]

I had a V280 when I first purchased my E2 I thought the pairing was very good.

Really, the only deficiency I've heard from E2 out of any chain is the lack of dynamics which I heard when E2 was driven from my Liquid Platinum with some of the Amperex tubes I tried with it (and from my Cowon Plenue II mk2). But in general, I haven't felt like E2 was particularly 'amp-sensitive' (the way my Auteur are for example). Actually, I might call them the 'least amp-sensitive' of all my cans, as long as there's enough power and current to drive them. V281 will certainly provide that.

I guess the only possible concern might be that bit of warmth from the V281 pushing the E2's sig in a direction you don't prefer, although I imagine a small amount of EQ could make that problem go away (all wild-ass speculation).

Thanks for responding. I think this is the only headphone I'll use on a regular basis with the V281 that I also use as a preamp in my stereo room (by the way it's an amazing preamp if anybody is considering getting one). I'll set the gain to what works best with them. If they sound as good as I expect them to I'll get a second 3 ft long or so cable with a 4.4 or 2.5 balanced connector so I can listen to them with my Romi BX2+

 

[eobet]

Probably been mentioned earlier in the thread, but to me, there's a significant (like, significant) improvement in sound if you let your earlobes press up against the rear inner walls of the pads... for me, the soundstage changes and you feel the bass even more (I listen to electronic music so I think it's great).

 

[milkdudd]

Probably been mentioned earlier in the thread, but to me, there's a significant (like, significant) improvement in sound if you let your earlobes press up against the rear inner walls of the pads... for me, the soundstage changes and you feel the bass even more (I listen to electronic music so I think it's great).

I've only had a few listens to mine so far but I have also been experimenting with moving them around. So basically you're saying push the headphones as far forward as possible? Or are you saying as far forward and raised up as high as they can go at the same time? Have you done any experimenting with rotating forward and backward?

Also curious which pads are you using? Mine came with the perforated already installed but I also have a couple pairs of the original equipment pads. I haven't tried those yet. I don't have any of the suede pads

 

[eobet]

Yes, I'm wearing them pushed very forward right now. I haven't experimented with up or down yet.

I'm using the perforated pads.

 

[milkdudd]

Yes, I'm wearing them pushed very forward right now. I haven't experimented with up or down yet.

I'm using the perforated pads.

Okay thanks. Have you tried any of the other pads or do you intend to experiment with them in the future?

 

[eobet]

I'm personally fine with these (there was a discussion about the pads a number of pages back if you want to read opinions from people on those).

 

[Xcalibur255]

Yes, I'm wearing them pushed very forward right now. I haven't experimented with up or down yet.

I'm using the perforated pads.

I have found this to be true of every planar headphone I've owned, and to a lesser extent to every over-ear headphone I've owned. The LCD-2 for example sounds awful to me unless I push them forward on my cheeks until my ears are touching the back edge of the pads. If you consider that your ear canal is not centered on your ear structure but rather is positioned forward this makes sense. What we're doing here is making sure that the driver is actually correctly centered over the ear canal itself. I suspect this helps your outer ear structure do it's job properly as well. The difference in tone seems to be pretty dramatic, to me at least.

This might vary quite a bit from person to person since ear structure varies quite a bit due to genetics.

 

[jarnopp]

I have found this to be true of every planar headphone I've owned, and to a lesser extent to every over-ear headphone I've owned. The LCD-2 for example sounds awful to me unless I push them forward on my cheeks until my ears are touching the back edge of the pads. If you consider that your ear canal is not centered on your ear structure but rather is positioned forward this makes sense. What we're doing here is making sure that the driver is actually correctly centered over the ear canal itself. I suspect this helps your outer ear structure do it's job properly as well. The difference in tone seems to be pretty dramatic, to me at least.

This might vary quite a bit from person to person since ear structure varies quite a bit due to genetics.

I think it has to do more with reflections off your ear than centering. Push the back of your ears forward while listening to speakers and see how the frequency changes. Or, more extremely, push them forward with your palms extended and also acting as a reflector.

 

[milkdudd]

I think it has to do more with reflections off your ear than centering. Push the back of your ears forward while listening to speakers and see how the frequency changes. Or, more extremely, push them forward with your palms extended and also acting as a reflector.

I promise this is not political but can you just imagine how good the president of the USA that was elected in 2008 (and 2012) must be able to hear?

 

[TMRaven]

The conversation of ear placement within the pads and how it (significantly) alters the sound for the better when the ears are pushed towards the rear of the pads piqued my interest. While listening to Turn Blue from Black Keys I was playing around with my ear placement within the pads. I didn't notice any drastic differences-- for better or worse-- for any position. Whatever differences there were were subtle at best. My early subjective impressions were that the sound image got pushed behind my head and condensed when my ears were at the furthest forward position possible. When pushed back towards the rear, the sound image pushed forward and expanded. I also noticed perhaps a slightly fuller sound with the ears pushed towards the rear of the pads, but bass seemed to be unaffected. My default ear placement is ears close to the back of the pads, but not pressed up against the inner walls of the pads.

I then decided to measure two separate instances each of the Ether2 with my EARS pushed towards the rear and front of the earpads. These are uncompensated. Red and yellow lines are two separate measurements of the left cup with the ear pushed towards the front of the pads, while blue and green lines two measurements of the left cup that are with the ears at the very back.

It didn't surprise me that the area mostly affected was around 2-4khz (which is the area of the frequency response that naturally peaks due to the pinna of the ears). With the ears more forward, the pinna have a more profound affect on frequency gain around 3khz, but a slight depression around 2khz.) With the ears pushed towards the ear, you can see that there's more energy around 2khz, but less around 3khz. What did surprise me was that treble around 7-8khz was slightly lowered when the ears were placed towards the front of the earpad. Bass and lower-mid midrange were unsurprisingly not affected.

 

[jarnopp]

Okay thanks. Have you tried any of the other pads or do you intend to experiment with them in the future?

My E2s shipped with the perforated pads, which I thought I would prefer, given my preference for the A2C. But after a while, I decided I preferred the stock pads for mid presentation. That’s been several months. After speaking with Dan and Andy at CanJam this weekend (great event, great people!) I decided to try the suede pads, which I hadn’t before. I don‘t know if these are forever, but I’m really liking the sound. The mid/treble balance is just right for me and, as others have mentioned, the bass is nicely elevated in comparison but not muddy. Try all the pads!

 

[ra990]

The suede pads definitely had the smoothest presentation and comfort was the best.

 

[alxw0w]

New Ether2 user here, just switched to them.
Sub bas is crazy on them.
More impressions to come.

 

[ra990]

New Ether2 user here, just switched to them.
Sub bas is crazy on them.
More impressions to come.

Yep, they go down low very linearly and have a nicely detailed low end.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Ether 2 getting too much head time

Ordered replacement OG pads, and also perforated pads. I’d been interested in pad swaps for a while, but didn’t notice how much these had deteriorated until yesterday — I mostly use them at night w/ lights off.

I’m really looking forward to hearing an alternative sound from these.