[Alcophone]

Absolutely!

If anyone has product questions I'll be on and off most of the day. Happy to answer what I can...

And in a bit of shameless merchandising, here's a photo of the new VIVO cable, I hope people really enjoy this cable. this is no re-branded cable, we spent a year developing it and it's 100% fully custom.

What's the wire gauge on that one?

$300, wow! The Ether Flow 1.1 is shipping with the new VIVO cable? So it's $200 cheaper than the 1.0 while including a $100 more expensive cable? Intriguing.

 

[mrspeakers]

The wire gauge is actually not particularly important, as they have an almost flat impedance and so resistance isn't quite so important until it gets quite high. It's the cable geometry, wire material, and insulation that have the big effect on the sound. We actually use a lighter gauge wire because of the improved ergonomics and ability to get the geometry we want.

 

[Alcophone]

The wire gauge is actually not particularly important, as they have an almost flat impedance and so resistance isn't quite so important until it gets quite high. It's the cable geometry, wire material, and insulation that have the big effect on the sound. We actually use a lighter gauge wire because of the improved ergonomics and ability to get the geometry we want.

Oh yeah, I'm just curious. I once naively considered using 10 AWG speaker wire to build a headphone cable. Then I wondered whether that's thicker than the pins on a 4-pin XLR plug. Then I remembered the skinny little hirose pins, and that you only use two of them anyway. And saw that the regular hirose connectors are specified for up to 26 AWG wires only, yet the DUM cable uses 24 AWG, and the Kimber Axios has a much thicker effective gauge still. So I'm back to just learning and trying to understand how that even works. ^^

Edit: The 26 AWG spec appears to be for the crimped version, while the solder pots are specified as having a 0.8 mm diameter, which is almost 20 AWG.

 

[mrspeakers]

I always assumed "garden hose" cables would have better bass, dynamics, etc. In part this was from my background doing speakers, with higher power requirements and lower, complex load impedances. Because planars are in effect a pure resistor, the response is independent of the source and cable resistance, unlike dynamics where complex impedance couples with source impedance to create a voltage divider that varies with frequency and measurably alters bass response. In this case, the first thing I noted about the cable in testing was that with this cable, gauge wasn't affecting bass and so we went lighter to improve ergonomics.

That leave us with capacitance, which is really, really low with this cable, and inductance, which is low enough to not be affecting the audible range. Then you get into the voodoo aspects of geometry, spacing, insulation materials, that are both subtle and complex. We couldn't have done this without stellar support from our cable vendor, who probably has forgotten more than I know on the subject.

 

[TMRaven]

Can you post measurements of height, width, and depth of the earpad openings Dan?

Here is Aeon Flow for reference:

 

[Zoide]

If $2000 is what you get with easy and cost concious manufacturing I’m curious to how a difficult to produce Ether 2 would be priced. Also not sure I agree with the application of the word aggressive with regards to the pricing.

I agree! I was super excited while reading his post, especially after he alluded to them having a good price to go with the amazing sound. But... $2000???

The new high-end of headphones is absolutely insane. I can't believe people are saying that $2K is fine because there are other cans out there with even crazier prices.

 

[Xcalibur255]

He did. Let me check my notes and I'll get back to you. I do remember that it will be easier to drive. But let me check the numbers.

Thanks. I know that's what most people want, but ironically I would prefer the opposite. The amp I drive my current Ether from is on the verge of having too much gain for reasonable volume control, and if they were even easier to drive it would be too much for me.

 

[mrspeakers]

Can you post measurements of height, width, and depth of the earpad openings Dan?

2.6" tall, 1.8" wide, 1.1" deep. The ear shape better follows actual ear geometry so it feels a bit more spacious to me while actually being a bit smaller. This gives us better control of how the ear fits the pad for a more consistent sonic experience. Many headphones the sound changes a lot with position, this reduces that while retaining comfort.

 

[ksorota]

Absolutely!

If anyone has product questions I'll be on and off most of the day. Happy to answer what I can...

And in a bit of shameless merchandising, here's a photo of the new VIVO cable, I hope people really enjoy this cable. this is no re-branded cable, we spent a year developing it and it's 100% fully custom.

Any photos or hints as to what the travel case is going to look like? I'm a big fan of the current Ether case, but will welcome any of the constant quality improvements you have dreamed up!

Best-

 

[hemtmaker]

@dan, is there any plan for Ether C 2 in the near future?

 

[Alcophone]

@dan, is there any plan for Ether C 2 in the near future?

That would be exciting, also because it might pave the way for a VOCE C. VOCCE?

 

[jeffri]

This Ether 2 sounds like my dream headphone, something like HD650 and SR007 are right up my alley. Without the hassle of estats, but with resolution and speed that can rival estats... Man....

 

[Rowethren]

Following this thread to see if a lot of Ether Flow owners would upgrade to the new Ether 2.

I have the Ether Flows and going from Matt's description these are certainly high on my upgrade list. More impact in the bass was something I always wanted to improve so it sounds perfect as the rest of the sound was already great. As always I will have to demo these first though. Just hope they don't take too long to arrive in the UK!

 

[musickid]

1) are the ether 2's highly dependent on the quality of power and especially dac?

2) what is the sensitivity which is very important to know?

3) when is UK availability?

thanks to all (could anyone explain this as its confused me: "Because planars are in effect a pure resistor, the response is independent of the source and cable resistance".)

 

[dieslemat]

I have the Ether Flows and going from Matt's description these are certainly high on my upgrade list. More impact in the bass was something I always wanted to improve so it sounds perfect as the rest of the sound was already great. As always I will have to demo these first though. Just hope they don't take too long to arrive in the UK!

Yes of course sir @Rowethren, I would definitely be looking forward and trust your thoughts on the Ether 2