[SupperTime]

If you like the AeonC bass the Ether2 should suit you seeing as there is more of it present on the Ether2 (very short comparison), however, the E2 will come across as warmer than neutral versus the LCD-X coming closer to neutral. I haven't compared the two directly but I would be very surprised if the LCD-X didn't have more bass quantity overall.

Which has higher resolution?

 

[qsk78]

If you like the AeonC bass the Ether2 should suit you seeing as there is more of it present on the Ether2 (very short comparison), however, the E2 will come across as warmer than neutral versus the LCD-X coming closer to neutral. I haven't compared the two directly but I would be very surprised if the LCD-X didn't have more bass quantity overall.

I auditioned the Ether 2 two times in the past, very quickly (around 5-10 minutes audition). That was a micro idsd black label as a source. And I don't do any conclusion on the Ether 2 since I truly believe that the E2 needs a much higher grade source to show what they are built for than the idsd micro bl. Same as Aeon, it sounds out of a portable player but it really shines with a good amp.
I read many reviews of the Ether 2 and LCD-X. Sometimes the same reviewers find Ether 2 as a weird sounding or very warm sounding while the LCD-X is just perfect for their taste. I believe that one of the reasons that the E2 needs a very good quality amplification while the LCD-X can sound good out of a smartphone)...

Any other suggestions, experience here?

 

[Maelob]

Additionally the Ether 2 is way more lighter than LCD-X.

 

[qsk78]

Finally ...I think I will go with Ether 2 - I have 3 cables for MrSpeakers at home and 0 for Audeze )
Not sure if I purchase new or used in the end, would consider both options. We'll see..


P.S. If you guys know any good deal for the E2, please let know, will appreciate. Thanks

 

[qsk78]

Our headphone warranty is 2 years.

@mrspeakers Dan, if I buy at a local dealer and they give me just 1 year. Can I still count on 2? Thanks.

 

[NiceStrongArm]

New owner of an Ether 2 and give some initial impressions after about 1 week of running them. I had Grado RS2e, a very different headphone (dynamic vs. planar, $500 vs $2K), I know. When I was shopping around I was looking for a comparison of those two and could not find it, so provide the Grado RS2e vs. Dan Clark Ether 2 comparison here. I'm not terribly experienced with headphones; so take with some grain of salt. Possibly look at the glass is half full. Details:

Grado RS2e with Beautiful Audio upgraded pads and leather headband.
Dan Clark Ether 2 with standard pad and also the large pads for the electrostatic VOCE, 1/4" jack 10" cable.
Woo WA6 SE 2nd gen with Western Electric 422 rectifier, and assorted 13XX7 power tubes, best so far with 13EM7
Sources FLAC files from iPhone/computer to Rotel 1572 integrated amp w/DAC, TT: VPI Super Prime Scout with Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC* and Vincent PHO 701 with Brimar 12AU7 tube.

I briefly tried the standard pads, but they made my ears rather hot, so almost immediately switched them for the VOCE pads. Still quite a bit warmer than the Grados. I consider putting some cloth liner onto the skin contact area. Unfortunately, the VOCE pads did not come with the adhesive film. Too bad Dan Clark did not contact me when filling the order, whether I had missed on this necessary item. I used some other double sticky tape as a stop-gap measure, but will get the proper adhesive film shortly. Wear comfort is excellent, can wear them without fatigue for hours at a time, and that was an important selling point for me.
I have a pretty big head, and side pressure is possibly a bit more than ideal. Not sure whether the metal suspension wires can be bent to alleviate that a bit. Any experiences?
There are some reviews that suggest noise problems with glasses, which does not apply in my case. Stubble beard is also no problem. With the larger pads, changing the position of drivers relative to ears makes quite a difference to tonality. I was first skeptical about that audiophile "snake oil" statement, but can confirm it.

Driveability is surprisingly harder for the Ether 2 at 16 Ohm, vs the Grado at 32 Ohm. I have to turn up the volume on the WA6 SE from a bit past 9 o'clock to almost noon, so about 80% more, at half the impedance. I tried to find info on SPL, but no hard data available (RS2e 99.8 db by Grado, guessed at 92–94 db here: https://headfonics.com/2019/02/mrspeakers-ether-2-review/2/). That seems to be about right as 6 db ~ factor 4 (double volume at half impedance).
Power tubes also make quite a difference with the 13FD7 requiring higher volume setting than the 13EM7.

I was very concerned about rolled-off treble, as I thought the Grado's sounded sort of dull compared to my speakers (B&W CM6) after TT upgrade. Out of the box, my fears seems to have been justified, but after 50-70 hour of running them (yes overnight on streaming), they opened up considerably. What is immediately noticeable is the much better detail of the Ether 2 compared to the Grado. Soundstaging is also WAY better. A few records I have known for a long time made me literally jump because of unheard dimensionality (e.g. Siouxsie and the Banshees 92 degrees). Some synth/darkwave with effects are also much more vivid (Zanias, Keluar). Some inherently more mids-heavy indie/garage music sounds still detailed but a bit bloated (My Dad Is Dead, Salem 66 on Homestead Records).

Tube rolling on the Woo WA6 SE makes a difference. With the Grados, I could not hear any difference between 13xx7 power tubes (lots of difference between the rather bargain basement stock rectifier tube and the WE422). With the Ether 2, I can hear much more of a tube signature, and finally get a bit more the allure of tube rolling. Ordered some other rectifiers for the Woo and a Telefunken 12AU7 for the PHO 701 phono stage. Lots of fun ahead during the continuing lock-down. I still think the Ether 2 does not have enough treble response, but hope I can get at it with changes in tubes.

Bottom line, major bonus points on detail, 3D staging, comfort. Tonality: cautiously optimistic. More burn-in and tube rolling may address some of the issues. And maybe also my ears will re-calibrate.

 

[NiceStrongArm]

Just notice something critical for tonality. The lateral pressure of the hear pads on the head has a PROFOUND effect on tonality. I have to figure out how to make them sit more loosely on my ears. When pulling the drivers a tiny bit away from ears/skull, suddenly the headphone starts to open out and lose its mids bloat. Any experiences or hints on doing that without breaking the wire? Thanks.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Just notice something critical for tonality. The lateral pressure of the hear pads on the head has a PROFOUND effect on tonality. I have to figure out how to make them sit more loosely on my ears. When pulling the drivers a tiny bit away from ears/skull, suddenly the headphone starts to open out and lose its mids bloat. Any experiences or hints on doing that without breaking the wire? Thanks.

Others have posted about the tight head clamp for comfort reasons.

The only remedy I’ve seen written about, and which I’ve actually done, is to adjust how the rods fit into the headphone assembly. If you look at the inside of the plastic pieces at the base of the rods on either side, you’ll see four screws on each one. If you loosen the four screws on one side, you can push the rods further down into the plastic housing just a little. Maybe an eighth or a quarter inch. But it seemed to make some difference in terms of clamping force for me. It may seem counter-intuitive to essentially shorten the rods by pushing them further into the housing. But because the rods are angled inwards at that point, by shortening them you are actually moving the cups further apart.

The screws are hex screws, and they are very small. The hex wrench I used was the smallest one in my set — .050 inches, which is about 1.25 mm.

You might also need to adjust the strap.

Hope that helps.

 

[NiceStrongArm]

Others have posted about the tight head clamp for comfort reasons.

The only remedy I’ve seen written about, and which I’ve actually done, is to adjust how the rods fit into the headphone assembly. If you look at the inside of the plastic pieces at the base of the rods on either side, you’ll see four screws on each one. If you loosen the four screws on one side, you can push the rods further down into the plastic housing just a little. Maybe an eighth or a quarter inch. But it seemed to make some difference in terms of clamping force for me. It may seem counter-intuitive to essentially shorten the rods by pushing them further into the housing. But because the rods are angled inwards at that point, by shortening them you are actually moving the cups further apart.

The screws are hex screws, and they are very small. The hex wrench I used was the smallest one in my set — .050 inches, which is about 1.25 mm.

You might also need to adjust the strap.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for this. No problem trying that. I have all sorts of small tools for microscopy. I tried bending the rods, but they seem to be made out of some really resilient material. So I am complaining about quality :-o

 

[LCMusicLover]

Thanks for this. No problem trying that. I have all sorts of small tools for microscopy. I tried bending the rods, but they seem to be made out of some really resilient material. So I am complaining about quality :-o

Yes, the rods are very resilient. Same was true of rods on EFO, but that wasn’t a issue because EFO wasn’t as tight.

 

[SupperTime]

What pads do you guys like best?

 

[Steve Wilcox]

I got the faux suede pads mainly for comfort. They are a little more comfortable than the stock pads but they've not wholly resolved this problem for me. Soundwise, I have a preference for the faux suede - they don't fundamentally change the sound but I find they are a little warmer and smoother, but without loosing any detail.

I'm now thinking of trying the Voce pads. The pads are quite differently shaped so could have a more profound impact on comfort. They're real leather, which I much prefer. But I'd love to hear a bit more about the comfort and sound impact from those who have tried them.

 

[ksorota]

I got the faux suede pads mainly for comfort. They are a little more comfortable than the stock pads but they've not wholly resolved this problem for me. Soundwise, I have a preference for the faux suede - they don't fundamentally change the sound but I find they are a little warmer and smoother, but without loosing any detail.

I'm now thinking of trying the Voce pads. The pads are quite differently shaped so could have a more profound impact on comfort. They're real leather, which I much prefer. But I'd love to hear a bit more about the comfort and sound impact from those who have tried them.

Your best bet to improve comfort is to try to bend the nitinol wire frame. I don’t think the voce pads will have a dramatic improvement in comfort, they use similar density foam and have a smaller contact surface.

The sound is also going to change for sure, I never tried them on ether 2, but on Ether c they became unnatural sounding and lost the cohesiveness of tonality and became a very different headphone. Head placement became very important due to the opening size.

The voce pads also don’t use the adhesive mounting system so you’re going to have to use a custom method, not a deal breaker, but just fyi

 

[Steve Wilcox]

Your best bet to improve comfort is to try to bend the nitinol wire frame. I don’t think the voce pads will have a dramatic improvement in comfort, they use similar density foam and have a smaller contact surface.

The sound is also going to change for sure, I never tried them on ether 2, but on Ether c they became unnatural sounding and lost the cohesiveness of tonality and became a very different headphone. Head placement became very important due to the opening size.

The voce pads also don’t use the adhesive mounting system so you’re going to have to use a custom method, not a deal breaker, but just fyi

Thanks very much for that. As far as I'm aware Dan has never suggested the Voce pads as an option for the E2 which re-enforces what you say.

 

[NiceStrongArm]

Thanks very much for that. As far as I'm aware Dan has never suggested the Voce pads as an option for the E2 which re-enforces what you say.

I just got the VOCE pads for the Ether 2, and the VOCE pads are listed as an accessory for the Ether 2 on the Dan Clark website "These ear pads sport a very large round opening for the ear. Designed for our VOCE Electrostatic headphone, the pads are also compatible with all ETHER headphone models.". In a video by Dan Clark, he mentions that the adhesive needs to be custom modified for the VOCE, but no word about it not being recommended.

I prefer the VOCE pads over the stock pads for sure. The stock pads get my ears really hot rather quickly, the additional air in the VOCE pads helps with that. The changes in tonality when doing small adjustments of the position relative to ears is a plus in my book.