[Loquah]

Quote:

Thanks guys for giving me the final push to pull the trigger on these. Chatted with Sergey today and if all goes well, I hopefully have a pair of LEs on their way tomorrow.

 
Awesome! I really hope (and am pretty confident) that you'll love them!
 
Jump on here and let us know your thoughts when you receive them.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

 

Thanks guys for giving me the final push to pull the trigger on these. Chatted with Sergey today and if all goes well, I hopefully have a pair of LEs on their way tomorrow.

Nice, hopefully Sergey gave you a good price offer too. I know he was trying to lure me in to buy a pair before the LE's was released back in Feb.

 

[Caze]

Quote:

Nice, hopefully Sergey gave you a good price offer too. I know he was trying to lure me in to buy a pair before the LE's was released back in Feb.

To be honest, the cost is pretty much the same. He said that they have an agreement with their partners to not sell them for lower than they do, which I understand, but I had hoped that I could have saved a little money. The only real benefits I get out of it is that it's a lot closer (from Russia to Sweden), I get a pair with Tiama wood (sold out on NoisyMotel) and spare parts for my old FA-011.

 

[Loquah]

To be honest, the cost is pretty much the same. He said that they have an agreement with their partners to not sell them for lower than they do, which I understand, but I had hoped that I could have saved a little money. The only real benefits I get out of it is that it's a lot closer (from Russia to Sweden), I get a pair with Tiama wood (sold out on NoisyMotel) and spare parts for my old FA-011.

The Tiama is beautiful (I've got Tiama #5)

 

[Caze]

My LE finally arrived today and they are indeed beautiful, though the wood is slightly darker than what I expected from the pictures. The new pads have a nice feeling to them but as they are slightly thinner and softer than the stock pads, I have the same problem with my ears pressing against the drivers. A slight design miss from FA there. As Sergey forgot to add some spare pads to the package and putting on two year old pads from my original FA-011 just feels wrong (at least until I've washed them), I will be doing the tissue mod to them as soon as I go buy some.

 
I've only had the headphones for a few hours now so there hasn't been any real burn-in yet but what I can say about the sound is that they sound like the original FA-011 and yet they don't. Which is a relief so that I didn't end up paying for the same headphone in a nicer package with a sound difference that I couldn't hear. The first thing that I noticed is that they don't have quite the same amount of mid-bass that the original has and probably partly because of that I get a feeling that they have a slightly bigger soundstage. At this point the treble also sounds slightly smoother than on the original (no harsch "sssss" sounds). In true FA-011 fashion, covering the cups with your hands don't alter the soundstage very much.
 
I'll post some pictures later on and try to toss up a better comparison between the LE and the original as I get more listening hours on these.

 

[Loquah]

  My LE finally arrived today and they are indeed beautiful, though the wood is slightly darker than what I expected from the pictures. The new pads have a nice feeling to them but as they are slightly thinner and softer than the stock pads, I have the same problem with my ears pressing against the drivers. A slight design miss from FA there. As Sergey forgot to add some spare pads to the package and putting on two year old pads from my original FA-011 just feels wrong (at least until I've washed them), I will be doing the tissue mod to them as soon as I go buy some.

 
I've only had the headphones for a few hours now so there hasn't been any real burn-in yet but what I can say about the sound is that they sound like the original FA-011 and yet they don't. Which is a relief so that I didn't end up paying for the same headphone in a nicer package with a sound difference that I couldn't hear. The first thing that I noticed is that they don't have quite the same amount of mid-bass that the original has and probably partly because of that I get a feeling that they have a slightly bigger soundstage. At this point the treble also sounds slightly smoother than on the original (no harsch "sssss" sounds). In true FA-011 fashion, covering the cups with your hands don't alter the soundstage very much.
 
I'll post some pictures later on and try to toss up a better comparison between the LE and the original as I get more listening hours on these.

 
I'd agree with your impressions so far. I think the LE's bass is more controlled so the different mid-bass might be less bleed and bloom rather than less reproduction. The treble difference is exactly why I went for the LEs - they have great energy and detail in the top end, but without the edge of the standard 011s
 
What's the tissue mod? I just swapped the LE pads for standard pads and transferred the screen from the LE pads.

 

[Leliana]

I will be able to audition them properly soon at Noisy Motel, say a week or two. Permitting that there still will be one available at that time. I hope they can fit with what I want from an aggressive rock can. I'll be taking a fair few exceptional rock recordings with me.
 
Will be a few weeks after that till I can buy one though if it comes to that. Will be in trouble if they sell out

 
 
PS: How long does Billy allow for auditions, the most I've ever spent there was about 25 minutes.

 

[Loquah]

  I will be able to audition them properly soon at Noisy Motel, say a week or two. Permitting that there still will be one available at that time. I hope they can fit with what I want from an aggressive rock can. I'll be taking a fair few exceptional rock recordings with me.
 
Will be a few weeks after that till I can buy one though if it comes to that. Will be in trouble if they sell out

 
 
PS: How long does Billy allow for auditions, the most I've ever spent there was about 25 minutes.

 
Not sure if he has a limit. Flick him an email or PM him - I'm sure he'll help you out.

 

[Caze]

   
I'd agree with your impressions so far. I think the LE's bass is more controlled so the different mid-bass might be less bleed and bloom rather than less reproduction. The treble difference is exactly why I went for the LEs - they have great energy and detail in the top end, but without the edge of the standard 011s
 
What's the tissue mod? I just swapped the LE pads for standard pads and transferred the screen from the LE pads.

 
The tissue mod is just putting tissues beneath the cushions to make them thicker. As I don't have any extra pads I had to wash my old ones and I will be trying them today.
 
EDIT: Listening now with my old pads and they are definetily more comfortable. Even with the tissue mod the LE pads were still a little too shallow, which is a shame as otherwise they are really nice and quite a bit better than the standard ones (at least the old ones I have). I might give them another try if I find something else to use to make them thicker.

 

[Loquah]

Wow, these things scale well!!!
 
I've just finished building the TOTL Bottlehead Mainline amplifier and the FA-011 LEs are seriously challenging the Beyer T1s for enjoyment factor. They're not quite as open and transparent as the Beyers, but they are SO enjoyable and sound so refined and controlled out of the Mainline. Oh, and the bass is sublime!

 

[DefQon]

So I was saying this from the start pair the 011's with some good amplification and they sound sublime and fun definitely bested my LCD2's in some areas in sound so it's no surprise the LE sound good too given they share the same driver but has a slightly different resistor frequency cut off network soldered to the driver.

 

[Mach3]

  Wow, these things scale well!!!
 
I've just finished building the TOTL Bottlehead Mainline amplifier and the FA-011 LEs are seriously challenging the Beyer T1s for enjoyment factor. They're not quite as open and transparent as the Beyers, but they are SO enjoyable and sound so refined and controlled out of the Mainline. Oh, and the bass is sublime!

 
Mainline wow (You're probably the first Aussie to built and own one)! could you please do a comparison to the CRACK?

 

[gikigill]

I have a feeling based on experience with resistors networks that removing the resistor will increase the low end substantially.

 

[DefQon]

I have a feeling based on experience with resistors networks that removing the resistor will increase the low end substantially.

 
What do you mean?

 

[gikigill]

I have owned and currently own headphones with resistor networks. The Fischer would be my 5th hp with a built in resistor network.
 
After removal of the resistor networks, the bass was better on pretty much everyone, case in point being the Sony F1 and MA900.
 
Both had their resistors removed and suddenly they opened up so much and the F1 especially started moving a lot more air as if it was being held back.
 
Liked it so much, ordered a second new in box F1 and mind you this pair has been with me for over a decade.
 
The LE seems to be a bit constrained in the lower end so that has me entertaining the possibility of a cable and resistor mod.