I guess they sound good with the Mjolnir v1 you have. What about any harshness in the High ? The mjolnir is quite unforgivable in the high (That's why i love it so much with the dark lcd3);
I went from a Jotunheim to the Mjolnir and frankly I found the Jotunheim brighter. I was actually surprised by the Mjolnir given its reputation for being bright - I didn't feel that it was overly bright at all.
"Harsh" is a bit of an ambiguous term, but I'll say this - the Clear lives up to its name with the Mjolnir. It's bright without any peaks in the treble whatsoever. It's quite interesting. The brightness/clarity struck me when I started listening to this headphone, but when I put on notably harsh recordings (David Bowie: A Reality Tour), I was struck by how un-harsh it was.
I could listen to acoustic/jazz/soft recordings and notice how much air the tracks had. I'd then put on some heavy rock and metal and not attempt suicide like I did after listening to an HD700 and GS1000i.
Fascinating, really. I can't explain it. How can something be so clear without any peaks, harshness or sibilance... even if the tracks are notorious for peaks, harshness or sibilance?
Yeah, been more than one week away from my Clears. Following forum from a distance I also notice the quietness - that’s a good symptom, glad wired headphones don't have a firmware to upgrade along with the accompanying bugs that make forums so vivid. So I'm back and listening to Clear, delightful, amazing sound ... right now GoGo Penguin, but I wouldn’t go wrong with Led Zepplin as well...
Yeah, still loving mine as well. Have traded for a pair of Utopias, just had to try them in my System. They and my iSine 20s on the go, and I’m in Head Fi Heaven. Felt like the Clears were such incredible all round headphones that I could experiment with the backup.
Fascinating, really. I can't explain it. How can something be so clear without any peaks, harshness or sibilance... even if the tracks are notorious for peaks, harshness or sibilance?
I guess the Clear just deliver what they receive as an input, which is called transparency. No smoothening and no enhancing of any frequency.
Sometimes some gear boosts the high frequency register giving you the impression of higher detail, but it’s a trick.
Higher detail is the capacity to retrieve details without boosting any frequency. This will result in an airy, realistic sound without harshness, provided your sources are up to the task.
In a very revealing setup the Clear can be truly fantastic.
I went from a Jotunheim to the Mjolnir and frankly I found the Jotunheim brighter. I was actually surprised by the Mjolnir given its reputation for being bright - I didn't feel that it was overly bright at all.
"Harsh" is a bit of an ambiguous term, but I'll say this - the Clear lives up to its name with the Mjolnir. It's bright without any peaks in the treble whatsoever. It's quite interesting. The brightness/clarity struck me when I started listening to this headphone, but when I put on notably harsh recordings (David Bowie: A Reality Tour), I was struck by how un-harsh it was.
I could listen to acoustic/jazz/soft recordings and notice how much air the tracks had. I'd then put on some heavy rock and metal and not attempt suicide like I did after listening to an HD700 and GS1000i.
Fascinating, really. I can't explain it. How can something be so clear without any peaks, harshness or sibilance... even if the tracks are notorious for peaks, harshness or sibilance?
I guess the Clear just deliver what they receive as an input, which is called transparency. No smoothening and no enhancing of any frequency.
Sometimes some gear boosts the high frequency register giving you the impression of higher detail, but it’s a trick.
Higher detail is the capacity to retrieve details without boosting any frequency. This will result in an airy, realistic sound without harshness, provided your sources are up to the task.
In a very revealing setup the Clear can be truly fantastic.
I use them with a Holo Audio Spring KTE L3 DAC and a Pathos Aurium hybrid amp.
But I also have a Hugo 2, tell me which songs you find sibilant and which format they are.
I will try and let you know my impression and if there is any difference between the Spring and Hugo 2
I only demoed Clears but I definitely experienced painful sibilance from a CMA600i (balanced output) playing both the Hell Freezes Over live version of Hotel California (the chorus especially) and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (4th movement, don't remember performer). The caveat was that there was definitely some background noise, so I turned up the volume a bit. In fact, I was side-by-side with the Utopias (and their higher treble peak), but didn't notice any sibilance whatsoever. The two headphones sounded the same volume, but the fact that the Clears are a little more sensitive and I didn't change the volume knob when switching between them belies that impression. If we look at the equal loudness contours, a ~6 kHz peak would not need to be as loud at higher volumes to sound louder than it would need to be at lower volumes, so this is certainly plausible. Maybe also try turning up the volume a little bit and seeing what happens versus what it sounds like at lower volumes.
I use them with a Holo Audio Spring KTE L3 DAC and a Pathos Aurium hybrid amp.
But I also have a Hugo 2, tell me which songs you find sibilant and which format they are.
I will try and let you know my impression and if there is any difference between the Spring and Hugo 2
Thanks a lot. That would be great, especially curious about your impressions of the Aurium, since I have been thinking of getting either that or the WA7. I have the very neutral Oppo HA-1 as my main amplifier (using it only as amp, using the Hugo 2 as DAC), and I have been looking for something a bit warmer, not full fledged tube sound, but just a bit more warmth. I thought a slightly warmer amp might complement the Clears well, but haven't really heard other amps yet. With the Clears, I do not find a lot of difference between using the HA-1 / Hugo 2 combination or straight out of the Hugo. A bit more space and slightly larger stage out of the HA-1, but the sibilance remains.
Some songs which I find slightly sibilant with the Clears (all FLACs in different sample and bit rates):
Jamie Cullum - London Skies
DJ Krush - Univearth feat. Tetsuro Naito
Rodrigo & Gabriela - Tamacun (Area 52 album)
US3 - Be Bop Thing
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?
Portishead - Sour Times
Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends
Rolling Stones - Just Your Fool
Chris Cornell - Scream
Often it's vocals that seem a bit shouty (maybe I should listen to instrumental only, haha), but not only limited to those. Obviously mastering plays a big role. As a rule of thumb, anything that is mastered brighter does not really suit the Clear IMO. Michael Jackson's Number Ones album is recorded very well, but bright. I do not like it on the Clear, whereas it was brilliant on the Z1R.
I only demoed Clears but I definitely experienced painful sibilance from a CMA600i (balanced output) playing both the Hell Freezes Over live version of Hotel California (the chorus especially) and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (4th movement, don't remember performer). The caveat was that there was definitely some background noise, so I turned up the volume a bit. In fact, I was side-by-side with the Utopias (and their higher treble peak), but didn't notice any sibilance whatsoever. The two headphones sounded the same volume, but the fact that the Clears are a little more sensitive and I didn't change the volume knob when switching between them belies that impression. If we look at the equal loudness contours, a ~6 kHz peak would not need to be as loud at higher volumes to sound louder than it would need to be at lower volumes, so this is certainly plausible. Maybe also try turning up the volume a little bit and seeing what happens versus what it sounds like at lower volumes.
Mmmmhh, interesting. I my experience, the forwardness in the mid-range makes me turn up the volume, in order to hear more bass and trebles. Which results in listening at volumes that are not healthy and take the mid-range to levels that they hurt.
Would you say that the Utopia has a better tonal balance? I have not heard it, but (as many say) it's lack of bass deters me a bit.
It actually sounded to me like the Utopia had better bass. I'm not sure how true that actually is (especially considering that I was listening to the Clear at a higher volume level), but at the very least it doesn't sound much worse. I initially tried to key in on the bass in that Eagles recording I listened to, and I could hear all the way down to the very bottom notes where it started to roll off just a bit. The HE1000 V2s that were also next to it did not have as much of that roll-off that both dynamic headphones did. The bass sound is incredibly good, though. I that Scheherazade that I listened to, at the climax there is a good amount of orchestral bass drum, and the Utopia was the first headphone I've listened to where it actually sounded like someone hitting a very large drum. It's hard to describe, but the sound of the actual impact was there and you could hear that it wasn't just a thump. I've played in orchestras before, but I'd actually forgotten what it sounded like until the Utopias brought it all back to me. Unfortunately, it was intoxicating and became a "must have" for me in that very instant. Before, they were good headphones that I wasn't sure were really worth the money.
Anyways, that's a bit rambling (and gushing), but the bottom line is that I do think there is decent-but-not-forward bass on the Utopia, and what bass there is is (as former President Clinton would say) just incredible. I didn't really find them much different from the Clears, either. Though, of course, there are those who say the Elear pads push the bass up just enough. That's not something I tried, but considering that both the Clear and the Utopia use the perforated pads, I'd guess it would work on both.
I will let you know my impressions after the test.
Regarding the Aurium I couldn't be more happy. A hidden gem I bought based on reviews and I got exactly what I was looking for!
And it pairs fantastically with the Clear!
I posted a review HERE
I only demoed Clears but I definitely experienced painful sibilance from a CMA600i (balanced output) playing both the Hell Freezes Over live version of Hotel California (the chorus especially) and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (4th movement, don't remember performer). The caveat was that there was definitely some background noise, so I turned up the volume a bit. In fact, I was side-by-side with the Utopias (and their higher treble peak), but didn't notice any sibilance whatsoever.
These two comments on sibilance come as a surprise to me. I need to find a chance to listen to the Clear on those setup to find out more about the Clear being sibilant sounding.
These two comments on sibilance come as a surprise to me. I need to find a chance to listen to the Clear on those setup to find out more about the Clear being sibilant sounding.
It might be less of the setup and more of the volume level. There seems to be a definite peak at ~6 kHz, and the equal loudness contour definitely seems to flatten out fairly significantly around 6 kHz. Combine that with the fact that a lot of sibilants have their energy right in that range, and this could definitely be a headphone that could sound unpleasant at higher volumes. The first thing I would do is just start turning up the volume while listening to something with a lot of sibilants and see if it starts to affect you.
It might be less of the setup and more of the volume level. There seems to be a definite peak at ~6 kHz, and the equal loudness contour definitely seems to flatten out fairly significantly around 6 kHz. Combine that with the fact that a lot of sibilants have their energy right in that range, and this could definitely be a headphone that could sound unpleasant at higher volumes. The first thing I would do is just start turning up the volume while listening to something with a lot of sibilants and see if it starts to affect you.
Not the case for my setup - even when I turn up the volume to very loud, I do not hear any sibilance (I.e. sssss sound). What I get is ear pain within a minute.
I think it's more probable that gb21011971 and I are more sensitive to treble than that both setups that we used emphasize the treble enough to change it from unnoticeable to causing literal pain. We'll have more info when doraymon conducts his/her test. If I get a chance to demo the Clears again with different equipment and in a quieter environment (hopefully, because I want to find out if I even like them), I'll also check in, but I don't see myself going somewhere like that in the next month or so. You may have mentioned this already, but as I'm not going through all old posts: what are you running?
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