[up late]

Not many headphones i can say this about, but I’ve actually never seen or heard about anyone who disliked the Clear.
Could be because of it’s neutral, balanced yet dynamic nature. Sure it may not be everyone’s preferance, but it doesn’t really have any flaws to hate on.

oh i can think of one

 

[Phronesis]

Example of a track which sounds too bright and thin to me with the Clear: "Sailing Stone" by The Helix Nebula, from the album Meridian. A little better with the LCD-3, but still too bright and lacking bass to my ears. So I definitely blame the recording ...

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I would not say, it sounds particularly bad.

This is really a sweet set up! I always love to pair 600i with Elear/Clear, there is a synergistic feeling there.

Balance connection really help soundstage quality and quantity in both headphones.

 

[betula]

This is really a sweet set up! I always love to pair 600i with Elear/Clear, there is a synergistic feeling there.

Balance connection really help soundstage quality and quantity in both headphones.

Balanced out gives me more clarity and 'tightness'. Simply superior to single output.

 

[FastForward]

Bass response is also superior from the balanced jack compared to the single ended at the same volume. Anyone who thinks the Clears are bass shy should try this combo.

 

[colonelkernel8]

Bass response is also superior from the balanced jack compared to the single ended at the same volume. Anyone who thinks the Clears are bass shy should try this combo.

I don't buy that one bit. There is absolutely no reason for that to be the case from purely a physics standpoint. Just use a little EQ for crying out loud. This is coming from someone who has the Clear, and a balanced amplifier. I've tried it both balanced and SE and there is NO difference. So long as the amplifier has the power (and effectively every desktop amp will), balanced and SE can't really sound different.

 

[FastForward]

I don't buy that one bit. There is absolutely no reason for that to be the case from purely a physics standpoint. Just use a little EQ for crying out loud. This is coming from someone who has the Clear, and a balanced amplifier. I've tried it both balanced and SE and there is NO difference. So long as the amplifier has the power (and effectively every desktop amp will), balanced and SE can't really sound different.

I take it your amp is not a CMA600i? I wasn't discussing your setup, just sharing my listening impressions. I'll leave the physics discussions to you Mensa types.

 

[koven]

I don't buy that one bit. There is absolutely no reason for that to be the case from purely a physics standpoint. Just use a little EQ for crying out loud. This is coming from someone who has the Clear, and a balanced amplifier. I've tried it both balanced and SE and there is NO difference. So long as the amplifier has the power (and effectively every desktop amp will), balanced and SE can't really sound different.

It depends on the implementation and design.. personally I think balanced sounds way better than SE on my amp.

 

[makne]

There isn’t really any reason why bass response should change with SE vs Balanced. Maybe if you have really hard-to-drive cans that require the extra power but that is not the case with the Clear.
Only reason i can think of is a difference of implementation in the SE and balanced amp part of this specific amp?

 

[makne]

There isn’t really any reason why bass response should change with SE vs Balanced. Maybe if you have really hard-to-drive cans that require the extra power but that is not the case with the Clear.
Only reason i can think of is a difference of implementation in the SE and balanced amp part of this specific amp?

 

[gLer]

I don't buy that one bit. There is absolutely no reason for that to be the case from purely a physics standpoint. Just use a little EQ for crying out loud. This is coming from someone who has the Clear, and a balanced amplifier. I've tried it both balanced and SE and there is NO difference. So long as the amplifier has the power (and effectively every desktop amp will), balanced and SE can't really sound different.

That depends on the balanced and SE implementation on your amp. Many balanced amps have inferior SE implementations, in which case bass (and many other things) won’t sound as good as a balanced headphone out of the balanced output. If your amp has equally good balanced/SE implementations, then yes, they should sound identical given the same power. I’ve read elsewhere that the balanced out on the CMA-400i/600i is better than the SE out.

 

[betula]

That depends on the balanced and SE implementation on your amp. Many balanced amps have inferior SE implementations, in which case bass (and many other things) won’t sound as good as a balanced headphone out of the balanced output. If your amp has equally good balanced/SE implementations, then yes, they should sound identical given the same power. I’ve read elsewhere that the balanced out on the CMA-400i/600i is better than the SE out.

I can confirm this. SE also sounds good on the 600i, but the balanced out is obviously better sounding. Yes, better bass response too. It has probably something to do with the implementations inside the box and not SE vs BAL in general.

 

[SilverEars]

I can confirm this. SE also sounds good on the 600i, but the balanced out is obviously better sounding. Yes, better bass response too. It has probably something to do with the implementations inside the box and not SE vs BAL in general.

I personally could not hear a difference balanced vs SE on 600i, nor the GSX MK2.

The only one that I may possibly heard some differences would be the Bryston BHA-1. Certain headphones like the more hard to drive is worth using balanced on it, but it puts out so much power balanced that, it's not worth it with lots of headphones. Channel balance is much greater importance than having to use balanced.

You'd have to level match to know for sure. Balanced to SE switching, you are going to much greater power balanced, and people are not going to properly level match for comparisons.

Due to our ear sensitivities varying across the spectrum, at louder volumes, we hear more bass. This is why level matched is important for more accurate comparisons or it's just another impression.

So, there are a few underlying things people should take into consideration than just take for face value. For example, you do a placebo test on subjects with balanced connection outputting identically to SE.

 

[LCMusicLover]

I take it your amp is not a CMA600i? I wasn't discussing your setup, just sharing my listening impressions...

Similar here with my v280 -- definitely hear differences between Utopia SE & Utopia balanced. Not so much with my Bryston -- similar enough that I can't be sure it's not expectation bias.

 

[betula]

I personally could not hear a difference balanced vs SE on 600i, nor the GSX MK2.

The only one that I may possibly heard some differences would be the Bryston BHA-1. Certain headphones like the more hard to drive is worth using balanced on it, but it puts out so much power balanced that, it's not worth it with lots of headphones. Channel balance is much greater importance than having to use balanced.

You'd have to level match to know for sure. Balanced to SE switching, you are going to much greater power balanced, and people are not going to properly level match for comparisons.

Due to our ear sensitivities varying across the spectrum, at louder volumes, we hear more bass. This is why level matched is important for more accurate comparisons or it's just another impression.

So, there are a few underlying things people should take into consideration than just take for face value. For example, you do a placebo test on subjects with balanced connection outputting identically to SE.

I know about volume matching, thanks.
In theory you are right. However I prefer to believe my ears.