[abirdie4me]

The difference in sound won't be because of the Cable but rather design of the amp. You'll have the best performance out of the Balanced Output on a Balanced Amp. So if you amp has both connections, chances are it was designed for balanced and will have the cleanest output and better sound on that side. I'd recommend spending a week with the Balanced side, then switch back to the Single End.

Thanks, I guess I need to find a good balanced cable for my Elears to see if my Jotunheim sound better through its balanced outputs.

 

[abirdie4me]

Have anyone experimented with crossfeed on the Elears? I've used it for a couple of days in the Roon DSP center, and I quite like it. Sacrifice some soundstage width for depth, and imo a better focused center image. Sometimes feel like I lose some dynamic punch, but I'm not sure, may be a volume difference. My impression so far is that it's very enjoyable, but still don't know if I'll keep using it regularly. Any thoughts?

Spent a little time with crossfeed last night in Roon. It helped a lot while listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band streaming from Tidal through Roon, I really liked how it focused the vocals on that album. For other (newer) music it either made no discernible difference or I didn't like it. I think I'll use it when listening to earlier stereo recordings but just leave it off most of the time. Thanks for pointing it out, always good to have more options!

 

[Odin412]

The difference in sound won't be because of the Cable but rather design of the amp. You'll have the best performance out of the Balanced Output on a Balanced Amp. So if you amp has both connections, chances are it was designed for balanced and will have the cleanest output and better sound on that side. I'd recommend spending a week with the Balanced side, then switch back to the Single End.

Yes, I have a Cavalli Liquid Carbon and for most headphones I prefer the sound using the balanced connection. How audible the difference is depends on the headphone. However, for some strange reason the T1 (I have the V2) sounds better to my ears using the single-ended output.

 

[Oregonian]

I have no doubt that is the case, so maybe people were hitting those peaks? Still, I listen louder than any other human being I have met, and I kid you not (still have good hearing because I do shorter sessions, often only half an hour or less). When I used a decibel meter I was peaking at around 100db I think, and that was very loud. The odds of people actually listening louder I'm still shocked at, but I guess it is possible. So as an aside here, do you think it is possible actually music might cause the mechanical dampening to be reached earlier than a simple test tone? You also have to wonder if the seal on a real persons head might also influence things. I was just very curious as I do remember many reports of this with several people returning the Elear as at their normal listening levels they kept having the popping happen so that is why I am still a little skeptical that the 117db is an absolute value to trigger the mechanical dampening. I could very well be wrong of course so I'm not presenting this as fact.

I auditioned the Elear and experienced the driver popping sound repeatedly - and I don't listen very loud - it was 88db based on my iPhone decibel meter. Had my LA7000 doing a side by side and tried to volume match but the Elear just could not handle the bass. Backing off the bass a bit helped but it still did it at times. Now, it was being fed by my vintage Pioneer Spec system but seriously, I've owned/borrowed/auditioned over 60 headphones and never had this happen before.

 

[makne]

Thanks, I guess I need to find a good balanced cable for my Elears to see if my Jotunheim sound better through its balanced outputs.

If you don't want to spend big, veclan.com makes cheap, decent custom cables.

 

[makne]

Spent a little time with crossfeed last night in Roon. It helped a lot while listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band streaming from Tidal through Roon, I really liked how it focused the vocals on that album. For other (newer) music it either made no discernible difference or I didn't like it. I think I'll use it when listening to earlier stereo recordings but just leave it off most of the time. Thanks for pointing it out, always good to have more options!

I agree. I mostly listen to older recordings these days, Eric Clapton, Dire straits, Eagles etc. Here, the crossfeed makes the soundstage deeper and makes the vocals more focused and separated from the rest of the mix. But when I play newer recordings, like the new Linkin Park album, Halsey etc, the crossfeed often makes the music sound "softer", less engaging and maybe even muddy.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I auditioned the Elear and experienced the driver popping sound repeatedly - and I don't listen very loud - it was 88db based on my iPhone decibel meter. Had my LA7000 doing a side by side and tried to volume match but the Elear just could not handle the bass. Backing off the bass a bit helped but it still did it at times. Now, it was being fed by my vintage Pioneer Spec system but seriously, I've owned/borrowed/auditioned over 60 headphones and never had this happen before.

Thanks for confirming the issue. I do remember having read from a number of people that this issue did happen and it was my impression that nobody was listening at 117db which is crazy loud, even I usually am around 90db. I think it is the intensity of the bass that likely is the culprit once combined with sufficient volume. I will just be careful with the volume when I listen to electronica.

 

[aqsw]

The difference in sound won't be because of the Cable but rather design of the amp. You'll have the best performance out of the Balanced Output on a Balanced Amp. So if you amp has both connections, chances are it was designed for balanced and will have the cleanest output and better sound on that side. I'd recommend spending a week with the Balanced side, then switch back to the Single End.

I totally agree,

Some people say the Liquid Carbon sounds just as good single ended as balanced. I could not disagree more. A fine amp it is, but it really shines balanced, not SE. The power is there balanced.

Now, I sold my Carbon and went single ended. I went single ended otl and am never looking back.

Everybody to their own.

 

[aqsw]

Thanks for confirming the issue. I do remember having read from a number of people that this issue did happen and it was my impression that nobody was listening at 117db which is crazy loud, even I usually am around 90db. I think it is the intensity of the bass that likely is the culprit once combined with sufficient volume. I will just be careful with the volume when I listen to electronica.

My Elears start popping too at about 2 oclock on my Euforia. That is way too loud for my ears anyways. I just thought I would try it to see.
Will never go that loud again.

 

[Ampeezy]

I have had my Elears for about five days now, and I have to say I like these the most of all the headphones I have owned. I really want to grab the utopia but I will supremely resist that urge, not a price I can justify at the moment. I drive them with an Asus STX II sound card, and the sound was initially darker, with incredible dominating bass. I didnt really enjoy the dominating part so I replaced the stock muses in the STX II with dual Burson v5i in all three sockets. I also got a silver plated up-occ copper cable to add a bit of brightness, and the results are really amazing. Stellar headphone with the right tweaks, they just really get the music going!

 

[waveSounds]

Thanks for confirming the issue. I do remember having read from a number of people that this issue did happen and it was my impression that nobody was listening at 117db which is crazy loud, even I usually am around 90db. I think it is the intensity of the bass that likely is the culprit once combined with sufficient volume. I will just be careful with the volume when I listen to electronica.

I've not experienced any mechanical driver clipping on my pair and bass-heavy music accounts for a lot of my listening time. If you want to run the Elears bass capabilities through their paces load Aliens by Luke Lambert on Tidal and post-30 second mark you'll know if your pair is subject to popping before the mechanical clipping activates.

Just ran another test using the above track via the Mojo in the double green volume range and my pair exhibit no popping, just seriously visceral bass. This volume is far above what I normally consider usual listening volumes, which is around the red-orange range, but I'm not going to push it any higher to see when the mechanical clipping comes into play because.... hearing damage.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I've not experienced any mechanical driver clipping on my pair and bass-heavy music accounts for a lot of my listening time. If you want to run the Elears bass capabilities through their paces load Aliens by Luke Lambert on Tidal and post-30 second mark you'll know if your pair is subject to popping before the mechanical clipping activates.

Just ran another test using the above track via the Mojo in the double green volume range and my pair exhibit no popping, just seriously visceral bass. This volume is far above what I normally consider usual listening volumes, which is around the red-orange range, but I'm not going to push it any higher to see when the mechanical clipping comes into play because.... hearing damage.

I will have to test, but I listen at double green on my Mojo all the time. I get that most people don't listen loud, but for those of us who do it is important to understand if there are genuine design limitations so I thank you for testing and I will see if I can access that track on Tidal.

 

[waveSounds]

but for those of us who do it is important to understand if there are genuine design limitations

Yeah, agreed. But dude... think of your ears! For the love of god, your ears! Double green is loud

 

[Sonic Defender]

Yeah, agreed. But dude... think of your ears! For the love of god, your ears! Double green is loud

I am actually careful in the sense that I only do short listening sessions, quite often about 30 minutes and sometimes less with long breaks in between. I even have days where I don't listen to music. I agree, if I was listening for longer periods, or with very short rest periods between listening sessions, that volume would be problematic. I have in recent years also stopped attending loud rock concerts which for many years (I am almost 49) were a pleasure of mine. I can still hear up to 14kHz (not with as much acuity as I would like mind you) so I'm trying tp preserve what I can. My brother is pissed as I passed up seeing Chevelle and Tool with him this year despite loving both of those bands. I have seen Tool twice, but it was hard to say no to what I'm sure will be their last tour ever.

 

[Makiah S]

I auditioned the Elear and experienced the driver popping sound repeatedly - and I don't listen very loud - it was 88db based on my iPhone decibel meter. Had my LA7000 doing a side by side and tried to volume match but the Elear just could not handle the bass. Backing off the bass a bit helped but it still did it at times. Now, it was being fed by my vintage Pioneer Spec system but seriously, I've owned/borrowed/auditioned over 60 headphones and never had this happen before.

Huh that's interesting, I never had an issue with it, I keep some Shadowchild in my demo playlist as well and I was able to crank it up nicely. An I also listen around 89db my self... I'm wondering if there really is a batch of these that have this issue. The Demo I got from TTVJ didn't have any issues like that... though I was listening through a Sylvania 6sn7 GT Jan-v231 which is a "bass light" tube according to some... that might be why I never had a problem