For those of you that have tried or own the two Kings....... HE90 / R10

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fing /img/forum/go_quote.gif The bass-heavy R10...

Don't see that too often! You must have one of the late production (high serial number) pairs of the R10.

 

[-=Germania=-]

I heard Ray's balanced R10's and spent some decent time with them. Then I heard the Baby Orpheus and Orpheus copies.

I loved the speed of the eceltrostats and would say that I prefer electrostats given the option. However, The R10's just lure you in and would be my choice for long term listening with the comfort and balance. The Electrostats where fatiguing and clamping on my head.

 

[That dude]

Orpheus. Tried it, loved it.

 

[jjcha]

Neither. Owned the HE90, borrowed the R10s on more than a few occasions for extended periods of time.

Would rather have (and have owned) a good K 1000 rig over either of them, and would seriously consider an Omega 2, HP1000 and, my can of choice, Qualia 010 instead.

Best regards,

-Jason

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjcha /img/forum/go_quote.gif Neither. Owned the HE90, borrowed the R10s on more than a few occasions for extended periods of time. Would rather have (and have owned) a good K 1000 rig over either of them, and would seriously consider an Omega 2, HP1000 and, my can of choice, Qualia 010 instead. Best regards, -Jason

All good ones, Jason! The K1000 has always run #3 for me, but in a sense they're really #1 because they're so speaker-like. Well, they really are just mini speakers hanging from your ears, so as I've said earlier in this thread: from a soundstage perspective, it's really not a fair fight! The K1000s are the undisputed king in this regard, and properly amped, they do everything else extremely well also. So hard to argue with you on that point.

For my tastes, the Omega II doesn't match up to the HE90 overall, nor does the HP1000 match up to the R10 overall. Both of them are excellent, world class really, so I guess it's all a matter of taste. That's the same reason that I mentioned the L3000 and PS-1 in my first post, in the sense that there are certain things that they do better than the R10 (same goes for the Edition 9 and Qualia 010). There are a bunch of outstanding headphones when you get into the high dollar stuff.

I'm just now really starting to get into my Qualia 010 more and more these days. I think I had some serious fit issues that distracted me for the longest time. But anymore, they're one of the first cans I'll reach for and not just with certain kinds of music (I used to use them primarily for complex music because of their ability to separate everything so nicely). At this point, I'm starting to think of them more as an "all arounder", which is a good thing! They tend to lean more toward the K1000 and HE90 type of presentation, meaning crisp and clean and hard not to like. They may end up being one of my favorites eventually.

 

[jjcha]

The interesting thing about the Omega 2's is that I've never liked how they present soundstage or that massive amount of bass you have to control for. But when it comes to just a high level of clean detail that gives you raw texture, a certain tangibleness to the sound, I always found them to be without peer. The 010 is almost as good in terms of timbre, but even in a good system, it's got such an artificiality to the sound -- a hyper speed to them, that I can't really say they match the same level as the O2s for me in this one regard.

HE90, I dunno, just never was as clean for me as some other cans. There was just always this euphony I heard, whether out of the Aristeaus, the ES-1, KGSS, various el cheapo Stax transformers and speaker amps. It just had a certain resonance in the sound that I didn't hear from the K 1000, O2s or 010.

HP1000 is interesting in that it's obviously not as extended, but man when it melts away and just leaves you with sound.... it truly does melt away. Some other cans can do the same, but the HP1000 does it so consistently and well that despite the fact it's not a "high-end" performer, it always will remain in my top choices.

I think I really need to spend more time with the R10. I spent a lot of time with it early on when I really didn't know what I was listening to. I do recall it having rather strong tonal qualities (at least to me) but that's not to say that any of the aforementioned don't have very strong tonal qualities...

Best,

-Jason

 

[Quint]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif damn. i want that combo. sounds killer. i don't recall if you have posted any pics of your setup. i would like to see that.

I definitely like it—terrific synergy, and Ray is one of the absolute best in the biz—but there are a lot of other great combos out there. Just depends on what kind of presentation you like. I’m more of a dynamics kinda guy myself.

I’ve never posted pix of my setup because I’m probably the last person in the free world who doesn’t own a digital camera.

Even if I did, I’m not sure I would even attempt to post pix, as the general photographic quality I see on this site would make my pathetic attempts look like they were taken with a $5 Kodak disposable. And most of the people here could probably take better pictures with said $5 Kodak than I could with a friggin’ Leica!

 

[purk]

I voted the HE90, b/c they are slightly better overall than my R10 via SDS-SE. I suspect that the R10 will equal my HE-90+HEV-90/ES-1 system if not slightly better when the SDS-XLR is doing the amplifiying duty for the R10. I second everything that Wayne had said in this thread.

Want to add that what it boils down to these two will come to preference. I found the HE90 is to be more appeal to wider range of music, slightly more than the R10.

 

[Fing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't see that too often! You must have one of the late production (high serial number) pairs of the R10.

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