[fleasbaby]

  Driver and headphone variability or whatever one wishes to call it, is the biggest source of confusion and explanation for some of the differing sound reports from various people, imo. Generally a 325i for example is a bright phone but there are degrees of it and some 325s aren't bright at all. Multiply this by all the other apects of sound (bass, mids, soundstage, etc)
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

This same phenomenon of variablity is there for the magnum and the soundmagic e30 (my two most owned phones- a dozen or more i've heard of the former and 6 of the latter). All anyone needs to do to verify is buy 5-10 sets of your favorite headphone and you'l likley find they sound different but still in the same 'genre'. I did this, not to find this fact out. the finding of this fact was an unexpected finding and responsible for alot of the deleted posts of mine. After learning this, certain posts were no longer accurate. It's that simple.....
 
The human hear is amazingly fine tuned and can sense the smallest of difference. I stand by my claim to this day that the magnum, even within versions, have dramatic differences from set to set, but can be categorized into a few categories. I suggested rydon attempt this but it likley was too much of a task and also one that alerts buyers to the fact of variation which is likely an issue for all headphone makers. I don't see it as a problem or liability, just an unavoidable fact of making anything. We shouldn't be surprised that a headphone and that sensitive ear that hears from it, wouldn't also 'suffer' from this fact/phenomena.....

 
This fact also muddies up anything related to cup design, cable factors etc and is a source of many innocent but misleading posts by all of us.....When it comes to headphones, my advice is when you find a particular phone that 'does it for you', hang on to that set because they have personalities.........alot like guitars or other musical instruments, which headphones are.

 
Brilliant observation, and one not many would make given most of us more than likely hear one set of headphones, in one production run of one model, and then try something else. I have always wondered what happened to those tantalizing posts of yours that were scrubbed, right when I was thinking "...here comes the big reveal in cup design..."
 
It is hard not to get caught up in the "headphone arms race". If you manage to escape though, you regain the fun that can be had simply listening to a favorite old album and hearing something new.

 

[chrislangley4253]

Finally managed to talk to the machinist...said he should be done with the aluminium cups Friday...I told him if it's a pain in the arse to feel free to drop the job, but he insisted, so back to patiently twiddling my thumbs...

Good luck!
 

  Driver and headphone variability or whatever one wishes to call it, is the biggest source of confusion and explanation for some of the differing sound reports from various people, imo. Generally a 325i for example is a bright phone but there are degrees of it and some 325s aren't bright at all. Multiply this by all the other apects of sound (bass, mids, soundstage, etc)
 
This same phenomenon of variablity is there for the magnum and the soundmagic e30 (my two most owned phones- a dozen or more i've heard of the former and 6 of the latter). All anyone needs to do to verify is buy 5-10 sets of your favorite headphone and you'l likley find they sound different but still in the same 'genre'. I did this, not to find this fact out. the finding of this fact was an unexpected finding and responsible for alot of the deleted posts of mine. After learning this, certain posts were no longer accurate. It's that simple.....
 
The human hear is amazingly fine tuned and can sense the smallest of difference. I stand by my claim to this day that the magnum, even within versions, have dramatic differences from set to set, but can be categorized into a few categories. I suggested rydon attempt this but it likley was too much of a task and also one that alerts buyers to the fact of variation which is likely an issue for all headphone makers. I don't see it as a problem or liability, just an unavoidable fact of making anything. We shouldn't be surprised that a headphone and that sensitive ear that hears from it, wouldn't also 'suffer' from this fact/phenomena.....
 
This fact also muddies up anything related to cup design, cable factors etc and is a source of many innocent but misleading posts by all of us.....When it comes to headphones, my advice is when you find a particular phone that 'does it for you', hang on to that set because they have personalities.........alot like guitars or other musical instruments, which headphones are.

 
Nice to see you around midrange! Thanks for posting this and clearing some things up. I wonder if we could/should start up a thread specifically on driver variability. I think a lot of people would be interested to hear your opinion on this. Some might even be willing to buy multiple sets of headphones to see if they can hear a difference, like you have.

 

[Melvins]

  Driver and headphone variability or whatever one wishes to call it, is the biggest source of confusion and explanation for some of the differing sound reports from various people, imo. Generally a 325i for example is a bright phone but there are degrees of it and some 325s aren't bright at all. Multiply this by all the other apects of sound (bass, mids, soundstage, etc)
 
This same phenomenon of variablity is there for the magnum and the soundmagic e30 (my two most owned phones- a dozen or more i've heard of the former and 6 of the latter). All anyone needs to do to verify is buy 5-10 sets of your favorite headphone and you'l likley find they sound different but still in the same 'genre'. I did this, not to find this fact out. the finding of this fact was an unexpected finding and responsible for alot of the deleted posts of mine. After learning this, certain posts were no longer accurate. It's that simple.....
 
The human hear is amazingly fine tuned and can sense the smallest of difference. I stand by my claim to this day that the magnum, even within versions, have dramatic differences from set to set, but can be categorized into a few categories. I suggested rydon attempt this but it likley was too much of a task and also one that alerts buyers to the fact of variation which is likely an issue for all headphone makers. I don't see it as a problem or liability, just an unavoidable fact of making anything. We shouldn't be surprised that a headphone and that sensitive ear that hears from it, wouldn't also 'suffer' from this fact/phenomena.....
 
This fact also muddies up anything related to cup design, cable factors etc and is a source of many innocent but misleading posts by all of us.....When it comes to headphones, my advice is when you find a particular phone that 'does it for you', hang on to that set because they have personalities.........alot like guitars or other musical instruments, which headphones are.

 
 
that definitely would be smart of RHydon...and in fact, I think, would market his headphones better! or drivers I mean 

 

[Melvins]

  Good luck!
 
 
Nice to see you around midrange! Thanks for posting this and clearing some things up. I wonder if we could/should start up a thread specifically on driver variability. I think a lot of people would be interested to hear your opinion on this. Some might even be willing to buy multiple sets of headphones to see if they can hear a difference, like you have.

dude we def should. 

 

[hemipowered007]

dude we def should. 

+1, 3specially after the other night when I put the magnum back into full plastic. Not a huge difference but enough for me to go back to full woody after the night

 

[wje]

+1, 3specially after the other night when I put the magnum back into full plastic. Not a huge difference but enough for me to go back to full woody after the night

<< Shudders >> :rolleyes:

 

[hemipowered007]

<< Shudders >> :rolleyes:

Haha yes indeed, well I had never heard them in full plastic, right when I got them they went into wood shells, so I had to know....curiosity...glad I did though

 

[GermanGuy]

subscribed!

 

[thelostMIDrange]

........this variability thing is not something I set out to verify. In fact I very much wish it didn't exist, as life would be much simpler that way....... I enjoyed the magnum driver and simply wanted backups because I tend to dance alot while headphoning and knew i'd accidentally yank cables and drivers to shreds and would need backups....... While fine tuning cups for the magnum drivers, I had assumed there was the possibility that driver sets were not identical to each other but really did not anticipate how much they actually did vary. So over time I realized that I had to give that fact more weight in terms of a 'magnum build' and it's particular sound signature. I'm still confident that cup design is critical and still believe the1) length, the 2) overall mass and the 3) mass and design of the 'lip' where the driver meets the cup and the pad meets the cup are the 3 key factors. And while it's hard to separate out any variable, I do believe strongly that the driver variablitiy is easily more profound than any of those other 3 factors. ime........The same applied to the iem I referred to of which I have 6 sets, again, just wanting backups originally, but was again displeased, in a way, that the sets I acquired were not the same sound sig as the first set I bought. But it turned out the 'goldylocks set' was a later bought set so at that point I was thankful variabilitfy existed and now I have slightly different flavors of 'the same' headphone so it's all good. two of those six are slight dogs though so......with iem's of the same model these differences are easy to hear since there is absolutely no variables between sets to muck up the A/B'ing. Same tips, same color, no psychological give aways, no expectency bias, no pad issues to deal with etc. All the same headphone but different sounds. Yes different burn in times but not radically. And i've heard consistency in difference over time so burn-in is likely a real but subtle thing and again, much less a factor than the initial difference from simple 'process variaton' from the manufacture of anything......Now whether or not this fact is real for every and all headphone models, I can't say, but logic and experience with other 'musical instruments' tells me that the few headphone models i've heard this variability with (the HF-2 being a third) suggests they are no different than a sennheiser 650 or a beyer DT, etc. Some designs might have inherently less variation and/or some makers might have tighter manufacture controls and therefore less variability but I suspect it's a fact of life, and not a totally negative one for the reason I mentioned earlier - it's nice to have slightly varied sounds of one's particular favorite sound signature. I see no harm in makers admitting this fact although those who tend towards obsessive compulsivity, to which this hobby seems to attract many, may not enjoy admitting that the world, headphones included may not be as controllable or able to be pinned down as one would like. We are at the mercy of the facts of life, variability being one it seems. but I digress.......

 

[fleasbaby]

Finally managed to talk to the machinist...said he should be done with the aluminium cups Friday...I told him if it's a pain in the arse to feel free to drop the job, but he insisted, so back to patiently twiddling my thumbs...

 
Sadly the aluminium cups have fallen through. Yesterday the machinist told me he needed another 5 days. I cancelled the order, and have just finished paying Cabillas for some GS1000-style mahoganies.
 
A shame really, I was genuinely excited to see what an all-aluminium, RS1-style cup would sound like. Maybe I have just avoided a disaster though.

 

[wje]

   
Sadly the aluminium cups have fallen through. Yesterday the machinist told me he needed another 5 days. I cancelled the order, and have just finished paying Cabillas for some GS1000-style mahoganies.
 
A shame really, I was genuinely excited to see what an all-aluminium, RS1-style cup would sound like. Maybe I have just avoided a disaster though.

 
Nice! - on the cups from Cabillas.  Not so nice on the fiasco with the Aluminum cups.  When you speak with Cabillas, let him know his "old friend" wants to speak with him. 

 

[sling5s]

   
Sadly the aluminium cups have fallen through. Yesterday the machinist told me he needed another 5 days. I cancelled the order, and have just finished paying Cabillas for some GS1000-style mahoganies.
 
A shame really, I was genuinely excited to see what an all-aluminium, RS1-style cup would sound like. Maybe I have just avoided a disaster though.

The aluminum cups would make the Magnums just sound like really refined 325is.  I didn't like the tone.  

 

[fleasbaby]

   
Nice! - on the cups from Cabillas.  Not so nice on the fiasco with the Aluminum cups.  When you speak with Cabillas, let him know his "old friend" wants to speak with him. 

*chuckle* Just did...
 
Indeed, the machinist was a let down, but I kind-of guessed we had gone into fiasco territory somewhere around week three...Very happy to be working with Cabillas' cups again. Will be re-doing my dream-build I so foolishly sold a while back.

 

[Melvins]

   
Sadly the aluminium cups have fallen through. Yesterday the machinist told me he needed another 5 days. I cancelled the order, and have just finished paying Cabillas for some GS1000-style mahoganies.
 
A shame really, I was genuinely excited to see what an all-aluminium, RS1-style cup would sound like. Maybe I have just avoided a disaster though.

 
 
can't wait to see how those turn out! they sound like they're going to look beautiful 

 

[Melvins]

 
*chuckle* Just did...
 
Indeed, the machinist was a let down, but I kind-of guessed we had gone into fiasco territory somewhere around week three...Very happy to be working with Cabillas' cups again. Will be re-doing my dream-build I so foolishly sold a while back.

 
 
why'd you sell them? i have been thinking about what headphones i may want in the future. but you know what? i haven't figured out that question yet. the tonality and "voice" of the grado line is something that i really look for in my sound. and how the magnum takes all the pros of this voice and adds more depth and soundstage and other things....
 
 
well. upon reflection and a further dive back into the headphone game.....
 
 
i've simply discovered that magnums may just be the end of the line for me. in the future though i will probably make my rounds of trying much higher end grados. THe lcd3 definitely sounds like something that would be for me. but it's like....WAYYY above my price range. waayy above my price range for at least the next couple of years.
 
 
that and i would love to see the fusion (and hear obviously) of the grado/magnums with MAD+earhd. but those are pretty high up there price range too. my headphone set up is probably worth around 600ish dollars...and i think it competes pretty well with setups twice as much. for that I am very happy. money cannot but you love. but it sure can by you eargasmic means of listening to music!