[goober-george]

I would definitely say yes to that question. The senngrado's unquestionably have a wider soundstage and airy quality. With a warmer sound in general. Mids to me are easier to listen to on Senngrados and are less fatiguing in my opinion. Ypsillon's shine in detail and incredible bass though. I still think however that since my ypsillon's aren't exactly flush in my wood cup that I'm not getting the optimal sound out of them. Also I'm not sure if how much this impacts the sound but my grills on my ypsillon's have very small openings. I'm wondering if a new grill with more air flow would open up the sound a bit.

 

[Konstantin690]

  I would definitely say yes to that question. The senngrado's unquestionably have a wider soundstage and airy quality. With a warmer sound in general. Mids to me are easier to listen to on Senngrados and are less fatiguing in my opinion. Ypsillon's shine in detail and incredible bass though. I still think however that since my ypsillon's aren't exactly flush in my wood cup that I'm not getting the optimal sound out of them. Also I'm not sure if how much this impacts the sound but my grills on my ypsillon's have very small openings. I'm wondering if a new grill with more air flow would open up the sound a bit.

 
Not to argue here with your findings but you certainly need to mount the Ypsilon flush, press fitted and with enough open % grills behind them to give them justice, otherwise they tend to emphasize the mids.
IMO, the PX100ii are fine for their intended use, connected directly to smartphone or tablet, i.e. low power input/low listening levels, they do not have even remotely close the power handling capability or the information retrieval/bass attack/slam/non-fatiguing sound of the Ypsilon (when done right).
When I crank up the volume the Ypsilon "keeps going" more than my ears can handle without distorting where the PX100ii "bottoms out" (fart, burp and distorts) waaaay sooner (all three pairs of them).

 

[DavidA]

   
Not to argue here with your findings but you certainly need to mount the Ypsilon flush, press fitted and with enough open % grills behind them to give them justice, otherwise they tend to emphasize the mids.
IMO, the PX100ii are fine for their intended use, connected directly to smartphone or tablet, i.e. low power input/low listening levels, they do not have even remotely close the power handling capability or the information retrieval/bass attack/slam/non-fatiguing sound of the Ypsilon (when done right).
When I crank up the volume the Ypsilon "keeps going" more than my ears can handle without distorting where the PX100ii "bottoms out" (fart, burp and distorts) waaaay sooner (all three pairs of them).

I have found that the PX-100ii driver in my SennGrado builds got to be very inefficient and couldn't be used with my S5 or my friends 5s and 6 iphones.  I've done a lot of mods to the cups and driver, dynamat, sorbothane and felt so that could be the reason.
 
As for the volume where the PX-100ii distorts, my ears start to hurt way before that point so it doesn't matter for me, but for someone who will listen at those very high volumes then its a problem as you noted, but I think you will be doing a lot of damage to your hearing if listening at those volumes all the time.

 

[goober-george]

Not to argue here with your findings but you certainly need to mount the Ypsilon flush, press fitted and with enough open % grills behind them to give them justice, otherwise they tend to emphasize the mids.
IMO, the PX100ii are fine for their intended use, connected directly to smartphone or tablet, i.e. low power input/low listening levels, they do not have even remotely close the power handling capability or the information retrieval/bass attack/slam/non-fatiguing sound of the Ypsilon (when done right).
When I crank up the volume the Ypsilon "keeps going" more than my ears can handle without distorting where the PX100ii "bottoms out" (fart, burp and distorts) waaaay sooner (all three pairs of them).

I can agree with what you said and i'll wait a bit longer till I put my final judgement on the ypsillon's. I think they have a lot of potential and maybe it is cause of the issues mentioned.

IMO, as far as the senngrados go I have found they improv e fairly well with just an odac/o2 amp set up. They seem power hungry so I like to use high gain. To me it really fills out the sound and has better control.

 

[DavidA]

I can agree with what you said and i'll wait a bit longer till I put my final judgement on the ypsillon's. I think they have a lot of potential and maybe it is cause of the issues mentioned.

IMO, as far as the senngrados go I have found they improv e fairly well with just an odac/o2 amp set up. They seem power hungry so I like to use high gain. To me it really fills out the sound and has better control.

Good to know that I'm not the only one who noticed that the SennGrado is not as easy to drive as the PX-100ii in the original configuration.

 

[matchbox]

A quick first impression of my Ypsilon assembly: The drivers were sitting around for five days before I had the mahogany cups I made sanded to fit them & could wait no longer for cable parts to arrive, so I have them burning in with a temporary cable attached: ten hours so far. Before any burn in time I listened to one song  (Space Oddity– it was already queued up, but maybe a subconscious choice from earlier in the day) & yow- that sound that bacon makes on the griddle- they're that hot. A little, not by much at all more spacious than my sr80i's. The detail and forwardness of the mids is balanced well with the bass– full, not so punchy, not at all bloated. I have a feeling the separation will not be as pronounced as it was then. After around six or seven hours of burn in & listening to some classical through my CD changer (no amp- my receiver is noisy) still impressive, no overpowering bass, solo instruments & voices clear and detailed (considering the age of the recording). I was on my way out, but could not put these cans down. This isn't too different from my final build: cup length: approx. 1.5", inner chamber: approx 1.25", 1.75" diameter. more later
 
Great find fleasbaby.  
 
edit: for those interested, shipping time was less than one week from Greece to my location in New England, US, one full week from the time I placed the order.

 

[Konstantin690]

  A quick first impression of my Ypsilon assembly: The drivers were sitting around for five days before I had the mahogany cups I made sanded to fit them & could wait no longer for cable parts to arrive, so I have them burning in with a temporary cable attached: ten hours so far. Before any burn in time I listened to one song  (Space Oddity– it was already queued up, but maybe a subconscious choice from earlier in the day) & yow- that sound that bacon makes on the griddle- they're that hot. A little, not by much at all more spacious than my sr80i's. The detail and forwardness of the mids is balanced well with the bass– full, not so punchy, not at all bloated. I have a feeling the separation will not be as pronounced as it was then. After around six or seven hours of burn in & listening to some classical through my CD changer (no amp- my receiver is noisy) still impressive, no overpowering bass, solo instruments & voices clear and detailed (considering the age of the recording). I was on my way out, but could not put these cans down. This isn't too different from my final build: cup length: approx. 1.5", inner chamber: approx 1.25", 1.75" diameter. more later
 
Great find fleasbaby.  
 
edit: for those interested, shipping time was less than one week from Greece to my location in New England, US, one full week from the time I placed the order.

 
Pics or it didn't happened

 

[fleasbaby]

  A quick first impression of my Ypsilon assembly: The drivers were sitting around for five days before I had the mahogany cups I made sanded to fit them & could wait no longer for cable parts to arrive, so I have them burning in with a temporary cable attached: ten hours so far. Before any burn in time I listened to one song  (Space Oddity– it was already queued up, but maybe a subconscious choice from earlier in the day) & yow- that sound that bacon makes on the griddle- they're that hot. A little, not by much at all more spacious than my sr80i's. The detail and forwardness of the mids is balanced well with the bass– full, not so punchy, not at all bloated. I have a feeling the separation will not be as pronounced as it was then. After around six or seven hours of burn in & listening to some classical through my CD changer (no amp- my receiver is noisy) still impressive, no overpowering bass, solo instruments & voices clear and detailed (considering the age of the recording). I was on my way out, but could not put these cans down. This isn't too different from my final build: cup length: approx. 1.5", inner chamber: approx 1.25", 1.75" diameter. more later
 
Great find fleasbaby.  
 
edit: for those interested, shipping time was less than one week from Greece to my location in New England, US, one full week from the time I placed the order.

 
Glad you like them...I found the bass boxy at first, but it opened up later.
 

   
Pics or it didn't happened

 
LOL...

 

[matchbox]

Pics or it didn't happened

soon– I have to make a cable & a couple other details to sort out. If you would like to see the cups without the drivers, theres a shot of them in the grado mods thread.
I'm actually concerned with the mass of the cups– one is a little lighter than the other & has less material on the outer barrel/ chamber.

Glad you like them...I found the bass boxy at first, but it opened up later.

I'm sure I'll be more than satisfied with this set. If not– walnut cups & see if that will make a difference

 

[Konstantin690]

  I have found that the PX-100ii driver in my SennGrado builds got to be very inefficient and couldn't be used with my S5 or my friends 5s and 6 iphones.  I've done a lot of mods to the cups and driver, dynamat, sorbothane and felt so that could be the reason.
 
As for the volume where the PX-100ii distorts, my ears start to hurt way before that point so it doesn't matter for me, but for someone who will listen at those very high volumes then its a problem as you noted, but I think you will be doing a lot of damage to your hearing if listening at those volumes all the time.

 
This isn't what I meant, greater power handling capability comes hand-in-hand with lower distortion as the driver doesn't have to operate constantly near it's limits.
Then there is Dynamic Range, even at hearing safe levels, say 100-103db and high-ish Dynamic Range music material you'll be hitting peaks of 110-113db, Dynamic Range compression comes much sooner in the SennGrado than in the Ypsilon.
Hearing damage aside and for that one head-shaking-rhythmically-foot-tapping song you might want to enjoy at above safe hearing levels the Ypsilon delivers, the SennGrado doesn't, IMO.

 

[7keys]

 
I have found that the PX-100ii driver in my SennGrado builds got to be very inefficient and couldn't be used with my S5 or my friends 5s and 6 iphones.  I've done a lot of mods to the cups and driver, dynamat, sorbothane and felt so that could be the reason.

As for the volume where the PX-100ii distorts, my ears start to hurt way before that point so it doesn't matter for me, but for someone who will listen at those very high volumes then its a problem as you noted, but I think you will be doing a lot of damage to your hearing if listening at those volumes all the time.

This isn't what I meant, greater power handling capability comes hand-in-hand with lower distortion as the driver doesn't have to operate constantly near it's limits.
Then there is Dynamic Range, even at hearing safe levels, say 100-103db and high-ish Dynamic Range music material you'll be hitting peaks of 110-113db, Dynamic Range compression comes much sooner in the SennGrado than in the Ypsilon.
Hearing damage aside and for that one head-shaking-rhythmically-foot-tapping song you might want to enjoy at above safe hearing levels the Ypsilon delivers, the SennGrado doesn't, IMO.

Haven't found that with my Senngrado's, but there can be quite a bit difference in each driver set on the PX100II.

 

[Konstantin690]

Haven't found that with my Senngrado's, but there can be quite a bit difference in each driver set on the PX100II.

 
Maybe, or,  Sennheiser changed something in the PX100II drivers construction and they aren't suitable for SennGrado builds anymore?
I got the first two pairs from Ebay and the third one sealed from authorized Sennheiser distributor, they all showed the same "behavior", finally gave up.

 

[7keys]

Haven't found that with my Senngrado's, but there can be quite a bit difference in each driver set on the PX100II.

Maybe, or,  Sennheiser changed something in the PX100II drivers construction and they aren't suitable for SennGrado builds anymore?
I got the first two pairs from Ebay and the third one sealed from authorized Sennheiser distributor, they all showed the same "behavior", finally gave up.

The drivers I'm using now I bought a couple of months ago on amazon and sound pretty good, I listen to music quite loud too. I've had about ten to fifteen pairs of PX100II drivers and a couple were unusable.

Sorry for taking a threadcrap in your Ypsilon thread fleasbaby.

 

[DavidA]

   
This isn't what I meant, greater power handling capability comes hand-in-hand with lower distortion as the driver doesn't have to operate constantly near it's limits.
Then there is Dynamic Range, even at hearing safe levels, say 100-103db and high-ish Dynamic Range music material you'll be hitting peaks of 110-113db, Dynamic Range compression comes much sooner in the SennGrado than in the Ypsilon.
Hearing damage aside and for that one head-shaking-rhythmically-foot-tapping song you might want to enjoy at above safe hearing levels the Ypsilon delivers, the SennGrado doesn't, IMO.

You and I have very different ideas of safe hearing levels, I'm usually at 70 to 75db for normal listening levels with peaks in the low 80's, 85db really hurts my ears.  So I would say I'm not pushing the PX-100ii drivers to its limits so distortion is just a non-issue for me.  But I do agree with @7keys that there is a lot of variation between drivers, and its quite large based on just the 5 that I have, 2 were crap, 2 were really good and the last was average.

 

[Konstantin690]

  You and I have very different ideas of safe hearing levels, I'm usually at 70 to 75db for normal listening levels with peaks in the low 80's, 85db really hurts my ears.  So I would say I'm not pushing the PX-100ii drivers to its limits so distortion is just a non-issue for me.  But I do agree with @7keys that there is a lot of variation between drivers, and its quite large based on just the 5 that I have, 2 were crap, 2 were really good and the last was average.

 
Considering that the average human hearing discomfort level is ~120db and the pain threshold is above 130db I don't know what to think of this, but my ears hurts way sooner when I hear to excessive distortion.
Safe hearing limit (according to Occupational Safety & Health Administration) is 95db for 4 hours (or 100db for 2 hour) daily.
 
EDIT: fleasbaby excuse the threadcrapping.