[mysticstryk]

Would a couple people with the thx00 mind demoing a few tracks and give me your impressions? I listen to a lot of symphonic metal and I'm worried they would be too bassy. 

 

[Hansotek]

  Would a couple people with the thx00 mind demoing a few tracks and give me your impressions? I listen to a lot of symphonic metal and I'm worried they would be too bassy. 

 
Sure. Post links.

 

[RCBinTN]

Really good price. Metal versions too just for metal-heads.

I wish they were one of the wood models though.

Check the for-sale forum on Head-Fi.  I bet you can find wood models for a similar price.  Happy shopping!

 

[YtseJamer]

  Would a couple people with the thx00 mind demoing a few tracks and give me your impressions? I listen to a lot of symphonic metal and I'm worried they would be too bassy. 

 
Yes sure.  I will try your tracks with my THX00 and my new Meze 99 

 

[mysticstryk]

^ Nice!  Interested to see how they sound on your Meze 99.
 
Quote:

   
Sure. Post links.

 
Hmm...lets see.  I'm sure these would sound much better on Tidal if you have it.  I tried finding HD youtube videos.
 
Kamelot - Forever
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJh29ZzZxMg
 
 
Kamelot - March of Mephisto
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJh4CijYvRw
 
 
Epica - Victims of Contingency
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sziQYMo-ld8&list=PLEmoX-G9aQgkiyPGhObU2jxlHTtm1nWsb
 
 
Nightwish - Weak Fantasy
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylP9Gyj5RSY&list=PL9ENCuCLKeMp2MnMbsmCt6crcP-5kHcWs&index=2
 
 
 
That should about do it I think.

 

[YtseJamer]

Wow Kamelot sounds great with the Meze 99 Classics 

 

 

[mysticstryk]

Wow Kamelot sounds great with the Meze 99 Classics :eek:  

Ha, what about the thx00?

 

[YtseJamer]

Ha, what about the thx00?

 
I can't tell you now because I'm still at the office.  
 
Oh man the Meze are the perfect headphones for the office.  

 

[mysticstryk]

   
I can't tell you now because I'm still at the office.  
 
Oh man the Meze are the perfect headphones for the office.  

 
I dream of the day I work in an office that I can listen to headphones in.  Don't think my current employers would be too happy about it.

 

[Hansotek]

 
Hmm...lets see.  I'm sure these would sound much better on Tidal if you have it.  I tried finding HD youtube videos.
 
Kamelot - Forever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJh29ZzZxMg
 
 
Kamelot - March of Mephisto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJh4CijYvRw
 
 
Epica - Victims of Contingency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sziQYMo-ld8&list=PLEmoX-G9aQgkiyPGhObU2jxlHTtm1nWsb
 
 
Nightwish - Weak Fantasy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylP9Gyj5RSY&list=PL9ENCuCLKeMp2MnMbsmCt6crcP-5kHcWs&index=2
 
That should about do it I think.

 
Okay. Yeah. The TH-X00 sounds real good with your playlist. As always, it sounded better with certain songs vs. others, so here's a little sonic commentary: 
 
Epica - This track sounded AMAZEBALLS!! Immediate, violent and extremely intense. The symphonic part was dark and driving. Then the guitars and drums kicked in, and it was just brutal. I rewound the beginning of the track like 3 times, lol! If I wanted to impress somebody with the TH-X00, this would be a great track to do it with. Big thumbs up!
 
Kamelot - March of Mephisto was my second favorite. Everything was clicking perfectly. Impact, tone, symphonic sonics. Really, this is the way I'd want to hear this track. Slam dunk. Forever sounded very good as well. Nothing to complain about. The production on March of Mephisto really made it shine though. The TH-X00 really took advantage of the more dynamic production and delivered it with raw power. On Forever, I thought the track benefitted from the slightly darkened sound of the TH-X00. I A/B'ed the Fostex pads with the slightly brighter Denon D2000 pads, and things got a little edgy for my taste. With the Fostex pads on, the balance was much better. Very good pairing, IMO.
 
Nightwish - This was the only one that I found to be a little syrupy, though I wouldn't say it was bad, nor would I say that the bass overwhelmed the track. If your current headphone is the HD650, I'm sure it won't be any more syrupy than that. It's just a warm bit of production. I thought it still sounded good overall. Truth be told, I'm just not much of a Nightwish guy, so I'll be interested to see what @pfillion thinks about this one. 

 

[YtseJamer]

I got my pair of Meze 99 today and so far I'm really impressed by the sound quality.  A steal for $300!
 

 

[Fink24]

Last week I was at the High End in Munich, so I want to give you my impressions.

 

 

First off, my biggest surprise was the SE846. I didn’t knew, that in ears could produce such a good bass and such a great soundstage (both in size and precision). They felt like full size headphones.

 

Until now I was quite happy with my UM 30 Pro, but now I really want to try out new in ears, especially the Oriolus MK2, which were recommended in a different forum (where am I supposed to get all that money for new gear

 )

 

On the other hand, my biggest disappointment were the Astell & Kern in ears.

They are REALLY big and heavy and the sound quality was nowhere near the 3000€ price tag. (The only positive thing I can mention is, that they are quite detailed; still if you handed them to me without branding and asked me for the price I would guess 700)  The AK380 + Amp war also disappointing to me. I know that A&K is overpriced, but I expected more out of a 4800€ combination compared to my ifi iDac2 except a little bit more clarity and details. The difference was really not that great, if I also had to guess the price tag here as well, I would say 800 for the dac/amp section. (although I have to mention, that I only used the single ended output)  The UI of A&K Players are great however(I think it is sad, that many DAPs offer a worse UI than most music player apps for your smartphone; yes, I am especially looking at you FiiO)

 

I also want to mention the Kingsound KS-H04, which are the first electrostatic headphones that were great with metal. All the other electrostats like the 009, KSE1500… just sounded too weak with metal (Sadly I couldn’t listen to the Shangri La with my own choice of songs, but it would be out of competition anyway)

 

High end Grados are still as harsh and unlistenable for most genres as the lower end ones (Funny that I used a 325e as a daily driver just a year ago; although that was also before I had listened to planar magnetic headphones

 )

 

I also brought my HE-6 with me and listened to some amps:

Hifiman EF-1000: The best amp for the HE-6 I have ever heard. Bass was so powerful, that I was not sure if the Abyss (with the VA350) still  would have the better bass. When I asked Fang how much the amp costs, he just said: “You can’t afford it”

. Later on, he told me that it will be probably around 15k and is mainly intended for the HE-1000, since the HE-6 can be already powered really well with a speaker amp for a couple hundred bucks.

 

IFI iCan Pro/ KR Audio VA350 / Questyle CMA800r monoblocks: They are all great amps. Due to the given circumstances, I cannot comment much more on the sound quality. I am really intrigued by the iCan Pro, since it offers such a wide variety of options (solid state, tube, tube+…) X-Bass is also a really nice feature. The only downside so far were the knobs for the X-Bass and the 3d Mode, that get really hard to turn, when you connect a headphone with dual 3 Pin XLR to it; some kind of knurling would really help with that.

 

Violectric HPA V281: the worst amp I have tried at the show. Not a bad amp per se, but all the other amps offered better sound quality.

 

 

Take everything I mentioned with a grain of salt, since I could not listen for long to all the stuff and the noise level on exhibitions is always quite high.

 

I also want to mention another addition of mine. I got myself a pre fazor LCD-2. It’s not replacing my HE-6 as a daily driver, but it really shines with genres like Doom and bad recorded stuff, that are just too fatiguing with my HE-6. I think it is a great combination that complements each other really well.

 

[Hansotek]

Last week I was at the High End in Munich, so I want to give you my impressions.



 



 



First off, my biggest surprise was the SE846. I didn’t knew, that in ears could produce such a good bass and such a great soundstage (both in size and precision). They felt like full size headphones.



 



Until now I was quite happy with my UM 30 Pro, but now I really want to try out new in ears, especially the Oriolus MK2, which were recommended in a different forum (where am I supposed to get all that money for new gear  )



 



On the other hand, my biggest disappointment were the Astell & Kern in ears.:mad: They are REALLY big and heavy and the sound quality was nowhere near the 3000€ price tag. (The only positive thing I can mention is, that they are quite detailed; still if you handed them to me without branding and asked me for the price I would guess 700)  The AK380 + Amp war also disappointing to me. I know that A&K is overpriced, but I expected more out of a 4800€ combination compared to my ifi iDac2 except a little bit more clarity and details. The difference was really not that great, if I also had to guess the price tag here as well, I would say 800 for the dac/amp section. (although I have to mention, that I only used the single ended output)  The UI of A&K Players are great however(I think it is sad, that many DAPs offer a worse UI than most music player apps for your smartphone; yes, I am especially looking at you FiiO)



 



I also want to mention the Kingsound KS-H04, which are the first electrostatic headphones that were great with metal. All the other electrostats like the 009, KSE1500… just sounded too weak with metal (Sadly I couldn’t listen to the Shangri La with my own choice of songs, but it would be out of competition anyway)



 



High end Grados are still as harsh and unlistenable for most genres as the lower end ones (Funny that I used a 325e as a daily driver just a year ago; although that was also before I had listened to planar magnetic headphones  )



 



I also brought my HE-6 with me and listened to some amps:



Hifiman EF-1000: The best amp for the HE-6 I have ever heard. Bass was so powerful, that I was not sure if the Abyss (with the VA350) still  would have the better bass. When I asked Fang how much the amp costs, he just said: “You can’t afford it” . Later on, he told me that it will be probably around 15k and is mainly intended for the HE-1000, since the HE-6 can be already powered really well with a speaker amp for a couple hundred bucks.



 



IFI iCan Pro/ KR Audio VA350
/ Questyle CMA800r monoblocks: They are all great amps. Due to the given circumstances, I cannot comment much more on the sound quality. I am really intrigued by the iCan Pro, since it offers such a wide variety of options (solid state, tube, tube+…) X-Bass is also a really nice feature. The only downside so far were the knobs for the X-Bass and the 3d Mode, that get really hard to turn, when you connect a headphone with dual 3 Pin XLR to it; some kind of knurling would really help with that.



 



Violectric HPA V281: the worst amp I have tried at the show. Not a bad amp per se, but all the other amps offered better sound quality.



 



 



Take everything I mentioned with a grain of salt, since I could not listen for long to all the stuff and the noise level on exhibitions is always quite high.



 



I also want to mention another addition of mine. I got myself a pre fazor LCD-2. It’s not replacing my HE-6 as a daily driver, but it really shines with genres like Doom and bad recorded stuff, that are just too fatiguing with my HE-6. I think it is a great combination that complements each other really well.

Nice impressions! You've got me intrigued to try the Kingsound electrostats now. It sounds like we have similar tastes. I always seem to miss those.

Congrats on the Audeze. That pre-fazor LCD-2 is the doom champ in my book. I've had my finger on the trigger several times since CanJam.

 

[mysticstryk]

Okay. Yeah. The TH-X00 sounds real good with your playlist. As always, it sounded better with certain songs vs. others, so here's a little sonic commentary: 

Epica - This track sounded AMAZEBALLS!! Immediate, violent and extremely intense. The symphonic part was dark and driving. Then the guitars and drums kicked in, and it was just brutal. I rewound the beginning of the track like 3 times, lol! If I wanted to impress somebody with the TH-X00, this would be a great track to do it with. Big thumbs up!

Kamelot - March of Mephisto was my second favorite. Everything was clicking perfectly. Impact, tone, symphonic sonics. Really, this is the way I'd want to hear this track. Slam dunk. Forever sounded very good as well. Nothing to complain about. The production on March of Mephisto really made it shine though. The TH-X00 really took advantage of the more dynamic production and delivered it with raw power. On Forever, I thought the track benefitted from the slightly darkened sound of the TH-X00. I A/B'ed the Fostex pads with the slightly brighter Denon D2000 pads, and things got a little edgy for my taste. With the Fostex pads on, the balance was much better. Very good pairing, IMO.

Nightwish - This was the only one that I found to be a little syrupy, though I wouldn't say it was bad, nor would I say that the bass overwhelmed the track. If your current headphone is the HD650, I'm sure it won't be any more syrupy than that. It's just a warm bit of production. I thought it still sounded good overall. Truth be told, I'm just not much of a Nightwish guy, so I'll be interested to see what @pfillion
 thinks about this one. 

Thank you! That's awesome because Kamelot and Epica probably get the most play time lately.

How was Simones voice in the Epica track? Did her voice come through loud and clear?

 

[markm1]

  Last week I was at the High End in Munich, so I want to give you my impressions.
 
 
First off, my biggest surprise was the SE846. I didn’t knew, that in ears could produce such a good bass and such a great soundstage (both in size and precision). They felt like full size headphones.
 
Until now I was quite happy with my UM 30 Pro, but now I really want to try out new in ears, especially the Oriolus MK2, which were recommended in a different forum (where am I supposed to get all that money for new gear

 )
 
On the other hand, my biggest disappointment were the Astell & Kern in ears.

They are REALLY big and heavy and the sound quality was nowhere near the 3000€ price tag. (The only positive thing I can mention is, that they are quite detailed; still if you handed them to me without branding and asked me for the price I would guess 700)  The AK380 + Amp war also disappointing to me. I know that A&K is overpriced, but I expected more out of a 4800€ combination compared to my ifi iDac2 except a little bit more clarity and details. The difference was really not that great, if I also had to guess the price tag here as well, I would say 800 for the dac/amp section. (although I have to mention, that I only used the single ended output)  The UI of A&K Players are great however(I think it is sad, that many DAPs offer a worse UI than most music player apps for your smartphone; yes, I am especially looking at you FiiO)
 
I also want to mention the Kingsound KS-H04, which are the first electrostatic headphones that were great with metal. All the other electrostats like the 009, KSE1500… just sounded too weak with metal (Sadly I couldn’t listen to the Shangri La with my own choice of songs, but it would be out of competition anyway)
 
High end Grados are still as harsh and unlistenable for most genres as the lower end ones (Funny that I used a 325e as a daily driver just a year ago; although that was also before I had listened to planar magnetic headphones

 )
 
I also brought my HE-6 with me and listened to some amps:
Hifiman EF-1000: The best amp for the HE-6 I have ever heard. Bass was so powerful, that I was not sure if the Abyss (with the VA350) still  would have the better bass. When I asked Fang how much the amp costs, he just said: “You can’t afford it”

. Later on, he told me that it will be probably around 15k and is mainly intended for the HE-1000, since the HE-6 can be already powered really well with a speaker amp for a couple hundred bucks.
 
IFI iCan Pro/ KR Audio VA350 / Questyle CMA800r monoblocks: They are all great amps. Due to the given circumstances, I cannot comment much more on the sound quality. I am really intrigued by the iCan Pro, since it offers such a wide variety of options (solid state, tube, tube+…) X-Bass is also a really nice feature. The only downside so far were the knobs for the X-Bass and the 3d Mode, that get really hard to turn, when you connect a headphone with dual 3 Pin XLR to it; some kind of knurling would really help with that.
 
Violectric HPA V281: the worst amp I have tried at the show. Not a bad amp per se, but all the other amps offered better sound quality.
 
 
Take everything I mentioned with a grain of salt, since I could not listen for long to all the stuff and the noise level on exhibitions is always quite high.
 
I also want to mention another addition of mine. I got myself a pre fazor LCD-2. It’s not replacing my HE-6 as a daily driver, but it really shines with genres like Doom and bad recorded stuff, that are just too fatiguing with my HE-6. I think it is a great combination that complements each other really well.

 
Great impressions! Thanks for sharing.....I've been sitting on the fence for what feels like forever, but I think I'll probably pick up an LCD-2 toward the end of the summer to complement my Dharma. I'd loved to hear the Questyle amps. Although I don't like the "pressure" of lusting for two of them to use as monoblocks. I'm wondering how good they sound as a solo piece of gear?