The pair that I nabbed used was already 'burned in' or broken in. Checking the Ether thread, it seems that a good number of folks report the low end gaining a little bit of oomph to it after 100 hours or so. You might not even want to EQ 'em up any in a week or two.
Which cable did you go with? I'm using a Draug v2 and it's excellent imo; I've not heard the stock or DUM though to be fair.
Would you suggest that I stick to the Ether Open and save some time, effort, and money by not bothering with a potential trade for the Ether C if I don't require the additonal isolation?
I'm using 1/4 DUM cable, I don't really like to use EQ, as I feel the bass is enough for me, I was just playing around with the EQ to see how good this thing is, just like Tyll said in his review, it can take a little EQ.
since this is a headphone for metal thread, I assume you will be using this with metal mostly and other genres second.
I originally intend to buy the closed version, I demoed it 2 times and didn't like it with metal. I demoed it with The mojo.
The closed version is too thin for metal for me, but this is where the closed version got it's advantage in clarity and sound stage even though it is closed.
For classical music it works very nicely but for music that requires oomph in mid-bass and lower-mid, like metal, it has weaknesses.
it just doesn't work for me, it is brighter then the open version so the treble is more emphasized then the open one, cymbal hits feels a bit less natural then the open one, while electric guitar is thin and lacks body and can sound a little too analytical.
Soundstage although excellent is not as good as the open one and not as airy.
bass is excellent and tight but seriously lacks in quantity and weak impact to be good for metal.
speed is about the same.
detail is subjective as the closed on has blacker background and more emphasized treble, it does seems more detailed, but the open one is excellent already.
I did some research to make the closed version warmer and more suitable for metal:
1. use 2 black or 1 white pad, this will increase the bass but reduce soundstage and clarity a bit.
2. buy a warm SS or tube amp, more money needs to be spent on an amp that is on the warm side and maybe only pairs well with bright hp.
or maybe buy an amp that has an excellent bass boost function.
4. maybe use warm DAC like the mojo.
5. use ETHER open's pad (flat pad), again more money, and based on what Dan says in the site, the change is subtle. more bass but reduced soundstage.
6. use draug2 cable I saw a post that says it helps with the bass on the ETHER closed (
@atsq17 ), you have this already so it's good. I don't believe in cables too much, it will probably only help a bit and the change is very subtle. and again if you don't have it you need to spend more money.
7. maybe EQ the bass a bit, the open one is fine and I see no big change in the bass quality until +2db, on +3 I feel there are some degradation in quality, +4 don't do it unless you have a very high performance EQ system. I assume the ETHER C is about the same.
8. burn in the hp for 200 hours or more.
all those combined will cost a lot more than just having a headphone that works straight away and sounds excellent with metal and any other genres of music out there.
I really tried to like the ETHER C and did a lot of research on it, but it just doesn't work for me as I am a metalhead due to its weaknesses.
If you really value isolation that much then it's probably worth it, if not then I suggest you to just use the open version.
I actually used the open version in my office and at home, I keep the volume low and no sound (or maybe only a little) is coming out from it, and no one complaint, I work in a team that sit closed to each other, if they call me I can hear them clearly which is good.
in my opinion you should stay with the ETHER open and forget about the C, The C is good for other genres but for metal it is unsuitable IMO as I tried both.
hope this helps.
btw, I saw you have a V181 amp, how is the synergy with ETHER on metal?
although I'm more interested with V200.