[ebuswell]

I've had a pair of infinity Qb speakers for around 15 years now. After listening to a good pair of speakers with ribbon tweeters, everything else sounds like...well, everything else sounds like speakers. Ribbons tickle your ears. There is practically no treble ceiling at all; straight to the celestial realm. If you haven't heard them, imagine regular speakers as hearing someone turn on a faucet when you're just in another room, non-ribbon speakers with good highs as being right next to that faucet, and ribbon speakers as being on a rock in the middle of a tinkling brook. They're not exactly flat, just...enjoyable.

Hyperbole aside, I'm trying to branch out into portable territory, hopefully getting a setup that I can enjoy listening to almost as much as my home system. I've heard of orthodynamics, and I'll pick up a cheap pair if they ever show up on eBay, but I've also seen some fairly mixed reviews of these. I used to have a pair of the KOSS KSC-75s and those sounded pretty good in the highs, but they seemed to drop a few midrange frequencies more or less at random. Also---and this is the point that eliminates their candidacy---when you pump some loud Aphex Twin 20Hz bass-thump through them (like you surely will when trying to listen in a noisy environment), they pretty much splat.

I don't have the final rig that'll run the phones set up, but I'm thinking of modding a 1g ipod nano and building a custom fet amp to plug into the bottom and run off the ipod battery. Hence posting in the portable forum. I'm not overly concerned with size, though of course convenience is a plus when all other things are equal (but when are all other things equal?).

I doubt I'll spend more than $80, but I'd be curious to know about more expensive ones anyhow.

 

[intoflatlines]

Can't help you, and I had no idea what a ribbon tweeter was until now. Good to know.

 

[scompton]

I doubt that you'll get ribbon tweeter sound for $80. I've never heard a ribbon tweeter, so I'm not sure what will produce sound like it. There is a ribbon headphone, the Precide Ergo AMT. It's a lot more than $80 though.

 

[krismusic]

I would have said electrostatics. Stax. No way for $80.

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krismusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would have said electrostatics. Stax. No way for $80.

You can get vintage normal bias Stax for about double that.

 

[LingLing1337]

None for $80, for about $140-180 I'd look into a cheap Stax setup w/transformer to utilize your speaker amp.

 

[Nagasaki_Kid]

The only electrostatics you can get for $80 are vintage koss. try some electret headphones. I got a cheap audio technica electret set for cheap. You could also go orthodynamic (type of ribbon headphone) and get a pair of fostex. orthodynamic maybe the best choice if you plan to go portable.

 

[Trinity]

I've got some Maggie 2.6Rs and the only thing I've found that's close to their revealing, awesome "tweeter ribbon-ness" is my Etymotic ER4Ps. Sorry to say, but unless you find them used, you will probably need to spend double your preferred budget.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trinity /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've got some Maggie 2.6Rs and the only thing I've found that's close to their revealing, awesome "tweeter ribbon-ness" is my Etymotic ER4Ps.

The ER-4P or ER-4S is actually quite ribbon like, come to think of it. This didn't pop to mind immediately, but it's not a bad recommendation at all. It might be worth trying their ER-6i (listed on their site for $99 but perhaps you could find them cheaper elsewhere). Mind you, even the ER-4P or ER-4S wouldn't quite get you to what you're used to with your speakers, and the ER-6i will fall quite short in many ways (for one, it will give you a very in-head experience), but it might at least give you a hint of what you're looking for.

I agree that you would have to stretch your budget a lot further to get in the same league as your Qb sound. I'd suggest the Stax 404 or the Head Direct (Hifiman) HE-5 orthodymanics. But in either case, you're looking at about $1k by the time you add an amp that will do them justice.

 

[wuwhere]

I used to have Apogee Duettas then Scintillas. The Ety ER4S or P are close but without the huge soundstage, 3D and deep bass of the Scintillas.

 

[ebuswell]

Thanks for all the feedback. That's about what I expected: you get what you pay for, or you get something obscure and vintage and have to wait like a coiled tiger for months in that hungry online auction savanna. (Those Qbs cost $50, btw, and are a hell of a lot better than some new speakers that go for 20 times that cost.)

Then again, budget is often just a measure of the anxiety which the about-to-buy will produce. I might just have to lose a few auctions and end up with that "but I really wanted that" feeling.

As far as waiting goes, I'm probably going to try to nab a pair of vintage orthos when they come up, then do whatever mods I can get the bad features of those headphones up to snuff. That or I might spring for a pair of vintage stax. With the stax, would the main consideration be impedance matching? or is it hopeless to power them with a portable amp?

But since I understand the orthos hardly ever come up, while I'm waiting I might go for the ER-6i's. Also considering the Yuin G2A, the shure SRH440, and the ATH-m50. Comments/observations on these?

I suppose "approximate" is a word that's in order here, as in "approximately as good as ribbon tweeters". Or even, if it must be so, just "provides some sort of vague metaphor for the actual experience of ribbon tweeters". Compromises are devil's work.

 

[shinobi00]

check out this thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/p...n-stax-465975/

 

[ebuswell]

Ooh, those HJE900 look intriguing. Those are definitely going high on the list of potentials.

 

[goodvibes]

Listen to some speakers with real ribbons instead of that resistive film and only stat phones will do. There are a few armiture multi driver phones that will suit your current needs.

 

[Dobber65]

Another option may be the Triple.Fi Pros due to their extended treble. The TFPs are very airy with a great soundstage (improved only by the IE8 in my opinion), and also have a great bass foundation. The mids are a bit recessed, but all-in-all a very good universal IEM. I also agree that the Ety ER-4P/S would be a good alternative.

Some other options may be some of the newer generation dynamic IEMs. I am really impressed with the detail, smoothness, and extension of my Turbines/Turbine Pros and IE8s, and my wife's S4s are pretty good.

Not necessarily replacements for the classic ribbon sound signature, but all are very detailed and do not seem stressed when playing complex or music that requires significant treble detail and extension. And the IE8s and Turbine family capture musical overtones and timbre like no other IEMs I own.