[boodi]

I think higher formats adds more air and separation in my subjective opinion

true , and quite acknowledged (generally speaking )
then someone will say he doesn't hear a difference
why ?
because we have different ears

 

[boodi]

@AlvianFarrel
all you listed is what I hear too with V2
sibilance going after a while on some vocals ,
thin vocals on some tracks ,
fatiguing top end hardness or harshness on others ,
good vocals on others again

after hearing your tracks I put on Ella Fitzgerald "Summertime " by Gershwin , a timeless classic , and "Harvest" by Opeth with a sumptuos higly layered acoustic guitars carpet that leads to the singing male voice

I can't even remember the forward pitch of the songs you listed now.

this to tell that being overly bright is not an absolute character of v2 , but can very well be inside the recording .. or not ....
it's quite nice they -v2- tell the difference though ..
this can be disturbing as well though depending on your ears and preference too,...
just imho

 

[Archlize]

true , and quite acknowledged (generally speaking )
then someone will say he doesn't hear a difference
why ?
because we have different ears

Yeah definitely, I mean heck, I don't have perfect ears on both. My Right ears have smaller ear canals, which makes it more sensitive to treble and channel imbalance. I could hear some tracks are actually muddier on my right, while it being fine on my left. It's very subjective, and like you said. Every ears are different.

@AlvianFarrel
all you listed is what I hear too with V2
sibilance going after a while on some vocals ,
thin vocals on some tracks ,
fatiguing top end hardness or harshness on others ,
good vocals on others again

after hearing your tracks I put on Ella Fitzgerald "Summertime " by Gershwin , a timeless classic , and "Harvest" by Opeth with a sumptuos higly layered acoustic guitars carpet that leads to the singing male voice

I can't even remember the forward pitch of the songs you listed
this to tell that being overly bright is not an "absolute character" of v2 , but can very well somewhat be inside the recording .. or not ....
it's quite nice they tell the difference though ..
just imho

Yeah weird right..? Maybe HEKV2 I think there are certain voices that HEKV2 can sound very sibilant at. My guess is because how revealing it is, so it reveals that weird sibilant that certain microphone would capture. I just listened to Summertime.. This one is just simply amazing.. The separation between instrument, the vocals feels close enough that it's immersive. Amazing.

All in All I think HEKV2 is just very sensitive to top end distortion due to how resolving it is. That's my guess, so high end voice clipping might sounds more sibilant compared to warmer headphones.

 

[boodi]

Your guess is quite right

 

[boodi]

just to add to the " variants " thing
tylor swift song is clearly more fatiguing on hekse then on v2 ( I didn't expect it really ) and it shows even better the voice compression
the II song "say so" is less and more bearable ( quite unbearable on v2 )
even though they still show the "bad production" on voice .

so hekse goes opposite of v2 here
go figure what is what : my ears ? chain sinergies ? difference of headphones ?
who knows about the mix
but the then the thing is there ..
I am perfectly sure that someone else will find more bearable the opposite of me for some "personal reasons" too , human variants

 

[Archlize]

Your guess is quite righ

just to add to the " variants " thing
tylor swift song is clearly more fatiguing on hekse then on v2 ( I didn't expect it really ) and it shows even better the voice compression
the II song "say so" is less and more bearable ( quite unbearable on v2 )
even though they still show the "bad production" on voice .

so hekse goes opposite of v2 here
go figure what is what : my ears ? chain sinergies ? difference of headphones ?
who knows about the mix
but the then the thing is there ..
I am perfectly sure that someone else will find more bearable the opposite of me for some "personal reasons" too , human variants

hahahaha thanks for checking with the HEKSE, I think it's definitely because of the bright tuning. Especially with how much more resolving the HEKSE is compared to the V2. I think Fast or Just pop songs in general have problems with SE or V2. Especially ones that are heavily mixed and auto tune. Pop in general will definitely sounds better on Focals.

Which lead me to my next point I noticed the narrower the mixing stage is, the more unbearable the vocals are. But if it's something that is mixed with a very wide soundstage it sounds amazing, like Jazz, or acoustic pop songs. Maybe that's also why Focals are better in mainstream pop songs, because their sound stage is not very big in the first place, but it makes the vocals very intimate inside of your head, while leaving the other instruments outside of your head. Whereas Hifiman put everything outside of your head and place it in their proper position.

But yeah, Ears always different. Which is why I prefer the MG compared to the OG clears too, contraditary to popular opinion, I found the OG Clears to be too bright for my treble sensitive right ear.

 

[boodi]

do you know more precisely what frqs ( range , highs ) are you sensitive mostly?

 

[Archlize]

do you know more precisely what frqs ( range , highs ) are you sensitive mostly?

Actually no, I always wonder about that.. I wonder if there's any software or hardware that shows certain songs frequency in real time.

 

[boodi]

sounds between 2000 and 3000 hz are the one we are more fit to , we have more senstiveness and attention there usually, but it is general .
do you experience sensitiveness only with headphones or with speakers too / in real life too ?
you could take an hearing test that goes through different tones and frequencies and up to 20000hz , and discover which range are you actually more sensitive this way
there are many online
or apps

 

[Archlize]

sounds between 2000 and 3000 hz are the one we are more fit to , we have more senstiveness and attention there usually, but it is general .
do you experience sensitiveness only with headphones or with speakers too / in real life too ?
you could take an hearing test that goes through different tones and frequencies and up to 20000hz , and discover which range are you actually more sensitive this way
there are many online
or apps

I'll try the test now. In real life too, especially mostly if someone is talking a bit loudly, weirdly it's mostly for women voices, men not so much. My left ears are fine though, my right ears suddenly have this sharp pains and it became distorted weirdly. Never had it with speakers, but I never use my speakers incredibly loud.

 

[Archlize]

sounds between 2000 and 3000 hz are the one we are more fit to , we have more senstiveness and attention there usually, but it is general .
do you experience sensitiveness only with headphones or with speakers too / in real life too ?
you could take an hearing test that goes through different tones and frequencies and up to 20000hz , and discover which range are you actually more sensitive this way
there are many online
or apps

So I'm sensitive at around 3K-5K, but also very sensitive from 10K-11K ish.

 

[boodi]

sure female voices have a mix of higher pitch tones ( higher frqs ) in their speech / singing
it's general , but..

 

[boodi]

 

[Patlezinc]

Since you have the clear, I really think having a HEKV2 will compliment your collection very well. They're both amazing in their own way. But HEKV2 is much ahead when it comes to technicalities. I think HEKV2 does guitar very well, whenever I hear guitars its always sounds so real, natural and satisfying. FIrst time I auditioned I listened to "Daft Punk - Get Lucky" and "Polpyhia - Playing God". Those two tracks just blew my mind in the HEKV2, Honestly it sounds like it's in a different league.


That's what I actually feel too. Very interesting, I never bothered with DSD sampled until thetaburn recommended to me. Now just deciding between Audirvana or Roon. To me Audirvana Origin sounds just slightly better, but Roon's functionality and metadata identifier is too good to pass on.

I thank you for your time. And I have a final question : if I don’t want to make a collection and just replace the Clear, does it change your recommendation? I mean, does this change the v2 into the stealth magnets version?
Kind of a difficult question as you don’t know my tastes but it can be relevant anyway I guess

 

[Archlize]

Okay yeah, now I see what's the problem with me and the V2. That's literally where I'm most sensitive with treble haha. Too bad though, I really like the V2 sound signature. I just have listen on a lower volume that the ones I find immersive.

I thank you for your time. And I have a final question : if I don’t want to make a collection and just replace the Clear, does it change your recommendation? I mean, does this change the v2 into the stealth magnets version?
Kind of a difficult question as you don’t know my tastes but it can be relevant anyway I guess

Are your ears treble sensitive? if not, then I think you should get the stealth magnets version definitely. The Stealth magnets version is brighter than the V2. But it has better dynamics, and timber in my opinion. From the 1 hour I got to listen to it, it's actually really good when it comes to those things. The soundstage is still narrower than the v2 but still considerably wider than the clears. The only reason I'm getting the V2 is because my ears are very sensitive to treble. the V2SM is more of an all rounder in general imho.