Nepenthe
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2005
- Posts
- 633
- Likes
- 15
The initial Fed Ex estimate was way off. They were delivered today. I thought they might be because Head-Direct had updated to "Shipped" with a Tracking Number, and I had paid for one day shipping (they went from Honk Kong to my door in a day and a half!), so I wrote up a note for the door with my tracking number and signature and asking the guy to please leave them on the porch. Halfway through the day I checked the tracking and it was "on truck." Checked later and it was "delivered, left at door, authorized" or something like that. So I decided to run home early (I have to come back though) and put them inside, lest any neighbor children want to help themselves to an early present. And couldn't resist testing them.
^pic with the M50Ss and the first CD I put on
Initial impression is: not so good. I put the velour pads on and put on track 3 from Nothing's Shocking, "Had a Dad." I'm driving these with my Marantz CD Player into my Gilmore Lite version 1 by the way.
First, I have no idea if I'm driving these correctly and I have no idea if they're showing the effects of being brand new, but I can say the Gilmore Lite v1 gets too loud for them before 9:00 on the dial, so it appears it's only throwing a few milliWatts their way and generating big volume already.
I chose Had a Dad for a specific reason. The snare hits at the beginning of the track were always an excellent little example of the difference between the ESS Heil AMT-1s and... every other sound transducer I've ever heard. They were the only speaker system that made those snare hits ACTUALLY sound like snare hits, with the metal snare sound being palpable and eerily holographic with eyes closed. You could hear the drumstick, the metal, the frame, and the room. Nothing else comes close. The AMTs were not bright, but they made things sound like live music was being produced in the room like nothing else. And I know the sound very well, and I know live drums, and I know this track, and I've used this track on about every headphone or speaker system I've ever tried.
So I've been reading about orthodynamics for a while and how they differ from dynamic cone/dome drivers. The principle at work is similar to how the air-motion-transformer works. So I wanted the AMT sound in a headphone and thought this *could be* the ticket.
So I put the track on and... disappointment. This sounds like a dynamic, like everything else I've heard. Actually sounds a little dull and dark compared to the M50 and doesn't seem to have any apparent transient speed advantage. How much is that a result of not having a good amp (although again it's barely breathing at below 9:00) and how much is because they need break-in and how much is unrealistic and unfair expectations in comparing these to the best sound transducer I've ever heard I'm not sure. They're not *bad* by any means! They just sound like pretty good dynamic headphones playing recorded music.
For sure I'm going to give them a lot more time and a lot more critical listening with a lot more sources, but I can pretty much already tell they're just not what I was hoping they'd be (full range AMT or AMT-like on your head), however unfairly my hoping was, and for $700 and being open (confined to home) I have doubts about keeping them.
Hope that's not too much of a Debbie Downer post right before the holidays. More later. Thanks!
^pic with the M50Ss and the first CD I put on
Initial impression is: not so good. I put the velour pads on and put on track 3 from Nothing's Shocking, "Had a Dad." I'm driving these with my Marantz CD Player into my Gilmore Lite version 1 by the way.
First, I have no idea if I'm driving these correctly and I have no idea if they're showing the effects of being brand new, but I can say the Gilmore Lite v1 gets too loud for them before 9:00 on the dial, so it appears it's only throwing a few milliWatts their way and generating big volume already.
I chose Had a Dad for a specific reason. The snare hits at the beginning of the track were always an excellent little example of the difference between the ESS Heil AMT-1s and... every other sound transducer I've ever heard. They were the only speaker system that made those snare hits ACTUALLY sound like snare hits, with the metal snare sound being palpable and eerily holographic with eyes closed. You could hear the drumstick, the metal, the frame, and the room. Nothing else comes close. The AMTs were not bright, but they made things sound like live music was being produced in the room like nothing else. And I know the sound very well, and I know live drums, and I know this track, and I've used this track on about every headphone or speaker system I've ever tried.
So I've been reading about orthodynamics for a while and how they differ from dynamic cone/dome drivers. The principle at work is similar to how the air-motion-transformer works. So I wanted the AMT sound in a headphone and thought this *could be* the ticket.
So I put the track on and... disappointment. This sounds like a dynamic, like everything else I've heard. Actually sounds a little dull and dark compared to the M50 and doesn't seem to have any apparent transient speed advantage. How much is that a result of not having a good amp (although again it's barely breathing at below 9:00) and how much is because they need break-in and how much is unrealistic and unfair expectations in comparing these to the best sound transducer I've ever heard I'm not sure. They're not *bad* by any means! They just sound like pretty good dynamic headphones playing recorded music.
For sure I'm going to give them a lot more time and a lot more critical listening with a lot more sources, but I can pretty much already tell they're just not what I was hoping they'd be (full range AMT or AMT-like on your head), however unfairly my hoping was, and for $700 and being open (confined to home) I have doubts about keeping them.
Hope that's not too much of a Debbie Downer post right before the holidays. More later. Thanks!