[spyrius]

I got my Hornet a few days ago and WOW. Even before any burn in, it sound amazing. However, it seems to pick favorites. The Hornet adds more body, fullness, and overall detail to any headphone I use it with compared to my bithead and compared to unamped, but it seems to get along particularly well with my Ety ER-4Ss.

I used to have a small complaint about the somewhat weak low end on the 4Ss. Not anymore. The Hornet improves the power and clarity of the bass by a huge factor. It gives the Etys a new kind of warmth I didn't think they were capable of. It also increases the size and clarity of the sound stage. I can now hear a very slight echo in almost all acoustic music that just wasn't there before. This really helps you to visualize the size of the acoustic space you're in.

Maybe I just never had the Etys properly amped before. Up until now all I had was a bithead (older, w/o gain switch) and even with new batteries and volume turned almost all the way up, it stuggled sometimes with the Etys due to their high impedance.

I heard this mentioned in one other post, but I wanted to see if anyone has noticed this. The Hornet and the Etys (atleast in my case) just seem to work well together. They have this synergy that none of my other phones/amps do.

 

[socrates63]

I presume you're using low, but just for the record, what gain setting are you using? I'm using low.

 

[spyrius]

With the Etys, I use medium. For all of my other headphones, it's low or medium.

 

[catscratch]

The Hornet worked some real magic with the K501, and considering how similar the ER-4S is sonically to the AKG, I would expect some magic in that combo. I'll need to borrow my friend's Ety's again now that I have a Hornet and check it out firsthand.

I also really like the Hornet with the HD600. It makes the sleepy Senns sound much more forward and engaging.

P.S. Your sig, um... really hurts

 

[rincewind]

I had the ER4S and the Hornet. I listen to mainly rock and a lot of soundtracks (classical/grab-bag of music styles).

I don't like too much treble and I found this combination absolutely killed my ears even after massive EQ work. I swapped for Shure E4Cs and am now a much happier camper. Just my experiences.

 

[cabilyo]

I use the E5C with the Hornet and the Treble is way too much for my ears
Especialy the SSSSsss,thats unbareable sometimes

 

[catscratch]

The Hornet sounds treble-happy for the first 100 hours or so. When it's fully burned in (200+ hours), it has nearly the opposite sound signature from what it has when it's new. It becomes very tube-like and organic, still forward in terms of soundstage/instrument placement, but not bright or harsh in any way.

I nearly sold mine during the first week. Boy, am I glad I didn't. It really sounds awesome now.