[cfranchi]

About LSA HP-1, a sort of mix between Odin and Thekk from what I have read, how is its soundstage ? how are the vocals ?
I actually have HE6se and wonder if it could be a ´better’ headphone.

 

[arielext]

I cannot compare it to a HE6 but the HP-1's soundstage is medium (not hd800 wide, not focal closed-back small), vocals are spot-on and very mesmerising.
Compared to Focal Clear the HP-1's soundstage is a bit wider, but not by much.

 

[cfranchi]

I cannot compare it to a HE6 but the HP-1's soundstage is medium (not hd800 wide, not focal closed-back small), vocals are spot-on and very mesmerising.
Compared to Focal Clear the HP-1's soundstage is a bit wider, but not by much.

Thank you, so soundstage should be more or less like HE6se, regarding vocals HE6se is very realistic but certainly can’t be called romantic.

 

[Tarttett]

You can.

"Carbon" violin or Stradivarius violin ; what is your preference ?



or

https://www.letemps.ch/video/culture/virtuose-fabrizio-von-arx-joue-stradivarius

To my non-expert ear, the two violins sound very good.

So for expert ears?

Unfortunately, I, also, do not possess expert ears.

Similarly to possessing a preference for different sets of headphones, I believe that I possibly would possess a preference for either one of those violins for different pieces, or for my mood that I would be feeling within a particular point in time.

In the case for the Rögnirs, I would not expect to feel that same way regarding the sound performance for the different species of wood. I believe that I probably would be able to be satisfied to own merely one set of the Rögnirs, without missing the sound performance from the other species of wood.

For those who wonder about the "effect of wood species" for close-back headphones, here's something you might want to look into:

https://www.lawtonaudio.com/tonewheel.html

Lawton Audio makes custom cups for Fostex TH-series, and they made this "tone wheel" reference page for tonality of their wood cups. However, while this might be true, we do not know the "initial tuning" and the "effect of structural design" of the Rognir.

What I mean is: The "Lawton Type 1 Woods" are described as having "Lively, Lush, Forward, Fun" character and "Full, Rich, Warm" tone, as compared to "Snappy, Vivid, Fast, Fun" and "Clear, Crisp, Resolving" of the "Lawton Type 4" ..... while this might be true, using it with Rognir might be "a little too much", for example, using Type 1 might be a little too full or too warm or too forward for one's liking.

We do not know for sure until we hear at least two of the Rognirs with different wood species comparing to each other.

However, from my experience with close-back wood headphones that I do cup-rolling, or owning several pairs of the same model with different woods, the effect on sound is largely negligible. What I mean is, you might notice the differences if you do focused A/B-ing. But if you don't listen to one after another, it would largely be in the same "sound family" that one is just a variant of another.

The structural design of the cup and other damping factors do have more effect on resonant and acoustic design than type of wood. However, if none exists at all, then the wood-type will be the sole factor for both. What I mean here is ..... type of woods would definitely effect certain headphone cup designs more than another. And given Rognir internal cup design, I think the significance of the wood type wouldn't be that dramatic.

For those cases (where the designers pay lots of attention designing acoustic chamber to ensure the sound they want, rather than let "bare, flat wood" doing all the works), if someone swap them for you and you're not listen to them directly after one another with the same song and pay lots of attention .... you might not even know in some cases.

What I mean is: You will be satisfied with whatever you choose, I think.

That's my $0.02 and humble opinion, though.

Thank you for sharing that link for Lawton Audio's reference page for the sound performance for those different species of wood that they utilise for their custom cups.

Thank you, also, for providing that perspective, regarding different species of wood possibly not providing a significant effect for the sound performance for a set of headphones, depending on the internal design for the acoustic chambers.

Considering the design for the internal structural for the cups for the Rögnirs, that I had seen within that picture for that final prototype, that @eric65 previously had shared, I would believe that your expectation, that utilising the different species of wood would not cause a significant difference for the sound performance for the Rögnirs, probably would be correct.

I, now, believe that I probably would not possess a particular preference for the sound performance for a particular species of wood for the Rögnirs.

 

[Tarttett]

You can.

"Carbon" violin or Stradivarius violin ; what is your preference ?



or

https://www.letemps.ch/video/culture/virtuose-fabrizio-von-arx-joue-stradivarius

To my non-expert ear, the two violins sound very good.

So for expert ears?

Unfortunately, I, also, do not possess expert ears.

Similarly to possessing a preference for different sets of headphones, I believe that I possibly would possess a preference for either one of those violins for different pieces, or for my mood that I would be feeling at a particular point in time.

In the case of the Rögnirs, I would not expect to feel that way regarding the sound performance for the different species of wood. I believe that I probably would be able to be satisfied to own merely one set of the Rögnirs, without missing the sound performance from the other species of wood.

For those who wonder about the "effect of wood species" for close-back headphones, here's something you might want to look into:

https://www.lawtonaudio.com/tonewheel.html

Lawton Audio makes custom cups for Fostex TH-series, and they made this "tone wheel" reference page for tonality of their wood cups. However, while this might be true, we do not know the "initial tuning" and the "effect of structural design" of the Rognir.

What I mean is: The "Lawton Type 1 Woods" are described as having "Lively, Lush, Forward, Fun" character and "Full, Rich, Warm" tone, as compared to "Snappy, Vivid, Fast, Fun" and "Clear, Crisp, Resolving" of the "Lawton Type 4" ..... while this might be true, using it with Rognir might be "a little too much", for example, using Type 1 might be a little too full or too warm or too forward for one's liking.

We do not know for sure until we hear at least two of the Rognirs with different wood species comparing to each other.

However, from my experience with close-back wood headphones that I do cup-rolling, or owning several pairs of the same model with different woods, the effect on sound is largely negligible. What I mean is, you might notice the differences if you do focused A/B-ing. But if you don't listen to one after another, it would largely be in the same "sound family" that one is just a variant of another.

The structural design of the cup and other damping factors do have more effect on resonant and acoustic design than type of wood. However, if none exists at all, then the wood-type will be the sole factor for both. What I mean here is ..... type of woods would definitely effect certain headphone cup designs more than another. And given Rognir internal cup design, I think the significance of the wood type wouldn't be that dramatic.

For those cases (where the designers pay lots of attention designing acoustic chamber to ensure the sound they want, rather than let "bare, flat wood" doing all the works), if someone swap them for you and you're not listen to them directly after one another with the same song and pay lots of attention .... you might not even know in some cases.

What I mean is: You will be satisfied with whatever you choose, I think.

That's my $0.02 and humble opinion, though.

Thank you for sharing that link for Lawton Audio's reference page.

Thank you, also, for providing that perspective, regarding different species of wood possibly providing a negligible effect for the sound performance for a set of headphones depending on the circumstances for the structural design for the acoustic chamber.

Considering the internal structural design for the cups for the Rögnirs, that I had seen from that picture for the final prototype, that @eric65 previously had shared, I would believe that your expectation that the species of wood would not cause a significant difference for the sound performance.

I generally do not do headphones comparison, and there's one problem:

I'd been using the Thror lately with ECL-02 and Wodan with ECL-01. Therefore, with my normal use cases, it wouldn't be a fair comparison as the pads would also effect the sound signature. (ECL-02 will boost sub-basses around 3db, while reduce the clarity and airiness a bit).

I would find time to do a proper comparison (same pads; ECL-01 on both, and then 02 on both). But I can't promise you this. It depends quite a bit on me having time to do a proper comparison. I don't want to give anyone a misleading and false impression.

But make no mistake, both are very good headphones.
If I have to imagine the comparison right now, but read this with "lots of salt":

Both have comparable technicality and resolvability, at least to my ears.
The Wodan is more fun and more engaging. Just like being in a live concert where Audience and cheers and sing along. It makes you feel the emotional side of the performance. The Thror is more like a symphony concert. Detailed, immersive, subtle, yet make you close your eyes and focus on the musical melodies and each movement of the air around the instruments. It's that detailed.

The bass of the Thror goes deeper and flatter. The Wodan has sub-bass roll-off (or mid-bass bump, depending on how you see it). So, if you want to "hear the bass", the Wodan would be a bit better ... while the Thror make you "feel the rumble". But you have to increase the volume to hear the "fun" of the bass many would want.

The Wodan also does better with vocalists. The Thror make the vocal "part of an instrument". It's like hearing a soloist using his/her vocal as an instrument in a symphony, rather than a lead singer of a band.

Don't know if any of these makes any sense. But it's how I feel.

All in all, I would prefer the Thror when I feel like closing my eyes in the symphony hall, and the Wodan when I feel like having fun with music. For this reason, the Thror is a preferable headphones for me for watching movies, as you do want the music and score to be part of the whole while being as detailed as possible, but not taking any focus to itself from the story. But Wodan would be my choice for Musicals. (I do really enjoy one of my favorite movies; "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" with the Wodan. cc @eric65)

That's about it. For now.

Thank you for sharing that impression.

Although you have not yet been able to perform a "proper comparison" for the Wodan, and for the Thror, I believe that your current impression still would be helpful.

 

[Terriero]

The DT-1990's are outstanding with metal!

I think (for comments I've read in "headphones for metal thread"), I will prefer your 1266s, we should trade them

 

[Terriero]

@ithilienrp, thank you for posting that Lawton wood species comparison. Reminded me the development process of the Denon AH-D9200 and why they justified the bamboo use for the cups. Is very interesting to read that document. I enjoyed a lot the reading:

https://translate.google.com/transl...v.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/topic/1147497.html

 

[Slim1970]

I think (for comments I've read in "headphones for metal thread"), I will prefer your 1266s, we should trade them

The AB-1266 are the best for metal and a bunch of other genres. For a budget set of headphones for metal the DT-1990's are really good

 

[arrakian]

 

[Hartford]

So the Rögnir is a lot more linear and neutral with perforated ear pads than with the pads they sell with the headphone ??? Strange !!!

Philippe.

 

[ithilienrp]

Can you tell us which perforated pads were used? Thank you.

 

[arrakian]

Can you tell us which perforated pads were used? Thank you.

My response from Kennerton says, “...Those (graphs) are different by the type of ear-pads that go with the Rognirs.”. I’m guessing they come with two pair, especially being a “First Edition“ run.

 

[arrakian]

So the Rögnir is a lot more linear and neutral with perforated ear pads than with the pads they sell with the headphone ??? Strange !!!

Philippe.

I thought maybe the graph with the dips would be from the perforated, but I guess not. I’m just happy not to see a roll-off below 50 Hz.

 

[eric65]

Thanks.

For the price of the Kennerton Rögnir, it would be nice if the Rögnir, in addition to its Custom cable, was delivered with both pairs of these earpads (perforated and non-perforated), a bit like the Kennerton Thror Novel, with its two pairs of earpads: ECL-01 and ECL-02

Questions asked to Valentin:

For these FR curves of the Rögnir: do the perforated earpads correspond to the ECL-01 or ECL-02 pads (delivered with the Thror), or to another type of earpads, specific to the Rögnir?

If not, what do you mean with this notion of ear-simulator? Is it a compensation. Is it a Harman type of compensation ?

Finally, it would be nice to have on the same graph, the FR curve (compensated) of the Rögnir and that of the Thekk and the Thror (with stock ECL-01 earpads), on the same measurement platform, that would allow to better situate the frequency response of these three headphones, for the 3 registers : bass (and sub-bass under 50 Hz), mids and high.

 

[ithilienrp]

Short update:

I'm entirely amazed with Wodan 2021 + ECL-02 with Kennerton's CLC-04 cable (recommended for this Wodan by Valentin) on Balanced system.
Really love it.

Can't wait to hear the Rognir.