That is beyond awesome, and Onkyo/Pioneer is lucky to have you. I'm looking forward to whatever is next!
Klipsch High End Over Ear-your input appreciated
That is beyond awesome, and Onkyo/Pioneer is lucky to have you. I'm looking forward to whatever is next!
BuddhaBruce
500+ Head-Fier
Hes back!! Gratz on the new job!
Congrats, Steve!!!
And thank you so for the HP-3! I am enjoying it so much (paired with the Hugo 2)... so engaging and full of life!
Can't wait to see your new stuff!
Cheers,
Hugo
cute
Headphoneus Supremus
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Thanks Steve, for the special price on my HP-3.....$999.
After a few days of delays due to the first shipment being lost by UPS, I finally got them in after Crutchfield overnighting me a replacement. (Kudos to Crutchfield!)
I won't get into too much details but I'll chime in my day one impression after just receiving them a few hours ago.
Wow what a unboxing experience, putting other much more expensive headphones to shame! Good quality sets of stock cables, but I'll have some balanced cables for them soon.
At first listen, these sounds similar to ZMF Atticus, but with better mids (Atticus mids sounded slightly muffled/hazy to me) and mid/sub bass slams HARDER. Very addicting and I'm not even a bass-head!
Really great results with playing them on tubes and solid state, but I need more time on which one I prefer. Very scalable!
Now the bad, I am hearing a significant amount of sibilance (exaggerated "s" or "sh" sounds in vocals), but it seems to be mellowing out after only 1-2hrs of playing I think... (Will need a good amount of burn in and then I'll do an update)
The pads are very stiff and I would've like them to be softer or have deeper padding but not a real deal breaker. (hope they loosen/soften up during more use)
I had no issues with wearing glasses since I had the headband fully extended.
More to come after burn in....
I won't get into too much details but I'll chime in my day one impression after just receiving them a few hours ago.
Wow what a unboxing experience, putting other much more expensive headphones to shame! Good quality sets of stock cables, but I'll have some balanced cables for them soon.
At first listen, these sounds similar to ZMF Atticus, but with better mids (Atticus mids sounded slightly muffled/hazy to me) and mid/sub bass slams HARDER. Very addicting and I'm not even a bass-head!
Really great results with playing them on tubes and solid state, but I need more time on which one I prefer. Very scalable!
Now the bad, I am hearing a significant amount of sibilance (exaggerated "s" or "sh" sounds in vocals), but it seems to be mellowing out after only 1-2hrs of playing I think... (Will need a good amount of burn in and then I'll do an update)
The pads are very stiff and I would've like them to be softer or have deeper padding but not a real deal breaker. (hope they loosen/soften up during more use)
I had no issues with wearing glasses since I had the headband fully extended.
More to come after burn in....
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Hello all, noob here. I read all of this forum from the beginning. I made an account just to drool over these headphones as I own some Klipsch gear. I wish I could of been here since the beginning to help with designs, but school had me busy. Looking to add these and the amp to my collection soon.
ctaxxxx
1000+ Head-Fier
I would check some of the other threads. Impressions I've read suggested their headphone amp is not very good. Well, at least the pairing was not.
Well the honeymoon is officially over after only 72hrs and unfortunately this will going back tomorrow!
I'm just going straight to the point.
The treble on these are significantly worse than my stock HD800 which is weird because I'm not treble sensitive. (I personally had no issue with the bone stock HD800 (albeit with aid of tubes). Burn in didn't help at all...
I tried pairing them with tubes, but the the V-shaped emphasized treble just wouldn't relent and it distracts me from any serious listening due to sibilance.
The stock pads are horrendously stiff and very fatiguing, kind of like the feel of ATH-M50 pads.
Its a shame because I did enjoy the bass on these WHEN there's void of any vocals in the song!
Well these made up my mind to order the Auteur that's for sure and to avoid any V-shaped tuned headphones.
I'll be rehabbing my sensitive ears with my dark Nighthawk for a few days!
I'm just going straight to the point.
The treble on these are significantly worse than my stock HD800 which is weird because I'm not treble sensitive. (I personally had no issue with the bone stock HD800 (albeit with aid of tubes). Burn in didn't help at all...
I tried pairing them with tubes, but the the V-shaped emphasized treble just wouldn't relent and it distracts me from any serious listening due to sibilance.
The stock pads are horrendously stiff and very fatiguing, kind of like the feel of ATH-M50 pads.
Its a shame because I did enjoy the bass on these WHEN there's void of any vocals in the song!
Well these made up my mind to order the Auteur that's for sure and to avoid any V-shaped tuned headphones.
I'll be rehabbing my sensitive ears with my dark Nighthawk for a few days!
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ctaxxxx
1000+ Head-Fier
Well the honeymoon is officially over after only 72hrs and unfortunately this will going back tomorrow!
I'm just going straight to the point.
The treble on these are significantly worse than my stock HD800 which is weird because I'm not treble sensitive. (I personally had no issue with the bone stock HD800 (albeit with aid of tubes). Burn in didn't help at all...
I tried pairing them with tubes, but the the V-shaped emphasized treble just wouldn't relent and it distracts me from any serious listening due to sibilance.
The stock pads are horrendously stiff and very fatiguing, kind of like the feel of ATH-M50 pads.
Its a shame because I did enjoy the bass on these WHEN there's void of any vocals in the song!
Well these made up my mind to order the Auteur that's for sure and to avoid any V-shaped tuned headphones.
I'll be rehabbing my sensitive ears with my dark Nighthawk for a few days!
You might be more sensitive to higher treble frequencies, where I'm the opposite, and can't stand lower treble frequencies around 6khz (like the HD800 and Eikon).
Regarding the comfort, I very much agree. I've been considering returning them, but I want to wait until I can try them through the other iBasso amp modules. I can bear with it, but I realized that I'm forcing myself to ignore the issue just for the sound, and for a $1,000+ headphone, that is not a good thing...
Interesting you say you're going back to the NightHawk, because I find their treble very fatiguing, but in a passive way. It's like the mosquito noise with it's treble for me. I did love the NightOwls though!
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The treble in my HP-3 doesn't bother me at all. Well, I'm a big fan of Ultrasone HPs, so I'm possibly extremely tolerant to sharp trebles.
I agree that the comfort is one big flaw with HP-3. Somehow, I got used to it now, though.
Anyway, they are quite "fun" cans, not for critical listening. I keep them until I find another set of cans with even more "fun" factors.
Its rare for me to use my Nighthawks, its not my ideal sound sig but once in a blue moon and when the constellations line up, I break them out to take a break from sharp bright cans.
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ctaxxxx
1000+ Head-Fier
Did some final listening. I believe @Giraku is correct on the female vocals. I understand the subtle midrange nuances a bit better now, which should help with more accurate impressions in the future. I revised my previous impressions with the following:
Revised: Already touched on this but I'll add more. Compared to the Elear's upper midrange dip, the HP-3's dip is more towards the middle making low vocals sound great, high vocals sound good, and poor for most vocals when in the very middle. This seems to be affecting overall vocal clarity the most, despite having more upper mids than the Elear. There is some sibilance depending on the song, but it's not as exaggerated as other V-shaped headphones under the $1000 price range.
This revision is more in line with the review by @grizzlybeast as well. The point about the dynamic range is a good one too. Listening to Yndi Halda's newer album, the low and high points of the songs don't seem to change much in volume. This flaw hurts instrumental music for me the most.
In the end, I will be returning these as well. I feel at this price, comfort should be a non-issue and the midrange clarity more representative of other headphones heard in this price range. I could buy a mid-forward DAC or amp to help alleviate the veil, but I feel I would only be paying more to mask it's flaws.
Revised: Already touched on this but I'll add more. Compared to the Elear's upper midrange dip, the HP-3's dip is more towards the middle making low vocals sound great, high vocals sound good, and poor for most vocals when in the very middle. This seems to be affecting overall vocal clarity the most, despite having more upper mids than the Elear. There is some sibilance depending on the song, but it's not as exaggerated as other V-shaped headphones under the $1000 price range.
This revision is more in line with the review by @grizzlybeast as well. The point about the dynamic range is a good one too. Listening to Yndi Halda's newer album, the low and high points of the songs don't seem to change much in volume. This flaw hurts instrumental music for me the most.
In the end, I will be returning these as well. I feel at this price, comfort should be a non-issue and the midrange clarity more representative of other headphones heard in this price range. I could buy a mid-forward DAC or amp to help alleviate the veil, but I feel I would only be paying more to mask it's flaws.
Three weeks... the sound of my HP-3 changes everyday and is still changing or should I say, improving each day. I do agree that the initial impressions were a little worrying, but then if I've relied on the so-called conclusion drawn in the first week (not to mention the first three days), I should have returned my beloved Hugo 2 and Noble Encore!! BTW, I really enjoy the HP-3; the music through it is engaging and full of life - always manage to strike a chord.
PS. I did spend a recent afternoon to compare it with the Focal Clear, Ether Flow Open and the Aeon Open. The Clear is accurate, responsive but lacks a little weight; Ether Flow and Aeon are pretty comfortable but the sound a little too soft... I'm loving the HP-3 more.
I do agree that the initial impressions were a little worrying, but then if I've relied on the so-called conclusion drawn in the first week (not to mention the first three days), I should have returned my beloved Hugo 2 and Noble Encore!! BTW, I really enjoy the HP-3; the music through it is engaging and full of life - always manage to strike a chord.PS. I did spend a recent afternoon to compare it with the Focal Clear, Ether Flow Open and the Aeon Open. The Clear is accurate, responsive but lacks a little weight; Ether Flow and Aeon are pretty comfortable but the sound a little too soft... I'm loving the HP-3 more.
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ctaxxxx
1000+ Head-Fier
Three weeks... the sound of my HP-3 changes everyday and is still changing or should I say, improving each day.
PS. I did spend a recent afternoon to compare it with the Focal Clear, Ether Flow Open and the Aeon Open. The Clear is accurate, responsive but lacks a little weight; Ether Flow and Aeon are pretty comfortable but the sound a little too soft... I'm still loving the HP-3 more.
How did the soundstage compare between the HP-3 and the Clear? How about it's sub-bass?
The Focal Clear are the headphones I'm thinking about getting next.
As a matter of fact, the Focal Clear, HP-3 and the Aeon Flow Open were the three I was interested in and choosing among. I was lucky to have the chance to try them all and in the end, it's exactly an impressive soundstage (3D and depth in particular) and that wonderful punchy bass (yet well controlled) of the HP-3 that made me go for it.
The Focal Clear wasn't bad at all but just seemed to lack that weight, depth and sense of living presence... (the Aeon Flow Open was the least impressive and exciting amongst the three.)Happy Listening!
Hugo
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