LFF Paradox Slant and the "Starving Student"

[jgwtriode]

Did your new arrival show up?

What do you think of them?


Happy listening,

Jgwtriode

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Did your new arrival show up?

What do you think of them?


Happy listening,

Jgwtriode

No, its in transit but I got word from the post office that it may take 6 weeks to get here.  

 

[C.C.S.]

  No, its in transit but I got word from the post office that it may take 6 weeks to get here.  

6 weeks? What the hell. Did they offer any explanation as to why it may take such a long time?

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Ya, They said that the shipping method was the standard shipping.  They told Luis that it would take 1-2 weeks but when I contacted them asking where the package was they said that standard is shipped via boat and that usually takes 4 weeks in its self.  And because its the slowest shipping it could take another 2 weeks just to get from one island to another.  
 
Ya I'm a bit frustrated but what can I do, they told Luis 1-2 weeks to Hawaii but I guess the reality is it's almost 3 times longer. Oh well...I should have it by summer.  

Quote:

 
6 weeks? What the hell. Did they offer any explanation as to why it may take such a long time?

 

[C.C.S.]

Ya, They said that the shipping method was the standard shipping.  They told Luis that it would take 1-2 weeks but when I contacted them asking where the package was they said that standard is shipped via boat and that usually takes 4 weeks in its self.  And because its the slowest shipping it could take another 2 weeks just to get from one island to another.  
 
Ya I'm a bit frustrated but what can I do, they told Luis 1-2 weeks to Hawaii but I guess the reality is it's almost 3 times longer. Oh well...I should have it by summer.  

Sorry to hear that. It really sucks that shipping is going to take that much longer. I'm quite surprised that it takes so much longer to be shipped via boat. I'm also pretty surprised that the standard shipping method for relatively small parcels, like a pair of headphones, is by boat. I'd expect that primarily for larger items. I'm not sure why I have that preconception in my mind, but I always figured boats were only used to ship fairly heavy materials and packages.

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

 
Sorry to hear that. It really sucks that shipping is going to take that much longer. I'm quite surprised that it takes so much longer to be shipped via boat. I'm also pretty surprised that the standard shipping method for relatively small parcels, like a pair of headphones, is by boat. I'd expect that primarily for larger items. I'm not sure why I have that preconception in my mind, but I always figured boats were only used to ship fairly heavy materials and packages.

Nah its usually dependent on what shipping method was paid for it doesn't matter much about the weight unless its payment...lol.  I usually go for priority which is usually 3-6 days.  
 
Edit:  Hey guys, I just got them today.  They sound awesome straight out of the box!  bass impact sounds life like and goes pretty deep.  Sound stage is pretty wide for a closed can.  Mids are a little forward but sound in place, not taking over everything and the treble is smooth.  Comfort, by far this is very comfy.  It's pretty bulky but the pads and the little headband keeps it pretty light on the head.  Very happy camper here!  I'll give it some time to burn in.  I'll report back.  

 

 

[jgwtriode]

  Nah its usually dependent on what shipping method was paid for it doesn't matter much about the weight unless its payment...lol.  I usually go for priority which is usually 3-6 days.  
 
Edit:  Hey guys, I just got them today.  They sound awesome straight out of the box!  bass impact sounds life like and goes pretty deep.  Sound stage is pretty wide for a closed can.  Mids are a little forward but sound in place, not taking over everything and the treble is smooth.  Comfort, by far this is very comfy.  It's pretty bulky but the pads and the little headband keeps it pretty light on the head.  Very happy camper here!  I'll give it some time to burn in.  I'll report back.  

 

 
Awesome!!!!
 
Personally I find the midrange balance to be just right, most headphones and earbuds are a bit recessed to me. Agreed on the rest.
 
Burn them in with some random noise.  The Jlabs burn in app is excellent for that.  It's available to use on their site.  Cardas has a downloadable one as well.    Have more than 100 hours of burn in on mine and now I no longer think about it.   Just listen to them.
Movies are unbelievable on them.  Better than going to theater can hear so much more information, improves the movie.
 
Order my new interconnects  between dac and amp today from Dave at Dave's Cables.  It's going to noticeably improve the sound.
 
Have to wait another month or so to build my gainclones.  Waiting for roomie with tools and access to a workshop to get back so I
can build chassis for them.  Have all the parts...just waiting.   I can easily hear the improvement from changing the 3.5mm plug to
a copper/ rhodium plated one.
 
So glad you got them...sooner as opposed to what could have been much later.
 
Very happy listening,
 
jgwtriode

 

[jgwtriode]

  Nah its usually dependent on what shipping method was paid for it doesn't matter much about the weight unless its payment...lol.  I usually go for priority which is usually 3-6 days.  
 
Edit:  Hey guys, I just got them today.  They sound awesome straight out of the box!  bass impact sounds life like and goes pretty deep.  Sound stage is pretty wide for a closed can.  Mids are a little forward but sound in place, not taking over everything and the treble is smooth.  Comfort, by far this is very comfy.  It's pretty bulky but the pads and the little headband keeps it pretty light on the head.  Very happy camper here!  I'll give it some time to burn in.  I'll report back.  

 

How is the honeymoon going?
 
Seriously though what do you think about the sound?    I have drastically improved the wiring and connectors in my system over the last week and the Slants are now much better than I had previously thought.  About the most revealing audio device I have owned.  They are absolute magic!   Abracadabra, Luis certainly waived a wand over these!
 
Happy Listening,
 
jgwtriode

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

The sound is great.  Timbre is just right.  Not bright detailed and neutral sounding.  Again the bass is on par and transparent with what ever source I am using.  it doesn't sound warm unless again I change the source and depends on what kind of power it's getting.  Just like Luis told me, the more power I gave it it would take to it well.  I have used it with my receiver which has the most power and it sounded great.  The source sounded a little on the warmer side but when I used it with my UHA-6 on high gain.  I don't get much listening time but off of memory thats what I gathered.  Other than that they are great at being a cameleon.   
Quote:

  How is the honeymoon going?
 
Seriously though what do you think about the sound?    I have drastically improved the wiring and connectors in my system over the last week and the Slants are now much better than I had previously thought.  About the most revealing audio device I have owned.  They are absolute magic!   Abracadabra, Luis certainly waived a wand over these!
 
Happy Listening,
 
jgwtriode

 

[jgwtriode]

Agreed!    They are chameleons, becoming whatever is put in front of them.  I put Dave's Cables D3 interconnect between my dac and amp and replaced my rca's equipment sockets with Furutech 901 R's and rewired the dac output with silver/gold upocc neotech solid core wire.   Transformation!   The Sound improved to a ridiculous degree, made me realize just how transparent the Slants are.
 
 
Just much more of everything!   Want to give Luis a big hug!
 
 
Makes it hard to listen to anything else.   I even watch Hulu and my blue rays on my computer now feeding sound through my dac to the Slants.   Sounds like real environments.   You can hear so many things.  Like extremely quiet background street noise when the scene is in a motel room.  Was just watching latest Agents of Sheild episode and I was just floored, never previously heard this
prior to this modification to my system.
 
Electric guitars are totally blowing me away.  Hard edge guitar driven rock with big drums is so real!   Everything is far improved, but the sound has me wanting to listen to all my old favourite guitar rock stuff.  Wow.       What is also mind boggling is how I can hear sound reflecting of the walls on good live recordingsl.   It allows you to audibly define the size of the space without seeing it.  Close your eyes and it's like you can see it with your ears.
 
Never quite had that clear an aural picture of musical events before.       I am in love with audio all over again.    Just like starting a new romance.   I'm smitten!
 
So glad you are enjoying them
 
Happy Listening,
 
jgwtriode

 

[ComradeDylie]

Awesome!  My Slants finally came in a few weeks ago so Ive gotten to listen a little bit now. 
 
I cant listen to my HE-500 right now to do a back to back comparison but going from memory, the Slants really blow them away, like its not even close.
 
The bass is crazy, and I mean crazy.  Every little texture pops out in the low end, and I have never felt the need to even use the word texture when describing music.  It definitely thumps too, it is seriously borderline too much for my tastes.  I was really inebriated one evening and it was kind of making me dizzy it was thumping so good, but it does a very good job of doing this without interfering with the mids and highs.
 
Vocals are awesome.  I mean they were really good on HE-500, but I feel the Slants take the same sweetness and easy to listen nature of the HE-500 vocals and add more clarity.  I was listening to the new Against Me! album and it sounded like I would expect the lead singer to sound like.  I put the Slants on and while it does sound very similar and still like his there just a slight touch of something else and it sounds slightly more feminine.  As you may know, the lead singer is now living as a female so the transparency of the Slants may have let me here that slight difference or it definitely could be placebo, but hey I swear I hear it.  The V shape vocal presentation of the HE-500 is not present with the Slants.
 
The highs may be "rolled off" but I find them to be much less fatiguing than the HE-500 and just as detailed, heck probably more details.  I cant help but hear each and every cymbal crash whether Im trying to or not.
 
More later, thats just my quick thumbs up.  Im trying to compare to HE-500 from memory and impressions as they are same class and price range but most of my listening tests are against JH13 freqphase since that is what got most of my ear time before the Slants.

 

[jgwtriode]

Excellent...how do the slants compare to jh13? Love the slants. They just keep scaling up with every system improvement to my system. New Dave's Cable all upocc copper power cord, including plugs, on my dac transformed them yet again. Dynamics, bass and density of sound took on whole new meaning.

Happy Listening,

Jgwtriode

 

[ComradeDylie]

The comparison to JH13 is a little weird.  The JH13s have a much more consistent presentation.  Every track seems to have roughly the same sound stage and instrument placement with the JH13s whereas the Slants vary wildly.  I feel like this must boil down to recording equipment and how good a producer was.  Really weird actually how different some songs can sound between the two and how different one song can be to the next on the Slants.
 
That alone gives a more transparent feel to the Slants since it seems to cut to a deeper level while the JH13 molds tracks into its pleasant presentation.  The micro detail is better on the Slants in my opinion.  Cymbals and the bass texture seems to strike me more on the Slants.
 
In the treble on really high vocals etc the JH13 can bother me a bit which which in a way makes the Slants less fatiguing but there is something, maybe the deceptive weight (deceptive because they are so comfortable and light feeling), or maybe something to do with air pressure.  All things considered I would say the JH13s are less fatiguing overall if only by a hair but that being said, I did fall asleep in my Slants once. 
 
Vocals and electric guitar have more bite and a more visceral feel with the Slants for sure and the separation of the Slants is a little better too.  The bass on both is a little emphasized, the texture and micro detail is better on the Slant's bass and the slam and quantity is better, but the JH13s is more pleasant.  The JH13s almost feel like a massage where the Slants can sound like someone is playing a drum kit immediately adjacent to you and can be very draining.  I think thats an accurate reproduction though since I feel the same kind of way if I am standing next to someone playing the drums lol (thank goodness you can use a volume knob with the slants)
 
The Slants have this weird ability to slow down time.  The vocal range is soooo clear, its pretty hard to miss a lyric.  All of the other micro detail sounds and cymbal crashes are there too so the songs seem to last longer than usual.  Its much harder to have a "background music" effect with the Slants.  With the JH13s I can be lulled into not paying attention because they are smooth and pleasant.  The Slants dont really allow for that since they are so verbose and in your face, but the more I listen to them the less this effect seems to present itself.
 
I do feel that the Slants have a better sound overall and especially more 3D sounding since the JH13s can be a little "inside the head" sounding, but in the end there is something about the presentation of JH13s that makes me almost prefer them.  They are sweeter and more pleasant but the Slants are more transparent, accurate, and raw and engaging with the clearest vocal presentation I have heard.  The bass on the Slants is probably what most people are dreaming of, but its maybe a little too intense for me, or atleast I havent fully acclimated just yet.

 

[jgwtriode]

  The comparison to JH13 is a little weird.  The JH13s have a much more consistent presentation.  Every track seems to have roughly the same sound stage and instrument placement with the JH13s whereas the Slants vary wildly.  I feel like this must boil down to recording equipment and how good a producer was.  Really weird actually how different some songs can sound between the two and how different one song can be to the next on the Slants.
 
That alone gives a more transparent feel to the Slants since it seems to cut to a deeper level while the JH13 molds tracks into its pleasant presentation.  The micro detail is better on the Slants in my opinion.  Cymbals and the bass texture seems to strike me more on the Slants.
 
In the treble on really high vocals etc the JH13 can bother me a bit which which in a way makes the Slants less fatiguing but there is something, maybe the deceptive weight (deceptive because they are so comfortable and light feeling), or maybe something to do with air pressure.  All things considered I would say the JH13s are less fatiguing overall if only by a hair but that being said, I did fall asleep in my Slants once. 
 
Vocals and electric guitar have more bite and a more visceral feel with the Slants for sure and the separation of the Slants is a little better too.  The bass on both is a little emphasized, the texture and micro detail is better on the Slant's bass and the slam and quantity is better, but the JH13s is more pleasant.  The JH13s almost feel like a massage where the Slants can sound like someone is playing a drum kit immediately adjacent to you and can be very draining.  I think thats an accurate reproduction though since I feel the same kind of way if I am standing next to someone playing the drums lol (thank goodness you can use a volume knob with the slants)
 
The Slants have this weird ability to slow down time.  The vocal range is soooo clear, its pretty hard to miss a lyric.  All of the other micro detail sounds and cymbal crashes are there too so the songs seem to last longer than usual.  Its much harder to have a "background music" effect with the Slants.  With the JH13s I can be lulled into not paying attention because they are smooth and pleasant.  The Slants dont really allow for that since they are so verbose and in your face, but the more I listen to them the less this effect seems to present itself.
 
I do feel that the Slants have a better sound overall and especially more 3D sounding since the JH13s can be a little "inside the head" sounding, but in the end there is something about the presentation of JH13s that makes me almost prefer them.  They are sweeter and more pleasant but the Slants are more transparent, accurate, and raw and engaging with the clearest vocal presentation I have heard.  The bass on the Slants is probably what most people are dreaming of, but its maybe a little too intense for me, or atleast I havent fully acclimated just yet.

Brilliant description!!!!!
 
That was very coherent and detailed explantion of the differences, which I greatly appreciate.  I do indeed value the variabiltiy of the slants as I believe it allows the recording to be what it is rather
an altered representation of what it should be.   I have listened to them just get consistently better and better.  The more I become familiar with them the more convinced I am that they are indeed
portraying what is actually there, which is no more or less than I want them to do.   I find them to be very consistent with the sound of real performance on live recordings, especially on those in 
which I am familiar with the performer, particularly in some cases where I have heard them live in a more acoustic setting.   On studio stuff that is over engineered they can certainly create strange
effects and multiple enviroments when things are mixed and multitracked.  They all to easily seperate out inconsistencies in less than stellar recordings, however it this thing that makes them
a transparent window on excellent performances.  At their best they are in fact as natural, transparent and realistic as any transducer I have listened too.  Even against expensive dynamic, planar,
and backloaded single driver designs I find them lacking in only absolute scale of size and the very deepest bass slam and extension.  And in that regard only mildly so.  Because in the listening
it is remarkably easy to get lost in what the Slants do.   They are also amazingly easy to wear for extended periods of time which only enhances all of the above.  As I have said before they are in
fact very much like wearing a pair of very capable loudspeakers.   Luis has created a classic!
 
Happy Listening,
 
jgwtriode

 

[maricius]

I have some questions.
 
Has anyone compared the Alpha Dogs to these already? Is there anyone out there who's heard both? May I ask for a comparison? 
 
Also, would anyone whose heard both the Paradox Slant and the standard Paradox tell me if there is a difference in detail retrieval and transparency? I understand that standard Paradox is closer to neutral but are there any benefits to the Slant other than a change in tonality? Soundstage? Timbre?
 
Thank you