[FYFL]

Yes, the '91 one was good. I liked it. They tried to return somehow on Death Magnetic and Hardwired but it is not the same. Also Load and Re-Load were good, but it was another band, I like them while drinking beer.

Beer goes well with ADX5000.
LCDX are more like Scotch mood kinda cans.


P.S
Not much listening/comparing today. Gotta fix few pairs of cans that really get under my skin.

 

[OctavianH]

You convinced me, just found a pair in perfect condition, 3 months old, in France at around 1600 EUR and ordered it. In 2-3 weeks I'll come back with impressions.

Later edit: I just mailed Forza AudioWorks to make me a custom cable for these headphones, and I strongly recommend their work. I use a Noir Hybrid for T1.2 which is great.

https://forzaaudioworks.com/en/product.php?id_product=72

 

[FYFL]

You convinced me, just found a pair in perfect condition, 3 months old, in France at around 1600 EUR and ordered it. In 2-3 weeks I'll come back with impressions.

Later edit: I just mailed Forza AudioWorks to make me a custom cable for these headphones, and I strongly recommend their work. I use a Noir Hybrid for T1.2 which is great.

https://forzaaudioworks.com/en/product.php?id_product=72

Look at you. You finally gave in and pulled the trigger. Was it the Metal talk that did it? Lol
And you got them for what I consider a fair price. Congrats.

 

[OctavianH]

No, I was just looking and saw a decent offer. I really liked your feedback and trust your assessment.
I hardly wait for the pair to arrive to me. Thank you!

 

[ScornDefeat]

No, I was just looking and saw a decent offer. I really liked your feedback and trust your assessment.
I hardly wait for the pair to arrive to me. Thank you!

Great purchase, I imagine you will be very happy with it.

Great move on getting an aftermarket cable immediately, as well. Stock cable sounds great but it's an absurdly annoying cable; too long for normal use, and gets kinked up quite easily.

 

[FYFL]

No, I was just looking and saw a decent offer. I really liked your feedback and trust your assessment.
I hardly wait for the pair to arrive to me. Thank you!

Often you read/watch reviews or forums and it’s hard to really get the pulse how headphones really sound. I hope, I did OK job in describing these headphones without getting too excited (new toys have that effect on ppl) but do it accurately. As you know there are no perfect headphones and then it also comes to personal preferences. ADX5K checked more boxes than others headphones that I’ve tried and auditioned in person. Eventho I was prepared to spend more money on headphones if such headphones pushed me to a degree of foolishness from value perspective yet, I was/am perfectly fine with what ADX5K have to offer.
I just hope you’re going to be OK with their characteristics and brutal honesty. Not everyone likes those qualities. For instance, I have visited new T1 3th generation forum to understand what owners of those headphones find so appealing...... And I still don’t get it. As in my opinion, they’re total crap for money they’re asking for it. So, it shows you how different perception of sound and preferences can be. Another part of logic among headphones owners I don’t understand is notion that you need weeks and weeks to warm up to certain house sound, coloration or headphones character. That’s just dumb. Sure, if I am seating in my local jazz club and listening only to really mediocre performers or singer, with time I am sure my brain and ears will adjust to that travesty. But once you hear talent, you immediately take notice. And once you hear it, it’s hard to go back. At least that’s how I see it.
With ADX5K you don’t need weeks or months to figure out what they’re about. No need for your ears/brain to excuse poor performance. It just is. Once you go through your library of different genres, you will know if you like it or hate it. And as much I hope that you love these cans, I also can’t guarantee it. To me, they’re serious headphones that don’t seem to get a lot hype. But who cares about that. As long as you like them, that’s all that matters.

edit. I’m kind of driving as I wrote that. And auto correct had a mind of its own.

 

[descloud]

I don’t understand is notion that you need weeks and weeks to warm up to certain house sound, coloration or headphones character

This notion I think stems from the idea that you'd get used to the sound of a headphone. Our brain has a good way of masking out flaws when you hear it long enough (think about going into a room with a loud AC and staying there for a couple of hours - by which point you're auditory system already would mask the noise). It then comes down to purchase validation IMO once people would say "it gets better the longer you listen to it". I would agree at this point that the first day of listening should be the indicator whether you'd like the stock signature or not. For me, EQ is a good fix for some tonality flaws I hear in a headphone especially if I like a lot of other things about a headphone (build, comfort, other technicalities).

At least when I'm reviewing gear, I tend to use about a week to find all the flaws and make my own notes about it, not to get used to it.

 

[ruinedx]

This notion I think stems from the idea that you'd get used to the sound of a headphone. Our brain has a good way of masking out flaws when you hear it long enough (think about going into a room with a loud AC and staying there for a couple of hours - by which point you're auditory system already would mask the noise). It then comes down to purchase validation IMO once people would say "it gets better the longer you listen to it". I would agree at this point that the first day of listening should be the indicator whether you'd like the stock signature or not. For me, EQ is a good fix for some tonality flaws I hear in a headphone especially if I like a lot of other things about a headphone (build, comfort, other technicalities).

At least when I'm reviewing gear, I tend to use about a week to find all the flaws and make my own notes about it, not to get used to it.

I think most of the "burn-in" stuff originally stemmed from tube gear; brand new vacuum tubes pretty dramatically change their sound within the firet 40 hours of use with lesser changes occuring up to first 100 hours of use. So any product that uses vacuum tubes would definitely benefit from "burn in" time.

However I have never heard any difference in burn in on a speaker, headphone, or solid state gear.

That being said, with all audio and video the brain does adapt to the sound/picture in realtime, but this happens each time you listen/watch very rapidly and requires no extended period of burn in previously.

 

[FYFL]

This notion I think stems from the idea that you'd get used to the sound of a headphone. Our brain has a good way of masking out flaws when you hear it long enough (think about going into a room with a loud AC and staying there for a couple of hours - by which point you're auditory system already would mask the noise). It then comes down to purchase validation IMO once people would say "it gets better the longer you listen to it". I would agree at this point that the first day of listening should be the indicator whether you'd like the stock signature or not. For me, EQ is a good fix for some tonality flaws I hear in a headphone especially if I like a lot of other things about a headphone (build, comfort, other technicalities).

At least when I'm reviewing gear, I tend to use about a week to find all the flaws and make my own notes about it, not to get used to it.

I know what you’re saying but it irks me every time I see someone advising person with second thoughts or buyer’s remorse to give it time and it will get better. I mean how? It’s silly.
This naive assumption is often practiced & used by speaker manufacturers (but not only). It’s called: exhausting several hundreds of hrs of “break in period”. Which equates to months of average time we spend listening to our rig. I can get more in depth into this but I don’t wanna.

 

[FYFL]

I should also add that it doesn’t necessarily means that particular piece of gear is “bad”. It might be just not your cup of tea or what you perceive as reference quality. But still, instead of giving someone hope for things to get better just try to comprehend an idea that what sounds “awesome” to you might sounds like “meh” to the other guy.

Tubes needs warm up time every time you turn your gear ON to sound their best. It’s different.
Unless you’re talking about new, factory fresh tubes. But still, I don’t see any benefits of running it for any particular period of time (“burn-in”) as they are run, tested, measured after production. At least some manufacturers do it. Not sure what’s going on in China or mass produced cheapies.

added edit: this is a cool video about tube making process. It’s a bit lengthy so if it’s not of interest to you, just skip it. Ofcause they don’t make tubes the same way as they used to but some companies still take pride in this rare craft.

 

[OctavianH]

I just hope you’re going to be OK with their characteristics and brutal honesty. Not everyone likes those qualities.

I think I'll like their so called brutal honesty. I always searched for neutral and transparent headphones, since I have a box of tubes to add coloration if needed. Even if I like a lot my T1.2 I have to admit that I see them somehow V shaped and I always tried to compensate this signature or house sound with the amplifier. We will see how ADX5000 will pair with Elise, but after what I read the synergy should be good.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Depends who mixed them and where. Recording facility that did B2B did Pink Floyd, Queen and I believe Led Zeppelin was mixed on the same console as well. I usually go for vinyl on Metal pre 1980ish as CD compression is too annoying and takes away from experience. I get it that a lot of audiophile stay clear off vinyl (especially in headphone community) but truth is, quality pressing from analogue master tapes and decent analogue rig is special. For instance, I would never listen to Pink Floyd on CD or streamer. Difference in quality between digital mix and vinyl is astonishing as long as you stay clear from most European pressings.

Oh I definitely believe vinyl is not lacking in audiophile sound quality. I grew up when there were no CDs. When CDs came out I hated them and it took decades before I bought any digital gear. It's interesting because I did feel Highway to Hell had a sound similar in some ways to Led Zeppelin and II. Never looked into it though.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I should also add that it doesn’t necessarily means that particular piece of gear is “bad”. It might be just not your cup of tea or what you perceive as reference quality. But still, instead of giving someone hope for things to get better just try to comprehend an idea that what sounds “awesome” to you might sounds like “meh” to the other guy.

Tubes needs warm up time every time you turn your gear ON to sound their best. It’s different.
Unless you’re talking about new, factory fresh tubes. But still, I don’t see any benefits of running it for any particular period of time (“burn-in”) as they are run, tested, measured after production. At least some manufacturers do it. Not sure what’s going on in China or mass produced cheapies.

added edit: this is a cool video about tube making process. It’s a bit lengthy so if it’s not of interest to you, just skip it. Ofcause they don’t make tubes the same way as they used to but some companies still take pride in this rare craft.

These guys are not far from me but I never visited because I don't have a spare million in my shoe for one tube

I'll eventually see what they're all about when the next hifi show happens in Prague.

 

[FYFL]

I think I'll like their so called brutal honesty. I always searched for neutral and transparent headphones, since I have a box of tubes to add coloration if needed. Even if I like a lot my T1.2 I have to admit that I see them somehow V shaped and I always tried to compensate this signature or house sound with the amplifier. We will see how ADX5000 will pair with Elise, but after what I read the synergy should be good.

It’s kind of irrelevant but I was curiously looking into Feliks amps as I believe they’re serious product.
Tgey look very well build and they should last a lifetime with some basic maintenance/re-caping.
I got a bit better financial incentives with Dragon Inspire and it was said that it is also a decent stereo preamp on its own. And that was also a factor that made me lean a bit more towards that choice. But Feliks has some sentimental value going on for it as it is made in homeland of my childhood.
I think your amp is of very nice quality. Something I would consider for myself. And it should work with ADX5K wonderfully. As to that review, it’s interesting comparison against other headphones but I have no experience with most of cans he mentioned.

 

[ruinedx]

Oh I definitely believe vinyl is not lacking in audiophile sound quality. I grew up when there were no CDs. When CDs came out I hated them and it took decades before I bought any digital gear. It's interesting because I did feel Highway to Hell had a sound similar in some ways to Led Zeppelin and II. Never looked into it though.

The main problem with vinyl these days is that the pressings are often poorly manufactured and noise filled