TheMiddleSky
Headphoneus Supremus
Hey everyone! I've been reading through this thread and I appreciate all the various responses you all have provided. My question for those of you who still own the Elite is how far behind are they in terms of technicalities compared to other TOTL cans?
I see so many conflicting opinions online (especially from YouTubers) on how these do not sound like $4,000 headphones, but reading this thread makes me question the accuracy of that opinion.
4K+ territory is pretty close to each other, I can't find a singe headphone in this price range that able to beat the others perfectly. Depend on which part of technicalities, one headphone may excel than the other.
The contenders are:
- LCD-5 at $4.5K: Pretty Midrange Forward, darker, less airy than Elite, with also much less bass body. Soundstage also felt very narrow when against Elite. LCD-5 wins in term of speed (due to faster decay), and slight better micro detail.
- Abyss Diana TC $4K: Very clean and transparent headphone, solid impact, driver is so agile, however, once again, soundstage feel narrow. Diana's Vocal is drier and less body presence than Elite though. Overall Diana is a more analytic headphone compared to more "emotive sound" of Elite.
- Susvara $6K: Great soundstage image, bright and airy, with sweet vocal, however, come with soft impact/bite in sound that make each percussion notes seems lack of "real weight". Susvara is a little more detail than Elite, but also the presentation is brighter (push more treble) than Elite. Elite is comparable in depth presentation (less width though), and Elite able to deliver solidness in impact/bite that better than Susvara. Both headphone come with sweet midrange, but Susvara may lack of weight in Vocal for some male voices, while Elite always fine to whatever songs with vocal.
- Abyss 1266 TC $6K: Crazy sub bass presentation, deliver subwoofer feeling nicely. Solid and dense for every impact notes, also come with spacious soundstage. Not perfect though, this is a very intense headphone, a mild V-Shape signature, drier vocal, and treble also a bit easier to harsh, make Elite sound sweet and polite in good way. Elite will not "attack" my ears harshly like 1266 TC. Easier to get fatigue when listen to 1266 TC. Elite is more liquid and smoother headphone. Dare I say very hard to compare these 2 headphones, they are complement each other.
- RAAL SR1A: Kind of bright, airy, very agile, and a bit aggressive signature. Soundstage has good air (as expected), but bass a bit lack in weight. Elite is sweeter, fuller, and again, more liquid smooth compare to RAAL. Once again, so hard to compared them as character is so different.
I can't wait till ZMF Caldera appear to compare it. Frankly speaking I have doubt it would able to touch Elite, but who knows, Zach's work always done nicely.