[dude120]

What you see on right now on them is the copper grill.

I also have three sets of wooden grills on standby - padauk, cedar, and mahogany - which I will try later on (both for esthetics, but also to see whether/what impact there is on the sound):

Ah, thanks ! i hadnt yet seen a picture of the mahogany. I think Im partial to the padauk or the cedar, but its nice to have options!

interesting, so we can order multiple them? I just may do that.

 

[goldwerger]

Ah, thanks ! i hadnt yet seen a picture of the mahogany. I think Im partial to the padauk or the cedar, but its nice to have options!

interesting, so we can order multiple them? I just may do that.

I think he has a big array of options on that. Only few in stock, but probably can order any of those with various lead times. But I’ll let Ryan comment on that when it’s publicly released as I’m not entirely sure how that would go. But I’d imagine rather simply.

 

[streaml1ne]

I wonder how the Tungsten would do with the new Mjolnir 3. Anybody happen to have this amp and a Tungsten (or possible one of each on the way)?

Ryan has my MJ3 now, I sent it directly to him from Schiit, and he's been using it for almost a week now. All positive so far. I'll let him opine further when he's ready.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

Ryan has my MJ3 now, I sent it directly to him from Schiit, and he's been using it for almost a week now. All positive so far. I'll let him opine further when he's ready.

That's encouraging to hear! If you don't mind chiming in, what do you think so far @Tulon?

 

[goldwerger]

I wanted to drop some quick impressions on the double-sided Tungsten after 2 days of listening.

First, these headphones are wonderful. I mean, really great. @Tulon - you have achieved something remarkable with these headphones. Really, well done!

Second, these headphones remind me mostly of a massively upgraded LCD-4. Similarly, silky smooth. Except these are not dark but very well balanced tonally. This is what an LCD-5 might've sounded like if it where a continuation of the previous product line and a big ugprade to the -4 (rather than going in a new direction).

Third, these headphones are extremely amp picky, and highly impacted by amp choice. Yes, naturally a very powerful amp is required and assumed. But my preconceptions of what would sound good and why have all been proven wrong so far. I'm finding that there's a lot of discovery to be made here. I have never had headphones which presentation (the character of how sound) was so impacted by the amp they were paired with. For me, this is a blessing, as I love playing around with amps. I'll be spending time thinking through (and perhaps researching a bit) what is the connecting thread between the amps I prefer to hopefully make this useful for others who may be using other amps.

At the moment, my preference of amps for the Tungsten are, in order:

1. Aegis - this amp was born to drive these headphones. Synergy here is sublime. The rich, creamy, and silky sound of the Tungsten, paired with the refined, airy, and wide soundstage of the Aegis result in exquisite synergy (anecdotally, I had the same take on the LCD-4, another high impedance planar, with the Aegis; which makes me think there is more than a coincidence here; TBD) [tubes used: Mullard EL37 outputs, Tung-Sol 6SU7GTY inputs, Philips GZ34 rectifier]
2. V281 - so far the best SS option I tested. There's something very enjoyable about how this amp controls the drivers with a real bite and thickness in bass, coupled with some reverb that offers sense of space simultaneously.
3. GOTL - yea, an OTL for 78 db/mw headphones. But high impedance. So I was curious and did what I like to do: stick stuff om and see what happens.. The GOTL is a very powerful OTL (have no clue about specs) and has a real "grunt". The Tungsten clearly benefit from a lot of voltage, and the GOTL can keep up with it, with headroom [tubes used: Sylvania 7236 outputs, Brimar 13D1 input, Raytheon 5CU4 rectifier]

I found it interesting that there was no correlation between what drives Susvara and the Tungsten best. My powerful speaker amp (Moon 330A), which is my first choice for the Susvara, sounded anemic with the Tungsten. The CFA-3 sounded great, but not as good as the V281 (more about synergy than power in this case). The Auris Nirvana (very powerful EL34 amp, and more powerful than the Aegis) is excellent with the Susvara but was too thick and lacked speed and air with the Tungsten.

And, to make sure I don't mislead anyone, a typical OTL is unlikely to work here (the GOTL is a bit of a unique creature). The Decware/ZMF OTL (my favorite OTL these days - see my review) couldn't generate a listenable volume with the Tungsten. So one would need an OTL with unusual power ouf o the output tube plates.

I haven't yet figured out what is the common thread for the above, and what can be learned from this (linearity vs. sag of voltage supply?), but as I work through thinking and finding this out (or learning more about it), I wanted to share my first impressions in case it may be helpful to anyone.

 

[ScornDefeat]

At the moment, my preference of amps for the Tungsten are, in order:

1. Aegis - this amp was born to drive these headphones. Synergy here is sublime. The rich, creamy, and silky sound of the Tungsten, paired with the refined, airy, and wide soundstage of the Aegis result in exquisite synergy (anecdotally, I had the same take on the LCD-4, another high impedance planar, with the Aegis; which makes me think there is more than a coincidence here; TBD) [tubes used: Mullard EL37 outputs, Tung-Sol 6SU7GTY inputs, Philips GZ34 rectifier]

Thank you for this impression; this is what I came for, and very happy to see this works out as well as I'd hope!

When my Lundahl gear drops next month and my Aegis is complete, I'll need a Tungsten to pair with it.

 

[K3cT]

@goldwerger Great first impressions! Do you think they're more neutral than Caldera?

 

[goldwerger]

When my Lundahl gear drops next month and my Aegis is complete, I'll need a Tungsten to pair with it.

Definitely

@goldwerger Great first impressions! Do you think they're more neutral than Caldera?

I have avoided making any comparisons yet on purpose as I'm letting my ears get accustomed to the Tungsten and getting to know it. I'll start making direct comparisons in a couple of weeks or so... but of the cuff (and, on purpose, from memory) I'd say that (strictly presentation wise; ignoring technicalities for now), the Caldera is more energetic and physical while the Tungsten is more gentle and smooth. They are both warm headphones, but not in lacking any treble extension just in character. More to come, trying to not prematuring make comparisons. My inputs here may vary greatly when I get to actual comparisons... grain of salt and all

 

[wenbinbin2010]

GOTL - yea, an OTL for 78 db/mw headphones. But high impedance. So I was curious and did what I like to do: stick stuff om and see what happens.. The GOTL is a very powerful OTL (have no clue about specs) and has a real "grunt". The Tungsten clearly benefit from a lot of voltage, and the GOTL can keep up with it, with headroom

This makes me regret selling my GOTL a couple years back...but alas, very satisfied with my current setup regardless.

I haven't yet figured out what is the common thread for the above, and what can be learned from this (linearity vs. sag of voltage supply?), but as I work through thinking and finding this out (or learning more about it), I wanted to share my first impressions in case it may be helpful to anyone.

Looking forward to any insight as more testing and experimenting takes place! I think this makes me pause before jumping straight for the Tungsten without a proper demo on my current equipment. I would hate to have optimized my setup for the Susvara and ZMF dynamics, then only to find out that the Tungsten doesn't play well on any of my amps.

 

[goldwerger]

This makes me regret selling my GOTL a couple years back...but alas, very satisfied with my current setup regardless.



Looking forward to any insight as more testing and experimenting takes place! I think this makes me pause before jumping straight for the Tungsten without a proper demo on my current equipment. I would hate to have optimized my setup for the Susvara and ZMF dynamics, then only to find out that the Tungsten doesn't play well on any of my amps.

I think the key may be in having very high voltage supply. I’m checking with L0rdGwyn on the Aegis circuit design to confirm my hypothesis (definitely the case with the V281)

 

[mattiastomas]

I have avoided making any comparisons yet on purpose as I'm letting my ears get accustomed to the Tungsten and getting to know it. I'll start making direct comparisons in a couple of weeks or so... but of the cuff (and, on purpose, from memory) I'd say that (strictly presentation wise; ignoring technicalities for now), the Caldera is more energetic and physical while the Tungsten is more gentle and smooth. They are both warm headphones, but not in lacking any treble extension just in character. More to come, trying to not prematuring make comparisons. My inputs here may vary greatly when I get to actual comparisons... grain of salt and all

Oh no. I regret stumbling into this thread . Was all set on getting a Caldera but now it might be a Tungsten instead? Or maybe in addition to a Caldera? I do have an Aegis so glad to hear it drives the Tungsten wonderfully

 

[betula]

Oh no. I regret stumbling into this thread . Was all set on getting a Caldera but now it might be a Tungsten instead? Or maybe in addition to a Caldera? I do have an Aegis so glad to hear it drives the Tungsten wonderfully

It more and more seems like the Tungsten will need some rather significant amping. The Caldera is a lot easier to run. Also, even from my very brief encounter with the Tungsten it was clear that these two headphones are vastly different in presentation. The Tungsten felt super airy, natural with big soundstage but also more rounded, a bit softer. Caldera is super focused, punchy, energetic. I don't really think they will be competition to each other as they are too different. Perhaps they could rather complement each other in someone's collection.

 

[goldwerger]

Oh no. I regret stumbling into this thread . Was all set on getting a Caldera but now it might be a Tungsten instead? Or maybe in addition to a Caldera? I do have an Aegis so glad to hear it drives the Tungsten wonderfully

Welcome

Not instead of, no. Definitely in addition to the Caldera though.. my first impressions directionally concur with below:

The Tungsten felt super airy, natural with big soundstage but also more rounded, a bit softer. Caldera is super focused, punchy, energetic. I don't really think they will be competition to each other as they are too different. Perhaps they could rather complement each other in someone's collection.

Re this:

It more and more seems like the Tungsten will need some rather significant amping.

Wanted to wait more before giving more input here while I’m researching this. But will share some TBC hypothesis I’m working through: my growing impression is that these headphones need and scale dramatically with voltage. I dig into the V281 specs, and they really unusual for a solid state amp. Those normally have a certain voltage supply and yhe power declines (more or less linearly, sometime in other proportions) as load impedance increases. However, the v281 output voltage actually increased with higher impedance loads. At the double-magnet version near 150 ohm load, the V281 supplies a ridiculously high 25V.

I’m chatting with LordGwyn offline to understand more about the Aegis circuit design and see if that amp does something similar (since it also drives, to my ears, another high impedance planar, the LCD-4, uniquely well). So it seems more than a coincidence.

So, I think the Tungsten isn’t harder to drive than the Susvara, it’s just needs something different to drive. Some lower voltage / higher current amps that drive the Susvara won’t be as good for the Tungsten, and vice versa (trying to plug the Susvara or Caldera into the GOTL won’t work, but it will drive the Tungsten). There is a van diagram of amps that should be able to drive all, and not all would be exotic or expensive. Simply, we need to learn to understand the reason for the synergies where the Tungsten sounds gre (just like when one uses high impedance dynamic headphones with OTLs).

I’m excited about a headphone with a unique profile. I don’t think these will go head-to-head with current TOTL planars. Susvara and Caldera are very different from each other, and the Tungsten is different from those two betond. A new set of great headphones with a unique presentation that will help serve even more audiences (and give many of us obsessed ones a chance to expand our irrational collections).

 

[betula]

Welcome

Not instead of, no. Definitely in addition to the Caldera though.. my first impressions directionally concur with below:


Re this:


Wanted to wait more before giving more input here while I’m researching this. But will share some TBC hypothesis I’m working through: my growing impression is that these headphones need and scale dramatically with voltage. I dig into the V281 specs, and they really unusual for a solid state amp. Those normally have a certain voltage supply and yhe power declines (more or less linearly, sometime in other proportions) as load impedance increases. However, the v281 output voltage actually increased with higher impedance loads. At the double-magnet version near 150 ohm load, the V281 supplies a ridiculously high 25V.

I’m chatting with LordGwyn offline to understand more about the Aegis circuit design and see if that amp does something similar (since it also drives, to my ears, another high impedance planar, the LCD-4, uniquely well). So it seems more than a coincidence.

So, I think the Tungsten isn’t harder to drive than the Susvara, it’s just needs something different to drive. Some lower voltage / higher current amps that drive the Susvara won’t be as good for the Tungsten, and vice versa (trying to plug the Susvara or Caldera into the GOTL won’t work, but it will drive the Tungsten). There is a van diagram of amps that should be able to drive all, and not all would be exotic or expensive. Simply, we need to learn to understand the reason for the synergies where the Tungsten sounds gre (just like when one uses high impedance dynamic headphones with OTLs).

I’m excited about a headphone with a unique profile. I don’t think these will go head-to-head with current TOTL planars. Susvara and Caldera are very different from each other, and the Tungsten is different from those two betond. A new set of great headphones with a unique presentation that will help serve even more audiences (and give many of us obsessed ones a chance to expand our irrational collections).

That is interesting and I am interested to read more of your findings as and when you get there. This sounds like though, finding the right amp pairing for the Tungsten can be a bit of a work which might limit sales potential.

 

[dbull12]

It more and more seems like the Tungsten will need some rather significant amping. The Caldera is a lot easier to run. Also, even from my very brief encounter with the Tungsten it was clear that these two headphones are vastly different in presentation. The Tungsten felt super airy, natural with big soundstage but also more rounded, a bit softer. Caldera is super focused, punchy, energetic. I don't really think they will be competition to each other as they are too different. Perhaps they could rather complement each other in someone's collection.

Do you happen to have any insight about Tungsten compared to Elite? Maybe this is a more fitting comparison since from what I've heard about them they both seem more laid back than the more forward and energetic Caldera?