[KipFox]

I’ve owned the V281 and tested the Oor at CanJam show conditions. With that caveat..

I really liked both, and found them quite different.

The differences in these amps in general shows here as well.

The V281 is a distinctly warm amp. The Or is more dynamic and packs a big punch in a small package. If you prefer a warmer glow and a lush in presentation, go for the 281. If you prefer a decisive attack and a crisper presentation, go with the Oor.

Two great options here with two different flavors.

Appreciate the input. One side of me wants desktop space, the other has FOMO on that legendary V281 sound. Decisions decisions... Mostly using two warm leaning cans and the DS as my neutral set.

 

[skhan007]

Appreciate the input. One side of me wants desktop space, the other has FOMO on that legendary V281 sound. Decisions decisions... Mostly using two warm leaning cans and the DS as my neutral set.

Who are you kidding? You'll need to buy both.

 

[KipFox]

Who are you kidding? You'll need to buy both.

My wallet can’t survive this lol…

 

[Erick Muller]

The real question for me is the extra $500 worth it for someone who mains rap & edm, with some classic rock and metal. Not a big fan of classical although I do listen to some from time to time and like it- it's just not what i wake up wanting to hear first necessarily.

From reviews and reports I've been hearing, probably you will be better with the single sided version of Tungsten given the music you're listening to, which is also the reason that I also want the SS version.

 

[Erick Muller]

If you listen at 90 dB for a couple of hours on a low distortion system, you won't feel any pain. You'd probably even enjoy it. However, that doesn't mean your hearing is undamaged by the experience. Just because you don't feel pain in not an indicator.

Not unlike the frog in the warming pot thinking that this is just starting to feel great!

Yep, people say that in order to know if you're listening to loud to your music you can do two things without having to measure it with a device.

First, if you're enjoying to much your music, you're probably listening to it to loud
Second, stop the playback, don't move the volume pot, put your headphones down for like 30 seconds, put them back in and playback your music and then you will know if you're listening to loud or not for sure.

 

[cgarciah92]

From reviews and reports I've been hearing, probably you will be better with the single sided version of Tungsten given the music you're listening to, which is also the reason that I also want the SS version.

Yeah, that's why I went with the single sided as well, y'all can keep your 1% extra details and resolution, gimme that sweet warmth. Plus for a more honest answer I also demo'ed the Single Sided and already loved it and I can compartmentalize my FOMO for there being a "more advanced" version (or at least pretend to)

 

[invisiblekid]

From reviews and reports I've been hearing, probably you will be better with the single sided version of Tungsten given the music you're listening to, which is also the reason that I also want the SS version.

I’ve said before I’m not after a headphone collection where I need to swap them to get the best sound from two different tracks or artists. Maybe a couple of end game ones and a “different” soundIng set.

I’m now almost onboard to get both at some point, but still fancy going left field for another open set. But I just fancy rewarding Ryan for his work

 

[Erick Muller]

Were you able to determine whether that mediocrity was being produced by the tungsten itself or by some weak link in the chain that was driving it, say the amp, for example? I ask because it is now well known that the Tungsten cannot shine if it is not properly driven.

If it was the BI Aries, that thing has a bunch of knobs that modified the sound in very significant and different ways, also a tube DAC/AMP like most of Black Ice offerings, so maybe it was the settings that the Aries was set at.

 

[Erick Muller]

Also does anyone know if planar like Tungsten can have an inductance curve similar to dynamics?
Likewise, is it possible that amp output resistance can magnify the voltage needs if the above is or isnt true?

Generally speaking, no, most planars have a flat response curve, but I could be wrong.

 

[Erick Muller]

I would like to share why I am not going to order the Tungstens after months of personally being hyped and wanting to own them. The key reason is that I cannot hear them at a dealer in Europe to see if they are worth buying.

The background for changing my mind:
I am listening to metal and rock music and have been on the hobby for about 5 years.
I went to an auditioning event at a local shop and heard a wide range of HPs- some I have heard before, but overall this was a more extensive experience at good listening conditions. Coming from LCD-X and Audio-GD D28.38, I expected to hear significant improvements from flagship models. I did not… This makes me both happy as I do not have to break the bank and disappointed at the same time, as it feels like it will be some time until I find something else worth buying, while I actually really want that.

Susvara was mediocre out of Viva Egoista 845. Tried it out of Violectric V590. Sounded similar. It drove it without issues and I listened around 1-2 o’clock. Cannot understand why it costs so much.

Preferred LCD-3 way more out of V590.
LCD-3 sounded better on Trafomatic Head 2. 20% more texture, bass, lush mids and soundstage.
Empyrean 2 sounded way better than Susvara out of V590. Empyrean 2 sounded about 10% better in most aspects compared to LCD-3, perhaps without mids. Not sure whether I prefer Empyrean 2 or LCD3 overall.
LCD-3 was just a notch better than my LCD-X out of Trafomatic Head 2.
LCD-X had no meaningful difference out of Audio-GD, Trafomatic Head 2 or Feliks Euforia.
Empyrean 2 had about 20% more detail, especially in the highs out of Nimbus in comparison to V590.
Empyrean 2 sounded a bit better overall than Elite- 10% or so.
Final D8000 Pro out of Nimbus was interesting in the mids, but not impressive overall and lacking clarity in bass.
HE1000se was slightly under Empyrean 2 across the board, about 10%.
MM-500 sounded similar to LCD-X with a bit annoying peak around 3k in comparison.
LCD-2 was clearly lower end compared to the other LCDs mentioned here- 25% or so.
LCD-5 was clearly faster than LCD-X, but I disliked everything else about it.
Focal Utopia (previous version) - I preferred it less than LCD-X / LCD-3.
DAVE and rest of the insanely priced DACs did not offer anything I could hear in comparison to Audio-GD D28.38 or NFB11.38.

Corina and CNBR were my first electrostats experience. They were very boring sounding in comparison with all headphones above.

I will not spend money on anything currently available that I have heard, because compared to what I already have, all this gear provides very little difference that I can hear to my music preference even when recordings are done very well. I have still not heard a lot, e.g Abyss, Stax and ZMF. I remain hopeful that Tungsten will change my perspective, by providing new and significantly better experience and I look forward to trying it in the local market.

Hope this helps others. My recommendation is to try and decide for yourselves before buying.

Happy listening.

Given that you have a lot of experience with Audeze offerings, and I asked because I've been very interested for sometime now in getting an LCD-X, would you say that the jump in SQ it's significant enough in order to call it a true upgrade in comparison to my LCD2C's that I currently own?

 

[Erick Muller]

Even if you are lucky enough to get in the queue within that one-minute window (feels like lottery), the waiting time will be at least 4 months. I don't know, if there will be any chance to purchase some Tungstens at CanJams, but I am not in a rush. Probably in the last quarter of the year the queue will start to get shorter and perhaps a few second-hand units will start to appear in classifieds.

The Charybdis is interesting, but the 700g+ weight puts me off. Immanis seems very promising too, finally some ribbons in a decent wrapping. Hopefully the price won't be too insane.

Tbh, I think we're going to have to wait till next year for things to get less hectic with this whole turbo speed run to have chance to buy this headphones every month.

 

[Erick Muller]

Sold out in about 2 minutes. I had one in my cart just to see if I could get in, but then deleted. I'll get in later this year. Congrats to those that got on the list today!

Well, on the bright side this time the sale lasted about the double the time compare to last time, so things are getting slightly better.

 

[betula]

Well, on the bright side this time the sale lasted about the double the time compare to last time, so things are getting slightly better.

See, it is already slowing down.

 

[Erick Muller]

See, it is already slowing down.

Honestly, at this point, I'm probably going to wait until I can buy the Tungsten SS from ModHouse in the same way that the T60RP Argon's are, that you can place your order at any time, tho I might be waiting for a couple of years.

 

[Dixter]

one more youtuber ...