MrSpeakers Alpha PRIME: Impressions and Discussion Thread

[mikemercer]

  I found that messing around with dots and treats in the Alpha Prime made things worse not better.  I prefer the tuning that MrSpeakers created prior to shipping.  Nearly perfect response across the audible spectrum to these ears.

Yeah I love the Prime minus treats or anything too.
But the dots just seemed interesting.
 
Though I agree w/ the old philosophy:
 
If it ain't broke - don't fix it! 

 

[john57]

  I found that messing around with dots and treats in the Alpha Prime made things worse not better.  I prefer the tuning that MrSpeakers created prior to shipping.  Nearly perfect response across the audible spectrum to these ears.

All of our ears are unique. Like I said before the first attempt I tried just made things worst. I like my current results better and have not mess with it more for the different combinations I have not tried. I go to enough  concerts to know what various instruments should sound like in the recordings. Even them each location I go to is unique.  I have made my own interconnect cables using Canare Star-Quad Cable which is a very reliable cable to use in the field.  Mogami is another brand that I sometimes use.  When Peter comes out with the guide I will treat it as a guide not the absolute truth. Some of the mainstream headphones cables that comes as standard are quite poor in quality.    

 

[Ableza]

  All of our ears are unique....    

Ignoring damage and dysfunction, the truth actually is that all of our ears and auditory systems are pretty much the same: it's just our personal interpretations of what we hear that tends toward being unique. 

 

 

[mrspeakers]

Hi everyone!  Here's the first pass at the tuning guide (this works for Alpha Prime and Alpha Dog).  Big thanks to Peter for jumping in to do all the hard work to organize and pull this off. 
 
Feedback is welcome so we can improve it.
 
 

 

[SuperU]

  Hi everyone!  Here's the first pass at the tuning guide (this works for Alpha Prime and Alpha Dog).  Big thanks to Peter for jumping in to do all the hard work to organize and pull this off. 
 
Feedback is welcome so we can improve it.
 
 

Does this work with the Alpha Dog Pro too?

 

[mrspeakers]

  Does this work with the Alpha Dog Pro too?

 
The same principles apply.  The measurements are of course different...

 

[craigp]

Thanks so much for doing this Dan and Peter!
 
I have a couple of very basic questions (quite possibly me being a bit tired tonight!):
 
- Is each illustrated configuration meant to represent the left ear piece? (I'm basing this on the fact that my left ear piece looks like the first configuration)
 
- How does this apply on the opposite ear?  i.e. if a dot is on the corner nearest your face on your left ear should it be the mirror image on the right ear? (so the dot is also nearest your face on both sides)
 
Sorry if I'm being terribly dim.  Loving the Primes btw and this concept makes them even better!!

 

[john57]

It seems that in my case the factory tuning was configuration 7 and I felt I was missing a bit and the graph shows a drop at 4k.The configuration I ended up was configuration 36 which does seems a bit peaky at 8.5k on the graph but liked the overall sound better than 7. For me config 36 also gives great detail overall. The configuration I did not like, two bottom left corners is not shown here. The graphs shows small changes but my ears are hearing much larger changes than the graph indicates.  

 

[SuperU]

   
The same principles apply.  The measurements are of course different...

Great - thank you. I really appreciate all the work you guys did to get this to us.

 

[mrspeakers]

  Thanks so much for doing this Dan and Peter!
 
I have a couple of very basic questions (quite possibly me being a bit tired tonight!):
 
- Is each illustrated configuration meant to represent the left ear piece? (I'm basing this on the fact that my left ear piece looks like the first configuration)
 
- How does this apply on the opposite ear?  i.e. if a dot is on the corner nearest your face on your left ear should it be the mirror image on the right ear? (so the dot is also nearest your face on both sides)
 
Sorry if I'm being terribly dim.  Loving the Primes btw and this concept makes them even better!!

Good question.  The image shown is left.  Right is mirror image such that if it's in the front corner on the left it's also front corner on the right.

 

[adpo]

Thanks so much for the guide! I got to testing out different configurations immediately after getting home from work and ended up going with #35; there's just something about the treble at that setting that tickles my ears in just the right way 

 

 

[craigp]

That Dan's a clever chap you know! 

 
31 is the clear winner for my preferences although I only tried 31-36 as I knew I wanted a slight top end lift.
 
I couldn't be happier with my Primes.  Even my beloved HD800s only rarely gets a look in these days.  Most importantly I've finally stopped looking for other headphones and you can't put a price on that! (well, technically you can but you know what I mean

)
 
I'm getting a Burson Soloist SL and an Icon Audio HP8 MKII (upgraded) later this week.  Hopefully these will match well as I'm delighted with the sound coming directly from my Audiolab M-DAC already. 

 

 

[Kyle 491]

Speaking as an M-DAC owner who also has the HD800's, I'm not surprised that you prefer the Alpha Primes over the HD800. The M-DAC is awful match for the HD800's, both as a DAC and an amp. The amp simply does not have enough gain with the HD800, and the SABRE treble unnaturalness and hash is very evident on the HD800. The M-DAC upper mids and treble lack refinement and its simply too bright and edgy; a fatal combination for the HD800 which ruthlessly reveal all treble harshness and then some. I've tested the M-DAC with the Schitt Ragnarok on an unmodded pair of the HD800, the Ragnarok was transparent enough to to make it clear that I will never use a SABRE-based DAC with the HD800 unless heavy modding and dark, rolled off tube amps are involved.

 

[craigp]

In honesty I still love, and in fact prefer, the HD800 for classical/brass music.  It's truly the closest to "being there" I have ever heard.  For most other music though the HD800 does feel slightly anemic and the Primes become my favorite by some margin - a more 'complete' sound.  Not sure if that's lack of gain or sound signature or both.  That said I wouldn't describe the HD800 and M-DAC as an awful match depending on what you're listening to.
 
I'll let you know when I get the Icon - my first ever listen to a valve amp.  I've seen a number of people praising this amp with both the Primes and the HD800 so fingers crossed.
 
PS This isn't to say that the Primes are in any way bad for classical - in fact they are excellent.  Just that for my personal preference the HD800 is slightly better.
 
EDIT: Since making the dots change earlier today I've had a good listen and am still delighted with the sound.  The enhanced top end has, for me, also improved classical music (clearer, more open, more natural).  At this rate my HD800 may become redundant 

 

 

[mrspeakers]

Hey, thank you guys for trying this.  I've been remiss not getting it out sooner.  For those who try I hope this is really rewarding, or at least interesting.  Of course I'm biased, but I really think this is fun, like tube rolling.  I'm glad some of you are finding personal sweet spots!