MrSpeakers ETHER C Review / Announcement - A New Closed-Back Planar Magnetic Flagship from MrSpeakers
Nov 5, 2015 at 10:58 AM Post #1,126 of 4,813
After much reading on the sidelines, I'm about to pull the trigger on the Ether-C's. I think they're exactly what I'm looking for in an end-game headphone that I can use anywhere. I'm usually portable (live in a condo so no room for a DAC / Amp stack), so will be driving these off my Centrance HiFi-M8.
 
I was originally turned off getting the DUM cable given stiffness of the cable, but now that the latest reports say there's a new and improved DUM cable with better flexibility / less stiffness in the cable, I think I'm going DUM :p w/ XL4
 
Looking forward to joining the club!
 
Nov 5, 2015 at 11:14 AM Post #1,127 of 4,813
Comments like "thin and congested," terms with no certain meaning to anyone other than the person using the term, just reinforces the fact that users react to sound subjectively and based on their own perceptual biases.  It's just the way this industry works.  One person's "thin" is another person's "full" and the only way to know if you like something or not is to try it.  To me Ether-C sounds nearly perfect. 
basshead.gif

 
Nov 5, 2015 at 11:55 AM Post #1,128 of 4,813
  Comments like "thin and congested," terms with no certain meaning to anyone other than the person using the term, just reinforces the fact that users react to sound subjectively and based on their own perceptual biases.  It's just the way this industry works.  One person's "thin" is another person's "full" and the only way to know if you like something or not is to try it.  To me Ether-C sounds nearly perfect. 
basshead.gif

Exactly. There is no substitute for trying it yourself. I have often had no option to buying something without auditioning. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes not. Someone else's assessment may not match mine. Case in point, the previous comments regarding the LCD-XC. I owned these for quite some time, and I also listen to a lot of rock. Personally I found the LCD-XC's mids to be overblown (and a little fatiguing), and I happily sold mine when I bought my Primes, which are much more neutral to my tastes.
 
Nov 5, 2015 at 1:42 PM Post #1,131 of 4,813
   
Not good. [with crack]

 
Have you actually tried it, or are you speculating because of the high impedance of the crack?
 
@musicman59 suggests using a high impedance amp. "I found that even that normally planar magnetic headphones have low impedance the sound better out of the high impedance output on my WA5-LE."
 
Thanks.
 
Nov 5, 2015 at 7:26 PM Post #1,133 of 4,813
I am giving the ETHER-C's a few days of additional burn-in using Dan's instructions. After that I'll try again. I've never noticed a SQ difference in the Woo impedance outputs for any headphone. Very high-impedance or very current-hungry headphones might be starved of voltage or current depending on the output, of course...
 
Nov 6, 2015 at 6:40 AM Post #1,135 of 4,813
I listen primarily to rock and metal, and I agree that you absolutely must nail the midrange (particularly in texture and tone) for guitars to sound right. In my admittedly brief listens at the Music City Meet, I thought the Ether C that Dan had did a pretty exceptional job with that, as a poor, unresolving, or tonally inaccurate midrange is a total nonstarter for me too (see also: HD800). I should have my own pair in by the end of the day today (boom!), so hopefully I'll have more info on this by the end of the weekend. Also, I'm assuming the pair Dan brought to the meet were fully broken-in, as he's mentioned the importance of that for these headphones a few times, so that might also be a contributing factor to the thinness Stereolab42 mentioned. 
 
Anyway, I'm going to the Tennessee-South Carolina game on Saturday, and that means I won't really get to listen to the C's until Sunday... I don't often look forward to Sundays, but this will pretty definitively change my opinion on this next one!
 
Nov 6, 2015 at 10:30 AM Post #1,137 of 4,813
I forgot to ask about this. What would the optimal power consumption (in Watt) be to get the most performance out of the Ether C? 35mW to 40mW? 


What do you mean by "most performance"?
 
Nov 6, 2015 at 2:49 PM Post #1,138 of 4,813
What do you mean by "most performance"?

 
Typically the ideal sound from a headphone would be obtained by supplying a certain amount of power to the headphones. Too little and you don't get the full sound/musical experience that it can produce. Too much and it may may distort the sound/musical experience ever so slightly or just remain at its peak performance (conditional on the type of headphones).
 
Thus, there has to be a value of power to which they perform "optimally". I suppose it is difficult to judge seeing that it depends on one's preference to some standard but typically most electronics have an ideal power requirement required for its operation.
 
This is just my thoughts on the matter, hence my awkward question. Hope this helps clear it up a little bit.
 
Nov 6, 2015 at 6:06 PM Post #1,139 of 4,813
   
Typically the ideal sound from a headphone would be obtained by supplying a certain amount of power to the headphones. Too little and you don't get the full sound/musical experience that it can produce. Too much and it may may distort the sound/musical experience ever so slightly or just remain at its peak performance (conditional on the type of headphones).
 
Thus, there has to be a value of power to which they perform "optimally". I suppose it is difficult to judge seeing that it depends on one's preference to some standard but typically most electronics have an ideal power requirement required for its operation.
 
This is just my thoughts on the matter, hence my awkward question. Hope this helps clear it up a little bit.

 
Sorry, I am finding your terminology a little vague. Headphones tend to produce more distortion at higher SPLs so it terms of fidelity, the lower the signal, the better. I think the only meaningful measure if how much power is required to drive the headphones to the loudest comfortable listening volume, because that's the volume you will end up using, regardless of technical performance such as THD.
 
Nov 6, 2015 at 8:06 PM Post #1,140 of 4,813
Ok.... Man alive..... My ETHER C is sitting in the post office distribution center waiting until Monday to be put on the delivery truck (can't pick it up).

Hahaha, I feel like this knowing it's so close yet so far........ Must. Contain. Excitement.


 

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