[mrspeakers]

 
What Volume Level is good for a burn in, normal listening levels I suppose? As it stands now I am happy with the Ether Cs even with the neutral bass, since resolution and dimensionality is awesome. Changed the white pas to the 2 black ones, lost too much of detail with the white one.
 
I like the organic sound of the planars vs Dynamic Headphones so far. There is no going back now I suppose. Or maybe its all immagination, who knows. ;D

The louder the level the faster the burn in.  We generally suggest using music, at at least 90dB (you can get an SPL app for free for your smartphone), bass heavy music works best.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Can someone explain what "good dynamics" mean? I thought "dynamic" refers to the driver's ability to play very quite and very loud parts of the music equally well. 

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

 
What Volume Level is good for a burn in, normal listening levels I suppose? As it stands now I am happy with the Ether Cs even with the neutral bass, since resolution and dimensionality is awesome. Changed the white pas to the 2 black ones, lost too much of detail with the white one.
 
I like the organic sound of the planars vs Dynamic Headphones so far. There is no going back now I suppose. Or maybe its all immagination, who knows. ;D

The louder the level the faster the burn in.  We generally suggest using music, at at least 90dB (you can get an SPL app for free for your smartphone), bass heavy music works best.

 
Let's say I burned in at a lower volume. Will that have an adverse affect on the cans? Or will the cans continue to "burn it" if played at lower levels until some optimal burn-in is reached?

 

[mrspeakers]

No adverse affect at all, it just takes a little longer to settle in.

 

[nnotis]

is this the 1.1. version - or do I have to order the 1.1?

As someone planning on ordering a pair soon, I'll second this question. Also, can anyone tell me if each pair comes with a frequency response measurement? I EQ my headphones as close to neutral as possible. Seeing the peaks and valleys makes the task vastly less difficult. That's not to say the default response isn't already pretty good. Those posted by Dan look excellent. But no headphone is too perfect to be improved by EQ.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Good dynamics: The ability to engage the sound with speed, impact, coherence, and musicality. Bad dynamics would be sluggish sound, flat, boring, lifeless sounds, or too analytical, etc.

At least that's what it is for me.

 

[goldendarko]

  Can someone explain what "good dynamics" mean? I thought "dynamic" refers to the driver's ability to play very quite and very loud parts of the music equally well. 

Basically it has to do with relative loudness, so well recorded music can sound soft or loud depending on how well your system reproduces the dynamics of the original recording. Newer music has Dynamic Range Compression so that everything basically sounds the same level which can make a song stand out more on the radio, but for long term listening can be difficult to listen too. 
 
For example good dynamics would be a piano sounding soft in a recording while the guitar would sound more muscular or louder. Newer recordings just make everything sound the same level which IMO is mighty annoying. Check out the Dynamic Range Database online to see what the DR Value is for a particular recording (higher is better, and for me generally anything over 10 is very good)

 

[parkman]

Dynamic is change. So good dynamics means coherence through changes, such as quiet to loud, loud to quiet. A lot of where impulse response becomes important, which is the sound which is present in the recording, then after the signal is gone, dissipates. The quicker it can do that, usually the greater perception of dynamics.

Dynamic range is a separate issue.

(At least that's how it works for speakers, I assume headphones function in similar fashion, after all they're like mini speakers. But Dan feel free to tell me if I'm way off here lol)

 

[mrspeakers]

As someone planning on ordering a pair soon, I'll second this question. Also, can anyone tell me if each pair comes with a frequency response measurement? I EQ my headphones as close to neutral as possible. Seeing the peaks and valleys makes the task vastly less difficult. That's not to say the default response isn't already pretty good. Those posted by Dan look excellent. But no headphone is too perfect to be improved by EQ.

Most of the dealers who have stock are getting the parts to upgrade inventory, but there's no promise.  Worst case it's $10+ shipping domestically.  
 
We don't publish frequency response graphs for each headphone.   

 

[goldendarko]

Dynamic is change. So good dynamics means coherence through changes, such as quiet to loud, loud to quiet. A lot of where impulse response becomes important, which is the sound which is present in the recording, then after the signal is gone, dissipates. The quicker it can do that, usually the greater perception of dynamics.

Dynamic range is a separate issue.

(At least that's how it works for speakers, I assume headphones function in similar fashion, after all they're like mini speakers. But Dan feel free to tell me if I'm way off here lol)

From Wikipedia:

In music, dynamics are instructions in musical notation to the performer about hearing the loudness of a note or phrase.

Dynamic range is the difference between the smallest and largest usable signal through a transmission or processing chain or storage medium. It is measured as a ratio, or as a base-10 (decibel) or base-2 (doublings, bits or stops) logarithmic value.

 

 

[enthusiast]

What I mean with dynamics is the ability of the headphone to resolve changes in loudness of each single instrument on its own. I am not talking of EDM or your common pop song. 
 
Take the recording "Mythical and Angry by McCaleb and Edwards" (avail via Bandcamp), you will here the dynamics of the bass (the instrument) seperated from the dynamics of the brass. Meaning both will not only sound convincing and natural; but you will be able to hear them at different levels of loudness. Loudness of the band is changing asymetrically, like each musician on its own intended, or in this case, the arranger in the studio. It's a great recording, but I know that cheaper headphones and amp/dac combos for that matter will fail to reveal these shifts in loudness: I call them dynamics; and the Ether is obviously able to resolve them in greater detail than my previous headphones.

 

[parkman]

From Wikipedia:


[COLOR=252525]In [/COLOR]music
[COLOR=252525], [/COLOR][COLOR=252525]dynamics[/COLOR][COLOR=252525] are instructions in [/COLOR]musical notation
[COLOR=252525] to the performer about hearing the [/COLOR]loudness
[COLOR=252525] of a [/COLOR]note
[COLOR=252525] or [/COLOR]phrase
[COLOR=252525].[/COLOR]


Dynamic range is the difference between the smallest and largest usable signal through a transmission or processing chain or storage medium. It is measured as a ratio, or as a base-10 (decibel) or base-2 (doublings, bits or stops) logarithmic value.

 

The issue here is a bunch of headphones can easily play both the quietest tone and the loudest tone the average listener will be able to or want to hear without their ears ringing. So dynamic range is going to be more of an issue with recordings and compression rather than high end headphones.
Dynamics themselves, the transition from one note to another, to one frequency from another, from one volume to another, is where the impulse/transient response and such comes in.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Thanks for the lively and very informative discussion about dynamics and dynamic range. I have a much better understanding of the topic.
 
I also want to give yet another accolade to Dan from MeSpeakers. I've had some technical issues with a few orders, and Dan has been absolutely FANTASTIC in resolving each and everyone. I don't get to meets often as I live in the middle of fricken' nowhere, but when I do attend my next meet (probably in Denver), I will be featuring the Ether C.

 

[mrspeakers]

  Thanks for the lively and very informative discussion about dynamics and dynamic range. I have a much better understanding of the topic.
 
I also want to give yet another accolade to Dan from MeSpeakers. I've had some technical issues with a few orders, and Dan has been absolutely FANTASTIC is resolving each and everyone. I don't get to meets often as I live int he middle of fricken' nowhere, but when I do attend my next meet (probably in Denver), I will be featuring the Ether C.

What, we made a shipping error?  Not possible, in the last 30 minutes...
 
Our size has outgrown our store platform, we're looking at options to further improve the ordering and shipping experience, for our customers, and for us...  Thanks for the patience on the lost 1.1s last week (USPS did loose that stuff but I guess they found them as some people have received spares.  Sigh...)

 

[parkman]

I also want to second that, Dan has given me quick responses in handling questions and addressing issues, and it's much appreciated.