[LunaC]

 
We shipped them to everyone weeks ago, and a number of people shared their impressions...  
 

 
Very few have commented on an Ether C->Ether C Flow. Haven' t seen one freq response curve comparison on the two.  Many Ether -> Ether Flow comments and even EtherC-Ether Flow yes...

 

[bytor33]

I have a question for someone with more experience with planars than me.  I got the Ether C flows about 2 and a half months ago and have been pretty happy with them.  I had the Ether C's before and there was nice mid-bass increase with the flows that made hard rock and metal enjoyable without eq'ing or throwing a bunch of tuning pads in.

If anything, the bass was a bit bloated when I first got them but that leveled off after 20 hours or so.  It still retained a pretty decent mid bass hump though which was fine with me, but it never quite approached the air/soundstage of my original Ether C's.  I figured it was just a high frequency spike in the Ether C's that was giving it a more open/airy sound and a bit more detail in that range.

Now I never do any artificial burn in with my headphones, I just listen to them at normal volume while at work.  I estimate I probably have 150-200 hours on them and never noticed any major changes throughout that time aside from the first 20 hours or so.

The other day though I had it in my head that the right side sounded a bit louder than the left so I decided to try a test online to check the balance between the two.  I didn't realize the test sample was a frequency sweep though and had it a bit louder than I wanted.  It handled the frequency sweep really well though (some really deep bass starting at 10hz) and I didn't notice any distortion or anything.

Ever since that though I've noticed that they have seemed to really "open up".  No longer do I feel the Ether C had a bigger soundstage.  There is just more of everything except bass.  More air, treble, detail, etc. It even takes a click or two less on the Mojo for my normal listening volume with tracks I know well.

Is a change this drastic normal for planars or could I have done something to damage them with that frequency sweep?  I don't hear any distortion or anything but I'm just surprised at how much more detail and everything I'm hearing now.  And while it may seem like less bass, could that be just because it's tightened up now from fully breaking in?  Thank you for any insight into this!    

Edit: And I should add that the frequency sweep seems to have balanced out the drivers too, it doesn't sound a little balanced to the right like it did before.

 

[Skyyyeman]

I have a question for someone with more experience with planars than me.  I got the Ether C flows about 2 and a half months ago and have been pretty happy with them.  I had the Ether C's before and there was nice mid-bass increase with the flows that made hard rock and metal enjoyable without eq'ing or throwing a bunch of tuning pads in.

If anything, the bass was a bit bloated when I first got them but that leveled off after 20 hours or so.  It still retained a pretty decent mid bass hump though which was fine with me, but it never quite approached the air/soundstage of my original Ether C's.  I figured it was just a high frequency spike in the Ether C's that was giving it a more open/airy sound and a bit more detail in that range.

Now I never do any artificial burn in with my headphones, I just listen to them at normal volume while at work.  I estimate I probably have 150-200 hours on them and never noticed any major changes throughout that time aside from the first 20 hours or so.

The other day though I had it in my head that the right side sounded a bit louder than the left so I decided to try a test online to check the balance between the two.  I didn't realize the test sample was a frequency sweep though and had it a bit louder than I wanted.  It handled the frequency sweep really well though (some really deep bass starting at 10hz) and I didn't notice any distortion or anything.

Ever since that though I've noticed that they have seemed to really "open up".  No longer do I feel the Ether C had a bigger soundstage.  There is just more of everything except bass.  More air, treble, detail, etc. It even takes a click or two less on the Mojo for my normal listening volume with tracks I know well.

Is a change this drastic normal for planars or could I have done something to damage them with that frequency sweep?  I don't hear any distortion or anything but I'm just surprised at how much more detail and everything I'm hearing now.  And while it may seem like less bass, could that be just because it's tightened up now from fully breaking in?  Thank you for any insight into this!    

Edit: And I should add that the frequency sweep seems to have balanced out the drivers too, it doesn't sound a little balanced to the right like it did before.

 
I suspect that it's a simple matter of additional break-in producing the improvement and that your frequency sweep had nothing to do with it. You say you did an estimated 150-200 hours of break-in while listening to the headphone at work. Dan has said that it takes some 200 hours using a volume of "loud but not crazy loud" -- which is probably louder than you listen at work, and using bass heavy music such as EDM. Listening at average levels at work would require more time than you have given it.. Also, I personally felt, and some other owners did also, that it took more than 200 hours, perhaps closer to 250 hours (at loud volume.)  So if you only did 150 hours, or even 200 hours (at average volume) you probably still have quite a bit of break-in left to do. The good news is that they'll be getting even better!

 

[Maelob]

I am curious on how a freq response chart would look before and after burn in.  Have anybody done that?

 

[bytor33]

   
I suspect that it's a simple matter of additional break-in producing the improvement and that your frequency sweep had nothing to do with it. You say you did an estimated 150-200 hours of break-in while listening to the headphone at work. Dan has said that it takes some 200 hours using a volume of "loud but not crazy loud" -- which is probably louder than you listen at work, and using bass heavy music such as EDM. Listening at average levels at work would require more time than you have given it.. Also, I personally felt, and some other owners did also, that it took more than 200 hours, perhaps closer to 250 hours (at loud volume.)  So if you only did 150 hours, or even 200 hours (at average volume) you probably still have quite a bit of break-in left to do. The good news is that they'll be getting even better!

 
Thanks, you're probably right.  It's hard to say what's loud enough for real break-in to occur.  I mean if I just listened at a normal volume for a thousand hours, would that even break them in to the same degree as using some louder than average bass-heavy music for a hundred hours?  All I know is I noticed a significant difference after that frequency sweep and it's still apparent after listening more tonight. 
 
 

   
Very few have commented on an Ether C->Ether C Flow. Haven' t seen one freq response curve comparison on the two.  Many Ether -> Ether Flow comments and even EtherC-Ether Flow yes...

 
Up until recently I felt the midrange and bass (noticeably more bass) were better with the C Flow compared to the C's, but the treble didn't extend quite as much.  I wasn't getting the detail and air that I was used to from listening to the C's for almost a year.  Now that my C Flows seem to have gone over some unexpected hurdle of breaking in, they sound better in all areas to me and the soundstage is on par or even wider than the original C's.  

 

[MrOTL]

I am really looking forward to see Mr.speaker in my country! can't wait!!

 

[BrutalLegend]

Sounds like its time to start saving for the C Flow.

 

[LunaC]

The loss of detail is what I've been somewhat concerned about since asking questions early off about peoples takes.  I like the EtherC as is but would like to have a bass boost if it does not come at the expense of details.Sample size on the EtherC Flows just is rather small to have absolute feel good entry in the upgrade spot once given. Just looking for a little certainty 

 

[mrspeakers]

Just looking for a little certainty 

Death and taxes?  
 

 

 

[Audio Addict]

 
Death and taxes?  
 

 

 
You forgot death taxes as the government would not let you leave this world without paying more taxes.

 

[mrspeakers]

  The loss of detail is what I've been somewhat concerned about since asking questions early off about peoples takes.  I like the EtherC as is but would like to have a bass boost if it does not come at the expense of details.Sample size on the EtherC Flows just is rather small to have absolute feel good entry in the upgrade spot once given. Just looking for a little certainty 

So since nobody else jumped in to answer, I think the clear answer is the C Flow has better low level detail retrieval.  The highs are smoother and more filled in with less of a peak, so it does create a sense of being less bright yet more present in the highs, at least to my ear.  If others want to chime in, please do!
 
P.S. Don't you have a really beautiful production studio?  If so, share a photo?

 

[Muinarc]

 
So since nobody else jumped in to answer, I think the clear answer is the C Flow has better low level detail retrieval.  The highs are smoother and more filled in with less of a peak, so it does create a sense of being less bright yet more present in the highs, at least to my ear.  If others want to chime in, please do!
 
P.S. Don't you have a really beautiful production studio?  If so, share a photo?

 
I have heard the Open and Closed flows at a few Head-fi meetings now, I can confirm the flow in both forms has smoother highs (too my ear much smoother). My gut reaction to the Flow vs. Ether was that the Ether is now the "fun" sounding one while the Flow is more reference, the Flow just sounds more truthful to me.

 

[Rowethren]

   
I have heard the Open and Closed flows at a few Head-fi meetings now, I can confirm the flow in both forms has smoother highs (too my ear much smoother). My gut reaction to the Flow vs. Ether was that the Ether is now the "fun" sounding one while the Flow is more reference, the Flow just sounds more truthful to me.

 
But the Flow has more bass so doesn't that make it more "fun"? Never sure on terminology though so who knows 

 

 

[mordicai]

I was one of the first to received my Ether Flow upgrade, and I listen pretty much everyday for about 15 hrs. Or at least the headphones are on that long.  I am extremely hard of hearing. I use two powerful hearing aids in everyday conversation , but none listening to music on headphones. I am very sensitive to the sound of the music...tone,smoothness, high frequency roughness, etc. I can pick out on a fairly constant basis differences between recordings . I upsample pretty much everything to DSD 64,128,256 because to me it sounds better. Smother with more weight to the music.I have a pretty high end system. For me the Ether Flows are a huge upgrade over the Ether C's. I don't know if folks use the tuning pads on the Flows, but I sure don't. The Flows are smooth; extended highs are lovely,the detail is fabulous.  I don't know how many hours I have on them, but they continue to get better and better.

 

[Muinarc]

   
But the Flow has more bass so doesn't that make it more "fun"? Never sure on terminology though so who knows 

 

 
Dan can correct me if I'm wrong but the Ether 1.1 has a pretty broad bump in the midrange and the Flows sounded to me like they calm that a bit. It gives electric guitars great bite on the Ether but the same tones seem more "polite" on the Flow. This is where I find the Ether's I have a more "fun" sound but I think it is less correct to true reference. This is all to my ears of course, I could also just be crazy.