[socks mk2]

[redacted]

 

[senorx12562]

Hmm, $500 for the full upgrade. After reading Tyll's review on the Focal Elear I might just look at selling my C and picking one of those up and pocket the difference. 

This^

 

[scanspeakman1]

   
Hey, this is music to my eyes! I think I'll have my Ether open converted to a Flow closed. For $499, it's a no-brainer. Sure beats having to shell out another $1700!
 
Thanks Dan, for making this available to original Ether purchasers.

 
Thinking about the same... now really enjoying/loving my Ethers but sometimes a closed back headphone would be nice. Anyone able to comment on Ether vs Flow vs C Flow? Love the "airyness" of the open back Ethers. Am I really going to lose that when switching to Ether C Flow?
 
Scanspeakman

 

[PleasantSounds]

I'm a bit baffled how quickly the love for the non-Flow Ether has disappeared, even though hardly anyone has heard the upgrade yet. Ether is still the same great headphone we have enjoyed before the announcement. 

 

[Odin412]

If anyone has heard these cans or managed to obtain a preproduction pair please tell us all how they sound.

 
I had a chance to listen to the Ether Flow and Ether C Flow on Saturday as part of the Cavalli Audio presents The Source AV’s Summer Series 2016 event and here are my impressions (they're in the Summer Series thread as well - apologies for not knowing how to cross-link to another forum):

1. Ether Flow via Cavalli Liquid Gold and an A&K 500N player. My first thought was that the midrange reminded me of the near-magical midrange of the Ether Electrostat that I listened to at THE Show. (The Ether E with the Blue Hawaii and Yggdrasil at THE Show is the best headphone rig I've ever heard.) There was an Ether for comparison and the midrange on the Flow is more full-bodied and lively. I deliberately listened to non-audiophile tracks (Toto! Celine Dion!) and they sounded very good and non-fatiguing. Afterwards I found the track 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' by Radka Toneff. I remember this track from my college days (we used it to show off our gear back then) and it sounded almost tear-inducingly beautiful on the Ether Flow.
2. Ether C Flow via Cavalli Liquid Carbon and an A&K 380 player. There was an Ether C for comparison and I heard similar improvements here: The midrange is more full, rich and (to me) natural. I have to say that this Flow is the best Ether C that I've heard and I'm very impressed by how clean, natural and non-fatiguing it sounds. I have a few open headphones, but it's hard to find good-sounding closed headphones and I feel that my collection could use a pair of Ether C Flows. Great job on both of these, MrSpeakers!

 

 

[buke9]

I'm a bit baffled how quickly the love for the non-Flow Ether has disappeared, even though hardly anyone has heard the upgrade yet. Ether is still the same great headphone we have enjoyed before the announcement. 

I would think that there has been no upgrade yet so that might be the problem.

 

[senorx12562]

I would be pissed if I bought a pair of 'phones for $1500, and 18 months later I was notified that for the one-time-only price of only $500, the manufacturer would be willing to convert them to what they should have been all along. And then people are thankful? Sheesh.

 

[mscott58]

I would be pissed if I bought a pair of 'phones for $1500, and 18 months later I was notified that for the one-time-only price of only $500, the manufacturer would be willing to convert them to what they should have been all along. And then people are thankful? Sheesh.

Can understand being somewhat miffed at the timing (I'm one of the ones who bought the C's only about a month before the Flow announcement). However, the part about "what they should have been all along" has me scratching my head. Innovation is a constant thing, and Dan's an innovative guy. I applaud his consistently trying to make things better. And there is nothing saying that he has to offer an upgrade path, or even make it cheaper for people like me who have purchased within the ~60 day window. I know Dan from many shows and have even been to his offices in San Diego, and I respect his work and pay my good money for his products, which are really very good IMO. Everyone has the opinion, and that's cool, but as someone who was directly impacted by the Flow changes I don't hold any animosity towards Dan, Peter and the gang at Mr. Speakers at all, just a slight bit of a feeling of somewhat bad luck for my own bad timing, which is not their fault. Cheers 
 
PS - The $500 level is only if you want the new cups, which are only cosmetic, so the "real" cost IMO is the $350 (or $200 if you're a recent purchaser like me). So for me $200 for all new drivers in a planar is quite reasonable, and quite a bit less than Audeze charged for non-warranty driver replacements. 

 

[socks mk2]

[redacted]

 

[Delayeed]

I would be pissed if I bought a pair of 'phones for $1500, and 18 months later I was notified that for the one-time-only price of only $500, the manufacturer would be willing to convert them to what they should have been all along. And then people are thankful? Sheesh.

Brace yourself for the hate for expressing your own opinion lol...

 

[mrspeakers]

​

I would be pissed if I bought a pair of 'phones for $1500, and 18 months later I was notified that for the one-time-only price of only $500, the manufacturer would be willing to convert them to what they should have been all along. And then people are thankful? Sheesh.

Why didn't we start with rockets and skip jets and propellers?

 

[obiwanshinobi87]

   
I had a chance to listen to the Ether Flow and Ether C Flow on Saturday as part of the Cavalli Audio presents The Source AV’s Summer Series 2016 event and here are my impressions (they're in the Summer Series thread as well - apologies for not knowing how to cross-link to another forum):

1. Ether Flow via Cavalli Liquid Gold and an A&K 500N player. My first thought was that the midrange reminded me of the near-magical midrange of the Ether Electrostat that I listened to at THE Show. (The Ether E with the Blue Hawaii and Yggdrasil at THE Show is the best headphone rig I've ever heard.) There was an Ether for comparison and the midrange on the Flow is more full-bodied and lively. I deliberately listened to non-audiophile tracks (Toto! Celine Dion!) and they sounded very good and non-fatiguing. Afterwards I found the track 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' by Radka Toneff. I remember this track from my college days (we used it to show off our gear back then) and it sounded almost tear-inducingly beautiful on the Ether Flow.
2. Ether C Flow via Cavalli Liquid Carbon and an A&K 380 player. There was an Ether C for comparison and I heard similar improvements here: The midrange is more full, rich and (to me) natural. I have to say that this Flow is the best Ether C that I've heard and I'm very impressed by how clean, natural and non-fatiguing it sounds. I have a few open headphones, but it's hard to find good-sounding closed headphones and I feel that my collection could use a pair of Ether C Flows. Great job on both of these, MrSpeakers!

 

So which one do you like better, and why?

 

[pippen99]

 

 ​

Why didn't we start with rockets and skip jets and propellers?

Wouldn't matter.  Someone would be pissed off when warp drive gets invented!

 

[raypin]

mmm.......rant is unjustified simply because you already got what you paid for. If you made the purchase, it is assumed that you have done your homework, auditioned it and made the rational decision to part with your money in exchange for the headphone. It buys you what you heard out of the headphone, not what its successors will be. No more, no less.  Mr. Speakers made an exception by offering an upgrade path for a reasonable price. By way of contrast, other companies have revised their HP by retuning it and then market it as a different headphone (examples: HD 800 to 800 S, Beyerdynamic T1 to T1 (2. Gen) or TH 900 to TH 900 MK II (only difference is detachable cable) and then charging full retail. It is obvious: existing Ether/C owners should be grateful for being given the choice to upgrade without resorting to selling their  HP and then buying the new version of the same HP.
 
Mindset when you purchase is that there will always be something better or different. It is just a question of time.

 

[zachawry]

  Brace yourself for the hate for expressing your own opinion lol...

Hey, everyone gets an opinion, including people who think senorx12562 is dead wrong. 
 
I'm glad I got a year's worth of listening out of my Ether, and now I can make it even more magical. But if I don't want to, I still have the awesome HP I paid for and love.