Has anyone tried pairing the Ether with a Schiit Modi 2 or Schiit Vali 2? Do these amps provide enough power and if so, how's the synergy?
MrSpeakers Ether Impressions Thread
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Yes, that'll work. I have the Vali 2 and there is now a Modi Multibit (officially as of this morning). The Vali 2 just needs a tube upgrade for preference. It had no trouble with HE1000s, let alone the Ethers. It doesn't offer the most control -- it sounds a bit loose, but in a nice way.
Middy
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It's still a great headphone but for those coming here looking the great is getting better..
roadpumpkin
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Everyone who's been in hi-fi long enough probably has an "oh crap" reference moment. I've had two such moments.
The first moment was back in 1998 at a shop in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The owner demo'd a Mark Levinson / Proceed / Thiel system for my friends and I. The music coming out of that system was holographic in its presentation, smooth, detailed, and toe tappingly rhythmic.
More recently, my brother in law's Vinnie Rossi LIO feeding a set of Legacy monitors did the same trick on me on a smaller scale. In both systems, there was an uncanny sense of something being in the room, with us rather than just a wall of sound.
I've been rediscovering my music collection recently and decided to treat myself to a new headphone rig. I wanted to capture a bit of the physicality and presence that I'd heard on the ML/Thiel and Rossi/Legacy rigs. Thanks to a sale, some dim memories of what they sounded like at a meet, and reviews, I settled on starting my search with the open-backed Ethers.
Fresh out of the box, I was a bit disappointed. There was no "oh crap" moment, and I actually thought I was hearing something of a step down from my Sennheiser HD545s. The bass was a bit undifferentiated, and the treble sounded rolled off. The soundstage was firmly in my head and narrower than my Sennheisers but did have greater height and layering. Cymbals seemed to lack a touch of shimmer, bass notes lacked texture.
What kept me listening was (1) reports that the sound changed significantly over break-in, (2) a seductive midrange tonality, (3) a level of micro-detail retrieval I hadn't had before and (4) a lack of grain as compared to my Sennheisers. Voices and guitars, in particular, jumped out at me. Voices had a tone and body (but not presence) that my Sennheisers lacked.
Switching back and forth, the treble leaning tendencies of my Sennheisers lent Norah Jones' voice a nasal quality which was absent on the Ethers. Guitars and piano through the Ether sounded more like plucked (or struck) strings with an initial woody attack whereas the Senheisers presented them more one dimensionally --- more like a generated tone than the result of fingers and hammers on strings.
The combination of midrange tonality and detail retrieval added character to some vocals that I hadn't heard before. Tracks by Norah Jones, Jamie Cullum, Amber Rubarth, Natalie Merchant, Wilco, David Byrne and even the Smashing Pumpkins were all presented with the tiny inflections that suggest urgency, sadness, happiness, and resignation.
The other Ether quality that jumped out at me was the layering of voices within the soundstage. I didn't get the sense of being in a room with musicians, but voices in a recording each had their place front to back. Backup singers were backup singers rather than being mixed in. Complex passages (e.g., any Stereolab) sounded "of a piece" but were built up of clearly separable components.
I didn't get my moment, but the Ethers have continued to improve and impress. The top end seems to have opened up and bass region has started revealing more texture. Best of all, this has been without compromising the midrange body and detail that kept me listening in the first place.
The Ethers have an "intellectual" quality to them compared to my Sennheiser 545s (more "hi-fi") or my Grado SR-60s (more party animal). Sit back, close your eyes and listen and you'll be rewarded with a rich, detailed soundscape. Put the music in the background, though, and you're likely to miss what these cans have on offer. The Ethers have yet to make me drop what I'm doing and listen, but once I close my eyes and start paying attention I don't want to go back to what I was doing. I've been telling myself "just one more track" an awful lot this past week.
System:
Comparison headphones: Sennheiser HD545, Grado SR-60
Source: Chord Mojo fed by iPhone/iPad using iPeng playback or Mac Mini using squeezelite.
Source material: Mostly 16/44.1 FLAC with some higher bitrate/sample rate material thrown in
The first moment was back in 1998 at a shop in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The owner demo'd a Mark Levinson / Proceed / Thiel system for my friends and I. The music coming out of that system was holographic in its presentation, smooth, detailed, and toe tappingly rhythmic.
More recently, my brother in law's Vinnie Rossi LIO feeding a set of Legacy monitors did the same trick on me on a smaller scale. In both systems, there was an uncanny sense of something being in the room, with us rather than just a wall of sound.
I've been rediscovering my music collection recently and decided to treat myself to a new headphone rig. I wanted to capture a bit of the physicality and presence that I'd heard on the ML/Thiel and Rossi/Legacy rigs. Thanks to a sale, some dim memories of what they sounded like at a meet, and reviews, I settled on starting my search with the open-backed Ethers.
Fresh out of the box, I was a bit disappointed. There was no "oh crap" moment, and I actually thought I was hearing something of a step down from my Sennheiser HD545s. The bass was a bit undifferentiated, and the treble sounded rolled off. The soundstage was firmly in my head and narrower than my Sennheisers but did have greater height and layering. Cymbals seemed to lack a touch of shimmer, bass notes lacked texture.
What kept me listening was (1) reports that the sound changed significantly over break-in, (2) a seductive midrange tonality, (3) a level of micro-detail retrieval I hadn't had before and (4) a lack of grain as compared to my Sennheisers. Voices and guitars, in particular, jumped out at me. Voices had a tone and body (but not presence) that my Sennheisers lacked.
Switching back and forth, the treble leaning tendencies of my Sennheisers lent Norah Jones' voice a nasal quality which was absent on the Ethers. Guitars and piano through the Ether sounded more like plucked (or struck) strings with an initial woody attack whereas the Senheisers presented them more one dimensionally --- more like a generated tone than the result of fingers and hammers on strings.
The combination of midrange tonality and detail retrieval added character to some vocals that I hadn't heard before. Tracks by Norah Jones, Jamie Cullum, Amber Rubarth, Natalie Merchant, Wilco, David Byrne and even the Smashing Pumpkins were all presented with the tiny inflections that suggest urgency, sadness, happiness, and resignation.
The other Ether quality that jumped out at me was the layering of voices within the soundstage. I didn't get the sense of being in a room with musicians, but voices in a recording each had their place front to back. Backup singers were backup singers rather than being mixed in. Complex passages (e.g., any Stereolab) sounded "of a piece" but were built up of clearly separable components.
I didn't get my moment, but the Ethers have continued to improve and impress. The top end seems to have opened up and bass region has started revealing more texture. Best of all, this has been without compromising the midrange body and detail that kept me listening in the first place.
The Ethers have an "intellectual" quality to them compared to my Sennheiser 545s (more "hi-fi") or my Grado SR-60s (more party animal). Sit back, close your eyes and listen and you'll be rewarded with a rich, detailed soundscape. Put the music in the background, though, and you're likely to miss what these cans have on offer. The Ethers have yet to make me drop what I'm doing and listen, but once I close my eyes and start paying attention I don't want to go back to what I was doing. I've been telling myself "just one more track" an awful lot this past week.
System:
Comparison headphones: Sennheiser HD545, Grado SR-60
Source: Chord Mojo fed by iPhone/iPad using iPeng playback or Mac Mini using squeezelite.
Source material: Mostly 16/44.1 FLAC with some higher bitrate/sample rate material thrown in
Very well said! They really don't give you that jaw dropping impact on first listen, but the subtleties you hear when you spend time with them make for a beautiful listening experience.
Middy
1000+ Head-Fier
I can't see many setting them running for 200 hours and not having a sneeky listen...
Cardiiiii
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New to this thread. Just picked up a barely used Ether with no mods. Does the 1.1 upgrade include just the black foam or the angled pads as well?
MrSpeakersPeter
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Cardiiiii
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Thanks for that. How easy/hard is it to get my Heimdall 2's converted from Audeze to Mr Speakers?
MrSpeakersPeter
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I have no idea. How handy are you with a soldering iron?
Cardiiiii
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I'd never do it myself. Trying to find someone in Melbourne who does but no luck.
pieman3141
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I tried these today, and found that they were largely similar to the HD800 S. I didn't like the mids or the soundstage as much, though, and the earpads weren't as comfortable either. I didn't find the bass to be that different. Overall, the 800 S stood out more for me.
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