[Sonic Guild]

  I and several others have felt there was something wrong with treble in the HE-560, it's hard to describe. Even the HD800 didn't really bug me that much, but there's definitely something odd going on with the HE-560. Hope the Ether doesn't have the same treble issues.

The HE560 killed all my music enjoyment. The treble was unbelievably anal!

 

[DreamKing]

  I and several others have felt there was something wrong with treble in the HE-560, it's hard to describe. Even the HD800 didn't really bug me that much, but there's definitely something odd going on with the HE-560. Hope the Ether doesn't have the same treble issues.

 
From what I heard, the Ether doesn't have the HE-560's peak. And it depends on your ear sensitivity, I'm more sensitive to 6khz-12khz so HD800 would be a no go for me. I'm fine with the HE-560's upper mid/lower treble peak though. 

 

[daltonlanny]

The treble peak, plus the lack of upper octave "air", and lack of apparent top-end extension on the HE-560, is why I sold mine...twice.

 

[Sonic Guild]

The treble peak, plus the lack of upper octave "air", and lack of apparent top-end extension is why I sold mine.

Which phones u r talking about?

 

[daltonlanny]

Which phones u r talking about?

HE-560.
I have never heard, or much less owned the Ether. Lol.
I will edit the above to clarify it.

 

[rgs9200m]

Well, since I have the LCD3F as pretty much my favorite phone, my complementary phone presently is my Grado GS1000e. It is a more direct, live sound, with nice layering front to back and decent staging in other dimensions.
 
This Grado has images and vocals that are well defined in space, but of realistic (nicely large) size, with real meat-on-the-bones texture, natural texture. The bass is forceful and complete, but not overwhelming and flabby.
Yep, Grados are an acquired taste maybe, but the GS1Ke is for me, the best of Grado, the Grado for those have some issues with other Grados, like the RS and PS line (The PS pushes too powerfully for me often in the bass and sometimes in the highs, and makes my ears tired).
I had all three generations of the GS1000 over 5-6 years now, generally liked them all, and now like the e version a lot. It's a refined phone, natural, not over-the-top in the upper mids and highs, but very exciting.
So while my main go-to phone is the Audeze 3F, I use my GS1Ke almost as much. The e version adds some silk and liquidity to to vocals that is beguiling. No dryness at all. No sandpaper feeling whatsoever.
 
I like both these phones with tube and solid state amps, and they scale nicely. 
 
I used to think the HD800 was the best complement, but there is still some raspiness and touches of high-frequency aggressiveness in vocals that is a problem for me, even though I still enjoy them. And somehow, relative to other phones, I keep feeling that the images should be bigger or closer. (This may just be my personal taste.)  I call these non-fatal flaws.

 

[zachawry]

I had to cancel my Ether order, because I'm moving somewhat unexpectedly and needed the cash. I'm still following this thread, though, out of some masochistic impulse. 
 
Anyway, I emailed Dan and asked for a refund minus the restocking fee, which I thought was appropriate, and he said that the restocking fee wasn't required, and he gave me more of a refund than I asked for. I thought this was pretty stand-up behaviour. Thanks, Dan. 

 

[TonyNewman]

.... Anyway, I emailed Dan and asked for a refund minus the restocking fee, which I thought was appropriate, and he said that the restocking fee wasn't required, and he gave me more of a refund than I asked for. I thought this was pretty stand-up behaviour. Thanks, Dan. 

 
I have dealt with companies that use a cancelled order as an opportunity to gouge the customer for every cent they can.
 
Well done, Mr Speakers for not doing that. 

 

[Revogamer]

Ether has already been back ordered for myself...

 

[wahsmoh]

The treble peak, plus the lack of upper octave "air", and lack of apparent top-end extension on the HE-560, is why I sold mine...twice.

That lower treble peak. It's like they took the DT880 and turned it into a planar magnetic. The HE-560 outshines the DT880 in every way possible but then they had to throw in the DT880 treble peak to ruin the entire package. I own a DT880 so I am very familiar with this treble peak. I think the HE-560 might be more linear in the mids than my Alpha Dogs, but I prefer the overall tone of the AD cause it is non-fatiguing and sounds more natural than the (unmodified) HE-560.

 

[cs098]

Whether the treble peak ruins things or not really depends on how you build your setup around the headphones. Arguably its first failing really, but I managed  to do it. My wa6 and hp-a4 dac really smooths the treble out. The peak is still there but it doesn't grate/zing in any way, some perfectly natural and adds some nice energy to the brass and some acoustics.

 

[ssrock64]

1,000 posts in two and a half months before official production units are even out in the wild tells you something about the level of anticipation surrounding this release.

 

[reddog]

1,000 posts in two and a half months before official production units are even out in the wild tells you something about the level of anticipation surrounding this release.

+1 Well said sir. The end of June can't get here fast enough lol.

 

[warrenpchi]

I can't spoil it or else Frank I will be mad at me, but Part II of my ETHER review (the part that deals with sound quality, with a comparison to the LCD-X) comes out tomorrow at Headphone.Guru.  To my knowledge, it's the only one that reflects nearly two months of daily listening in a quiet environment on a known rig (mine).  I hope it will help clear some things up.  

 

[llcook51]

  I had to cancel my Ether order, because I'm moving somewhat unexpectedly and needed the cash. I'm still following this thread, though, out of some masochistic impulse. 
 
Anyway, I emailed Dan and asked for a refund minus the restocking fee, which I thought was appropriate, and he said that the restocking fee wasn't required, and he gave me more of a refund than I asked for. I thought this was pretty stand-up behaviour. Thanks, Dan. 

Dan and his company are "tops" when it comes to service, customer relations and, oh yeah, they make Nirvana for the ears.