[Panoramious]

Hello. I currently own a pair of focal clears and listen to them through ifi gryphon xdsd otg and gustard A16-X16 combo at home. At work I have an rme adi2 dac fs (akm version) and I was thinking of buying a second pair of headphones. How do these sound compared to the focals?

 

[chesebert]

Use the search function. Alternatively feel free to think of the difference as Pauillac (NDH30) vs Margaux (Clear)

 

[Rob80b]

Pauillac (NDH30) vs Margaux (Clear)

Not everyone appreciates wine so...maybe Guinness vs Pilsner.


Actually getting into Utopia territory.

 

[Panoramious]

In whiskey terms anyone;

 

[Vitaliy Belz]

I notice many of you gentlepeople are on Tidal. In my listening tests Tidal didn't sound bad, but Qobuz still reliably beat it on most of the tracks. Perhaps what they say about MP3s upsampled to FLACs might be true. People mentioned that with regards to Deezer which is the muddiest-sounding of all. And there's no MQA on Qobuz either.

Here are screenshots of the spectral analysis of one song from Qobuz, Tidal and Deezer. This is Carlos Perón, former member of YELLO. Tranceonic - Butterfly.
Find at least one difference. But you can clearly see what they have in common: “Upsampling”.

 

[Mike F]

Not everyone appreciates wine so...maybe Guinness vs Pilsner.

But you said that you weren’t saying the NDH 30 was dark?

 

[FritzS]

Nice comparison ..... NDH 30 versus AustrianAudio Composer ..... it's not about the price but about the sound alone!
Composer will be delivered soon, it will take some time until there will be such a comparison.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

In whiskey terms anyone;

Ndh 30 would be your age stated, single malt, barrel aged, non-chill filtered, natural color
Others would be your cask finished and NAS
Some others would be chill filtered with added color

 

[Rob80b]

..... NDH 30 versus AustrianAudio Composer.......

You did post this elsewhere.

Composer versus Neumann NDH30

Great thanks to Oratory1990!

 

[FritzS]

You did post this elsewhere.

No ..... Oratory1990 is a graph comparison
Now I mean a hearing comparison from different people.

 

[headstef]

No ..... Oratory1990 is a graph comparison
Now I mean a hearing comparison from different people.

This is what I am waiting for, too. Not one or two comparisons but many by real users. Though I believe that the Composer will sound rather bright, brighter than the NDH 30 anyway, it can be a very interesting headphone if every other of its qualities is at the top. Maybe its real competitor will be a future Sennheiser flagship.

 

[Rob80b]

No ..... Oratory1990 is a graph comparison
Now I mean a hearing comparison from different people.

Yep...graphs only tell us frequency response not how they'll sound.

 

[FritzS]

Yep...graphs only tell us frequency response not how they'll sound.

Frequency measurements are carried out with an artificial ear; when heard live, the sound impression may differ; every ear is different.

In addition, the frequency response is only one parameter of the sound!
THD, IM, waterfall diagram, etc.

Please wait an listen

 

[jonathan c]

Frequency measurements are carried out with an artificial ear; when heard live, the sound impression may differ; every ear** is different.

** Van Gogh could have attested to this .

 

[Rob80b]

Frequency measurements are carried out with an artificial ear; when heard live, the sound impression may differ; every ear is different.

In addition, the frequency response is only one parameter of the sound!
THD, IM, waterfall diagram, etc.

Please wait an listen

Or as I just posted elsewhere.

......In this hobby what we perceive as music is the illusion after taking electrical signals in digital and or analogue forms, scramble numbers back into an electrical analogue waveform, that then go through a circuit that amplifies the signal enough to put an electric mechanical device in motion that excites air currents that then travel to the ear that in turn vibrates and sends more signals to the brain and we somehow recognize that as music. Food for thought.