[Hifiearspeakers]

I'm almost a week in with the ndh 30 and what really stands out to me about them more than anything is how engaging they are. i generally dislike very neutral sound signatures, as they come across as boring to me. but these are anything but boring. they have excellent dynamic range, and excellent impact. they're honest in that they don't add any omnipresent coloration (like my beloved Atticus does), but when bass is called for they deliver. i was listening to Rush's YYZ, which is a bit lean sounding of a recording IMO, and after that Andrew Combs' Anna Please came on, with a really strong opening bass beat. the bass on Anna Please made me flinch, after being acclimated to the leanness of YYZ. that led to many hours of me searching my playlists for the best dynamic recordings i have to experience them on the 30. if there's any complaints so far it would be lower treble, where a lot of female vocals rest. i'm treble sensitive and the 30 has excellent presence there. its not sibilant or strident, just maybe a bit too much presence for my tastes. grain of salt though as i like rolled off treble in general, so very much a preference thing.

I did test the 30 for a few hours on my Jot 2 to gauge it without tube amp coloration. it was a tighter, more responsive listen vs tubes, but also a touch leaner, which I did not like. bass impact was hard and forceful, but lacked the more natural decay and linger tubes provide. upper mids and treble were also a touch cooler sounding, though thankfully still not sibilant or strident. soundstage was a bit more intimate on the Jot 2 as well, though that's a fate all solid state amps share when compared to a good tube amp. overall it was a more technical presentation, but lacking a bit of the engagement factor i find so irresistible on tubes. but the tonal difference wasn't that that big. if i had to sell my tube gear i could live with the Jot 2 and still be happy.

another thing i'm finding with the 30 is it's very sensitive to output impedance, much like the 300ohm Sennheiser models. all my solid state gear runs ultra low output impedance (less than 1), giving a very high dampening factor. but my tube gear varies significantly in regards to their output impedance. my Stratus runs 8ohm and 120ohm (or maybe 150, i forget), whereas my Kenzie OG2 runs 32ohm and 300ohm. finally my MicroMZ2 runs 2ohm. the 30 changes noticeably on all of those amps, and oddly at times as well. what i mean is sometimes what "should" be underdampening actually sounds excellent, with no performance trade offs. for example the 120ohm output impedance option on my Stratus matches the impedance of the 30 exactly, resulting in a 1:1 dampening factor. normally a general rule of thumb is keep your dampening factor at 1:8 or 1:10. anything closer to 1:1 results in underdampening, which normally degrades the sound quality. underdampened headphones tend to sound slow, bloated, brittle, and distorted. but the 30 and Stratus running a 1:1 dampening factor sounds tight, forceful, and dynamic. i get no hint of underdampening at all, and so far feel the 30 sounds best there of all my amps. Zach of Ampsandsound did tell me once dampening factor rules sometimes go out the window when running transformer coupled tube amps. something about the transformers that affect dampening factor. i believe that might be the case here, as Donald uses a very high quality transformer in the Stratus. but IMO the 30 just rocks on the Stratus 120ohm output. i love the warmth that combo brings, while not affecting the technical performance.

How would you describe the soundstage? The Sennheiser 580, 600, 650, 6xx, 660S, etc., are not known for much width. How do these stack up?

 

[erics75]

How would you describe the soundstage? The Sennheiser 580, 600, 650, 6xx, 660S, etc., are not known for much width. How do these stack up?

Bigger for sure, both in width and depth. Layering is excellent as well. I believe the S2 to have the best stage of all the 6 series I’ve heard, but the 30 still sounds more spacious. They’re similar in separation and layering but the added spaciousness of the 30 gives it a more open feeling. The positioning of the unit on your head changes the staging though so if you get it wrong it will sound more intimate like the older 6 series. For my own preferences both the S2 and 30 have more than acceptable stages, sitting themselves from the older 6 series.

 

[Mike F]

How would you describe the soundstage? The Sennheiser 580, 600, 650, 6xx, 660S, etc., are not known for much width. How do these stack up?

I would say wider for sure. Depth wise quite similar but a bit more height. Width wise somewhere between the HD800 and HD650, but the layering and separation is much closer to the 800 than the 6 series - as good but much more natural I would say.

 

[bagwell359]

Bigger for sure, both in width and depth. Layering is excellent as well. I believe the S2 to have the best stage of all the 6 series I’ve heard, but the 30 still sounds more spacious. They’re similar in separation and layering but the added spaciousness of the 30 gives it a more open feeling. The positioning of the unit on your head changes the staging though so if you get it wrong it will sound more intimate like the older 6 series. For my own preferences both the S2 and 30 have more than acceptable stages, sitting themselves from the older 6 series.

Thanks. Is your opinion of the 600 Series stage width based on SS, hybrid, tube w/ Trans, OTL, or combo?

 

[erics75]

Thanks. Is your opinion of the 600 Series stage width based on SS, hybrid, tube w/ Trans, OTL, or combo?

mostly tubes with transformers (DNA Stratus, Ampsandsound Kenzie OG 2, and Haggerman Tuba).

 

[bagwell359]

mostly tubes with transformers (DNA Stratus, Ampsandsound Kenzie OG 2, and Haggerman Tuba).

Not familiar with those. No OTL? Interesting. I've never heard than on that Class of amps, just the others.

 

[headstef]

Having only used two SS amps and a hybrid one (Lehmann Linear D II, Audiolab 8000S and Musical Fidelity X-Can V3 respectively), what strikes me the most about the NDH 30 soundstage with all of them is the precision of the soundstage and also its width. Especially with the Lehmann, the NDH 30 pinpoints the positions of the instruments and vocalists in a way I never thought possible while using my two HD-650. It is true that sometimes even the closed back Shure SRH-1540 seems to have a little more depth and precision than the HD-650 (SRH-1540 not long enough tested yet), but the accuracy and positional gradation that the NDH-30 offers with good recordings is of another, very high class. Using Chesky's binaural recordings the depth becomes a very impressive element too. With some recordings in a cathedral, every movement of the the sound source (a waking player or even a band parading along the cathedral boundaries) is fantastically reproduced giving "true" moving images and clear 3D information. With normal recordings the depth with the NDH 30 can be anything from just ok to very good, very depending to the recording. I think that precision and width are the strongest soundstage points of the NDH 30, at least with my electronics.
Also, what I find very important and satisfying is the tremendous hall/room reverberation info of these headphones, even in dense passages, a consequence of their unusually high resolving ability.

 

[plyr]

The headband cushion is trash, I'm buying the HD600 ones to mod the neumann's. I wish the original was bigger with more support, since the headphone is on the heavier side...

 

[headstef]

The headband cushion is trash, I'm buying the HD600 ones to mod the neumann's. I wish the original was bigger with more support, since the headphone is on the heavier side...

Yes, that thin cushion should have more depth too. While not yet uncomfortable to me, I am definitely going to change it with the high quality HD-650 one, which is one of the best designed headband cushions in the market, irrespectively of headphone price.

 

[indigogo]

Yes, that thin cushion should have more depth too. While not yet uncomfortable to me, I am definitely going to change it with the high quality HD-650 one, which is one of the best designed headband cushions in the market, irrespectively of headphone price.

Honestly - I don't see any problems with the cushion at all...
It is made so that it fits well on the head with hair and prevents slipping on the head without hair.
It is not small and not large, not hard and not too soft. What else is needed?
I'm sure that you can make it more beautiful and better - but the one that is does its job perfectly

 

[headstef]

Honestly - I don't see any problems with the cushion at all...
It is made so that it fits well on the head with hair and prevents slipping on the head without hair.
It is not small and not large, not hard and not too soft. What else is needed?
I'm sure that you can make it more beautiful and better - but the one that is does its job perfectly

It's not that the pleather cushion is bad or uncomfortable at all, it's just that the Sennheiser one is sooo good with perfect dimensions! I also like the fabric-like material of the Senn better. If it fits without a problem (after cutting the base edges) it will be nice. (What I don't know is if it will make a tasteful combination with the rest of the parts.)

 

[Harold999]

t’s hard to ignore the price performance achievement of the NDH 30. It is remarkable, perhaps even unique, for that aspect alone. FWIW I’ve tried several pairs and as is usually the case with sample variation, some were better than others. I didn’t notice any creaking on any of them though.

I just got a Hifiman HE400SE for 130 and after EQ'ing this thing to Oratory it's unbelievable what a sound you get for 130, now tháts price performance.

 

[Mike F]

I just got a Hifiman HE400SE for 130 and after EQ'ing this thing to Oratory it's unbelievable what a sound you get for 130, now tháts price performance.

New? How are you EQ'ing?

 

[xeizo]

I have no idea how Harold is doing EQ, but I used to use HE-1 as a target, sounded terific. With no EQ it's not that great. NDH-30 has the advantage of sounding fantastic without any EQ.

 

[Harold999]

New? How are you EQ'ing?

Yes new. I EQ with Poweramp Equalizer on Android and APO/Peace on Windows.