[Luco]

So there I was listening to Cecilia Bartoli’s Opera Proibita, auditioning the Omega 2s with the SRM-007t tube amp at my friendly local high end audio shop. On track 3, Handel’s Un pensiero nemico di pace: Aria della Bellezza, her voice broke up in places, basically whenever her voice was “vibrating”. Not the most technical term but can’t explain it any better than that.

The breaking up is most apparent between 3:05 and 3:20 on the track. Here, Cecilia is vibrating her voice and getting louder and louder at the same time. The Omega 2s just couldn’t cope with this. Now, I never heard this with the 650s, so I thought maybe it was the recording and the Omegas were just being more accurate and revealing. And this happened with both the Esoteric DV-60 and the Krell Evolution 505 as sources. Luckily, there was a pair of Grand Utopia Bes nearby and I tried the same track through them and the Krell Evolution and there was no break up.

So clearly, it was not the fault of the recording or the CD players that the Omega 2s were breaking up. Could be the Omegas’ or the 007t amp’s inherent flaw or maybe those particular Omegas (or their amp) I listened to were defective. Can anyone with access to an Omega 2 and Opera Proibita replicate this?

 

[varro]

The o2s might be in wrong position, they are very sensitive..

 

[Carl]

That's no good.

I'm not aware of any major design flaw on the part of either the O2s or the 7t that could cause that. It could be that particular unit is faulty. A loose driver might result in something like that happening, but you'd think the problem would be more major if that was the case. Alternatively there could be a fault in the amp.

If possible, try to track down a different set of O2s and 7t, and see if the problem is still there. If it isn't, you've found the problem.

Stax headphones are pretty well made, but it's not like any manufacturer can expect to never make a bung unit.

 

[Banfi T.]

I have heard a Grado RS-1 which made exactly the same failure with a Tori Amos live record. It effectively duplicated Tori's voice at the louder parts. (The duplicated voice was a bit left off the center.) That RS-1 was a faulty one I belive, because later I heard an SR-60 and even that sounded better.

However, that happened also at a dealer (the money for the headphone was in my pocket). He did not said anything to my objection and I did not by the phone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl That's no good. I'm not aware of any major design flaw on the part of either the O2s or the 7t that could cause that. It could be that particular unit is faulty. A loose driver might result in something like that happening, but you'd think the problem would be more major if that was the case. Alternatively there could be a fault in the amp. If possible, try to track down a different set of O2s and 7t, and see if the problem is still there. If it isn't, you've found the problem. Stax headphones are pretty well made, but it's not like any manufacturer can expect to never make a bung unit.

 

[edstrelow]

Why assume it's the phones, rather than the amp, cd player or whatever. I had something like this happen with my Stax set-up some years ago and it all came down to the cd player needing repair.

 

[Luco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edstrelow Why assume it's the phones, rather than the amp, cd player or whatever. I had something like this happen with my Stax set-up some years ago and it all came down to the cd player needing repair.

If you read my first post you would have seen that it happened with two excellent sources, neither of which had the same issue with other quality front ends. It had to be the Omega 2s or their amp 007t amp.

I'm curious if this is an inherent flaw in one of them, or the units I listened to were faulty.

 

[mingde10467]

This, from a review of Bartoli singing music from the same recording in October 2005 (The New York Times) might be irrelevant but:

Still, technical aspects of Ms. Bartoli's singing that once seemed acceptable quirks are becoming bothersome. Her volleys of rapid-fire coloratura runs and roulades, as in the brilliant aria "Sparga il senso lascivo veleno" from Caldara's "Castità al cimento," were rhythmically incisive and uncannily accurate. But when pressed this way, her sound, not large to begin with, seems to get muffled in her throat and her tone becomes hard-edged.

Perhaps the "rapid-fire coloratura runs and roulades" the reviewer mentions might be the same as what you refer to as her voice "vibrating."

Just a suggestion. . .

 

[Mikenet]

If you can rip that disk(lossless or uncompressed) and post a short(less than 30 second) sample, I'm sure someone here could take a listen.

(I'm not sure of Head-Fi's policy on short samples, but many consider less than 30sec samples okay for artifact testing)