[AlwaysForward]

Thanks for backing us doggiemom and Sordel! And thanks to AlwaysForward for starting this thread. I'm happy to answer any questions y'all might have. Cheers!

Awesome! So my main concern as a backer right now is the driver's potential failure since the warranty is short and the driver is new. I have some Planars from Audeze that failed just after the 30 day mark. In the interview above, they mentioned that some of the initial designs were brittle but it's largely been solved. I understand you guys are really science oriented and am curious if you've performed any stress tests to simulate long term use on the driver?

Also, if you guys wind up OEM focused and the headphones aren't a focus after delivery of the units, are there any plans to offer long term support to backers in the form of us being able to purchase replacement parts since it's designed with "all screws and no glues?"

Edit: one more question just came to mind: can you speak to the onboard DAC performance? I imagine it'll be great knowing the rest of the design care going into these and especially excited about it's pairing with the onboard 320mw amp

 

[doggiemom]

I didn't read the listing very closely so missed the part about the onboard DAC. Are these designed for portable use, or can I use them with my home setup DAC and headphone amp?

Thanks for being here to answer questions!

 

[AlwaysForward]

I didn't read the listing very closely so missed the part about the onboard DAC. Are these designed for portable use, or can I use them with my home setup DAC and headphone amp?

Thanks for being here to answer questions!

All wireless cans require an onboard DAC/Amp. The ORA allows true bypass with an analog cable input as if the digital components weren't there. It also has USB-C Audio which uses the onboard system so you can plug digital straight in as well. Hoping to learn more about the performance on that side of the house. I dig the options.

 

[Roll]

I am glad that ORA Graphene Audio is here.
If they had more time in at least 'demo' a unit to a reviewer on Head -Fi, I am sure that the pledge would have been at least 50% more. I felt from the beginning that Ora was just doing - just a proof of concept. I also feel that another company will take over the project, maybe even B&O. There was not much 'talk' on any of the audio forums. No buzz like that of LH Labs.
I am happy that Ora is at least looking into a possibility of implement a way for users to mod the headphones to 'balanced'...

A dream I had - the new Mysphere (AKG K1000 successor) would use the material. I even forward a letter to them...

Now the waiting game

 

[ahmadfaizadnan]

I am glad that ORA Graphene Audio is here.
If they had more time in at least 'demo' a unit to a reviewer on Head -Fi, I am sure that the pledge would have been at least 50% more.

Agree. This would've be awesome.

 

[Midgetguy]

Compared to OEM licenses across phones, speakers, headphones, TV's, computers etc?

Imagine getting a few bucks off of every Sennheiser, Shure and AKG that adopted the tech. They already have the consumer base. Heck, what if Beats was included in that? That's still small compared to what he's talking about in this interview. Imagine multiplying those few bucks across BIGGER product verticals and diverse ones at that. Like Hearing Aids and Cars, which he mentions have expressed interest. But I think just landing a deal to include it in Apple or Samsung alone would dwarf most headphone businesses.

If I were them, that would be my core business goal. Any first party audio products will be a passion/example play at that point. Like Microsoft Surface is with Windows or Google Pixel is with Android.

He mentioned the time scale being a critical factor. If they don't solve that, they may very well keep things in house and license to boutique partners. Either way I'm expecting this driver to be available in other headphone brands we know and love at some point assuming they succeed.

If you reread my response, I never said to continue down the headphone path instead of OEM production and licensing; OEM production and licensing is big $$$, but if this headphone turns out as good as we're hoping and it's only their first go-around at making a headphone, imagine what they could do if they kept on doing audio development! It wouldn't be their main business, but kinda like that really cool skunkworks division everybody loves to see produce things even though it comes out infrequently and in very low volumes. All I'm saying is that if this goes well, I don't want this headphone to be the only one they ever make; I want to see them work on something new, even if it's it just one of those projects where 2-4 people are doing it in their spare time on weekends when they're bored.

 

[Roll]

Copy from The Kickstarter re: answering a question from:

FredKick -
@ORA, one thing I would like to address before the end of the Kickstarter campaing is how sure are you that would will be able to scale up the production process from a few GrapheneQ™ membranes for some prototypes to about 4500 drivers for mars 2018?


ORA Graphene Audio Creator -

Excellent question! In fact, one of the primary reasons we opted to run this Kickstarter campaign was to have the opportunity and funds to scale up our production process. From very early on we modelled our laboratory process on existing loudspeaker membrane manufacturing processes. Our goal has been to allow us to adapt existing production lines to produce cones made with our GrapheneQ material. We are partnering with a well-established manufacturer of high-end cones that has a good reputation in the industry and has experience with quality control and logistics within the audio industry. This is important not only for this campaign, to ensure we get consistent, high-precision membranes, but also for ORA going forward. Our goal is to provide GrapheneQ to other manufacturers in the audio industry and these OEMs need to be confident that if they use GrapheneQ in their products, they will get a dependable and reliable supply. Partnering with a well-known manufacturer will help other companies trust that GrapheneQ is a viable alternative to the other cone materials they commonly use.
Thanks for your support!

 

[robert-eric]

I didn't read the listing very closely so missed the part about the onboard DAC. Are these designed for portable use, or can I use them with my home setup DAC and headphone amp?

Thanks for being here to answer questions!

Hello doggiemom! The headphones have a built in Bluetooth radio, DAC, and amplifier. They can be used wirelessly using all three of these. They can also be used wired via USB which uses the DAC and amplifier. We also wanted them to used with external DACs and amplifiers so, with the 1/8" connector, the ORA Headphones bypass the onboard electronics and you can use your home set-up to directly drive the headphones. Cheers!

 

[robert-eric]

If you reread my response, I never said to continue down the headphone path instead of OEM production and licensing; OEM production and licensing is big $$$, but if this headphone turns out as good as we're hoping and it's only their first go-around at making a headphone, imagine what they could do if they kept on doing audio development! It wouldn't be their main business, but kinda like that really cool skunkworks division everybody loves to see produce things even though it comes out infrequently and in very low volumes. All I'm saying is that if this goes well, I don't want this headphone to be the only one they ever make; I want to see them work on something new, even if it's it just one of those projects where 2-4 people are doing it in their spare time on weekends when they're bored.

I think we will probably continue to make some specialty products under the ORA brand. I am a long-time *maker*... I've done ribbon microphones for AEA, mic pres, equalizers, even hockey pucks that collect data on velocity and acceleration. Above all, I've always made stuff that I wanted for myself. The ORA headphones are no different, I think products turn out better when you are designing something you love and could see yourself using. I don't want to stop designing and building cool stuff so I think it is very likely that even with our OEM plays, ORA will continue to develop and produce small runs of high-end audio products.

 

[Midgetguy]

I think we will probably continue to make some specialty products under the ORA brand. I am a long-time *maker*... I've done ribbon microphones for AEA, mic pres, equalizers, even hockey pucks that collect data on velocity and acceleration. Above all, I've always made stuff that I wanted for myself. The ORA headphones are no different, I think products turn out better when you are designing something you love and could see yourself using. I don't want to stop designing and building cool stuff so I think it is very likely that even with our OEM plays, ORA will continue to develop and produce small runs of high-end audio products.

And that's all I ask for! Those sort of projects are the ones that produce some of the best results. That's why I like this headphone project. On one hand, it's a proof of concept for the newly developed material, but on the other, it's passion project to make something both cool and desirable.

 

[robert-eric]

Awesome! So my main concern as a backer right now is the driver's potential failure since the warranty is short and the driver is new. I have some Planars from Audeze that failed just after the 30 day mark. In the interview above, they mentioned that some of the initial designs were brittle but it's largely been solved. I understand you guys are really science oriented and am curious if you've performed any stress tests to simulate long term use on the driver?

Also, if you guys wind up OEM focused and the headphones aren't a focus after delivery of the units, are there any plans to offer long term support to backers in the form of us being able to purchase replacement parts since it's designed with "all screws and no glues?"

Edit: one more question just came to mind: can you speak to the onboard DAC performance? I imagine it'll be great knowing the rest of the design care going into these and especially excited about it's pairing with the onboard 320mw amp

We have done several "Accelerated Life Tests" on our GrapheneQ material. These tests are performed by Warkwyn in the USA (http://www.warkwyn.com). Still, it is, of course, difficult with new technologies and materials to predict what will happen. We do have drivers that have been working great for over two years without any problems so we are as confident as one can be with our GrapheneQ material's longevity. We will definitely continue to provide support, repairs, and replacement parts for these headphones. As far as the DAC we are using a Qualcomm chipset similar to the one used in the B&O H7s - it provides 24-bit, 192kHz operation and we feel it sounds very good (even for an on-board DAC). Qualcomm has definitely proven themselves as a provider of high-end solutions in many well-respected, top-of-the-line products. Having designed equipment for professional recording studios, I know that every component matters - even the PCB layout can make a difference. We are absolutely taking care in every detail of the onboard circuitry. Thanks for the questions!

 

[AlwaysForward]

Thanks for answering all the questions and engaging the community! 24Bit 192kHz is a very good number for built in specs & matches the Audeze Cipher DAC, which is plenty enough for my enjoyment. Very excited for these!

 

[4ktvs]

After handling a Sony MDR 1000x, I kind of question the move to touch controls. I see how it makes the headphones look nicer but many people in the real world find them to be a pain.

That's just my 2 cents though.

 

[robert-eric]

After handling a Sony MDR 1000x, I kind of question the move to touch controls. I see how it makes the headphones look nicer but many people in the real world find them to be a pain.

That's just my 2 cents though.

We went with the capacitive track pad because we really liked the idea of having no moving parts. Ive seen cheap buttons and switches fail many times and I thought the touchpad was a pretty slick solution. That said, I do own a pair of B&O H7s and I find myself accidentally making the "redial" gesture and calling people when I don't intend to... That is super frustrating. We are trying to program the gestures to avoid accidentally activating anything but a Kickstarter backer also had a good suggestion that we might implement: Providing a "lock" and "unlock" gesture so that you can handle them without any accidental gestures.

 

[AlwaysForward]

We went with the capacitive track pad because we really liked the idea of having no moving parts. Ive seen cheap buttons and switches fail many times and I thought the touchpad was a pretty slick solution. That said, I do own a pair of B&O H7s and I find myself accidentally making the "redial" gesture and calling people when I don't intend to... That is super frustrating. We are trying to program the gestures to avoid accidentally activating anything but a Kickstarter backer also had a good suggestion that we might implement: Providing a "lock" and "unlock" gesture so that you can handle them without any accidental gestures.

I support lock/unlock. Would a button be feasible for that? Like, without being a feature creep thing that's time cost heavy to implement?