[AlwaysForward]

Update is up. They’re shipping but it’ll take a few weeks extra with the Chinese New Year. I guess we can all expect headphones by end of Feb while a first wave start essentially now.

 

[Roll]

If you can think of anyone that has a bit of reach and is trusted the community, let me know!

In July 2017 I try to arrange your Ari Pinkas, Business lead Co- founder of Ora to come over to Toronto ( Unfortunately we don't send out our demos over the mail, so we will have to fly there to meet them.
We may consider flying one of them to Montreal if they are reputable reviewed.).

This was before the announcement of the Montreal demo show

I did reach 3 Toronto members of Head Fi, one being

Headphone Guru MacedonianHero a.k.a Peter Pialis

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/comparisons-36-of-the-top-closed-portable-headphones-around.672743/
https://www.headphone.guru/author/macedonian-hero/

Peter also knows Paul Barton of PSB Speakers - meet and wrote a few articles on him and his products.

At that time when I emailed him, Peter Pialis said, " Sure thing! " as the other two, with checking out the prototype headphone

So maybe ask Peter Pialis if he is interested in laying some thoughts on your 2nd Baby

 

[Midgetguy]

Update is up. They’re shipping but it’ll take a few weeks extra with the Chinese New Year. I guess we can all expect headphones by end of Feb while a first wave start essentially now.

Someone in this thread must be in the first half of the shipments, right? Right??

 

[Beagle]

Update is up. They’re shipping but it’ll take a few weeks extra with the Chinese New Year. I guess we can all expect headphones by end of Feb while a first wave start essentially now.

It has aroused my curiosity for sure. Initial review negativity aside, maybe it's a different sound and an acquired taste. Wouldn't be the first time. If you listen to one headphone and go to another with a completely different take, it can be jarring. But if you come back from hearing some live music like a jazz or string quartet and a headphone sounds like that live sound, that's where accuracy is.

 

[Midgetguy]

It has aroused my curiosity for sure. Initial review negativity aside, maybe it's a different sound and an acquired taste. Wouldn't be the first time. If you listen to one headphone and go to another with a completely different take, it can be jarring. But if you come back from hearing some live music like a jazz or string quartet and a headphone sounds like that live sound, that's where accuracy is.

I like to think I've got a decent measuring stick: Sennheiser HD600. That's the headphone I'll be comparing it to when I finally get it because that's my usual headphone. And it happens to be one a majority of the audiophile world likes

 

[AlwaysForward]

It has aroused my curiosity for sure. Initial review negativity aside, maybe it's a different sound and an acquired taste. Wouldn't be the first time. If you listen to one headphone and go to another with a completely different take, it can be jarring. But if you come back from hearing some live music like a jazz or string quartet and a headphone sounds like that live sound, that's where accuracy is.

I like to think I've got a decent measuring stick: Sennheiser HD600. That's the headphone I'll be comparing it to when I finally get it because that's my usual headphone. And it happens to be one a majority of the audiophile world likes

Haha, I was going to reply to beagle but this follow up made it timely to respond. So I'm generally quite vocal about "neutral" not being neutral. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding and lack of calibration in "the community"

Yes, I agree that there can be "acquired taste" but that is, subjectively, not accurate sound reproduction. Headphones are funky and quirky because of how our ears work, how speakers work, how we interpret sound etc.

I agree that it should sound much like a live jazz concert. An HD600 is actually a perfect example here.

The HD600 is great for jazz and most "acoustic" or similar genres because it is genuinely neutral. However, the bass drop-off doesn't lend well to modern genres.

Additionally, a high-performance sound reproduction system would not only do a great job with Jazz but with Movies.

 

[Midgetguy]

Haha, I was going to reply to beagle but this follow up made it timely to respond. So I'm generally quite vocal about "neutral" not being neutral. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding and lack of calibration in "the community"

Yes, I agree that there can be "acquired taste" but that is, subjectively, not accurate sound reproduction. Headphones are funky and quirky because of how our ears work, how speakers work, how we interpret sound etc.

I agree that it should sound much like a live jazz concert. An HD600 is actually a perfect example here.

The HD600 is great for jazz and most "acoustic" or similar genres because it is genuinely neutral. However, the bass drop-off doesn't lend well to modern genres.

Additionally, a high-performance sound reproduction system would not only do a great job with Jazz but with Movies.

Eh, it does okay with modern music. I find it to be a pretty good all-rounder. But the bass reproduction does leave something to be desired depending on the genre or even just very specific tracks. I don't mind it on most modern music including pop (which I rarely listen to anyway) or hip-hop, or even EDM, but if I'm wanting more oomph in the lower frequencies, I switch over to a TH-X00. The HD600 being a good all-rounder to my ears/preferences is what makes it my headphone to compare to.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Eh, it does okay with modern music. I find it to be a pretty good all-rounder. But the bass reproduction does leave something to be desired depending on the genre or even just very specific tracks. I don't mind it on most modern music including pop (which I rarely listen to anyway) or hip-hop, or even EDM, but if I'm wanting more oomph in the lower frequencies, I switch over to a TH-X00. The HD600 being a good all-rounder to my ears/preferences is what makes it my headphone to compare to.

is modern music a primary interest for listening to you? Say at least 50% of your listening time?

 

[Beagle]

Haha, I was going to reply to beagle but this follow up made it timely to respond. So I'm generally quite vocal about "neutral" not being neutral. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding and lack of calibration in "the community"

Yes, I agree that there can be "acquired taste" but that is, subjectively, not accurate sound reproduction. Headphones are funky and quirky because of how our ears work, how speakers work, how we interpret sound etc.

I agree that it should sound much like a live jazz concert. An HD600 is actually a perfect example here.

The HD600 is great for jazz and most "acoustic" or similar genres because it is genuinely neutral. However, the bass drop-off doesn't lend well to modern genres.

Additionally, a high-performance sound reproduction system would not only do a great job with Jazz but with Movies.

There is low bass content in a live jazz concert. I was just using that as an example. With modern auto-tuned cut and paste Pro-Tooled laptop manufactured music with 182 tracks, you might not need the space and delicacy that some headphones excel in, but you do need one that can handle the full force and depth of the low end and be able to perform at higher volume levels without distortion, to be able to separate all the elements. Conversely, a lot of classical and jazz sound best at lower levels.

 

[Midgetguy]

is modern music a primary interest for listening to you? Say at least 50% of your listening time?

Yeah, I don't have much old music. I have a couple albums of good ol' rock but that's it. Vocals shine quite well on an HD600 though and that's key to my musical enjoyment. As is instrumental fidelity, which the HD600 is also good at.


Anyway, straying slightly off-topic. Hope I have the Oras by the end of next month if shipping goes well enough.

 

[rkw]

I like to think I've got a decent measuring stick: Sennheiser HD600. That's the headphone I'll be comparing it to when I finally get it because that's my usual headphone. And it happens to be one a majority of the audiophile world likes

But they so different, designed to produce a different sound for different audiences. The HD600 is an open back headphone for studio professionals and audiophiles. Long ago, it was actually Sennheiser's flagship headphone. The ORA is a closed back Bluetooth headphone for a broad market.

The single unique feature of the ORA is the graphene driver. Without it, ORA would be a generic closed back Bluetooth headphone, similar to many others on the market. What we really want to know is what difference a graphene driver makes. A useful comparison would be with a competitive product on the market, such as the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless.

 

[Midgetguy]

But they so different, designed to produce a different sound for different audiences. The HD600 is an open back headphone for studio professionals and audiophiles. Long ago, it was actually Sennheiser's flagship headphone. The ORA is a closed back Bluetooth headphone for a broad market.

The single unique feature of the ORA is the graphene driver. Without it, ORA would be a generic closed back Bluetooth headphone, similar to many others on the market. What we really want to know is what difference a graphene driver makes. A useful comparison would be with a competitive product on the market, such as the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless.

Well the Ora headphone does boast audiophile sound quality. While I can't compare it to another BT headphone (because I don't own any), I can compare its claims to match what we consider audiophile standards by comparing it to the HD600. Not to mention, Ora has said that in wired mode, it completely bypasses all the BT electronics so it can be just like any other closed-back headphone. Audiophile quality is audiophile quality, doesn't matter if it's wired or wireless. Besides, if you really wanted to know what the difference was, like truly, you'd have to take the GQ shell and put in a regular dynamic driver of the same size with the same sound signature tuning and only then would you be able to know what the difference is because only then are you truly isolating a variable.

All that said, the bottom line for me is "does it sound good?" and I don't need a market competitor to compare to in order to answer that question. Some would say it makes it more useful in this case. If I said it was better than some other BT headphone on the market, then there's the implied caveat of "oh great, but that's just another BT headphone it's as good as/better than" (regardless of if that other BT headphone sounds good), whereas if it can manage some amount of parity to a venerable and designed for studio pros/audiophiles headphone like the HD600 (closed vs open-back design accounted for), then it really fulfills the claim of producing audiophile-grade sound. Your market competitor comparison would be very useful to make impressions regarding its BT audio capability, but frankly, the way this headphone is designed, it doesn't matter if the comparison is to a wired or wireless headphone because the Ora is designed to be both. And with no other headphone yet having a high graphene content driver, arguably any headphone regardless of wired or wireless capability in this price range is its competitor.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

At least Bluetooth mode should be given a try to be sure if there's any different tuning with that mode. I picked up the Aiwa Arc-1 bluetooth headphone myself because I needed a low-latency bluetooth headphone (supports aptX-LL mode) for late night TV/PC listen and this headphone sounded bad wired but omg so greatly tuned in Bluetooth mode (ever so slightly too bright for my personal tastes so I added a very thin layer of additional foam that made it seem more balanced) but that quality though for the asking price. I didn't expect that kind of sound to come out of the Bluetooth mode AFTER listening to the pretty mediocre wired sound quality (somewhat reverby & muddy sounding and poor bass control to very punchy controlled bass response with excellent detailing and imaging, totally different sounding).

 

[rkw]

Well the Ora headphone does boast audiophile sound quality. While I can't compare it to another BT headphone (because I don't own any), I can compare its claims to match what we consider audiophile standards by comparing it to the HD600. Not to mention, Ora has said that in wired mode, it completely bypasses all the BT electronics so it can be just like any other closed-back headphone. Audiophile quality is audiophile quality, doesn't matter if it's wired or wireless. Besides, if you really wanted to know what the difference was, like truly, you'd have to take the GQ shell and put in a regular dynamic driver of the same size with the same sound signature tuning and only then would you be able to know what the difference is because only then are you truly isolating a variable.

All that said, the bottom line for me is "does it sound good?" and I don't need a market competitor to compare to in order to answer that question. Some would say it makes it more useful in this case. If I said it was better than some other BT headphone on the market, then there's the implied caveat of "oh great, but that's just another BT headphone it's as good as/better than" (regardless of if that other BT headphone sounds good), whereas if it can manage some amount of parity to a venerable and designed for studio pros/audiophiles headphone like the HD600 (closed vs open-back design accounted for), then it really fulfills the claim of producing audiophile-grade sound. Your market competitor comparison would be very useful to make impressions regarding its BT audio capability, but frankly, the way this headphone is designed, it doesn't matter if the comparison is to a wired or wireless headphone because the Ora is designed to be both. And with no other headphone yet having a high graphene content driver, arguably any headphone regardless of wired or wireless capability in this price range is its competitor.

Your points are all valid, but the reason I brought up that it is a closed-back Bluetooth headphone is that I think it says something about the type of buyer they were trying to reach and type of headphone they expect to be compared against. They could have easily aimed at the high end instead, but that would have invited higher expectations.

My feeling is that the primary goal of the first product is to validate the manufacturing process and demonstrate that graphene has performance benefits. We will see what they have accomplished as buyers receive their shipments. A good headphone involves more than just the cone material and it may take a few iterations to get there.

 

[DixieLandBlues]

09:12: Regains access to internet after travels. Sees new update from ORA - "Shipping Begins" (!).
09:13 Yes! Yes! At last - my faith was tested but now patience will be rewarded! My first new headphones in years! (Sundry & varied expressions of anticipation uttered.)
09:14 Starts reading rest of the update...
...first 500...
..Chinese new year (have family in China, fully understands)..
..next 1000...
..then not before Feb 15 or not long after...
09:16 Hurredly checks order number, sees some 2000-odd backers in the queue in front of me.
09:17-09:33:

Ah well, another month, maybe - in the meantime hopefully there will be some more reviews and experiences appearing on the forums.