[Roll]

On their facebook page:

Our framed US patent for the #graphene #audio application just came in today!
Fast-forward an hour later: confirmation that Ora was also granted IP coverage in China and Japan. Rapidly growing Ora's patent portfolio!

On another note
metal571 wrote: That thing is just bad, already heard it and can confirm.

Me:
So far with at least 20 hours of listening re the bluetooth, the Ora is fine musically. Wireless works fine. Fits me perfect. Isolation is not good outdoors. I can hear the cars passing me on the road. Gesture Controls, I would take a pass but it does work. I find that I can not adjust the volume accurately. Going 'forward' and backward' is ok. Seem that if I rub my hands, I can use the gesture controls.

 

[Beagle]

On their facebook page:

Our framed US patent for the #graphene #audio application just came in today!
Fast-forward an hour later: confirmation that Ora was also granted IP coverage in China and Japan. Rapidly growing Ora's patent portfolio!

On another note
metal571 wrote: That thing is just bad, already heard it and can confirm.

Me:
So far with at least 20 hours of listening re the bluetooth, the Ora is fine musically. Wireless works fine. Fits me perfect. Isolation is not good outdoors. I can hear the cars passing me on the road. Gesture Controls, I would take a pass but it does work. I find that I can not adjust the volume accurately. Going 'forward' and backward' is ok. Seem that if I rub my hands, I can use the gesture controls.

So...the confusion continues. Must be a certain sound that appeals to a certain taste, a 'Marmite love-it-or-hate-it' signature.

 

[HungryPanda]

I just what mine so I can hear them myself

 

[Beagle]

I just what mine so I can hear them myself

Hope it's soon, I'm anxious to hear what you think.

 

[AlexGgg]

Couple of days later, I still like them and use as my default ones at the office in the wired mode (with Dragonfly Red).
But here's a new problem I found. When connected via bt to my Samsung TV, it has a significant lag - to the extent of being unusable with any video content: you see lips move, and then speech comes later. So, not a bt headphone to use with TV.

 

[HungryPanda]

See I care not about TV or gaming. I listen to music at my pc, via Foobar or on my commute or stuck at work. Always Flac from my various players or bluetooth from my phone via Radstone ES100

 

[jsmiller58]

Couple of days later, I still like them and use as my default ones at the office in the wired mode (with Dragonfly Red).
But here's a new problem I found. When connected via bt to my Samsung TV, it has a significant lag - to the extent of being unusable with any video content: you see lips move, and then speech comes later. So, not a bt headphone to use with TV.

If I understand correctly you would need BT Low Latency for video otherwise you have horrible lag... Does Ora support LL?

 

[inexactscience]

My Ora GrapheneQ headphones arrived today. Already had to work through the troubleshooting steps to get it to charge. At least it's charging.

I did listen passively for a bit. And... wow. Just wow.

I really, really, really hope I'm wrong about burn-in.

 

[Beagle]

OK then..

 

[inexactscience]

... Or maybe I just have a defective unit, since Bluetooth disconnects within a second of connecting.

I really hope that booming bass and massive spike at 4-5kHz isn't part of the package or this will be a dust gatherer. I think I prefer the sound when the headphones aren't on my head, truth be told. Maybe with some EQ these could be ok?

 

[AlwaysForward]

... Or maybe I just have a defective unit, since Bluetooth disconnects within a second of connecting.

I really hope that booming bass and massive spike at 4-5kHz isn't part of the package or this will be a dust gatherer. I think I prefer the sound when the headphones aren't on my head, truth be told. Maybe with some EQ these could be ok?

That’s a very specific frequency range. Can you please share why you believe it is spiked in 4-5k and also if your experience is representative or divergent from the posted response graph?

 

[inexactscience]

That’s a very specific frequency range. Can you please share why you believe it is spiked in 4-5k and also if your experience is representative or divergent from the posted response graph?

Cymbals/hi-hats were particularly prominent to my ears. But now I have to go and check the old memory banks because that's where I though those were, frequency wise.

Checked one site, and I'll change the range to 3-5kHz. Checked the Ora documents and if that's accurate, then wowza, that's a what, 15-17dB spike in that region going from 1kHz? The Harman curve only has about a 10 dB jump between 1kHz and 3kHz. So I guess that's within spec. Holy mother. As for the bass, what I think I'm hearing is a larger boost than shown at around 125Hz - if I'm accurate. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as confident in that answer as I am for that upper midrange spike.

All that said, I don't think I have a good unit. I have to keep the 3.5mm jack occupied to charge the thing, and I have gotten two false (green light) positives for a full-charge.

 

[Slater]

I have to keep the 3.5mm jack occupied to charge the thing, and I have gotten two false (green light) positives for a full-charge.

Very odd. I can’t imagine what could be causing that. It doesn’t make much sense, as the 3.5mm jack bypasses all of the electronics. The only thing I can think of is some short of solder short on the 3.5mm Jack.

 

[DixieLandBlues]

Very odd. I can’t imagine what could be causing that. It doesn’t make much sense, as the 3.5mm jack bypasses all of the electronics. The only thing I can think of is some short of solder short on the 3.5mm Jack.

That is my biggest (admittedly unconfirmed) concern with the Ora headphones - I've been following the feedback from others while waiting for my own pair, and while there are a lot of positive experiences, there have been several commonalities in complaints that make me wonder about the final assembly. Devices powering themselves off, charging not working, having to use higher power chargers before the unit will register input (>200ma required according to the troubleshooting, less than half of USB2), some complaints about L/R balance.

To be clear: I'm not counting the headband as that is a deliberate design choice, and the complaints about Bluetooth not behaving on certain device/OS combos is something I have encountered before with other devices. It has most often needed a firmware or OS update to fix, so I'll hold fire on that too. I'm also not talking about the sound signature as while that can definitely be impacted by assembly, it's also very much a YMMV thing, and I haven't had a chance to listen to them myself at all. I'm also not commenting on the GQ drivers, which are the original focus for the product.

But the things which seem like they could be down to final assembly - even the Ora troubleshooting steps include pressing a button in and wiggling it around to work it in, and plugging/unplugging cables multiple times to see if this changes anything. This isn't an attempt to bash Ora, and I still have high hopes for my pair - especially given all the very positive reviews, which outnumber the bad at this point. I'm just a little worried that the final hurdle may tarnish the outcome. Hope it's just me!

 

[AlexGgg]

If I understand correctly you would need BT Low Latency for video otherwise you have horrible lag... Does Ora support LL?

Oh, didn't know that. Well, apparently it doesn't.

See I care not about TV or gaming. I listen to music at my pc, via Foobar or on my commute or stuck at work. Always Flac from my various players or bluetooth from my phone via Radstone ES100

In most cases me neither, and it most cases I don't have problems with these. Wired mode fine, pre-downloaded Tidal in bt mode also fine.
But there are occasional cases where sound quality matters for movie/tv series/games on TV - and extra bt headphone would be nice to have, and these aren't it. Well, here's where ridiculous length of HD650 cable comes handy.