Well, I can‘t speak for anyone else, of course, but in my case, what you hear (or rather don’t hear) is the sound of me very quietly, very cheerfully enjoying the finest audio experience of my life.
Frankly, I just can’t be bothered posting about it. It’s like there’s nothing to say really. You know how it goes, people mostly come to these forums to vent if something has gone wrong or if they have any specific questions about/need help with some product.
However, would I feel the need to post, I would probably tell you how the SE-Master1 had recently been away from me for a couple of weeks. How I missed it. Badly. How I immediately put in on my head when I had it back and was suddenly afraid that my girlfriend would walk in on me, because she would have seen me in virtual ecstasy, airdrumming like crazy, laughing out loudly while tears were welling up in my eyes. She might have thought I'd lost my mind.
Honestly, I still can’t get over how freaking amazing this thing sounds. For me, this headphone really is a unicorn, in the sense that what it does should not even be possible. It really combines the best of two worlds. It has the refinement, the resolution, the sonic elegance and the sparkling treble of the best electrostats AND a nice, punchy and precise bass foundation like the best planar magnetics, making it sound marvellously full-bodied and coherent throughout the whole spectrum. Soundstage and imaging, as I hear them through my chain (Surface Book-->Hugo-->Violectric V281-->Master1) are exemplary. It’s like the sound is coming from everywhere. A truly 3D experience unlike any I have ever heard from a headphone. This never fails to amaze me. It’s so involving, engaging, enveloping. And I'm not even using the balanced cable yet, lol. The resolution is to die for. I never knew that my music, or any music for that matter, could sound so insanely, hilariously great. I don’t care how they achieved this, but for me it's astonishing and exactly what I was looking for.
Now, in spite of the above, I like to consider myself more of a critical, discerning type, especially when it comes to music (and spending huge amounts of cash to the end of enjoying it). While I have been very seriously getting into this hobby in the past 1 1/2 years or so, I have been listening to headphones for about thirty years, and they were seldomly able to impress me. There is usually one single thing that stands out and disturbs me enough to spoil the fun for me. I have yet to find such an aspect with the SE-Master1. In the past months, I've been able to listen more or less extensively to quite a lot of so-called „flagship“ headphones, among them the Audeze LCD-3, Fostex TH-900, Hifiman HE-1000, Mr. Speakers Ether, Sennheiser HD 800 and HD 800 S as well as Orpheus 1 and 2, Stax SR-007 and SR-009, Technics EAH-T700 ... Out of those, the only ones that tickled my fancy, that I would even consider listening to again, were the Ether and probably the Stax SR-007. Audeze didn’t do anything for me, I just found them boring. Listening to the HD 800 (and HD 800 S) was like throwing a sausage down the Grand Canyon: I didn’t feel a thing. Very curious experience, the sound coming out of that thing was so thin and weak, it was like I almost didn’t wear a headphone at all. Same with both iterations oft he Orpheus: Severely underwhelmed is all I will say. Oh, and don't even get me started on the Nighthawk ...
What I won’t do, however, and this brings me to the haters, is go to the respective threads and poop on the product or try to make people feel bad about their purchase. I never understood the motivation behind that, other than the small-minded desire to steer things up and cause a fleeting commotion. If you wanna do it, do it, but to me, it always comes off as immature and petty and just makes yourself look bad. While
substantiated criticism is always welcome, nagging for the sake of it just isn't.
To me, the only thing worse than that is actually rampant fanboyism. Unreflectedly gushing about your new toy usually adds nothing to the discussion and in the worst case pushes other people over the fence making decisions they might regret. So, since I possess no technical knowledge or deeper understanding whatsoever of what makes one headphone sound so heavenly and the other just meh and therefore not very much to add myself apart from my personal criticism and enthusiasm, I tend to keep my opinion to myself when I have hit upon gold as well. I’m just no missionary man.
That being said, I’m so glad to have found my very own personal nirvana. The only possible upgrade I could even imagine would be the closed version seen a couple of posts above. You can sign me up for that one, Pioneer! Apart from that, I can't even imagine which aspect of what I'm currently hearing could be improved upon. The Master1 will stay, there is no doubt about that, I consider it to be among the best buying decisions I have made. Like, ever. Full stop. That the Violectric will stay is just as certain. The only thing I might look into replacing at some point down the road is the Hugo, but no hurry at the moment. I’m just too content with what I have and too busy listening to it.
Anyway, all just IMHO, in case that should not have been obvious, and sorry for the long-winded post, I’ll return to the privacy of my very own Shangri-La now. Peace, everyone.
