[nwavesailor]

Very good......
Thanks, Alex!

 

[mimaximax]

It only depends oh how loud you're listening, that's all.
Of you don't hear any clicking, rattling or buzzing noises, you're good.

For people that tend to listen loud, the general advice is to restrain themselves from bass EQ-ing.

To better understand and protect the headphones, could you please provide more specific volume levels at which the ribbons start making different noises?

For example:

• Clicking noise from 15Hz to 30Hz at around 60dB
• Rattling noise from 30Hz to 40Hz at around 70dB
• Buzzing noise from 40Hz to 80Hz at around 80dB

Thanks!

 

[nfandi]

To better understand and protect the headphones, could you please provide more specific volume levels at which the ribbons start making different noises?

For example:

• Clicking noise from 15Hz to 30Hz at around 60dB
• Rattling noise from 30Hz to 40Hz at around 70dB
• Buzzing noise from 40Hz to 80Hz at around 80dB

Thanks!

The maximum rated level of the Immanis is 118dB. I suggest someone would have to be utterly stupid and or already deaf, or soon to be deaf, if they were to get anywhere near this level. The danger with both Magna and Immanis is that there’s so little distortion introduced by the phones themselves that it’s easy to listen at louder than normal levels and not realise it’s so loud.

 

[Aleksandar R.]

To better understand and protect the headphones, could you please provide more specific volume levels at which the ribbons start making different noises?

For example:

• Clicking noise from 15Hz to 30Hz at around 60dB
• Rattling noise from 30Hz to 40Hz at around 70dB
• Buzzing noise from 40Hz to 80Hz at around 80dB

Thanks!

The criteria that I use in QC (twice, before and after placing the driver in the "cup ring" is this:

The ribbon buzz must not happen below 2.5W peaks (9Vrms peaks at 32Ohms) when playing the first 15-20 sec of Brian Bromberg's rendition of "Come Together" by Beatles, from his album "Wood"(2002).

So that's the signal I picked for testing. You can pick anything, sine sweep, music, whatever, but I chose this as it's more fun during QC than sweeping sine and transient pics make nice shocks that will destabilize the ribbon.

Given that the sensitivity of Immanis is ~84dB/mW, and that 2.5W is 34dB more, the peaks will reach 118dB.
That's how I estimated the max SPL of Immanis of 118dB.

Other kind of music may serve you differently, given a different sub 40Hz content, but it's not a low max SPL around 40Hz to begin with. Even if you knock off another 10dB (the most conservative estimate), that is a pretty good max SPL of 108dB down there around 30Hz.

Whatever the max SPL at your favorite bass content will be, the ribbons will warn you by making noises.
That already means you're above at least 108dB in transients, so revert back a little and save your hearing.

So, it's not that the Immanis needs any special precautions or care, just normal use at SPL that is lower than we use at Shows.

What I'm most afraid of, is a high amp power and a slip of the fingers at the volume pot.
To safeguard from that at shows, I always limit the DAC output to such level that on any given amp, when you crank the pot all the way up, the headphones are safe.
So people might have noticed at Canjam SG that they needed to crank up higher than normal to get to the desired level.

I wholeheartedly recommend everyone to use our headphones in a similar manner.
Reduce the DAC/Source level by 20-30dB, then crank the amp volume pot all the way up, then slowly raise the source level to the max SPL you care about and leave it there.
After that simple limiting procedure, regulate the volume at the amp's pot.
That is a set and forget safest way. If you do some EQ, reduce the DAC/source level by the same amount you boosted the bass.

I know that many DACs do not have variable output levels, but that is a good feature and all sources should have adjustable output levels.

 

[Aleksandar R.]

Our friend, Simone (@simorag), is now writing for 6moons!
Congratulations!

And I'm very glad to say, he has found what he was looking for!

https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/simones-tale-in-three-parts/

 

[nfandi]

The criteria that I use in QC (twice, before and after placing the driver in the "cup ring" is this:

The ribbon buzz must not happen below 2.5W peaks (9Vrms peaks at 32Ohms) when playing the first 15-20 sec of Brian Bromberg's rendition of "Come Together" by Beatles, from his album "Wood"(2002).

So that's the signal I picked for testing. You can pick anything, sine sweep, music, whatever, but I chose this as it's more fun during QC than sweeping sine and transient pics make nice shocks that will destabilize the ribbon.

Given that the sensitivity of Immanis is ~84dB/mW, and that 2.5W is 34dB more, the peaks will reach 118dB.
That's how I estimated the max SPL of Immanis of 118dB.

Other kind of music may serve you differently, given a different sub 40Hz content, but it's not a low max SPL around 40Hz to begin with. Even if you knock off another 10dB (the most conservative estimate), that is a pretty good max SPL of 108dB down there around 30Hz.

Whatever the max SPL at your favorite bass content will be, the ribbons will warn you by making noises.
That already means you're above at least 108dB in transients, so revert back a little and save your hearing.

So, it's not that the Immanis needs any special precautions or care, just normal use at SPL that is lower than we use at Shows.

What I'm most afraid of, is a high amp power and a slip of the fingers at the volume pot.
To safeguard from that at shows, I always limit the DAC output to such level that on any given amp, when you crank the pot all the way up, the headphones are safe.
So people might have noticed at Canjam SG that they needed to crank up higher than normal to get to the desired level.

I wholeheartedly recommend everyone to use our headphones in a similar manner.
Reduce the DAC/Source level by 20-30dB, then crank the amp volume pot all the way up, then slowly raise the source level to the max SPL you care about and leave it there.
After that simple limiting procedure, regulate the volume at the amp's pot.
That is a set and forget safest way. If you do some EQ, reduce the DAC/source level by the same amount you boosted the bass.

I know that many DACs do not have variable output levels, but that is a good feature and all sources should have adjustable output levels.

One area that might require more investigation is that of synthetic bass. The 5-string upright bass is usually tuned to B on the low string which is 31Hz. The Bromberg track sounds fantastic on Immanis but it is not pushing out any sub-bass. If I refer to @Torq and his journey with the SR-1a he often used an album by Trentemøller to test the bass capabilities of his equipment; I think the track was called Chameleon. I’m sure this track will test the ribbon excursion capabilities.

 

[chrisnyc75]

Our friend, Simone (@simorag), is now writing for 6moons!
Congratulations!

And I'm very glad to say, he has found what he was looking for!

https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/simones-tale-in-three-parts/

A great read!

I hadn't realized the cups are designed this way, this is really interesting.

 

[Aleksandar R.]

A great read!



I hadn't realized the cups are designed this way, this is really interesting.

Yes, the earpad chamber isn't sealed. A large open zone is about 1" in front of your ear-canal, towards the eyes.
That is how you don't get the feeling of "pressurized eardrums", how the stereo imaging is improved and chamber reverb is reduced...
The price for that is enormous excursion of the ribbons...

 

[KaiSc]

Agreed, and most people's observations seem to be on 300B tubes. If I remember correctly, though, Immanis isn't particularly power hungry and should work equally well on 2A3, right?

Someone PLEASE tell me NO so I stop this madness before it even starts. lol


Yeah, good luck with that.

On my listening in Heidelberg I definitely preferred Immanis with the SAEQ Solid State amp.
Magna had more synergy with the Felix Envy tube amp.

 

[ThanatosVI]

On my listening in Heidelberg I definitely preferred Immanis with the SAEQ Solid State amp.
Magna had more synergy with the Felix Envy tube amp.

I was very surprised about the even Split between those that preferred Tubes and Solid state.

I belong firmly in the tube camp

 

[Ultrainferno]

On my listening in Heidelberg I definitely preferred Immanis with the SAEQ Solid State amp.
Magna had more synergy with the Felix Envy tube amp.

This reminds me I need to hook it up to the Envy today!

 

[Doug2507]

This reminds me I need to hook it up to the Envy today!

Envy pre out into Arma would be interesting, depending on how warm Arma is and tubes used in Envy...

 

[gammi]

Another user that found the Magna punchier/richer/more exciting than Immanis yet 90% of orders are for Immanis...
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/can...d-april-6-7-2024.972338/page-13#post-18079925

While the Magna vs Immanis battle might be cloudy, one thing is very clear: Both headphones sit at the very top of the entire market. Every single experience I read from someone testing either of these, they are in love with it.

 

[SolarCetacean]

Every single experience I read from someone testing either of these, they are in love with it.

To me, that's what gives me pause about these headphones. Consider me unfair, cynical, or both, but I don't trust a product until I see one not-glowing review. Until then, it's just the latest hype train. I don't need a negative review, just one that goes "this is nice, but..." A review that brings up potential downsides or simply things that people might not like about a headphone.

I'm not trying to be a downer on this headphone, I'm trying to be cautious about a very expensive headphone with very interesting technology that seems to perform extremely well, which are all of the parts needed to build a giant hype train. I just don't think it's possible that everyone will love a certain headphone. Every headphone has its critics, no matter how advanced or well-built or carefully tuned. I'm very curious about it, and I wish my schedules worked out better so I could have heard it myself at AXPONA. I look forward to trying it out in the future.

 

[gammi]

To me, that's what gives me pause about these headphones. Consider me unfair, cynical, or both, but I don't trust a product until I see one not-glowing review. Until then, it's just the latest hype train. I don't need a negative review, just one that goes "this is nice, but..." A review that brings up potential downsides or simply things that people might not like about a headphone.

I'm not trying to be a downer on this headphone, I'm trying to be cautious about a very expensive headphone with very interesting technology that seems to perform extremely well, which are all of the parts needed to build a giant hype train. I just don't think it's possible that everyone will love a certain headphone. Every headphone has its critics, no matter how advanced or well-built or carefully tuned. I'm very curious about it, and I wish my schedules worked out better so I could have heard it myself at AXPONA. I look forward to trying it out in the future.

That's fair but I would also say there's headphones out there that simply don't have bad reviews. Susvara, Shang Sr, HE-1, Aperio I don't think anyone has ever found them to be bad. Pointed out areas for improvement or flavor preferences, sure, but I don't think anyone has ever outright not liked them, at least very few people have. If a headphone manages to portray music close to how it would sound in real life, how could anyone find flaw in that? They might prefer some kind of color but they can't honestly say the headphone is flawed.

Out of the TOTLs I think it's just the ones that have quirks or something unique about them that are divisive like SR-X9000 and AB1266, otherwise people generally appreciate when good is good.

Oh and there has been at least two people I've seen so far say they still prefer SR1a over the new RAALs, so yeah, not every review has been OMG BEST EVER but every review has at least acknowledged they are special.