[Wyd4]

Howdy,


So I just received my pair of the Mr Speakers Alpha Dog.  What can I say, at first glance they are aesthetically spot on (But we all knew this).  Its clear that a lot of quality control is happening at Mr Speakers HQ because I cannot fault them.

 

Enough about aesthetics.

 

I am no audiophile so this will be more or less in laymans term’s, so those hardcore audiophiles out there may have to turn their brains off to read this, hopefully the rest of you will be able to follow my ramblings.

 

Setup for testing:

 

Source:                 Astell and Kern AK100

Cables:                 ADL Silver/Copper interconnect, Stock Alpha Dog single ended cable

Amp:                     iBasso PB2 (Stock OPAMPs/Buffers) running single ended as I am yet to order a balanced cable.

 

Songs used: (These are songs I listen to, but I can update with requested songs if I have/can obtain them)

 

White Stripes – Blue Orchid (320kbps MP3)

Rage Against the Machine – How I could just kill a man (320kbps MP3)

Coheed and Cambria – Welcome Home (16/44.1 flac)

Eagles – Hotel California (Hell Freezes Over) (24/44.1 wav)

Primus – Shake Hands with Beef  (320kbps MP3)

FlyLeaf – All around me (Acoustic) (320kbps MP3)

Mike Dawes – Superstition (320kbps MP3)

Mike Dawes – Boogie Shred (320kbps MP3)

Piano Guys – Cello Song (320kbps MP3)

Piano Guys – Nearer my god to thee (320kbps MP3)

Pantera – Cemetery Gates (320kbps MP3)

Pendulum – Salt in the wounds (16/44.1 Flac)

Lamb of God – Break you (16/44.1 Flac)

Lorde – Royals (320kbps MP3)

Iron Maiden – The Trooper (320kbps MP3)

Gojira – The art of dying (320kbps MP3)

Rebecca Pigeon – Spanish Harlem (24/176.4 Flac)

Jason Mraz – I wont give up (24/96 flac)

 

Overview:

First off.  I have listened to these for a little over an hour now and I am impressed.  I have just been doing some general listening (favourites list on random) while working and there is a beautiful balance between bass to mids to treble.

 

Bass:

For those of you out there concerned about the lack of bass, don’t be.

If the recording has bass, it is represented as such.  There is zero muddiness that I am yet to hear with the bass being textured, tight and very well extended.

With the music I have listened to thus far (not limited to the above list) there is ample bass impact.  This is coming from a self confessed electronic/trance/hardstyle/DnB fan.

They are in no way coloured towards bass, so you wont get that skull crushing boom, however the texture and detail (the mid bass from a cello for example) is fantastic.  I feel as though I am standing 6 feet in front of my old music teacher again.

The bass is really a huge step up from the Mad Dog 3.2

 

Mids:

The mids are smooth.  They are not recessed, but aren’t in your face either. (This opinion may change slightly given I have recently been listening to the ASG1.3’s which have more bass and mids than I care for).

Female vocals are fantastic.  Never harsh.  Just silky smooth yet somehow retains detail.

I will expand upon the mids when I have had more time with these.

 

Highs:

The treble was what was worrying me in buying these in favour of my Mad Dogs.

I have happy to report that the highs on the AD are great.  I must state however, that I do not care for bright headphones.  I prefer a more laid back sound signature, so YMMV.

To me the highs are full of detail, with a little sparkle but no shrill.

I will expand upon the highs when I had more time with these.

 

Song Specific

 

White Stripes – Blue Orchid (320kbps MP3)

 

Rage Against the Machine – How I could just kill a man (320kbps MP3)

 

Coheed and Cambria – Welcome Home (16/44.1 flac)

 

Eagles – Hotel California (Hell Freezes Over) (24/44.1 wav)

 

Primus – Shake Hands with Beef  (320kbps MP3)

 

FlyLeaf – All around me (Acoustic) (320kbps MP3)

 

Mike Dawes – Superstition (320kbps MP3)

 

Mike Dawes – Boogie Shred (320kbps MP3)

 

Piano Guys – Cello Song (320kbps MP3)

 

Piano Guys – Nearer my god to thee (320kbps MP3)

 

Pantera – Cemetery Gates (320kbps MP3)

 

Pendulum – Salt in the wounds (16/44.1 Flac)

 

Lamb of God – Break you (16/44.1 Flac)

 

Lorde – Royals (320kbps MP3)

 

Iron Maiden – The Trooper (320kbps MP3)

 

Gojira – The art of dying (320kbps MP3)

 

Rebecca Pigeon – Spanish Harlem (24/176.4 Flac)

 

Jason Mraz – I wont give up (24/96 flac)

 

I will update the individual song opinions shortly.
For now I should actually do some work.

 

If you have any questions feel  free to ask, I will do my best to answer.  This will be a work in progress as I am doing this while doing my day job.

 

Scott

 

[ethan7000]

Glad you're doing this, nice work so far.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Good stuff, as you go can you please elaborate more on differences between MD 3.2 and AD, esp on the infamous upper mids/lower treble hardness, if it's still there.
Thanks a bunch for doing this.

 

[djevoultion]

Thanks for your impressions Scott! 
 
Some more thoughts on MD3.2 vs AD would be great  

 

[Wyd4]

Hi All,

Sorry about the lack of activity here.
I have been getting absolutely hammered at work and havent had a chance at home with the new bub.
I have however been giving them plenty of head time at work so I have a better idea of what I want to write when I can.
 
So far however, my only issue with the Alpha Dog is the weight.
They are not super heavy, however it seems that anything other than super light seems to give me neck/headaches.
 
Not enough to part with them though ahha.