[estreeter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithetless /img/forum/go_quote.gif The ES7 is indeed much less comfortable, modded or not. Ever since I swapped my earpads out for lambskin ESW9 ones, the pads themselves don't bother me...but the 'phones still clamp much more than the HD228, and the headband tends to make its presence felt. The sound signature is quite different, too -- much livelier next to the HD228's relaxed smoothness. I find myself preferring the ES7 for my uses, but sometimes they're lively to a fault, with the highs at times seeming a bit metallicy and intrusive.

+1

Havent tried the lambskin pads, but agree with the rest of this post 100%. The headband on the ESW9 is said to be a more comfortable design, and the A-T engineers dialled back the clamping force : still need to bend the headband, but they are said to be a more comfortable headphone from day one. Love the bass impact on the ES7.

 

[priest]

I'm going to resurrect this thread a little bit to point out that the astroid mod can be performed on the HD 238 as well, if anyone is interested, with largely the same effect. The bass is killer on this headphone, but a little muddy before you take out the center foams. Treble detail and presentation also improves noticeably.

 

[swaffleman]

I actually made a thread about the HD 238s.

Interestingly, I returned them and got the 218's instead...some of you may be asking why.

Well, I got to do some comparative listening in the Apple store in my town, and I actually enjoyed the more enclosed sound if the 218s over the 238s. I've never been much of an open headphone fan. I like closed phones more because I feel like they have a more focused sound-easier to transcribe with. I also like the ear pads on the 218's much more: they are completely enclosed in leather (pleather?), as opposed to the semi open earpads of the 238s. This was important not only for isolation, but for when I run. I got sweat in the 238's earpads, and I was worried about damage.

The 218s are pretty good, if a little "un-sophisticated" sounding. They almost have a dry, or smoothed over sound. I enjoy them the more I listen to them though. The detail is nice, the sound is full and warm, and the balance is pretty good, even though I find them somewhat boomy. One this, is that the bass on these is pretty huge. The bass rivals the bass on the Bose On ears, but these are more detailed sounding by far.

I too took out the oval foam-I'm not sure what this has done to the sound quality to be honest, but it has made them more comfortable for me, so I'm keeping it this way. I have heard a difference though, and I kept going back and forward between having the foam and not having it to see what the difference was.

Also, as far as what drivers are used and the sound quality, there is almost no difference between the 218's and the 228's. In fact, after looking them both up on headroom, they have nearly identical frequency response graphs, and Senn. themselves give them very similar ranges. I'm sure there is something different though. But I would bet that they are essentially the same.

I also enjoyed the $30 I got back for exchanging the 238's for the 218's. I would have gone with the 228's, but they didn't carry them and I was quite curious to hear the 218's.

I would rate them quite high. ONE THING, though, that I don't like is that I notice some distortion sometimes on certain recordings. I'm not sure what this is, and some people have also noticed this. Apparently it goes away with use, so perhaps it's a burn in thing.

I only notice it when the volume is all the way up though, which is rare as I try to preserve my hearing.

 

[wyrm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swaffleman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I got sweat in the 238's earpads, and I was worried about damage.