[Surf Monkey]

Well, I’m in thanks to Audio46’s open box sale. I think $120 for these is a fantastic price. They’ll be here on Friday…

 

[Surf Monkey]

Damn. The hype around these is real. Just got mine and they’re pretty impressive. They’re smaller than I expected and very light weight. The ear cups are extra soft. They fit my ears perfectly. The overall fit and finish is very good too.

Sound wise, they’re not broken in yet buy they already sound nice. I can hear the drop in the lower mids and the slight bass elevation. Neither one is nearly as exaggerated as the graphs and some of the reviewers say, at least not so far. The bass is solid and firm, it has some slam and fair sub bass extension (which I expect to improve a bit as the ear cups conform to my head and my ears become accustomed to the sound signature.)

Overall these give an excellent first impression. It might be by best $120 I’ve spent in a few years. Total value proposition with these.

 

[Surf Monkey]

After three hours these are already starting to open up a little more and become a bit heavier in the bass as well, no doubt due to the ear cushions conforming more closely.

The main thing I notice about it initially is the soundstage. Tracks that have an inherently large stage sound are almost vast on these. They *almost* sound like fully open backs but they don’t have that gossamer timber to the high end that comes from physical openness. Instead they have the warm, rich tone of closed back cans only with an open sized soundstage. And even though the fine detail of something like a DT990 isn’t there the separation of instrument sounds and the depth of the presentation is really impressive. I hesitate to call it a gauzy quality because the sound is crisp, but it isn’t sharp. It’s pleasant.

Anyway, just a quick first impressions update. I’m pretty enthusiastic about them so far.

 

[BobSmith8901]

After three hours these are already starting to open up a little more and become a bit heavier in the bass as well, no doubt due to the ear cushions conforming more closely.

The main thing I notice about it initially is the soundstage. Tracks that have an inherently large stage sound almost vast on these. They *almost* sound like fully open backs but they don’t have that gossamer timber to the high end that comes from physical openness. Instead they have the warm, rich tone of closed back cans only with an open sized soundstage. And even though the fine detail of something like a DT990 isn’t there the separation of instrument sounds and the depth of the presentation is really impressive. I hesitate to call it a gauzy quality because the sound is crisp, but it isn’t sharp. It’s pleasant.

Anyway, just a quick first impressions update. I’m pretty enthusiastic about them so far.

Curious what your source is. I've been running them mostly balanced 4.4 mm out of a Shanling M6 Pro 21 set to turbo gain. They are just a gas and you get accustomed to their signature and other cans can seem a bit thin.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Curious what your source is. I've been running them mostly balanced 4.4 mm out of a Shanling M6 Pro 21 set to turbo gain. They are just a gas and you get accustomed to their signature and other cans can seem a bit thin.

At the moment I’m running them single ended out of a HiBy R6 2020 on the middle gain setting. No eq. I’ve also run them from my iPhone 13 via a HiBy FC3. I haven’t plugged them into my wired stack yet. They’re just a tad more power hungry than I was anticipating but on these two devices they sound very good, better on the R6. I have a balanced cable coming for them so I’ll see how that impacts their sound soon.

And yeah. I agree. They’re super fun! They’re lively and musical without sounding weird or overly imbalanced.

 

[BobSmith8901]

New SIVGA​

SV023 Open Back Walnut Wooden Dynamic Driver

Retailing for $449.00USD on Amazon

https://www.sivgaaudio.com/product_d?id=13

 

[ZzZzZzZ]

Try

And yeah. I agree. They’re super fun! They’re lively and musical without sounding weird or overly imbalanced.

Try removing the black paper net like thing from the vents situated on the superior aspect of cups and you will experience a greater soundstage along with much sparkling treble without losing on bass !!!

 

[Surf Monkey]

Try

Try removing the black paper net like thing from the vents situated on the superior aspect of cups and you will experience a greater soundstage along with much sparkling treble without losing on bass !!!

Whoa. No kidding? I think I have to try that now. I haven’t twisted the ear pads off yet, but I assume removing them is straight forward? Thanks for the tip! I love these cans. They’re so comfortable and so deliciously fun.

 

[Surf Monkey]

New SIVGA​

SV023 Open Back Walnut Wooden Dynamic Driver

Retailing for $449.00USD on Amazon

https://www.sivgaaudio.com/product_d?id=13

These look interesting. They’re including a very nice set of accessories and the phones themselves look great.

I’m kind of holding on for a second generation planar from Sivga…

 

[ZzZzZzZ]

Whoa. No kidding? I think I have to try that now. I haven’t twisted the ear pads off yet, but I assume removing them is straight forward? Thanks for the tip! I love these cans. They’re so comfortable and so deliciously fun.

Really easy to remove the cups with just a soft twist and then 4 screws securing the driver to cup are to be removed to open the inside of cups.
Then just peel off that paper.. then it's just pure bliss !!

 

[jpierre]

what is the use of these black papers if you think the sound is better removing them

 

[ZzZzZzZ]

what is the use of these black papers if you think the sound is better removing them

To prevent sound leakage as it's a closed back design ? But even after removing these black paper there is no sound leak outside.

 

[ZzZzZzZ]

But believe me if you have Robin you could easily try this mod and it's perfectly reversible as those papers are glued to the wooden enclosure and could be reused if you don't like the sound after mod.

 

[BobSmith8901]

But believe me if you have Robin you could easily try this mod and it's perfectly reversible as those papers are glued to the wooden enclosure and could be reused if you don't like the sound after mod.

Last night I tried the tape removal mod and found the bass didn't work for me--got too boomy and especially overwhelmed already bass-heavy tracks. I reversed it fairly easily as you stated. If one tries it, have something like clear plastic to stick the tapes onto so they don't get stuck and tear--like a plastic cover for a pack of pens. I didn't find in my case that there were any other marked changes in the sound but I didn't really give it a long listening. Again, it is easily reversible.

When the little tapes or baffles were back in place the SIVGA had its strong, but not too strong (for my tastes) bass back and this seemed to get the magic of its overall sound back for me. It was an interesting experiment though: when I held one of the tapes up to a light you can see a matched thinning of the membrane exactly where they match to the vent holes when in-place. Other notable things from opening them up: the material of the cups in undoubtedly some type of real wood (rosewood?) as you can see from the inside when they're open and it's reasonably nicely machined, possibly from a 3-D printer. Also, they use nice thick wiring from the plug-in to the drivers and the solder work is neat and thorough. There are also three white baffles on the plastic driver frame that I suppose you could play around with (wouldn't be my suggestion though).

I think the vent holes with the thin black tape/covering must have been a fairly pointedly intentional sound adjustment to get the bass strong (the venting) but not too strong (the tape) but that's just my take. The bottom line for me is that they created something in this can that's very singular and musical and unlike anything else I've listened to and they probably could charge a hundred or two more for them and they'd have been worth it.

 

[ZzZzZzZ]

Last night I tried the tape removal mod and found the bass didn't work for me--got too boomy and especially overwhelmed already bass-heavy tracks. I reversed it fairly easily as you stated. If one tries it, have something like clear plastic to stick the tapes onto so they don't get stuck and tear--like a plastic cover for a pack of pens. I didn't find in my case that there were any other marked changes in the sound but I didn't really give it a long listening. Again, it is easily reversible.

When the little tapes or baffles were back in place the SIVGA had its strong, but not too strong (for my tastes) bass back and this seemed to get the magic of its overall sound back for me. It was an interesting experiment though: when I held one of the tapes up to a light you can see a matched thinning of the membrane exactly where they match to the vent holes when in-place. Other notable things from opening them up: the material of the cups in undoubtedly some type of real wood (rosewood?) as you can see from the inside when they're open and it's reasonably nicely machined, possibly from a 3-D printer. Also, they use nice thick wiring from the plug-in to the drivers and the solder work is neat and thorough. There are also three white baffles on the plastic driver frame that I suppose you could play around with (wouldn't be my suggestion though).

I think the vent holes with the thin black tape/covering must have been a fairly pointedly intentional sound adjustment to get the bass strong (the venting) but not too strong (the tape) but that's just my take. The bottom line for me is that they created something in this can that's very singular and musical and unlike anything else I've listened to and they probably could charge a hundred or two more for them and they'd have been worth it.

In my case it opened up the soundstage with little taming of bass and adding some sparkle to treble... Our ears are different .