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xaval said:
Ok, first impressions about Martin Custom Audio MS1.
No pics. There's a catchy start
However, I'll just state that Marty did excepcional craftsmanship work. Flawless (almost).
So you get your wood box. From the pic my wife sent yesterday it looked like pine. It's not pine, and I cannot really tell you what it is in English since the word is missing on my vocabulary at the moment. We have here some prawn boxes sold with that kind of material. It's nothing fancy, but it's well built, with some nice details on the interior to accomodate de cans and really stands out among this mod business with attention to detail. Pics to come later.
The headband is perfect. I've read a few coments about how unconfortable the lower end Grados/Alessandros feel on the head. I know what they are talking about as my previous experiences proved it beyond about an hour of use. They hurt. Not Martin's. The leather is really soft and has a lined padding on the underside that not only looks the biz but works on a top level. Great marriage between form and function.
The cups and gimbals are amazing. Very well crafted, sanded and laquered. Padauk on the gimbals and Cebil wood on the cups. On their own both woods look exquisite. As a matched combo it's like a piece of art. My crappy camera will never capture that beauty accordingly. I'm also a poor photographer, so just believe what I'm saying. Pads are bowls. I need to work out a leather pair later on.
Remember the almost flawless remark?
The almost comes out because of the rods. The actual rods are made of brass and they attach to Cebil blocks. Great idea to slide the brass through the wood to adjust hight. Looks wonderful. Works wrong. The wood quickly erodes with the friction and the cups come off if you lay the cans on the table top. I need to fix this.
These cans have been recabled with 4 strand silver cable. A 5 footish piece and another 5 footish extension cable. Works out just great if I take these on a trip as I don't need a long wire to connect an iPod or iPad.
As for the sound, I had a couple of hours listen. They did a few great things and a few really bad things. I need to adjust my brain and tune in. I was also anxsious to come home and grab them after this looooooong wait to finally resolve all the pending issues with my initial order. I'll post about the sound later on as I feel the need to relax with them e let myself go. No love at first listen though.
Had a decent listen today. My ears hurt a bit for being forced against the drivers. The bowl effect maybe? Like I said previously, I need to try some more options. TTVJ's website seems to be down... those flats should be interesting if he ships to EU.
Anyway, I promised some pics. I warned against what would come out of it so... here they are in the wooden box (forgot to take pics of the extension cable but it's irrelevant)
The box is quite well built and the foam coating gives them a nice cushion. I'll use the box to storage them as I have quite a lot of stuff spread around the listening area.
Because of the recable, the drivers are now glues against the cups. I won't be needing to open them up. 6 holes opened and the drivers are really close! I like it forward sounding and detail is also important for me.
It's hard to tell how much worse this could of come out with the flash... but the headband is really smooth and comfy.
A side overview of the cups. They're not really that red or dark brown. They look really nice and classy.
A bit more detail over the problematic rod. I'm yet to fix it as I just wanted to listen to some music...
A more realistic view of the cans true colors. My Basset Hound Luna decided to inspect the Neutrik plug and cable. She's a bit shy
Upon further listening sessions my brain is beginning to adapt to them. Today everything sounded much better, although some of the problems I noticed yesterday are still there. They are beginning to grow on me!
Sound Impressions
I've been listening almost exclusively to these cans this last few days and I'm ready to share some info.
These don't sound much like the Grados I've listened in the past. Actually, these are MS1s... With 6 holes vented, the bass is oustanding, quantity and quality wise. The Grado signature I recall wasn't exeptional like this. The mids are quite well integrated despite the upper mid hump. Highs are clear, but recessed. The overall sound presentation is very engaging with the right musical diet: acoustic and electric instruments. as well the kick drum and tom-toms. Piano is listenable. Horns are delicious, but not realistic. I have also found a few issues with male voices.
I started out with Paco de Lucia's "Solo quiero caminar", an excelent rendition of Flamenco and Fusion tracks where the acoustic guitar is king (besides the player). The recording is very well made so it will sound great on any system. With these cans the guitar comes alive with the singing and clapping well placed on the background. The sound is crisp, the body of the guitar breathes air into the cans and there are loads of air between the strings.
Against the HD600, these present more upper frequency energy and air. The timbre sounds more correct. There's little string snap and the presentation is not as forward. There's soundstage.
Against the Lambdas, the conclusions are pretty similar as reported to HD600, with the difference that you also get the string snaping but a more forward presentation.
Against the modded HFI780, the Ultrasones cannot provide the same level of detail and agility. They do snap like any other and the presentation is the most spectacular as far as prat goes since you have your face inside the guitar body.
The MS2s are front row. The HD600 is middle of the room and the Stax sit you row in between. HFI780 wizips you inside the main focus instrument.
In the end I loved the Lambdas and MS2. Not really an absolute fave here.
The next rendition went with Pavarotti's "Nessun Dorma" from the MSFL recording of the Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti pop-aria CD. The MS2 fail miserably ruining Pavaroti's performance. A few good systems have made me cry a few (manly) tears; however the MS2 simply cannot handle the old man's diaphragm pushing the tone higher - it's strident and unpleasent. I repeated the dose yesterday and, without EQing, the same result came out: a disaster. With EQ it is ameliorated, but not first rate.
All comparo cans provide a quality rendering of the event except the MS2. The Lambdas rule supreme.
Next up we have Porcupine Tree's "Metanoia" record. One of my PT faves and have listened to it inumerous times.
The MS2s begin to show, again, what they can do. This recording is extremely atmosferic and provides amazing dynamic range. It's very easy to slide down the couch for the entire recording. The MS2s provide an astral experience here. Drums recording and performance are world class and these woodies know what to do. Fleshed out skin interwined with the guitar and bass... playing together... wow. It's not as 3D and layered as the Lambdas cand do, but the Stax just sound right to down good. The MS2 are almost perfect. The HFI780 onde again are very fun to listen to, but there's too much detail left out. The HD600 do a great presentation again; they sound right but don't stand out much. The MS2 are hindered from the alluded recessed top end - much of the airyness is left out - HD600 are king here, and the Lambdas... also. MS2 cannot do macrodynamics as good as the microdynamics - they sound a bit "short" in this regard, but this is a pure relativisation to other cans because they really sound f~"#%%g great.
Keith Jarret, La Scala's on ECM. Another emotinal trip record. The HFI780 cannot do piano right - it´s a percussion instrument but instead of a pair of hands doing the work it souds more lika a pair of hammers... let's move on, nothing to see here. HD600 always did this recording in a most remarkable way. Not because of the piano in itselft, but because of what's around it. It draws the concert hall in depth and hight. Not much height, think of a rectangle instead of a square. Lambdas do the square, a big square, but the forwardish nature introduces a few trick questions about the concept of rightness about a grand piano in a big room. Both are exhilarating though, and yes, if in the a certain mood, I can spill a few (manly) tears listening to them. The crispness of the MS2s and microdynamics they portray make them a great pair of cans for solo piano. Left hand side there's great authority, warmth and body on one side, on the right hand side there's also loads of crispness and agility. Keith's "singing" comes out perfect. I'm undecided on the fave can: HD600 or MS2. They sound way different!
More to follow. I know, what about "Rock" music, man?!
to each their own.
