[LesureSuitLarry]

So long as this thread is back from the dead, make sure you consider the Ether C Flow with the 1.1 upgrade and improved pads. Better resolution and bass response. Improved an already great headphone. Highly recommended.

Dude... I love your profile pic! It makes me chuckle. So you've listened to the 1.1 update? How are the pads improved? Better material? Bigger ear cups? Unfortunately I don't have 1.1 available to audition. If I bought it, it would just be based solely on your word. You can really vouch for it?

What do you like most about your Ether C Flows?

Sure. The XC's, provided you get a 2017 or 2018 model, have an updated more comfortable headband and it minimizes their hearty 776G weight . they are the heaviest but it doesn't bother me at all. Their clamping force is comfortable and I like the leather pads more than the vegan ones .
The flows are the most comfortable of the 3 I think, but XC's sound Sig I like the most .

Okay, I'll add the Audeze XC to the list to audition then. I discounted them originally based off Zreviews. My concern is that they won't have the expansive soundstage or the near excellent isolation that the t5p and Ether Flow C has. Can you comment on their isolation and soundstage in that regard?

 

[nephilim32]

Dude... I love your profile pic! It makes me chuckle. So you've listened to the 1.1 update? How are the pads improved? Better material? Bigger ear cups? Unfortunately I don't have 1.1 available to audition. If I bought it, it would just be based solely on your word. You can really vouch for it?

What do you like most about your Ether C Flows?

Okay, I'll add the Audeze XC to the list to audition then. I discounted them originally based off Zreviews. My concern is that they won't have the expansive soundstage or the near excellent isolation that the t5p and Ether Flow C has. Can you comment on their isolation and soundstage in that regard?

Absolutely audition the XC's. Very much worth your time . Spend a good hr with them and please don't base any prefabricated ideas from --reviews .I have seen that review and find it incredibly inaccurate, however that is just my opinion and certainly Mr .Z has his .
Give them a nice go . Such a beautiful closed back headphone . Honestly with a pure closed back headphone design there really is not anything better than the XC's just yet. Only different .
The Xc's leading competition like the Sony Z1 R's, Mr speakers c flow and the fostex th900 are semi open designs. The XC's have no gills.
Something to think about.

 

[wirefriend]

Absolutely audition the XC's. Very much worth your time . Spend a good hr with them and please don't base any prefabricated ideas from --reviews .I have seen that review and find it incredibly inaccurate, however that is just my opinion and certainly Mr .Z has his .
Give them a nice go . Such a beautiful closed back headphone . Honestly with a pure closed back headphone design there really is not anything better than the XC's just yet. Only different .
The Xc's leading competition like the Sony Z1 R's, Mr speakers c flow and the fostex th900 are semi open designs. The XC's have no gills.
Something to think about.

I own Ether C Flows. I didn't notice grills and much sound leak.
XCs are much heavier than E Flows - too heavy for my neck.

 

[kellte2]

Dude... I love your profile pic! It makes me chuckle. So you've listened to the 1.1 update? How are the pads improved? Better material? Bigger ear cups? Unfortunately I don't have 1.1 available to audition. If I bought it, it would just be based solely on your word. You can really vouch for it?

What do you like most about your Ether C Flows?

I love the fact that the have incredible resolution and detail on the top end while maintaining a throaty low end response. With the 1.1 upgrade, the mid range is brought forward, and i have no complaints with the cans. They sport a spacious sound stage - especially for a fully closed headphone - and i use them for music and gaming equally. They're lightweight compared to the competition and have wonderful build quality. My one complaint is that they're transparent to the point that poor recordings are no longer pleasurable. This is the case with all TOTL headphones, so I can't really hold it against the ECF.

As for the 1.1 upgrade, I found the resolution to be greatly improved. This is accomplished, in part, by removing the damping material that covers the planar driver and replacing it with a paper filter. From there, users are able to mix and match a series of three damping pads inside the earpads to "tune" the sound. Without any pads, the sound post-1.1 upgrade is brighter than the stock headphone, and one can only assume that this is due to the paper damping versus two layers of foam that was previously installed at the factory. I prefer the white felt pads included in the 1.1 kit, as they restore the warmth to the sound. Additionally, there are bass port decals included with the kit. These function to smooth out the midrange to bass transition, and frequency response charts have been posted in the Ether Flow thread. Needless to say, if you're someone who gets value out of reviewing the response charts, then the 1.1 upgrade appears to objectively improve the response of the headphones. (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mrs...atic-headphones.814156/page-349#post-14531910) Gone is the hole between the midrange and bass and there is a cohesiveness to the sound that simply was not as present as it was prior to the 1.1 upgrade. Additionally, the sound stage is improved, again likely a product of the new damping material.

On top of the upgrade kit, Dan recommended considering replacing pads for those of us who acquired the Ether C Flows prior to June 2017. While the leather of the new pads is identical to my launch pads, the foam material has changed considerably. Now the pads are built with a dense, memory foam-like filling that adds quite a bit to the low end response of the headphones. (see response comparison between 1.1 with new pads and old pads ----- https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mrs...atic-headphones.814156/page-358#post-14626081).

I highly recommend doing both the 1.1 upgrade and the new pads to considerably upgrade the sound of the Ether C Flows.

 

[Zachik]

XCs are much heavier than E Flows - too heavy for my neck.

I second that - the XC are much heavier than any headphones I have ever auditioned!

 

[omegaorgun]

I second that - the XC are much heavier than any headphones I have ever auditioned!

They are indeed, I just got some and have a carbon headband on the way. crap these things sound big, I love my Argons but it's much more dynamic and much superior to the m1060c.

I might do a review of the carbon headband.

 

[dan3952]

I second that - the XC are much heavier than any headphones I have ever auditioned!

I used to have LCD-3s. All Audeze headphones are heavy, but they had tried to reduce it by using carbon fiber instead of wood for the XC cups. It's hard to beat Audeze headphones for impact:. that's what you, get putting up with their weight (which does get you larger magnets than most headphones). All it took was me playing some of my electronic music: when playing The Crystal Method, and Bjork, the content below 90 Hz, had sounded like somebody had slapped me on the forehead, the bass was so dynamic. An album I had grown up with, enjoyed, and still listen to, 34 years later, U2's The Joshua Tree, has lots of electronic bass: I had noticed the difference right away with that one, too. The synthesizer track making up the first 40 seconds of "Where the Streets Have No Name", has enough bass that I can make the walls shake if I play that song at my place with the volume up uisng my 12 inch subwoofer. Sure enough, I had gotten that feeling using Audezes, as well. No other headphone I had tried could do that for me. Unfortunately, the company hasn't produced anything lighter at a reasonable price; they make you pay for LCD-4 derivatives like the -24 or the -4z.

I will look at the LCD-XC someday, for its filled in upper midrange. I heard it's one of the few Audeze headphones that doesn't sound dark. The Harman curve has a flatter response than any Audeze headphone, but you can EQ them.

I currently have Shure SRH-1540's (a closed back), and it's incredible the bass you get with those at 285 g.. I can think of no headphone that I like better for hard rock music I had tried, for the $275 I had paid for them. Audeze headphones have cleaner, more impactful bass, and better resolution, but for more than three times the cost. Both of them have a dark signature. I had EQ'd them both.