Rad-0....The biggest disappointment is that it was SO uncomfortable. I have had quite a few heavy headphones (old school LCD3, Kennerton Odin MK2) and they didnt bother me much, but the Rad-0 hurt to wear. It also sounded spectacular with a Ifi Pro ICAN and was just ok on my other (better) amps. PS my Pro ICAN was a dud for me on every headphone I tried with it Except the Rad-0....go figure!
Stellia- Just wasn’t as exciting as I expected. I find the Utopia to be one of the best headphones on the planet and could not wait. I tried to like it;.... but sold it as it was just average to me.
Rad-0....The biggest disappointment is that it was SO uncomfortable. I have had quite a few heavy headphones (old school LCD3, Kennerton Odin MK2) and they didnt bother me much, but the Rad-0 hurt to wear. It also sounded spectacular with a Ifi Pro ICAN and was just ok on my other (better) amps. PS my Pro ICAN was a dud for me on every headphone I tried with it Except the Rad-0....go figure!
Stellia- Just wasn’t as exciting as I expected. I find the Utopia to be one of the best headphones on the planet and could not wait. I tried to like it;.... but sold it as it was just average to me.
I have to agree with @Strayngs on the RAD-0 being really uncomfortable. I could get used to the weight but the headband structure is ridiculous. The clamp force and where it is exerted on my head are unbearable. The shame of it is that the FR and tonality of the RAD-0 is among the very best. What an absurdity: sonic near-perfection made unattainable due to anti-ergonomic design.
I have to agree with @Strayngs on the RAD-0 being really uncomfortable. I could get used to the weight but the headband structure is ridiculous. The clamp force and where it is exerted on my head are unbearable. The shame of it is that the FR and tonality of the RAD-0 is among the very best. What an absurdity: sonic near-perfection made unattainable due to anti-ergonomic design.
Rad-0....The biggest disappointment is that it was SO uncomfortable. I have had quite a few heavy headphones (old school LCD3, Kennerton Odin MK2) and they didnt bother me much, but the Rad-0 hurt to wear. It also sounded spectacular with a Ifi Pro ICAN and was just ok on my other (better) amps. PS my Pro ICAN was a dud for me on every headphone I tried with it Except the Rad-0....go figure!
Stellia- Just wasn’t as exciting as I expected. I find the Utopia to be one of the best headphones on the planet and could not wait. I tried to like it;.... but sold it as it was just average to me.
You almost can't overstate the importance of comfort in a headphone; especially in a TOTL one. I traded the Abyss AB-1266 on just because the comfort was so bad, despite the fact that it was the best headphone I'd ever heard. It felt like the fitment system was designed by the audio engineers; like they had determined that mechanism was the only way they could get the sound they wanted, and because of that it was objectively better to have the screwy system over a comfortable one. Ended up trading it for, among other things, an LCD-3, and I haven't looked back!
I have a pair or Rad-0s, with the dekoni nuggets it makes it much more comfortable. The clamp force is not too bad and loosens over time, mine currently feel as firm as my Stellias. Seem ok to me!
You almost can't overstate the importance of comfort in a headphone; especially in a TOTL one. I traded the Abyss AB-1266 on just because the comfort was so bad, despite the fact that it was the best headphone I'd ever heard. It felt like the fitment system was designed by the audio engineers; like they had determined that mechanism was the only way they could get the sound they wanted, and because of that it was objectively better to have the screwy system over a comfortable one. Ended up trading it for, among other things, an LCD-3, and I haven't looked back!
Empy is undoubtedly my biggest flagship disappointment. Some other flagships have signatures that weren't for me but I understood the appeal, like SR1A. Empyrean kind of baffled me to be honest. I had it connected to a DAVE during my short ownership and I recall it as a scuffed HD650. No offense intended to the abundance of happy owners but just my two cents FWIW.
ZMF Verite open and closed, they're veiled in the mids, don't scale regardless of amp and dac, can't do a proper stereo image, very disappointing low end for the closed one and many caveats on using them. Good for mid-fi but doesn't cut the mustard for high end. Nice wood, overpriced and average sound, beryllium marketing. Hideous practice needing to buy 500$ worth of pads to find the goldilocks one, maybe and then you forget which is which since they're not marked. As disappointing as the Empyrean.
All in all the expectations were quite high based on the overwhelming hype and there are multiple small niggles that add up to a big disappointment and the sound quality doesn't compensate. From a product standpoint it's an expensive luxury item and certain expectations are not met given the price point regardless if it's mass produced or custom made. When users are constantly making excuses for the shortcomings and actively deter others from posting negative first impressions it's a warning sign, most expensive headphones are ruthlessly criticised, for some reason you can't do the same here without being called out.
I have. The end result is the same if I can’t see what is playing....but I get it, I genuinely do. Trust me, I used to be over on your side of the fence slinging my money at shiny boxes like there was no tomorrow. I heard vast differences between both amps and dacs....but I always used my peepers and had absolutely no idea how to volume match two units properly.
How many times have you tried listening to gear blind?
I'm a bit confused by this sentiment - my amps are tube amps (mostly), and I was under the impression that tubes add harmonic distortion to change the sound of the music. I don't think sight bias is necessarily at play here - but that's just my opinion. Claiming that all differences heard from all amps and DACs are perversions of reality seems like an over-simplification to me.
I guess you could say that I'm comparing the tubes themselves and not the amp - but tubes prove that implementation of design can add distortion and change the sound (for the better or worse) but just wanted to offer my humble opinion...
If you take a look at my previous post I actually mentioned that the only audible differences I’ve encountered was either via volume or impedance mismatching. Tube amps are generally impedance mismatching by design...and add on an audible impedance hump in the bass on most dynamic driver headphones alongside distortion.
I haven’t blindtested that much tube gear because I vastly prefer a solid state amp. There are probably differences between tubes sure, but most likely because they change the output impedance of the amp.
I haven’t blindtested that much tube gear because I vastly prefer a solid state amp. There are probably differences between tubes sure, but most likely because they change the output impedance of the amp.
Actually output impedance differences with different tubes are nearly negligible for most modern tube amps (OTLs might be a different Story)
Yet sound differences are very noticeable with different tubes.
Like I mentioned previously I’m not that keen on tube gear so I wouldn’t know
What I do know is that the few couple of times I tried a tube amp in a blindtest it ended up surprising the hell out of me. I had a Valhalla 2 that I truly and utterly adored. I thought I heard all kinds of saucy magic emanating from those fiery lightbulbs...yet put up against a solid state amp it became indestinguishable apart from very quiet parts during the music where I could hear a faint high pitched noise from the left side. Other than that, no differences.
The Valhalla 2 is also one of those ‘modern’ OTLs in that it comes with a fairly low output impedance, which in many cases renders it transparent (except for that one high pitched noise of course). I imagine there to be quite a few transparent tube amps out there with similar or even lower output impedance than the little schiit...but why not buy a solid state to begin with then?
Nahh I actually sympathise with folks that go for tubes. There’s a charm to them, and if it wasn’t for all the noise-related problems I always encounter with them, I’d probably own a transparent one...without any faint high pitched noises that is
Edith:
Alrighty let’s get this thread back on track!
Another TOTL disappointment of mine was the DCA Voce. That thing is like an electrostatic on steroids! I was never fond of the 1k honk that most often come with estats, but with the Voce it’s literally monstruous and throws off the balance completely.
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