[OctavianH]

Wanting to get a little bit of that tight dark area, I went again for the Tesla EL34. I told you guys many times about how good these are, at least on Eternity. The bass is not as tight, we receive a boost in the high frequency area. Exactly as expected, so my tubes behave somehow similar, and I know them. Now I can add my condiments in my cooking recipe and obtain the flavour I want, the only unknown variable is the Ether 2 but I start to decypher it.

Now I just have to listen to music, have a nice cold white beer from Mannheim. Germany, and wait. I will keep these, I am more and more sure about that. They do not check all the possible boxes, but they check more than others. Now, my rule is to have 2 headphones, and it is hard to sell any of the others, Beyerdynamic T1.2 being one of my all time favourites and ZMF Verite Open being the best of all three, in terms of sound. Comfortwise, DCA Ether 2 rules and closely followed by the Beyerdynamic T1.2. My listening session started today 11 hours ago because I had to work today. So, I guess I'll keep all three, I have time to decide until Ether 2 reaches 100 hours. That is my self imposed deadline.

 

[OctavianH]

Not sure about others, but I evaluate gear in a very personal way. Others measure, test with the same tracks or do some voodoo. I am not that kind, I am not burning in during night with noise or stuff, I am just listening to music. But I listen a lot, tens of hours, hundreds, all the time. Sometimes I dream about songs while not listening, so in my brain the listening experience is 24/24. And for every new piece I try my final test: the first Black Sabbath album.

For Ether 2 after I put my Tesla EL34 I went for the thing which makes me understand: Wicked World! If the guitar of Tony Iommi and the drums of Bill Ward are ok, I am ok. On the third place in this song comes Geezer Butler. Because the bass usually sounds good. And latest Ozzy. But if all are good, I am good.

 

[UntilThen]

Already 12 hours of listening to DCA's Ether 2. I've put the Mullard EL34 xf2 because those have the best bass from all my pairs and also the Fivre 6N7G which has a warm tone and also extends a little bit the soundstage having a more airy presentation. With the stock pads these headphones sound quite tight and this tight sound needs a little bit of air to become enjoyable. The reason to use this combo is that yesterday I had a feeling that these are a little bit light in bass. Well, today I feel them to be quite warm, a darker tone and I have a feeling that soon I'll want to reduce the bass quantity. My question is if these change so much in only 12 hours or my brain is able to adjust so much. I never had such an experience with other pair of headphones, where things were more or less like in the beginning with some evolving in some areas. Here, the change is dramatic and I have no idea if it is me or them.



During my long listening sessions, it is hard to follow each album and each track and make assessments to each of them. I follow a very unprofessional way of letting myself listening to the music for hours and then, at the end, trying to find a conclusion. Well, I am a little bit confused about the very different presentation of these headphones, but I quite like what I hear now. These have that darker sound which is a little bit immersive, it grows on you. While waiting for delivery I read the whole Ether 2 thread and many were claiming about this. Well, now I am experiencing the same thing. But these are not as fast as expected, compared to what planars shoud be, I do not feel incredible fast sounding headphones, what I feel is an organic sound, bold and quite well articulated. It might be the consequence of this darker tuning, audiophiles have to know more not me. I do not care about octaves, fancy words or measurements, I just want my music to sound good. And these are quite promising in that area.

Nice picture. You do need time with a new gear, especially a headphone. I had just one listening session with Ether 2 on the Kenzie Encore and that's right after the Meze Empyrean. However that one short session pique my interest. Holding the headphone in my hands and the tone. It's very new for me but it left a nice impression on me.

The other thing is I listen to it with the Kenzie which is the poor man's 300b amp and the tone is warm and dark. Kind of match there.

 

[OctavianH]

Nice picture. You do need time with a new gear, especially a headphone.

You are right.

Later edit:
To avoid too many spam posts, even if I am the spam king here I'll edit and post this in this already existing one.
There is a strange feeling with these Ether 2, something I haven't experienced with other headphones. When I put them on my head after a break I have the feeling that they are somehow dark tuned with highs rolled off, after a few minutes of listening, I am somehow taken by this sound and I do not feel the same anymore and these seem warm but balanced. After another break this happens again. Strange is our brain.

 

[OctavianH]

What's more fun than tube rolling? I'll tell you, pads rolling. And the Ether 2 System comes with 3 sets of pads: Standard, Perforated and Suede. All change the presentation by quite a margin. So now you have 2 levels of tweaking, tubes then pads. Another variable in the equation, another possibility to have fun. And to make things worse I've ordered a Forza Noir Hybrid cable. Pad rolling is extremely easy, you just need 2 minutes because the pads have some "sticky" material inside and glue themselves on the carbon of the driver surface and they claim this works for hundreds of times. If the sticky material is not sticky anymore, just some alcohol and will work. I have my doubts, but I am sure 10-20 times will work until I'll understand these.

 

[SonicTrance]

Try pad rolling on Audeze headphones! They have the worst mounting system, 3M tape! Not reusable, lol.

 

[UntilThen]

That's the thing I hate about Audeze. Changing pads. Abyss has a very good system.

 

[OctavianH]

I know Audeze glues them, I have no idea why. If you look in the Classifieds for used Audeze, you see a lot with the pads damaged. I look from time to time on Classifieds not to buy stuff, but to learn faults about stuff. A very educative activity on head-fi. However, ZMF are good at this, pads are nice, provide a changed signature and are easy to replace. One thing I do not like at ZMF, after some time they start to rotate on the headphone.

 

[OctavianH]

I have observed that I prefer these Ether 2 with 6SN7/7N7/6F8G instead of 6J5/6C5 in the input sockets. This does not mean those are not pairing well, but somehow I find a better combination which checks more boxes with these. No problem, I have plenty from my Elise years, and the good part is that I need here only 1 piece. So I have backups for almost all of them.

After some RCA 7N7 some Ken-Rad 6F8G. Both good pairs for Sylvania 6CA7.

 

[UntilThen]

I have observed that I prefer these Ether 2 with 6SN7/7N7/6F8G instead of 6J5/6C5 in the input sockets. This does not mean those are not pairing well, but somehow I find a better combination which checks more boxes with these. No problem, I have plenty from my Elise years, and the good part is that I need here only 1 piece. So I have backups for almost all of them.

That is the beauty of Eternity and Odyssey. They only need one good double triode tube. Imagine buying a pair of Mullard ECC32 now. It's more expensive than ginseng !

 

[OctavianH]

That is the beauty of Eternity and Odyssey. They only need one good double triode tube. Imagine buying a pair of Mullard ECC32 now. It's more expensive than ginseng !

Yep, nothing to complain about. By the way I read on the Euforia thread that they plan to release a new amp with KT88 as powers. Good that we made our stashes before this, when a mass production amp switches to a tube type, well, prices and availability change, or at least this is what I am expecting.

 

[UntilThen]

Yep, nothing to complain about. By the way I read on the Euforia thread that they plan to release a new amp with KT88 as powers. Good that we made our stashes before this, when a mass production amp switches to a tube type, well, prices and availability change, or at least this is what I am expecting.

They are not producing a KT88 amp. They are planning on a 300b amp is what I learned.

 

[OctavianH]

I think this was what I read. I have to admit I would be curious to listen to Euforia with KT88 natively, and also to know if it will support EL34. But in the last months I got used with Eternity and I doubt I'll want another amp.

 

[UntilThen]

I think this was what I read. I have to admit I would be curious to listen to Euforia with KT88 natively, and also to know if it will support EL34. But in the last months I got used with Eternity and I doubt I'll want another amp.

There's the answer to your question. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/feliks-audio-euforia-a-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing.831743/post-16493504

They are not doing a KT88 amp. I've not seen a KT88 being used in a OTL amp and I doubt it's possible or there would be one already. It's always as transformer coupled.

The way KT88 and EL34 is used in an OTL amp like Elise and Euforia is very strange. It won't sound the same as when hearing KT88 / EL34 in a transformer coupled amp.

 

[SonicTrance]

KT88 is not suitable for OTL amps. It has too high internal resistance. If you parallel two, or preferably three or more, per channel it can be done. There are much better suitable tubes for OTL use than KT88.