Hifiman Shangri-La, new Electrostatic

[jpelg]

^

[DonkeyBalls]

1 hour ago, jpelg said:

^

I wasn't sure if the USB cable comment was a serious one or not, so left it alone. Scratched my head, then walked away confused

[purk]

Actually it does make a difference for me but then again I don't expect any of u guys to believe me either.  I was in that camp once too.  If you guys ever curious about comparing these USB cables that I have, just come by and I will have the DIY T2, SR009, SR007, and Orpheus to welcome you.  Also it didn't cost me any more than $160 to find out and having the Walkman as digital transport really make the comparison pretty easy for me.  

Edited October 18, 2016 by purk

[wink]

It NEVER ceases to amaze me how some people can't understand that all hearing is not created equal.

[grawk]

I think people understand that, they just all think they have the golden ears.

[purk]

No golden ears.  Just a curse.  

[swt61]

My ears are flesh, but my penis is platinum.

[Craig Sawyers]

Ooh - shiny 

[swt61]

Well, I do polish it regularly.

[guzziguy]

You must have huge Nevr-Dull bills.

[DonkeyBalls]

3 hours ago, swt61 said:

Well, I do polish it regularly.

Nearly choked on my coffee. Bastard.

[edstrelow]

Don't waste your money on these, or Stax for that matter. Only now are manufacturers starting to deal with the problems of mechanical vibrations in the housing.  Sennheiser seems to have been the first with the use of damping material in the headband of the HD800. I would assume their new electrostatic does the same. Grado is using proprietary polcarbonate in its e series and claims, probably correctly, that it improves transient performance. Audioquest and  B&W are using damping in their phones and claiming it reduces mechanical crosstalk between the earcups.  My experience, from applying sorbothane to earcups and headbands, confirms these claims.  There is a lot of acoustic energy floating around earcups, which harms performance in many ways. The benefits of effective damping are quite large. In something like the Sennheiser stat, damping is probably going to be the major advantage over the Stax line. If Senn hasn't damped that phone, then a sorbed Stax 007 or 009 should outperform it.

[swt61]

I like to take it a step further and make my own dampening material. I start by collecting roadkill. About 12 squirrels, two skunks or one large raccoon will work well. Skin the roadkill and boil down the carcasses slowly for about 10 hours. remove any large particles, and strain the remaining liquid. Further reduce your dampening juice for another 2 - 3 hours at a low flame.

Add one packet of Knox gelatin mix, then allow to cool overnight. Done. Slice your dampening gel as needed and apply to your favorite headphones.

They'll sound so good that you'll want to listen all day, but they'll smell so bad that you won't.

[mypasswordis]

Remember that one guy with all the ants in his SR009? Imagine what it would look like with rodent jello

[tin ear]

7 hours ago, edstrelow said:

Don't waste your money on these, or Stax for that matter. Only now are manufacturers starting to deal with the problems of mechanical vibrations in the housing.  Sennheiser seems to have been the first with the use of damping material in the headband of the HD800. I would assume their new electrostatic does the same. Grado is using proprietary polcarbonate in its e series and claims, probably correctly, that it improves transient performance. Audioquest and  B&W are using damping in their phones and claiming it reduces mechanical crosstalk between the earcups.  My experience, from applying sorbothane to earcups and headbands, confirms these claims.  There is a lot of acoustic energy floating around earcups, which harms performance in many ways. The benefits of effective damping are quite large. In something like the Sennheiser stat, damping is probably going to be the major advantage over the Stax line. If Senn hasn't damped that phone, then a sorbed Stax 007 or 009 should outperform it.

please tell me that you're not going to bang on about the benefits of sorbothane here too

[mypasswordis]

Clearly Grado, Audioquest and B&W are the stalwarts of good headphone sound, and Stax with no sorbothane sounds like a hippo farting through a wet rag.

This is the guy who said doing the port mod on the SR007 increases the bass.... and I just found this gem:

Instead of using a headband, just hold the earcups next to your head! Best mod ever, but it will make changing volume difficult.

[johnwmclean]

2 hours ago, mypasswordis said:

Instead of using a headband, just hold the earcups next to your head! Best mod ever, but it will make changing volume difficult.

I have no issue adjusting the volume with my nose.

Edited October 23, 2016 by johnwmclean

[Dave R]

I wonder if ear plugs made out of this "sorbothane" stuff, then put in my friends ears, would stop his tinnitus. ?

Edited October 23, 2016 by Dave R

[DefQon]

1 hour ago, Dave R said:

I wonder if ear plugs made out of this "sorbothane" stuff, then put in my friends ears, would stop his tinnitus. ?

He could try this:

http://promedicalaudio.com/

[wink]

What Mr Strelow needs here is an arc of sorb over his head from one ear to the other, and forget about the headphones.

That way he can imagine just how good the music sounds without the problem of any mechanical cumbrances,

 

Win-win, right there.....  

[spritzer]

Wow headphones without a headband...that is pure genius or utter delusion. 

[morphsci]

I think he should apply some sorbothane to this 

[swt61]

Then I won't create any unwanted harmonics when I drill it.

[Sechtdamon]

22 hours ago, edstrelow said:

Don't waste your money on these, or Stax for that matter. Only now are manufacturers starting to deal with the problems of mechanical vibrations in the housing.

how the heck can a 1,5-3 micron thick diaphragm with nearly 0 mass moving 0,25 mm back and forward can make mechanical vibrations which effect housing or pass through headband and cause crosstalk?

And when you hold the earcups with your hands, what do you do about blood pulses? You stop your heart?

 

 

I don't really know what sorbothane is. Does it have psychedelic effects?

Edited October 23, 2016 by Sechtdamon

[Dave R]

10 hours ago, DefQon said:

He could try this:

http://promedicalaudio.com/

Apparently there's no cure for tinnitus, so me mentioning as to whether sorbothane would stop tinnitus was me trying to be sarcastic seeing how edstrelow has been posting more than enough about how amazing it is on HF.

Never thought he'd start posting about it here on HC though.