Fuglyphones have landed.

[Knuckledragger]

I've had my TakeTs for not quite a month now. Truth be told, I've barely listened to them. When they arrived from the Land of the Rising Sun, I was in the middle of major house renovations, and I had a houseguest. When I finally connected them up, I found then amusing, but there was a lot lacking with the sound (like the entire midrange.) I heard potential, but mostly I heard what was wrong with the gear upstream of the H2/TR2.

This afternoon, I got back my old Halfer P125 power amp. Back in the 90s, it used to drive studio monitors, but it's been a dust collector for the last five years. I haven't heard it in ages, but what I remember was that it imbued small speakers (EV Sentries, B&W 302s) with a presence that belied its meager 60WPC rating.

It took me nearly an hour to integrate the Halfer into my rig. It has 1/4" balanced TRS inputs, and I had exactly zero cables handy that would work with it. After digging through four different boxes, I eventually found a pair of Monster (yuck) DJ (bigger yuck) RCA -> 1/4" cables, and kludged the Halfer into the signal path after my GLite. As a bonus, I found to lengths of Kimber speaker cable (it's 8*mumble*, not TC, but one of the other ones) that had been missing for ages. I need new termination for them, but I will be using them between the P125 (amp) and TR2 (transformer box) as soon as it is possible.

I have barely begun to do proper listening with this new set up, but for the first time the TakeTs don't sound bad to me. The bass is impressive in its power, and the high end is REALLY UPFRONT. Holy crapballs. Maybe I spend too much time listening to HD-650s, but I am not used to such high end impact. Snare drums take on a whole new meaning with the TakeTs. I really can't do proper analysis of the situation until I fix a few key links in the chain (XLR -> 1/4" TRS cables and new speaker wire termination are on order.) What I can say is that these cans have a huge amount of potential, and are just beginning to reach it in my rig. Also, they have maybe 10 hours of use on them, and I'm sure the sound signature will change as they get some real play time.

[Duggeh]

Mine are enjoying a new sense of life from the Aleph M amp that arrived with me the other day, the problems in the sound I had are all gone. No more eBay amps for me ever. The Aleph also does a pretty good job of running them without the transformer, still no high SPL that way though.

I've also got the new headband and have replaced the TR-2 socket and the TRS jack with the Neutrik connectors. If Head-Fi reappears then I'll append the review.

The tweeter design was changed slightly on newer sets (group buy sets), I do not know if this made them any brighter as I do not have a revised set to compare with.

[Duggeh]

Upgraded my tape player.

Squeezebox should arrive tomo morning. I went hugely digital source skeptic after the UK meet. And hugely pro-amp.

[n_maher]

I went hugely digital source skeptic after the UK meet. And hugely pro-amp.

I don't think you'll find much company in that regard around here. The SB3 is a pretty average source in my book, and yes I own and use one and have compared it to other both worse and better sounding units.

Also, I try not to form concrete impressions from meet, especially when trying to make relative comparisons. Every meet that I've been to has way to high a noise floor.

[Duggeh]

I spent the better part of an hour comparing the Audigy 2 to the Meridian G08. Mostly alone and in the room with no air con.

The differences weren't 5 fold, nevermind 100 fold as the price difference would indicate. The Squeezebox should certainly be better than the Soundblaster and after a time with it, I'll go back and see if downgrading offers a more obvious reaction to my ears. If it does, then jolly D, and I'm left with a good unit to use as transport to an external DAC.

[Duggeh]

Still, this hobby is a continuous learning experience. I look forward to my further education. I certainly don't forsee myself spending any more on the transducer end for a long long time.

[aerius]

Upgraded my tape player.

You need to get one of these. Yes, it really does sound good.

[Nanoha]

By the way, Duggeh, what are your sources right now?

[Duggeh]

Audigy 2 ZS

Pro-Ject Xpression 1.2 with carbon tonearm and OM20.

[granodemostasa]

ah, you should come out to the west coast, i wanna hear treble like no treble before! (sorry, there's no fucking way i'm taking those things seriously, at least until i hear them).

[Knuckledragger]

I've had the H2s on for a couple hours now, and I've begun to do some reflection. I've grown more used to their sonic signature, and uh, somewhat peculiar fit. Truth be told, they aren't that uncomfortable. I'm not going to forget the two metal loops on the top of my head any time soon. I have large and oddly-shaped ears, and the grilles press into them. The HD-650s feel like featherweights in comparison, and the 590s are all but undetectable. That said, I find the H2s less painful to wear than any Grado I've ever tried (except maybe the GS1Ks.) They are a pain in the ass to take on and put off.

Again, I offer the caveat that I had to shoehorn the TakeTs into my rig, the signal path is Adcom GCD-750 -[Kimber KC-1s]-> Gilmore Lite -[Monster DJ RCA-to-1/4"s]-> Hafler -[Generic 10GA OFC]-> TR2/H2. This is a ...suboptimal setup at best. Also, none of this gear, save the Adcom and the Hafler, is remotely burned in. There are too many unknown quantities (and half-assed kludges) for me to properly evaluate the H2s. Bearing this in mind, I do have a few thoughts on how they sound. There is still something not right in the midrange. Instrument separation is lacking. This problem descends into the upper midbass a bit as well. I've been listening to Air's Moon Safari, and on "La Femme d'Argent" the bassline is massive, but lacking clarity. Conversely, the Minimoog at the end of "All I Need" sounds fan-freakin' tastic. My source does an exceptional job at expressing sonic texture, and the H2s pick right up on that. I listened to this album last night with my GLite/650s, for the first time in years (since before I had a headphone rig of any worth) and I forgot how much I liked it. Tonight I am comparing that session with the TakeTs. I am noticing different (I'm not sure I'd say more) details. In "Talisman" the Minimoog is clearly going through a phase effect, giving it an almost vocoder like warble. I never picked up on that before.

The H2s do somethings really well (gritty analog synth bass, snare drums, hi-hats) and completely fail at other tasks. Most of their successes are in the (deep) bass and high end, and most of their flaws are in the midrange. I don't want to give the wrong impression on the H2's high end. It is definitely upfront and intense, but it's not overly shrill or painful. Cymbals and snares are just right there. I hesitate to offer much conjecture, but I think they will scale well with better gear upstream. They are not exactly neutral cans, but they are certainly Ming the Mericless when it comes to revealing flaws in recordings/sources/amps/cables/one's wallpaper/etc. I am not in love with these things, but I continued to be intrigued.

[Duggeh]

Fit is not something you should need really. I wear the H2 so that it is only barely making contact with my face at all, no effort to get the drivers right in close, they literally hang in space, K1000 stylie. Its you comment that they're a pain in the ass to take on and off that makes me think you've got them set quite tight in. They should slip off the head easily. Theres no question though that they are an unconventional ergonomic design. The wire headband is better than the leather one though.

I know exactly what you mean by the upper bass/lower midrange confusion, this for me has diminished hugely with the recent amp change and I suspect it to be an effect of the TR-2 transformer, as the directly amplified H2 doesn't seem to exhibit the effect.

[Fitz]

Am I correct to deduce that midrange is not the H2's strong suit?

[Knuckledragger]

Duggeh, you've retrofitted your H2-TRS and TR2-TRS with Neutriks, effectively making them *-XLRs? Nice one. How are you connecting the H2 directly to the Aleph amp? With a custom speaker cable that terminates in a female XLR4? This would be a good opportunity for some pictures.

I am curious how the H2s sound without the TR2 in the signal path. I have no doubts it's causing some of the midrange mud that I am hearing. I remember Kevin said that to be fully effective, the it would have to be four times the size it is. 0_o Once I have the cables and termination necessary to properly integrate the TakeTs into my rig, I'm going to begin a more evaluative listening process using music I know well.

When you use an amp designed for dynamic drivers, do you run the risk of overloading the H2s with current? For reasons, I'd rather not get into, I uh, sent some dubstep through Hafler into the TR2/H2s are full blast, and they didn't appear to suffer any ill effects. It was only for a second...

Also, re: the fit, in the discussion about the H2's pads on that other site, I read that the point was to have the drivers has close to one's ears as possible. I don't wear mine HD280-style (skull crushingly tight) but I do keep them so that the pads are in contact with the side of my head. If I pull the cups away from my head, the H2s tend to slip off. Have you tightened the screws on the inside of the headband? I have considered this, but I read about at least one head-fier stripping them attempting to do that.

[Duggeh]

Mr Takei sent me the new headband design and a new faceplate for the TR-2 and an XLR plug. The cable on the H2 is probably the worst I've seen on any headphone, the whole thing seems to be badly oxidised copper wire, there's no insulation I can detect beyond the plastic shield either. Recabling would be an absolute whore though because of the way that the driver housings are put together. There are screws holding the earplate to the main housing, the join seems to be in the slot where the headband fits. The screws are covered up though by the grille and the tweeter is attached to both the grille and its bound by plastic weave of some kind to the main housing as well. I suspect that unless you really knew what you were doing you risk snapping something trying to dismantle the headphone. There's high volts in there though so I would advise against poking round anyway.

I have a female XLR-Speaker tails adapter I made for the Ergo AMT which I used to connect the H2 directly. The Aleph is a really sturdy amp and its very good at coping with strange loads, I've even read of people who have shorted out the terminals on them with no ill effect, although of course I wouldn't want to try. The headphone will warn you when you give it too much energy you'll hear distortion creeping in despite the volume and as soon as you hear it its time to back off.

The H2 sound quality is more balanced without the transformer, but it simply will not drive to a pleasing listening volume. With the transformer employed volume isn't a problem but control is. The higher you turn the volume up the more and more the low mid-bass and more acutely, the more the high end start to dominate the sound, probably because the tweeter is more sensitive than the main driver.

Fit is a personal thing, the sound of the headphone does change a lot depending on how you play with the positioning on X Y or Z axis. The size of the driver though, combined with its varying frequency response over its surface makes having the driver close to the ear, to my mind, a bad idea. You want a gap so that your ear is able to pick up SPL from the whole engine. The pads for me are just there so that when the headphone does brush my face its soft. Wearing them this way was far more difficult with the leather headband.

You don't need to screw the headband really tight, finger tight is more than enough, traction should hold anything beyond that anyway.

[catscratch]

I've had issues with the H2's midrange running the TR2 off the Dareds' 4 ohm taps. In this setup, the midrange was recessed while the bass was very upfront, as was the treble. Switching to the 8 ohm taps really brings the midrange out, and it is now more or less balanced with the bass and the treble, at least in general terms. I think the TR2 is a 16 ohm load but 8 ohm taps are all I've got so it will have to do.

I have to second the notion that these headphones are very system-specific. Some amps just sound like rubbish with them, and even though the transformer box hurts the ultimate resolution (I think, going on hearsay here but it seems pretty universal), there is still an awful lot of resolution to be had, which shows up your system irregularities very nicely.

Think of these as truly high-end phones, because they are. You wouldn't drop an O2 into a consumer-grade system, and you shouldn't do it here. I've really been amazed at the performance improvement I got just by replacing my rubbish Onkyo arc welder with the Dared monoblocks (which also cuts out the lousy Denon preamp); it's a completely different headphone now and there is much more resolution across the board. Let's just say that the days of it getting stomped by an HD600 out of a Hornet are over.

I'm expecting some very good things in the next few weeks, with a tuberoll and some silver cables on their way into the system.

[Duggeh]

Mr Takei is sending me some bits and pieces, including the new pads design and the WHD adapter. I'm looking forward to seeing how the H2 drivers work in that capacity as a speaker enhancement.

Good to hear you're enjoying the H2 more with your shiny new amps!

[Dusty Chalk]

...even though the transformer box hurts the ultimate resolution (I think, going on hearsay here but it seems pretty universal)...

Actually, it's progressive -- you can get better transformers, but they tend to cost quite a bit. Unless you're KG, in which case, you get them for free at junk yards and have a small stash of them.

[Knuckledragger]

Tonight I took the Fugs out of their box for the first time after two weeks with the 880s, and a few days with the 650s. Man do my dynamics sound sleepy compared to the H2s. These cans are so in your face. I don't do much A/B comparison with equipment, preferring to spend a long period of time getting to know the character of a piece of kit. That said, the H2s are completely unlike any other headphone I have ever heard. It's like looking at my music through a Canon EF 100mm F/28 macro lens. I'm listening to Ashtar Command's cover of Mazzy Star's "Into Dust" and at the end of the song, when the female singer repeats the "into dust" line I can tell which bars she's breathing in on. This approaching the musical equivalent of TMI. The TakeTs are sensitive to everything upstream and report on it in [excruciating/euphoric] detail. Apple's AAC codec sounds okay to me at high bitrate out of my iPod/Kosses, but is downright unlistenable with the H2s. The midrange, which can already be problematic, becomes an absolute quagmire. I spent several hours today ripping CDs to flac because the lossy versions on my HDD are unacceptable.

I'd be curious to hear the previous rev of the H2s, that have a more recessed high end. Cymbals have so much energy with my version. I'm itching to hear the H2/TR2 driven by a nice tube amp. Something that will smooth off the edges a bit on the upper frequencies.

[catscratch]

Well the Dareds have less treble energy than my old Onkyo solid-state arc welder but there's still too much treble energy to be had. I think this is more to do with differences in sensitivity between the mains driver and the tweeter, with the latter getting louder more quickly than the former. In my opinion, the tweeter needs to be turned down, and very likely I will talk to Mr. Takei about it.

Also, a big part of taming the treble happened when I ran the H2 off the 8 ohm taps. It sounds quite a bit more balanced this way, though the midrange is quite peaky still.

I agree, though, that once you get used to the H2 it is very difficult to listen to other gear, especially gear that's not on the same level (which is nearly everything). Normally, something with a peaky and uneven midrange would get the boot instantly but the H2 is just so fucking good at times that it's scary. It almost overcomes its weaknesses - but not quite.

But, I'm not done with it yet. We'll see what further system matching can do.

BTW - has anyone talked to Mr. Takei about the availability of the direct-drive amp that is supposedly soon out in Japan? I'm willing to wager that the transformer box has a lot to do with our midrange woes.

[Duggeh]

I've now got a set of the revised drivers here so I'll be able to comment on exactly how much the sound has changed with the tweeter tweak. Also got a set of the new thick pads and a pair of BATPRO.

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm listening to Ashtar Command's cover of Mazzy Star's "Into Dust" and at the end of the song, when the female singer repeats the "into dust" line I can tell which bars she's breathing in on. This approaching the musical equivalent of TMI.

That almost sounds like compression -- what amp are you using again?

[Knuckledragger]

That almost sounds like compression -- what amp are you using again?

I'm using a Halfer P125 60WPC solid state amp.

...

The honeymoon with the TakeTs officially ended an hour ago. What started as a crackle in the right side has progressively worsened to distortion, and now it doesn't put out any sound at all. I wiggled the cable in the right earcup, and the sound would correct for a minute, but as soon as I moved, it faded again. Now it won't come back with any movement. Given the voltage that the TR2 puts out, I opted not to mess with the H2s any further.

I am not happy. I now have to contact Mr. Takei and see about getting the H2s repaired. Which means sending them back to Japan, and being without them for a period of time measured in months. 0_o

This is not a good thing. I've had the cans for less than two months, totaling a few dozen hours at most. I've never dropped them, and stored them in the box they came in when I wasn't using them. Duggeh mentioned the cabling was the weak link the H2s ...he didn't know how right he was.

[n_maher]

What is going on? Is this the week when everyone's shit breaks around here?

[Salt Peanuts]

What is going on? Is this the week when everyone's shit breaks around here?

*Looks around, knocks on every wood in the apartment.*

I don't need anything broken, my Wii just came back from repair, for crying out loud.