elnero Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 HF-2: a little extra bass oomph, but very good balance. Preferred it over HF-1 and RS-1. Nick Drake's Fruit Tree (acoustic folk) sounded incredible.Out of curiosity, you're the previous owner of my MS2i's so you may be able to answer this, how would you say the HF-2's compare to those?
The Monkey Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 D5000: Definitely not my thing. Weird, boomy, bland, something. heh, I agree with that. So annoying that the D5000 apparently is the reference can in most of the HF comparisons.
Icarium Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Yeah the audize or however you spell their name was best in show. On hindsight maybe not best headphone ever but very different and insanely fast, detailed and a presentation thats unbelievable esp the imaging. Definately buying one to two pairs. Flaws? Not sure but ive heard others say too bright/agressive/basslight or tone was a bit off but general consensus was that its very interesting and def woth a go at 300-500. The other prototype is less agressive but weaker on the other fronts. It also isolates insanely well for an "open" phone def potentially a work phone. Will try to get one or several and will hold a mini meet for beta testing and feedback in bay area. Hd800s very good but dont need to own it. From the luxman aka als rig and pair it was as fast as advertised, but still a bit slower than ad2000/qualias/k1000 but damn close. Biggest gripe while left and right are widely separated but there sound is very clustered like if a drummer and bass player was standing to the left theyd sound on top of each other or too close to be right. Ive heard burn in improves things but only in fullness. Bhse o2s great. Definately a winning endgame combo. Sr-omegas awesome def better than o2s or he90s for me outa es-2s might flip flop if i spent more time. Balancing act awesome esp witg ad2000s and the planars. Oh yeah hf-2s quiet good. Very fast and along the lines of vintage rs-1s but not quite there/or as refined but for 429 a great deal. Sad things. Sdr-3000 transport issues. Sdr-2000 being too weak to really work with bhse(0.75 volts). Missing pool party. Think i missed out ob meeting nate too thats sad Want to hear things. Head directs orthos. Berkeley alpha dac if one exists. Ps1000s. Maybe woo amps. Man i guess i gotta quit shittalking grados and orthos. Alex of audize or whatever is an awesome dude though and im number teo in line behind the first acolyte kabeer. Must shill harder and faster. Way too much iphone typing and why am i up at 6
deepak Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) Does anyone have pictures of the new orthos? You're the first to mention them, seems people only care about the HD800 and HF-2 Sorry to hear about Spectral transport issues .75 mv is crazy low output for a source :-0 Edited May 31, 2009 by deepak
The Monkey Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Dan, thanks for those impressions. One of the things I realized is driving me crazy over at the other place is that it's simply amateur hour.
Kabeer Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Thanks for the impressions Icarium!! . So Head-Direct are ALSO making an orthodynamic?? This is news to me, details please Is this the Head-Direct one (the light brown woodie)?
VPI Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Yes that is Fang's Planar. He is running it off of that little plexi-glass amp with a single tube with that Hifiman thing as a source. Sounded alright. Not the most comfortable headphone but midrange and highs were okay. Bass seemed a little off but it might be source, etc.
bjarnetv Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 amp was probably an EF1. my guess is it has lacking bass because of the foam pads, which is useless with planars.
faust3d Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 So there is an ortho from head direct as well!? Interesting development. Any pictures of the other orthos?
Cankin Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Out of curiosity, you're the previous owner of my MS2i's so you may be able to answer this, how would you say the HF-2's compare to those? I'd like to know this too, I owned MS2i twice but always think that its midrage is too dry for me. and also, does HF-2 provide more detail than MS2i??
diebenkorn Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Headphones (pfft) I want to hear about drunken debauchery....
Aura Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Did Craig bring a ZDT? Any impressions on it? Thanks much for the comments guys, I really wanted to be there but ultimately my money is just too tied up in other places to be able to afford the weekend trip. I can assure myself I will be there next year...
swt61 Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 I want the "Shadow!" Lock this man up, and take away his ID card!
swt61 Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Sankar is the engineer here. For me, they sound very good and, if they sell for ~$350, are the best value among the new headphones. Very promising news Ken. Maybe someone was listening to us afterall.
morphsci Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Wow, great impressions already, so will just add a little. First off, the biggest surprise for me has been the hf-2's and the Audeze planar (I will attempt to get pictures today). The hf-2 is remarkably good, as long as you like the Grado sound. Sounds to me most like a mini PS-1, with reduced bass. That is a plus in my book as the PS-1 has always been too bass heavy for my tastes. The real shocker has been the Audeze planars. These are very fast, clear phones with a great frequency balance. They may lack a little low-end weight but that is definitely IMO. A big chunk of that comparison was using them on a Gilmore lite fed from the Spectral 2000 DAC and a PCDP transport. I compared them to an O2/BHSE using the same source, so not a liteweight comparison. The Audeze kept up in clarity and speed, but not in midrange smoothness or bass extension (WooHoo big surprise with the price differential). At $350 - $400 dollars, this phone is a steal. I will try to get a listen to it on the GS-X/Neko Audio D100 rig today. Which brings me to the Neko Audio D100. This is the real deal. Listened out of the GS-x on my K340's with a Macbook feeding it via optical output. Very smooth and clear with a variety of genres (rock, classical, jazz). Definitely to my tastes as it, like the GS-x simply gets out of the way so you can hear the recording in all its glory or with all of its faults, but the it does not accentuate the faults in the recordings. It lets you hear them but doesn't throw them in your face. I want to go back and listen to the Audeze planars on this rig. The HD-800's were awesome on both Al's Luxman and the Headroom BUDA. Others have given good impressions. IMO the impressions vary because this phone lets you hear the upstream components in all their glory (or not). Very electrostatic like speed but you have the advantage of dynamics of dynamics. Can't really say much more without more listening time to see how the electronics are influencing any other specifics. It looks like I will own this but I'm definitely going to let the dust settle first. OK I need to go eat something and drink at least a gallon of coffee ... I guess I need to look for Billy.
VPI Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 I want to hear about Jacob's adventures. Jacob won an ALO Bamboo iPod dock at the raffle. Priceless. I still haven't found iPodPJ or a single pair of DT-48s but I will today.
CD44hi Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Jacob won an ALO Bamboo iPod dock at the raffle. Priceless. I still haven't found iPodPJ or a single pair of DT-48s but I will today. priceless indeed! I am sure we can do the " does it float " test on Youtube for this one!
Fitz Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Jacob won an ALO Bamboo iPod dock at the raffle. Seriously?
CD44hi Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Wow, great impressions already, so will just add a little. First off, the biggest surprise for me has been the hf-2's and the Audeze planar (I will attempt to get pictures today). The hf-2 is remarkably good, as long as you like the Grado sound. Sounds to me most like a mini PS-1, with reduced bass. That is a plus in my book as the PS-1 has always been too bass heavy for my tastes. The real shocker has been the Audeze planars. These are very fast, clear phones with a great frequency balance. They may lack a little low-end weight but that is definitely IMO. A big chunk of that comparison was using them on a Gilmore lite fed from the Spectral 2000 DAC and a PCDP transport. I compared them to an O2/BHSE using the same source, so not a liteweight comparison. The Audeze kept up in clarity and speed, but not in midrange smoothness or bass extension (WooHoo big surprise with the price differential). At $350 - $400 dollars, this phone is a steal. I will try to get a listen to it on the GS-X/Neko Audio D100 rig today. That is great to hear. I always found the bass on the PS1 to be obtrusive. (besides the weight of the headphone itself, uncomfortable) So on this note, how is the weight of the HF2? Does it get fatiguing after a while??
VPI Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 That is great to hear. I always found the bass on the PS1 to be obtrusive. (besides the weight of the headphone itself, uncomfortable) So on this note, how is the weight of the HF2? Does it get fatiguing after a while?? I listened to my HF-2s for a while last night and I didn't even notice the weight. They definitely seem a lot lighter than my HP-2s. The flats are also a must in my comparisons.
deepak Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 Jacob won an ALO Bamboo iPod dock at the raffle. Brilliant
CD44hi Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 I listened to my HF-2s for a while last night and I didn't even notice the weight. They definitely seem a lot lighter than my HP-2s. The flats are also a must in my comparisons. Great to hear. I am looking forward to give them a listen! Have fun with the rest of today!
swt61 Posted May 31, 2009 Report Posted May 31, 2009 amp was probably an EF1. my guess is it has lacking bass because of the foam pads, which is useless with planars. Completely agree with that, unless they had some type of coating on the inner surface. Bad design choice IMO. The Audeze ortho is sounding better and better. I'll keep my ears open for availability. I'm shocked, but also glad to hear the mainstream paying attention to this older driver technology that IMO hasn't even come close to seeing it's full potential.
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