Audeze EL-8 Closed

Discussion in 'Audio Science' started by Ninja Pirate, Jan 5, 2016.

  1. Ninja Pirate

    Ninja Pirate Friend

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    Using my shitty rig:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Yeah... that steady rise from 500Hz - 2kHz sounds pretty bad/unnatural/metallic. It's like they didn't even try to tune the closed model.

    I went into these more or less blind and they most definitely didn't live up to any of my expectations. Much, much colder sounding than any other Audeze I've tried.

    Not much else to say other than don't bloody buy it.


    Compared to TH-X00 (with alpha pads and DIY plate)
    [​IMG]

    Compared to pre fazor LCD-2 (leather pads)
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Heard these last month in a meet, these were the most pathetic sounding headphones. Super dry, lifeless....why did audeze even release it.
     
  3. MLegend

    MLegend Friend

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    Oh my god, my ears hurt just from looking at that FR. Scary stuff you're posting man. In all seriousness though, thank you for posting this. Definitely something I was looking into getting earlier in the year but decided not to due to the influx of bad impressions everywhere I looked.
     
  4. PacoTaco

    PacoTaco Friend

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    How old are these? Apparently, they went through a silent revision recently that brought them up to the the level of a more neutral LCD2.

    Of course, no one has measured these revised ones, so take that with a grain of salt.
     
  5. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    No surprise. This was one of my least favorite headphones ever. Would have easily taken the HD700 over it.
     
  6. Colgin

    Colgin Friend

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    Sorry about your purchase, Ninja Pirate. I generally get along well with gear and am probably a lot less critical than others here. But listening to the EL-8 closed was one of my few WTF moments in audio. I kept looking at the dealer strangely and checking the jack to make sure the thing was functioning properly. Sadly, it was.

    PS - my other big WTF moment was first time hearing the Ether-C.
     
  7. Ninja Pirate

    Ninja Pirate Friend

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    I got these when they first released in the UK so around 8 months ago. Unless they've done some major re-tuning of the closed model, I can't imagine it'd sound any better.
     
  8. PacoTaco

    PacoTaco Friend

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    Wait, what does the Ether-C sound like? I've heard some good things about it.

    It was apparently a night a day difference. This is from SKiring (iirc) on the /r/headphones chat. I trust his opinion.

    Apparently the new EL-8s are in a white box.
     
  9. Ninja Pirate

    Ninja Pirate Friend

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    I'll have to hit him up on reddit. If the closed model has seen a major improvement, I might have to see if I can exchange mine for the newer revision.
     
  10. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    A real null at 7kHz... odd. I thought that was a measurement artifact on tyll's rig.

    Either way that looks really nasty. I wonder if mods could mitigate the nasty rise into 2kHz. Could be ear canal resonance. Maybe some really deep earpads would do the trick.
     
  11. kapanak

    kapanak Canucklehead - Friend

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    That's possible, if you could remove the earpads or open the cups. Both of which cannot done nondestructively. Unfortunately, the EL-8 is a lost cause for us.
     
  12. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    This just proves Audeze is a giant clusterfuck of idiots.
     
  13. Ninja Pirate

    Ninja Pirate Friend

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    Seeing as how the resale value on these is pretty shite, I may just peel off the pads and see what's underneath. I hope there is at least someway to get behind the driver (or remove it) once the pads are off.
     
  14. T.Rainman

    T.Rainman Acquaintance

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  15. PacoTaco

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    There's a revision been done now. It sounds completely different, according to someone that got one of the revisions. It hasn't been measured yet, but it apparently is better than the LCD 2 (which honestly isn't that hard lately.)
     
  16. T.Rainman

    T.Rainman Acquaintance

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    It sure as hell could need a revision ...
    I suppose they can't f#@k it up even more I reckon.
    Or... is that wishful thinking ?
     
  17. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    Do not tempt them. I swear some of them take this as a challenge.

    e.g.: "How awful can we make this sound without our idiot followers noticing"
     
  18. TMRaven

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    Ugh. Nothing sounds worse than a 2khz emphasis.
     
  19. Speakerphone

    Speakerphone New

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    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    • Raw

    [​IMG]
    • Diffuse Field Target Compensated

    [​IMG]
    • Square wave at 30Hz

    http://clarityfidelity.blogspot.com/2015/05/introduction-measurement-procedures.html
    ↑Here are informations of my measurement rig.

    Recently got a Audeze EL-8 Opened-Back, and it's much better than a Closed-Back version in my opinion.
    Deep at 7kHz looks severe, but it sounds quite neutral like LCD series. Especially I was satisfied with its superior bass response.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2016
  20. Sharkhunter

    Sharkhunter Always on the hunt.

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    I got myself a EL-8 Open Back HP. I hear sibilance on this track "Never Forget You" by Zara but never with my HD800S. Will these get better with burn-in or should i send Audeze back. ?
     

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