MrSpeakers Ether 2 measurements and thoughts

Just thought of an idea to exchange (on a short-term basis) my ether 2 and @jexby 's auteur. Want to hear auteur again with 3F this time, particularly I'm also wondering hardwood autuer (Kirk's loaner unit was teak). Any interest?

 

Good luck getting @jexby's Auteur. Hehe. I get the feeling you would have to pry them from his cold, dead hands.

As for woods, I strongly prefer denser woods on these. Cocobolo, blackwood, etc.

I'd loan out my Auteur, if I weren't addicted to using them with my 3F right now.

 

Waterfall plot attached. This is the cleanest result I've ever measured. A hint of wall-ish thing around 8k, but not serious to my eyes.

 

Only one measurement this time, but results are fairly consistent anyway once you have a good seal. Own compensation which is a mix of HEQ and HPN. 1/12 smoothing.
1 kHz reference:


100 Hz reference:

Stock pads are the most neutral when comparing bass and lower mids to upper mids. The suede pads are a bit darker, perforated pads are much darker sounding.

Treble sounds much better with both the perforated and suede pads. The metallic and zingy sound that bothered me is basically gone. The perforated pads have the most prominent treble overall.

The Suede pads have some minor bass rolloff below 30 Hz, but not relevant until you get to 10 Hz.

Distortion measurements are basically the same across all pads and uneventful.

I like the suede pads the most. No weird sticky feeling like leather, very breathable and light mean they win in comfort. They also have improved treble without the super dark and distant sound of the perforated pads.

 

Got my room reasonably quiet and measured some distortion with the suede pads.

This is very good. Pretty sure this is completely noise/EARS limited. Looks like 0.1% or better across the board, excluding the noise spike, EARS 4.7 kHz distortion peak and increased distortion above 7 kHz from the sligthly derpy measured treble.

Excellent headphone for EQ use.

 

Thanks for the impressions. Do any of these pads bump the mids forward per chance?

 

Sound wise, no pad really sounds more "forward" than other. The differences are in treble and how "dark" they sound. While the dark sound is a result of increased lower mids, I would not say that makes the mids sound more forward.

 

I've just swapped the stock pads for the suede pads and I couldn't hear that the mids are more prominent as a result. I do get a sense that the soundstage width has increased by ~20% or so. I also feel that the there is a shade of extra warmth and veil, and darkness, but that some of the sparkle across the frequency spectrum, or maybe the detail, seems to have become a touch muted. I'm not sure this last point adds to the qualities of the Ether 2 which I felt had outstanding highs. I also felt that the bass has also become a little more prominent but with a slight loss of texture and control.

I kind of feel that the phone has lost some of its energy and verve but I'm running it with a Gilmore Lite MK2 which is on the warm side and a brighter amp might be more suitable with the suedes.

In terms of fit and feel, there seems to be slightly less heat whilst wearing them, and the suede is a little more relaxed in contact with your head.

 

Turns out the suede pads don't have bass roll-off... if you spend enough time to get the seal right. I also found an older measurement of the standard pads that should be more representative of their sound. Since there are no upgrade kits out yet for those pads, I will not measure them any more for now.

New compensation (HPN up to 1.3 kHz, then SBAF) which should display treble more accurately above 10 kHz. Also, a bit less smoothing this time.

I think the dip at 9 kHz is fake. It highly depends on seating. The dip around 4 kHz is probably over exaggerated. Certainly does not sound like 10 dB. I think the added 1.5 to 3 kHz of the suede pad balances out some of its extra darkness below 600 Hz. From 10 to 15 kHz, the Sude pad has a significantly higher level, giving it much better sounding treble. The high level above 15 kHz seems accurate. Not a big deal on most recordings, but on some it can be a bit too much and it sounds better when I take the edge off.

When it comes to sound, I think the psyochacoustic compensation in REW displays perceived treble pretty well:

 

Hey everybody! I haven't posted on SBAF in a while, or any other headphone forum in a while for that matter. I hate to say it, but I've gotten out of the hobby, because the Ether2 was finally the headphone that brought my journey to an end-- at least for the past 2 years. Who knows what will happen way down the line.

Just recently, I took the opportunity to service the Ether2 I had bought when they were first introduced, because the right side gimbal was rubbing up against the right cup when moved. The first replacement pair I had gotten had the exact same issue, so they send me a 2nd replacement pair after that, which is thankfully just fine.

Due to this, I have had the unique opportunity measure 3 different Ether2, just to see how they objectively compare, and how consistency with MrSpe-- Dan Clark Audio has been holding up.

All measurements are on my EARS rig, with my own personal compensation (which is just HP for up to 6k or so, and HEQ for past that. Ether2 is run balanced plugged into my Jotunheim with internal Jotunheim dac. Please ignore any squiggles in the graphs under 60hz, as it's all environment noise. I'm also inclined to agree that the sharp dip around 10k is most likely measurement artifact. All 3 seem to have good consistency, and follow a target curve pretty closely. The 2nd replacement came shipped with perforated pads on, and I'm deciding rather or not I like their warmer sound better than stock pads (as you can see, perforated pads give a broadband reduction o f3-4db of upper midrange from 800hz to 2.5khz. The transition from 3k to 5k seems to be smoother though. The result is a warmer headphone with slightly more prominent upper treble as a result of a subdued upper midrange.

 

Yes. I went ahead and replaced the perforated with stock pleather pads. Here are the results of replacement 1 vs replacement 2 both with stock pleahter pads. I'd add the original Ether2, but the db isn't the same.




There are some differences between 8k-12k, but I do know measuring treble that high tends to be tough. Ironically, I had bought a set of perforated pleather and suede pads for my original Ether2 a long time ago, but never really got around to playing with them. This was the first time I've attempted to swap the pads, and it was really quite easy. Gotta hand it to Dan with the ingenuity behind the Ether2 and its pads.

 

Which on is good Ether 2 or HD800 S? does the ether 2 deserve the extra money?