Mr. Speakers ETHER Flow Headphone(?) Upgrade(?)

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by OJneg, Jul 14, 2016.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    In all honesty, I do kind of feel kicked in the gut because we purchased the Ether C not too long ago, and now there's this Ether FLOW, which by some accounts on HF: "Ether FLOW >>> Ether" or "Ether FLOW is like f'ing without a condom". Granted it wasn't my all my money as these funds came from "Friends" and other contributors; but still, I like to make the most effective use of our limited funds.

    I can't but feel horrible for people who recently purchased the Ether C themselves, or purchased it based on my recommendation (via PMs). I wish I could take back those recommendations now. I'm floored and I'm angry. I should have know better.

    I only hope that Dan makes this right. To give something back to people who gave to him.
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2016
  2. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Wait, until you tried the headphones as designed, they didn't sound right? WTF! What are the odds?
     
  3. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    This just seems like an extension of how he's been running tweaks and upgrades ever since the Mad Dog. I am more desensitized to it now than anything, but it's...not great.

    Anyway, seriously, this is a very different headphone with the stock damping in place. I feel bad if not everyone on the tour heard them like they were supposed to be. Basically a 180 on what I think of them. Weird if we did not get them configured correctly out of the box. (Though the RMAF model was still awful.)

    In all my time spent modifying headphones, never have I seen one change so drastically due to something as simple as, say, swapping the order you layer damping material over a driver. Not saying I've never heard differences, but this was literally a "WTF" change. It's frustrating that I did not receive them in a stock configuration, nor was there a clear, easy way for me to know right away, though they may not have been delivered as such from the start of the tour.
     
  4. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    I wonder if you got them right when the tune-ups were released. It wasn't the smoothest rollout, but they are a small company. I think the "instructions" were a YouTube video the customer was supposed to find and watch.
     
  5. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    Nice breakdown.

    Yes and no. There is a 1.1 configuration that isn't mysterious; it is identified by a label on the box you receive. To my knowledge, there's only the previous 1.0 configuration variant, so it is merely a dichotomy. But also included in the box are additional accessory pads along with recommendations for usage, e.g. if you want X then try these pads, if you want Y then try those pads. They are shipped on the side, not installed. So how the pads were reconfigured during a tour isn't a Mr Speakers problem at all.
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2016
  6. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Sounds like what Marv got from the start didn't fit the v1.0 or v1.1 standard.

    @Marvey Not sure what other results he has, but considering you heard the Elear and Utopia, here is what Jude got for that:

    [​IMG]

    Green dotted line is Elear.

    Blue is Utopia.
     
  7. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Back in Feb I posted this on HF. There are many configurations!

    There at (at least) 25 different configurations with the Ether C using the 2 white felts behind the pads, the 1.1 foam, and the 3 tuning felts! Maybe we should use this numbering nomenclature :)

    [​IMG]

    For example, I'm using config 11

    I guess I didn't take into account putting the black 1.1 foam in first, then the white under driver pad, but that config would be insane! :confused:
     
  8. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    It was somewhat shameful that 1.0 owners did not receive 1.1 maxipads for free, IMO. Now this FLOW thing so soon is indeed a punch in the gut. I agree with @Hands. The FLOW should have just been the Ether. And the Ether should have not seen the light of day. Or wait for someone like Roon to subsidize headphones before you go cell phone industry on us!
     
  9. Audio Zenith

    Audio Zenith Custom Title KGB

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    On the first glance Jude's measurements of the upcoming Massdrop TH-X00 ebony look fairly similar to the Flows. Can someone lay them together, maybe even along with Elear?
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2016
  10. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Yeah, see, this is the kind of shit you need to know right off the bat instead of going in with blind, incorrect assumptions with a possible (or in my case, definite) mis-configured headphone (spoiler: only one piece of open cell foam is almost as nasty as nothing). I don't have time or tolerance to go through HF these days, so unless I just happened to remember that random tidbit of info from Tyll's review, there was no way to know.
     
  11. bazelio

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    You mean TH-X00 ebony?
     
  12. bazelio

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    It was really just a cross product of all possible combinations, not something you really needed to know. I recall the included instructions being very simplistic. So if you wanted to tinker, you just tried various combos, and I think @AllanMarcus was just suggesting a scheme for referring to them.
     
  13. Audio Zenith

    Audio Zenith Custom Title KGB

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    Yep, corrected.
     
  14. Hands

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    Oh for sure, I got what he was going for. Just having some reference, any kind of reference, as to "here's how the damping SHOULD look" when I got these would have, well, prevented me from ever hearing them in the awful state I did. Just meant I could have used that info last night instead of looking like a total dummy!

    BTW, did some paint work and overlayed Jude's/Head-Fi's measurement results of Ether Flow, Elear, and Utopia, both at 1KHz and 100Hz, depending on how you want to look at it.

    FLOCAL1K.jpg FLOCAL100HZ.jpg
     
  15. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    @Audio Zenith Just for you, overlayed with TH-X00's, matched at 1KHz with Ebony.

    ETHER FX00.jpg
     
  16. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    Exit stage left....
    @Hands your Photoshop skills and disclaimers are legendary.
    could you please include a 4-pixel miniature (and I do mean it) Jude wrapped in a SBAF pyrate beach towel in the top left corner also?
    ya know, just to show how harmoniously we all get along......
     
  17. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    So, a SBAF beach towel with 4 unnoticeable pixels wrapped in there somewhere? :drunk:
     
  18. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    The first thing I thought of was mods. Which would be better to stop the flow? I don't have experience with such damping materials.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. GettingBuckets

    GettingBuckets Almost "Made"

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    Geez $1800??? Am I the only one that thinks that most of Dan's stuff is ridiculously expensive and not worth the price of admission?
     
  20. AllanMarcus

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    You aren't the only one, but there are many that disagree and really like the Ether C. I'm listening to it right now.
     

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