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

Heard the Ether Flow and Flow C at the Chicago meet Sat...

I tested everything on my Lyr2 / Bifrost stack (because this is what I know)... I also tested them on a Mojo as well as a Cavalli Liquid Crimson (loved this amp!)..

Music listen to was Fleetwood Mac (Rumors), Eric Clapton (unplugged), Eagles (Hell Freezes Over and Hotel California)

Ether C Flow... I really didn't like this one... That is coming from someone who owns and enjoys the original C's.. Granted I do use a TP mod on mine.. The thing is, my impressions are pretty different than Muse Wanderer’s.. For me, they really lacked upper treble detail or transients, sort of reminded me of my Ether C's with two black tuning felts (the ones that go inside the pads). Sadly I do not think the upgrade is worth it on this one.


Ether Flow.... It was a completely different story with this one. The bass was punchy and fast while the treble was detailed but not bright. Mids seemed just about as crystal clear as you could hope.. Actually I loved this headphone and when it was said and done ended up buying one.

 

It appears that @Tyll Hertsens has posted his review.

 

It's hard to believe that the HD800S might be knocked off the wall of fame.

 

Maybe it is time to kick the HD800S off the wall of fame, I mean the HD800 with SD mod is essentially better. At least it measures better which is kind of embarrassing for Senn. Doesn't mean the HD800 is out of the picture for us enthusiasts though, a well modded HD800 I think will be viable for a long time to come. And you can get a very nice pair of second hand HD800's for $700 / €700 these days. Apply some mods / EQ and that's nearly unbeatable value. But the wall-of-fame is all about un-modded headphones of course.

 

Yeah, I just bought one for $700. Can't wait for the delivery! Regardless of ether flow's superiority, the used prices for HD800 are starting to become unbeatable these days.

 

Maybe one of the best moves I've made in this hobby was picking up the hd800 classic when everyone wanted to dump them for cheap to pick up the S. I grabbed a like new 800 classic added SD mod plus EQ and I'm in freakin' heaven listening to these every time.

 

how is the flow holding up to that? Assuming you have one and since you have heard one how does it hold up

 

Because it won't.

Won't be and I bet will even outsell the facetweeter. Likes are indicator.

Prove me wrong, please....

 

Uh, do you mean "likes" on here? Cuz, speaking for myself, I generally don't tend to "like" comments about the sound of headphones that I haven't heard. Be they positive or negative. And I'd wager there's at least a few other people who adhere to a similar policy, or at least try to. Could be wrong, though.

Not trying to be pedantic, even though I probably come off that way. Just wanted to chime in on that point.

 

Great policy, all should follow.

 

Just got the shipping notice on my Flow. Should be here Monday and I'll let you know once I have some time to spend with them.

 

my local dealer will likely get a flow relatively soon so i'll check in on that eventually. The noise measurements still look a little high but they are also oddly smooth which is a feature you rarely see on tylls measurements. Also the lumpy bass which Dan has commented on as being a result of how it rests on measurement heads.
Tyll is the bass flat and extended like most planars or is it more like how the measurements show?

 

The THD+Noise plots being so smooth usually means that they are dominated by one harmonic in the harmonic distortion and not noise (In other words: very high distortion, most likely 2nd order like with 2 of the LCD-X measurements). In this case though, it's weird. Jude's measurements look nice. Tyll said he thinks it's noise, but I'm not sure if that makes sense. Would be interesting to see another's measurements of the Flow but I doubt that it's worse than the regular Ether.

 

yeah thats another thing the regular ether has pretty low thd measurements and if the baffles are doing remotely what what they should be doing I can only imagine it would reduce thd further.

 

I have been told that mine with ship this week, waiting patently.. Also paid for next day shipping... Keeping my fingers crossed it goes out today..

 

I think the increase in bass balanced it for me. There could have been a slight drop( a dB or two) but nothing that I thought took away from the over all balance/signature. For my tastes, if I understand what tonal coherence is, it works. I use a 3 to 4 dB bump in bass for the Either C 1.1 to get it where I like it. I do not think I will need an EQ for the Flow C. Hope that answers your question.

 

I've been listening my Ether C 1.1s with 3db boost below 150hz and -3db highshelf for some time now to get an idea of the Flow C tonality and might go for the upgrade. Just don't like the idea of losing any highs and detail that is very impressive on the C 1.1 but the 1.1 although quite amazing for EDM kinda sucks with rock and metal cause of the lack of midbass I guess... Is the C Flow soundstage noticeably wider than 1.1?

 

Came a little late in the day but I got my shipping notification... Should get my Ether Flow Monday. FYI I opted to not get the new packaging...

 

What is the difference between old and new packaging? (Might not matter if not ordering directly from Mr. Speakers.)

If as @Tyll Hertsens says these more or less "split the difference" between the narrow staging and uber dynamics of the Focals vs. the wideness and etherealism of the HE1000, I gotta try these. If the Elear will be coming into stock sometime in September, might be able to get them in at the same time