ENIGMAcoustics Dharma D1000

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by velvetx, Dec 21, 2015.

  1. Lightbulb Sun

    Lightbulb Sun Friend

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    I'm not ready to say that the D1000 bests the modded HD650 or the HD800 (in any form), but I will add that the D1000 does seem to scale noticeably-- though for sure not to the degree that the HD650 does. The D1000's deeper staging, more precise imaging, and plankton retrieval become more apparent when moving to the Gungnir Multibit+Mojo2 from the GOV2 (both balanced). However, I still prefer the modded HD650's overall tonality, particularly on the Gungnir Multibit+Mojo2.
     
  2. Dot

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    OK, I fired up the Benchmark DAC2 DX with the Dharmas. This is the only DAC/Headphone combo that's made it all the way through the gauntlet of music I throw at a system for initial testing—and hardly got tripped up at all.

    http://www.prostudioreviews.com/music-we-use-for-gear-tests.html

    I was using the Lavry DA11 before, and still consider it an excellent reference DAC. The Benchmark is more forward, it has some punch and life to it. Still a great reference DAC, but with less transparency than the Lavry.

    The DAC2 and the Dharmas do a good service complementing each other. The Dharmas don't highlight or accentuate the tinge of "digital glare" on the DAC2., (Hello Sabre chip). And the DAC2 is easier on the Dharmas high end, especially the similar HD800 7K spike, which on the Dharma is less apparent, and actually more pleasing.

    I've seen some comments about some "graininess" on the Dharmas mids and highs. The DAC2 also has what I would term some graininess. I'd commented earlier in this thread on the Dharmas having such good detail and speed... "There's a "graininess" (sawtooth wave in synthesis) in certain sounds (shakers, closing hi hats, bowed strings, etc. ) that electrostatics just seem to do right."

    But I'm considering this type of graininess like grain in film and analog tape. It's pleasing, adding texture and a physical sense of weight to the music.

    The bass and low end on the Dharmas with the DAC2 is much more present, even punchy where it needs to be. I've likened the DAC2 to the sound of API (pro audio gear known for its punchiness, tightness, and forward sound). This quality works really well with the Dharmas. With the Lavry DA11 DAC, the Dharmas were a bit anemic on the low end. Not so with the DAC2. I'd commented early that the speed of the highend on the Dharmas was so fast, it was just overshadowing and beating the bass to the punch. Which, as a purist reference type of headphone that the Dharma seems to be—that's a positive aspect. Kicks on EDM and harder rock and Hip-Hop kick right through.

    The DAC2 and Dharmas seem to glue a lot of things together, tuck in things in just the right places, and bring aspects out that make the music sound alive and organic. The DAC2 seems to help the Dharma "sit down." With the Lavry DA11, the Dharmas seemed to be a bit high in the overall soundfield—with a little too much treble, offensive HD800ish spikes, and not quite enough coming through in the low end. The DAC2 lowers the stage and makes music on the Dharmas sound and feel more grounded and solid—ala Audeze.

    This is the first DAC/Headphone combo that I've auditioned where I have yet to find any objections. And believe me, I'm looking and listening for them.

    After running through the list of music I posted above in the link, the Dharma/DAC2 DX combo moves from folk, to R&B, to 70s pop, to 90s R&B and heavy rock, into the 2000s and modern music production—and doing all this as easily as a pair of Chuck Taylor kicks and Levis jeans move through those decades and cultures. If the Dharmas are paired with the right DAC/amp, they reveal themselves to be a "classic" headphone.

    This is a sound that is the better aspects of both the Audeze LCDs and HD800s, and blends them together, while doing away with the less desirable qualities of both. Full and immediate like the Audeze, but without the smaller soundstage, and without the bulk and weight. The openness and detail of the HD800s, while giving none of the sharpness and spikiness of the HD800s high end. On the mids, the Dharmas are sounding beautiful and pleasing. For detail and resolution, the Dharmas beat the Audeze and HD800s. All while taking me back to what I like about Stax headphones. Quite a feat, indeed.

    Going to explore more, but right now listening to this DAC2/Dharma combo with all this various music—I'm stunned.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2016
  3. Dot

    Dot Friend

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    The Benchmark DAC2 has two headphone jacks, so I'm going back and forth switching between LCD-XCs and D1000s. At the moment, I'm playing harder rock, and mostly of the meat and potatoes variety—big, heavy music without a lot of moving parts, like AD/DC. On this kind of butt rocking music, that's simple and direct, the Audeze XCs really do give it extra power and depth. The D1000s expose details that don't really add to this kind of music, and might even detract a bit from the energy, drugs and rock n roll.

    With the DAC2 at the same volume, the level of the XCs and D1000s are virtually the same. The XCs seem louder on the low end, the D1000s seem louder on the high end.

    Led Zepplin's "Whole Lotta Love," while sounding heavy and powerful on the XC's, doesn't lose any of that on the D1000s, which actually produces much more details from all the spacey reverb, echo, and delays on the track. With the Audezes you miss some of it.

    Boston's "More Than A Feeling" is just more immersive on the D1000s. By a lot. Same with Queen's "Bohemian Rapsody."

    Getting into more modern harder rock, the D1000s actually show the detail of lots of various kinds of harmonics and subtle effects used by bands like Sevendust. Tool's "Ænima" and "10,000 Days" sound surprisingly similar on both the XCs and D1000s. A Perfect Circle's "The Thirteenth Step" sound close on both, with a little more body on the XCs and a little more air and detail on the D1000s. But it's damn close.

    Rock toms are a lot of fun on the XCs, they punch through. But surprisingly on the D1000s, toms and especially low toms take on a more thunderous quality.

    So, that's a spin through some various classic and modern rock music, where I thought the D1000s might get choked out by the XCs, but not so. While losing out to the Audeze XCs on AC/DC's "Back In Black," (maybe I need to try another file) the D1000s won on everything else I played in this set.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2016
  4. Dot

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    Benchmark DAC2 DX with HD800s and Dharma D1000s. The D1000 are a few dB louder than the HD800s, so I'm adjusting volume accordingly as I switch back and forth.

    Miles Davis "Kind of Blue." - Really nice on both. The D1000s show more detail in the sawtooth kinds of sounds, the spit on the reed of the sax, the sizzle on the cymbals, as well as more air on the high end. Bass is fuller on the D1000s, the tenor sax and piano have more body in the mids. Overall dimension and soundstage is very similar. The HD800s sound a bit cleaner, but I think the track on the D1000s sounds overall more musical and cohesive. Close call here.

    Roxy Music "More Than This" (Avalon) - Both cans sound great on this big, beautiful, classic track. Better bass and low mids on the D1000s. Shakers and tambourines more compelling on D1000s. Imagery of delays and reverbs more detailed on the D1000s. Overall, the D1000s are more musically immersive than the HD800s, which sound sterile in comparison.

    Steely Dan "Peg" - Really listening to the tight bass lines here. The D1000 sound as tight as the HD800, but the D1000 sounds funkier and fuller. Lead gtr solo has more grit and tone on the D1000s. More life and movement on the high hat with the D1000s. Vocals and harmonies have more separation and distinctiveness with the D1000s.

    Peter Gabriel "Red Rain" - The HD800s have that annoying 7K spike on Gabriel's voice, making it sound over sibilant. The D1000s reveal more of the sawtooth gravel in Gabriels voice. Levin's bass work is more compelling on the D1000s. Drumming and hi hat work all more immersive on D1000s. The HD800 actually sounds just too clean and proper on this song. Gabriel uses a lot of dirty sounds, and the D1000 just grabs them and presents them better. Again, the entire track sounds more cohesive, immersive, interesting, and musical with the D1000s.

    The D1000s have shown the HD800s the door on this set.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2016
  5. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    Was not a fan of these at all myself. I think my measurements can shed some light as to why on their own with relatively little explanation:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    While they were relatively resolving and imaged well, the massive bass distortion and downright nasty treble response completely ruined these for me. It sounded hot, sizzly, and severely etched. The bass distortion was worse than the treble IMO, very aggressive and in-your-face. Warm doesn't even begin to describe it, I've heard less unpleasant sound from the likes of Grado. Also, at $1200, channel matching this bad is downright insulting, to both the listener and any other company with headphones priced similarly.

    It doesn't do super well as far as aspects other than sound go, either. To be perfectly honest, the design itself seems poorly thought out in general and it definitely shows that this was their first headphone. Lots of copycatting, with little if any knowledge of what they're copying. The headphone feels poorly assembled despite being very heavy and made almost entirely of metal. The joints are all extremely stiff and tight; they almost feel like they need to be oiled. The self-adjusting headband is a very poor bastardization of the K701 variants and the K812, and makes no effort to look like it was assembled with care or attention to detail. It also doesn't do its job; the weight of the headphone causes it to slide down over time. The placement of the joints doesn't really make much sense and there's metal mesh in places it really doesn't seem functionally appropriate. Furthermore, the weight distribution is crap and the earpads and headband both feel cheap and itchy, making the set quite uncomfortable.

    Definitely a lot of better options out there for the price. I really don't see a reason for this headphone to exist. It offers nothing good at its price point that can't be gotten somewhere else, often for cheaper, and it brings along with it a whole host of problems. It's made even worse by how much they "borrowed" from others in the industry. The headband design was lifted from AKG, the cup shape was lifted from Sony's SA line, they OEM'd the driver Fostex uses in the TH600 and 900, and they used the same connectors the HD800 uses. Even the very premise of it was already thought of and done by AKG in the 1980s, and honestly, probably done better. I find it difficult to be polite here; first attempt or not this feels like an empty "me too" tactic and the state of this product gives me a very strong vibe that EnigmAcoustics has no interest in making a good headphone. All I see here is their desire to appeal to another deep-pocketed market, one they both know and care nothing about.

    But I would love for them to prove me wrong.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2016
  6. Serious

    Serious Inquisitive Frequency Response Plot

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    I find it weird how many people seem to like the midrange. When I listened to them, I felt that the mids just sounded wrong to a point that I couldn't listen to them for longer than a minute (and this is even without counting the issues on the ends of the spectrum). Upper midrange emphasis. Both Hands's and Tyll's plots seem to show this. In a way similar to my objection to STAX Lamdbas, but worse. I guess this also comes down to how different people would interpret the coupler measurements. As I said elsewhere, I don't like to see flat from 1-2kHz, but it's possible that others feel otherwise.
     
  7. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    Midrange on these was indeed crap. 1-3kHz sounded kinda sharp, moreso than measurements might suggest. I sense some ear canal resonance shenanigans going on.
     
  8. Dot

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    I'm really not liking the cable on the D1000. The stock cable is quite microphonic. It's annoying, and is unacceptable on a pair of headphones over $1K.

    Sitting here with the D1000s, I can hear the cable quite prominently as it moves across my clothes with any little movement I make.

    I swapped out the stock D1000 cable, and jacked in a HD800 stock cable. Much quieter. Most movements are undetectable, unless I move more vigorously and really listen.

    ENIGMAcoustics needs to source and supply a better, less microphonic stock cable. No excuses.
     
  9. GTABeancounter

    GTABeancounter Friend

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    This is what is so great about the Focal Elear and why it's influence is so positive for the hobby. I know this is off topic (somewhat) but the disruption the Elear will cause in the $1000 price point will hopefully force other manufacturers to up their game. All headphones will have compromises somewhere but for $1200 you better have decent channel matching and be well put together as a bare minimum. I remember reading the HF hype train when these were introduced and I must admit that I was intrigued. The bold sentence above may be a bit harsh (I would buy in to the narrative that the desire may have been there but funds and/or competence may have been lacking?).. but ultimately it is possible they saw a void in the $1000 - $1500 price point to exploit that no longer exists to the same degree today... thank goodness for that!!
     
  10. Dot

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    The Y section of the stock cable on the D1000 is hard rubber and stiff. It curves inward and keeps touching and brushing against both sides of my neck. The HD800 cable is a bit more pliable, and hangs down better. And, again, it's much less microphonic than the D1000 cable.

    Wondering how others are experiencing the D1000s cable.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2016
  11. pedalhead

    pedalhead Friend

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    For anyone still struggling on with the Dharmas....I'm borrowing a pair from a mate & have found they can be EQ'd to sound acceptable. As has been said already, they're pretty unpleasant out of the box...the rough & spikey treble was giving me an actual headache at first. I've plugged the following EQ into HQPlayer's convolution engine. It doesn't solve the slightly disjointed feeling, and timbre is generally still way off, but it's a decent improvement from stock to my ears...

    EDIT - I've been playing around a bit more as I felt something was missing. Turns out it was the lower mids. EQ pic updated.

    Dharma EQ.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2016
  12. HeadFoneDude64

    HeadFoneDude64 Facebook Friend

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    Hi, resurrecting this thread as I'd recently snagged a minty D1000 from a nice gentleman whi sold it to me at 650'ish USD. Getting to know it and I'm liking what I've heard thus far.
     
  13. iFi audio

    iFi audio MOT iFi Audio

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    Those are good headphones, quite underestimated and scale well the better setup you have. Enjoy the ride!
     

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