ETA Mini S Review (Follow-Up to Mini C)

This sums it up quite well for someone who's never heard a Mini C. To me, it's always go OLED, even down to 1080p, vs. even 4K mini-LED fully-array local dimming. One question on the analogy, are the "calibrations" for the HD650 to mean better gear, sources, its scaling x-factor or mods, or some combination of these?

 

Warning! The following represents my personal preferences, bias and experience.

Using @purr1n 's chart:

Anything that reaches the The Zone will allow me to settle in and enjoy music.

Anecdote: I constantly track my heart rate and can demonstrate a measurable reduction in HR when listening to music I enjoy with a system that performs in The Zone.

 

Yea, that clears it up. Thanks Chacha, Purr1n, Jexby, and AtomicBob
Thank you everyone who has responded to my inadequate post, and poorly chosen graph.

Truth is, I struggle to understand others subjective impressions.
(I don't deny the experience, I simply don't experience it)
On my poorly chosen graph,I had felt it illustrated my point that the Y axis made no sense to myself.
Is a 2 above average, and was a 7 the peak of musicality?
I guess now we can surpass a 10, it makes it is more clear now.
Whole thing reminded me of the 5/7 meme

Spoiler

In previous line graphs, and some other bar graphs. It has simply been more clear to me when labeled "of the gods"

I do not seek a statistical analysis of enjoyment here, I just didn't get it.
Where is the normal distribution of headphones, or are these highly tiered standard deviations.
Bobs commentary helps in this regard.

 

I know, SINAD ... mumble mumble ... SINAD ... mumble mumble ... I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

 

Apologize for off topic... but a little worried about sending in my auteur for the upgrade if the Classic has no plankton

 

ETA is running a b-stock sale on Mini S with modest savings and a quick turnaround for anyone interested. I have 6 pairs ready to go. Cheers!

 

Spoiler: pic or it didnt happen pic

ETA Mini-s

First impressions:
- Mini-s sounds like a mashup of GenG (technically), Porta Pro (tonally), and Nighthawk (bass impact).
- The build is nicer in person than in photos. I like the aesthetic and utility. The light weight and fold away design are very appreciable after handling Hifiman and Audeze. Comfortable, convenient, and confidently sturdy headphones - the opposite of aforementioned planars.

Measurements:
- Attaining good seal with EARS was difficult (or impossible) due to EARS' pressing against driver/baffle so there may be less bass measured here than in actual use.
- FPC uses a different compensation curve from EARS. I personally feel the FPC measured bass is more accurate to my subjective impressions.

Spoiler: ETA Mini-s (EARS).jpg

Spoiler: ETA Mini-s FPC.jpg

Spoiler: ETA Mini-s (FPC) CSD.jpg

Spoiler: Porta Pro vs Mini-s (FPC).jpg

Further (brief) listening sessions:
- First impressions mostly remain but further analysis became difficult due to fatigue. I demoed from several sources and amps (desktop rig and amps mentioned in profile, Macbook headphone out, Radsone ES100). Had the exact same fatiguing experience with GenG (presumed 2kHz peak and resonance). I was afraid this would happen. Cant continue listening - too painful, sorry. I have some irregular sensitivity and I listen at low volumes... For example, I used Magni+ with low gain (-8db) with amp's volume knob at 9 o'clock then used Apple Music digital volume scale for further attenuation per track.
- I noticed that the headphones sounded more natural to me when I pushed the cups inward towards head. Normally the drivers and baffle do not touch my ears. When pushed-in my ears rest against driver grill and perhaps bypasses some pinna gain and mitigates 2kHz... idunno
- Smallish soundstage but I dont prioritize that so doesnt bother me
- Tone still overall exceptional. 2kHz blip did not effect vocals in my brief demos. For comparison, HE500 has a similarly small blip at 2-3kHz which I find a little too forward but not fatiguing. But with ETA graphene my ears will feel fatigued for more than 24hours from just one album. GenG was the most painful experience Ive ever had with a headphone, Mini-s was less severe. I admire Ev for his tuning and passion but his driver's inherent resonance does not sit well with me. I wish he had another driver because then I would buy Mini-s.

Wife's unbelievable impressions:
- "cacophony", "voice and flamenco guitar sound off", "nerve pain"
- iPhone dongle -> Mini-s
She uses mainly her Ultimate Ears (some wireless custom iem) and Airpods Max but has tried all my headphones since forever (even attended meets with me!). I did not describe Mini-s or my opinions prior to her listening. She managed about half an hour before giving up due to fatigue, similar to my experience. I barely mention specifics when I talk about audio with the wife. I barely talk about audio with the wife because I dont want her to divorce me. So its surprising she came to an understandable and relatable opinion of Mini-s.

Conclusion:
Im an outlier and I dont think my experience should put off other people from considering or trying the Mini-s as its otherwise a great headphone aside from my uncommon specific fatigue inducing sensitivity.

All imo of course and Im open to all questions.

 

Nice review, really get to see the extension with your graphs.

I enjoy seeing the long and deep CSDs. Nearly twice as long as Marv’s and 30db deeper too.

 

I was aiming for 35db depth. In the graph you’ll see the 2kHz peak at less than 95db, and the y-axis is limited to 60db.

The way Marv formatted his graph its only displaying about 24db depth from the 2kHz peak. His CSD graph is more flattering because he extends x-axis to bass.

 

hello,

ETA Mini S loaner impressions.

(tl/dr: very nice sounding, enjoyed all genres i threw at it, driven well by every source i have. well made, utilitarian build, light!!! wish this had been around when i started this madness. too many other cans here to justify adding these.)

long view (maybe a bit too long):

when you start this hobby (addiction?), you want to try everything: all makers, all driver technologies, tubes, s/s, multibit, delta-sigma. if you're budget restricted (everyone is), you look to reviews, forums, even mfg. hype to get you started somewhere. you attend meets, which is NOT the place to actually hear anything. and if you get lucky, you buy gear that serves the music for you.

you end up making compromises, and owning a baker's dozen headphones. some have particular use cases: public transit, video watching, rocking out, chilling out, not disturbing your bed mate when sleep is far away.

ETA Mini S does most of these things very well. they are extremely comfortable for me. have punch in the low end that is not bloated. work with male and female singers. and pass the Laura Nyro glockenspiel test.

that said, as i was fortunate enough to score a pair of Focal Clear MG Pros (you know who you are) for a very reasonable outlay, (ostensibly for Mrs ForBin) i have in house a (not as comfy, WEIGHT!) pair of headphones that do all of that better (for me.)

i could say that i own way, way, too many lower mid-tier cans. however, my justification (delusion?) is that with every side grade i get the opportunity to taste something new. with much less outlay than two-channel. (which doesn't work here as my taste in tunes is not shared.)

the great joy of the loaner program is being allowed the opportunity to sample these different tastes. thanks SBAF!

cheers!

 

Thanks to ETA and SBAF for organizing this loaner tour. I previously demoed the ETA Genesis, which I liked but found a little too tunable and DIY feeling to be something I wanted to own despite really excellent if bass-heavy sound. The Mini S (and likely C, by extension) feels like a real growth of the goals behind that ambitious idea, with more focus from the manufacturers. Kudos to ETA.

I listened to my test playlists and stickiest albums (hello Purity Ring's graves) on several source chains in developing these impressions.

Big picture, the Mini S hits all the major high points of a great design. It's bassy without being bloated, articulate, has good mids and highs, and is easy to drive. I could detect no real sins and for the advertised price I struggle to think of a better headphone, except maybe an HD650 on a good deal and with the right source gear.

Pairings I tested included the following:

• Hifiberry Digi+ Pro -> Modius -> Magni Piety
• Hifiberry Digi+ Pro -> Modius/Multibit Card -> Lyr 3 (stock Tung-Sol tube and LISST)
• Pi2AES -> Bifrost Multibit -> SW51+
• Pi2AES -> Bifrost Multibit -> Folkvangr
• Sony MZ-N505 minidisc player
• Sony WM1A (balanced and SE)

My favorite of all these was the Magni Piety on high gain. Everything I listened to sounded good, without reservation. The Mini S was slightly bassy, though not to excess, and fun to listen to. Texture and impact were very present, and the overall presentation was very musical and fun. I probably listened louder than was sensible but enjoyed every minute. No fatigue or glare with this setup. Texture on *watersong* (my current benchmark for physical presence) was excellent.

The Lyr 3 was something of a changeling. With the current gen LISST things sounded fine, but lacked strong emotional engagement. That's a bit odd as with the Sennheiser HD58x or HD650 the Lyr 3 with LISST is extremely engaging, but with the Mini S it was only OK. Switching back to the tube reset things back to more normal expectations; this setup was my second favorite overall. There was limited difference between using the multibit card and the Modius compared to the LISST vs. tube in the Lyr 3.

Testing with my listening room setup came pretty late in the loaner period, wrapping up last night with back to back SW51+ and Folkvangr sessions. This system is primarily used for speaker listening, but is also where my Folkvangr lives. The Folkvangr is a little picky; what is true magic with an HD650 can be flat and boring with an LCD-X, for example. I used this setup with both my SW51+ and Folkvangr for a few hours last night. The SW51+ on the low impedance output was a good match with the Mini S. Bass was strong without being too bloomy, and resolution was good. Impact and texture was middling. The overall tonal balance was warm and bassy without being overly boomy.

Switching from the SW51+ to the Folkvangr (on high gain) on the same source and DAC resulted in a slightly leaner sound overall. Still bassy, but cleaner and more recessed mids. Impact and presence was stronger. Switching in the impedance multiplier filled out the mids somewhat, but I preferred the sound without that in place. Unlike my tests with planar headphones, the FV was a good and very engaging pairing with the Mini S despite their low impedance.

My last tests with the Mini S came this afternoon with my Sony MZ-N505 minidisc player and WM1A portable player. The MZ-N505 can drive most IEMs and smaller over-ear phones like the Porta Pro with no issues, with slight bass emphasis. The WM1A is my reference portable player, usually used with IEMs such as the Campfire Audio Andromeda. It has limited power but is a really excellent player within its limits. These were my primary tests to confirm the claim that the Mini S was easy to drive.

On the Minidisc deck I used volumes between 16 and 20 (out of 30 steps) for my typical listening volume. The sound had some bass emphasis (which both the phones and player lean towards), with overall good sound and no sense of 'veil' or underpowered output issues. Might have been slightly less bassy overall than the Porta Pro with this player.

On the WM1A I had similar experience, with a rich, full, bassy but fun sound whether from the SE or balanced outputs. Volume for my typical listening levels was around 85-95 out of 120, compared to 40-50 for CA Andromedas. The Mini S definitely plays well with portable sources even if it requires more gain than the most sensitive IEMs. I would certainly agree that it can be driven to great effect directly from limited power sources.

My big picture conclusions then are that the Mini S sounds really excellent from most sources, whether low, middle, or high powered. On my systems it played best with the Magni Piety, with Lyr 3 (with a real tube) second. It also fared well on transformer output and transformless tube amps, as well as limited power portable players. Pretty much sounded good from everything, which outside of the Porta Pro is not my typical experience.

On the "negative" side I have only a few things to note:

• For me, comfort was only middling. The ear cups are relatively small and I got hot spots I don't get with the more expansive Sennhesier phones
• Scaling is limited. As in these sound great from almost anything and though they get better they don't transform with high end sources. This is probably actually a positive; great sound without a lot of cash spent.
• They never quite hit that magic frisson inducing sound I sometimes get with the HD650 and Folkvangr. That is a transformative combination for some music, and again a nitpick at worst.
• Left and right are not clearly indicated on the cable supplied with the loaner; the only indication I found was some heat shrink tubing on one end. But that was the right cable while the more common "standout" cable feature marks the left channel. Easily managed with a left/right test track.
• These are "semi-closed" but for isolation and sound bleed I would treat them as open phones. Isolation was limited and sound bleed was substantial.