Loaner: ESX900 (owned by DEATHxMACHINE)

Updated the roster at the bottom of the first post with the current lineup. Still room for at least 2 more folks. Mods / Staff members ride free!

To be honest the bass on these headphones was the easiest thing to dial in given it's just a strength of these drivers. Bass wasn't the part of the presentation that was botched in stock config after all. I think the mids and treble on these have their own charm and strengths even relative to several other heavy hitters out there, but future comparative impressions from this tour will tell!

I don't want anyone thinking this is just a basshead can. Think bigger picture. It's about scratching that bass itch without compromising any other part of the response or having the bass overshadow and bloat the rest. Cohesion is what the stock TH900's lacked. Even the X00 and OG Denons had some semblance of a W-curve with rocky transitions. I aimed to minimize the inherent weakness of the acoustic design and also play to the strengths of the 548843 driver given it's got the strongest magnet/motor assembly of any dynamic driver on the market. Neutral-ish tunings are possible too!

 

Add me as low priority, I don't listen to much headphones these days, but a fixed fostex does sound interesting. Maybe I can split time with @SoupRKnowva. Austin, TX.

 

I would love to get ears on these, always on the lookout for a good closed can for use at work, not that were at work right now. The Elegia were close, but not quite what I wanted.

 

I’d love to join this too if there’s still space. @tommytakis keeps bugging me about how great it sounds and how it’s better than my VC lol, so I gotta hear it for myself. Would be great to do a comparison on the 3F.

 

Up to @DEATHxMACHINE but I have no issue with that, also every pair sounds quite different! The loaner pair is hard wired to 1/4" so unsure how you'd rig it up with the 3F. I can send you another pair personally with a 4-pin termination if that works better. Easy since you're almost local

 

shoot yeah that would be great! Yeah unfortunately all my amps (3F and sonnet 2) only have a 4-pin XLR, so I wouldn’t be able to try it otherwise. I’ll send you a PM!

 

@Inoculator is going to hop on the tour later on, @DEATHxMACHINE please ship to @ChaChaRealSmooth !

 

Update on this -

Both @DEATHxMACHINE and @Inoculator had some things come up that prevented this from kicking off. Marv won't have measurement gear set up and time to review stuff thoroughly til 2021. @dncnexus ended up commissioning a build (on its way to him now) so I'll remove him from the list. Hopefully we'll see impressions from him in the next week or so. @ChaChaRealSmooth is local-ish so I'll have him listen to mine.

Here's what I'm thinking - once things are cleared up for DEATHxMACHINE, he can send his pair to those in the Eastern half of the country on the roster - @dubharmonic, @Vtory, @skem. I would like it to come back to me first if DEATHxMACHINE is open to it because I have made some small changes to the standard mod that should be simple to install and will improve the sound without any trade-offs from the way it is now.

After ChaCha takes a listen to mine, it can make its way through TX. I might have him listen to my main two pairs and pick which one he thinks is better to tour (they're more alike than different). The other pair can go to inoculator when he feels comfortable receiving it. Everyone should be covered this way, and it'll speed things up.

 

Thanks for the update! Sorry a COVID outbreak at my son's daycare derailed the start of this tour. Luckily we all tested negative and are in full on quarantine/WFH anyway as my wife is now pregnant. I am excited to receive these whenever my turn comes up. I likely will still be commissioning a pair as well as I have purged a ton of gear in the past month and am itching for the next buy already.

 

With @dncnexus out, if that frees up a spot, I'd love to jump in if I can.

I definitely don't want to take someone else's spot but I really enjoyed the earlier prototype @E_Schaaf had at CanJam. Since these are farther along than that my curiosity has been more than piqued.

Forgot to add "Montgomery N.Y."
Doh!!

 

Heyo,
Sorry (@E_Schaaf) for falling off the radar for a month. Was overwhelmed with some stuff. I will be sending this off to @ChaChaRealSmooth this week.

 

Any updates regarding the tour?

A little confused as there seem to be two units on the tour now but both @E_Schaaf and @DEATHxMACHINE mentioned to send their units to @ChaChaRealSmooth .. Please let me know what I'm missing.

 

I’m sorry, I completely missed this.

I would love to join this tour if it is still happening.

I live in the DC Maryland suburbs.

My reasons why:

I’m not really a basshead, however now that I have a Rhythmik L12 subwoofer in my 2-channel system, I have a better idea of what good bass should sound like. I think having more of a neutral-head on the tour might offer a different perspective. TBH I don’t really think I’ve heard slamming headphone bass. I’ve tried multiple HFMs etc and I was not impressed. I gave up on that dream.

I’m looking for a closed/semi-closed HP now

I’m in on the ETA Genesis and I’m very interested in Evan’s work.

Thanks for the opportunity

 

I'm willing to trade spots so @Gaspasser can have a crack at it. A fellow SBAF member was kind enough to let me borrow his personal pair of the ESX900.

 

Hey I've just read your great review. Curiosity increased.

By the way, could you let me know where you send out the loaner unit to for next (to get some idea about how long I should wait more)? I am quite confused with the current status of this loaner tour..

 

DEATHxMACHINE has been MIA (hope he's ok!) for some time so there was no pair to tour. @tommytakis sent out a private personal loaner that was damaged and stopped circulating. The pair that is circulating now is one of my own, meant to replace that unit. Unfortunately we had to scrap the roster here given all the moving parts and changes. I sent off another personal pair this week for a parallel tour which is with @pure5152 . Many on the roster have now heard, commissioned, or requested to be taken off. If you'd like a loaner unit DM me and I'll let you know the logistical aspects of both units currently in circulation. It's a bit complex because some tour members are not on SBAF. Sorry for the mess!