Mr. Speakers Ether

I know that this is a somewhat controversial topic (similar to my GS-X thread) but I feel from the multiple times I have listened to the Ethers they a very good sounding headphone. I do find the Ethers to be a tad bit on the bright side but the sound signature still remains very pleasant and easy to listen to. The Ether sounds to me more neutral with great imaging and a good size sound stage (not on the level of the HD800). Besides being a tad too bright sounding (though not overly bright), what this headphone really needs to me is a bit more bass emphasis (much like the bass slam I am used to on the original Mad Dogs). Now I know this may be an unpopular opinion but I actually like the Ethers better than the stock HD800. I don't find the Ethers as fatiguing or clinically thin sounding as the un-modded HD800 which is maybe why I like them so much. They are very comfortable to wear and can easily be worn for hours on end (provided you like the sound signature of course).

Anyway very interested to hear what other people think about the Ethers who have heard them.

Price:

$1,499 with stock cable and $1,599 with DUM cable

Specifications:

• Driver: 2.75” x 1.75” MrSpeakers’ designed single-ended planar magnetic (with V-Planar™ surface processing)
• Precision machined Aluminum baffle, pivots and gimbals
• Nitinol “Memory Metal” Head-band
• Italian leather with microsuede headband
• Lamb-leather ear pads
• Matched drivers: +/- 1.5 dB between 30 and 5,000Hz (tentative)
• Weight: 370g (13.1oz)
• Frequency response: Yes*
• Efficiency: 96dB/mW
• Impedance: 23 ohms

Driver Information:

V-Planar Driver Processing
Simply stated, a conventional planar driver is usually assumed to move as a flat surface. In reality, this is not possible as the driver substrate is inelastic and “locked” at the boundaries so the driver will move more as an arced surface then a flat plane, as conceptually illustrated in Figure 1.
FIGURE 1: Conventional Driver Motion

Over the years, different approaches have been developed to address nonlinear planar motion and the artifacts it can cause. Fostex patented their RP technology, used on all their drivers used in our headphones, to reduce panel nonlinearities. Another approach, known as knurling, was patented in 1997 by Bruce Thigpen, founder of Eminent-Technology and pioneer of numerous planar magnetic speaker technologies. We felt it would be possible to improve on the solutions available to date, so we collaborated with Bruce to develop V-Planar knurling technique (we filed for a patent with Bruce as a co-inventor). In simplified form, V-Planar technology addresses nonlinear driver motion by more deeply creasing the diaphragm to increase compliance. Much as pleats allow an accordion to expand and contract without stretching the fabric, the creases in the driver "open" slightly during larger excursions as illustrated in Figure 2. When the driver is processed, the resultant peaks and troughs are deep enough to maintain more of their physical structure even after the driver has been tensioned.
FIGURE 2: V-Planar Driver Motion

Increasing the driver compliance allows it to behave as a more idealized planar surface and also improves it's acceleration. With more of the driver surface in linear motion, V-Planar can not only push more air at low frequencies, but with greater acceleration also delivers better dynamics, high-end frequency response, and measurably lower distortion. The Sound We are committed to avoiding too much "marketing speak," and so we are deliberately going to avoid a lot of prose and to simply say we love the sound of our drivers post V-Planar processing, they do sound more natural and engaging to us.

Music Preferences:

Rock and Roll
Hip Hop
Electronic

Pictures:

 

Kind of curious when you say too high the stock headphone is $1,499 (without the DUM cable) is that price too high or is the $1,599 (with DUM cable) price too high. Yah I agree that either the LCD-X or LCD-3 are going off Tyll's wall.

 

Do me/us a huge favor and if you are going to do testing of impressions could you please post your impressions of the stock and EQed Ethers? I know Tyll posted about them being good headphones to EQ but would be kind of interested if others had the same opinion Tyll had after EQing.

 

I'd say in fact that Mr.Speakers got quite a few free passes on Changstar because we were afraid of looking like we were giving preferential treatment to Luis and also because many of us knew Dan in person. The free passes are now over.

The most fantastic part about the Ether is its comfort and ergonomics. Possibly the best in the business. That aspect should be worth a premium. However, in terms of sound quality, I don't hear much better than what my HD650s can do. What the Ether does better is transient speed in the treble. However, the Ether's bass is rather one-note and has much poorer definition than the HD650's bass (which isn't even that great to begin with). The overriding factor for me is how the HD600/650 is just so much more cohesive with nothing amiss. The Ether's are a tad too bright, and bass doesn't gel with the treble. $1500 is too stiff for it when overall sonic performance does not exceed the classic Sennheisers. Just because the new Fazor'd Audeze suck now doesn't mean we should lower our overall expectations.

EQ is great, but EQ can be applied to any headphone, digital EQ can't be applied to vinyl without wrecking it, and EQ can't fix one-note bass.

P.S. I've heard the Ethers sound overall better than the HEKs (some of the HEKs units are super bright and splashy). There's some production variation going on.

 

Mr Speakers Ethers are a completely different driver design. It's not the Fostex modded headphones instead it's Dan's own built from scratch headphone.

 

I think it's more that a lot of us here don't quite trust his ears (based on our experience of MadDogs before version 2.7, Alpha, Alpha Prime, etc.) and not matter of whether he had his drivers built from scratch.

 

As others have said, lots of arguably better orthodynamic options for considerably less: Vibro, Omni, Blackwood, HE400S, HE560, HE5LE, HE6, Paradox, Slants, etc. EQ the HE560 and you get something pretty fricken awesome. The Ethers have a fatal flaw for an expensive ortho: bass quality (or lack thereof) and associated lack of coherence throughout the audio band because of that.

 

No problem and thanks for the clarification. I knew this thread was going to take a turn at some point but definitely wanted people's opinions on the Ethers anyway.

In regards to the original Mad Dogs (before there was anything after) I really loved them as they had excellent full bodied bass slam. I told Dan myself I wish he added a fraction of that bass into the Ethers.

 

Ether best ortho?

what I'd take over every Audeze and every Mr. Speakers:
HE1K
HEX
HE560 (with open grills)
hell, maybe even HE400S if needing to save cash for amp/DAC.

(typing while wearing HD800. oh the irony.)

 

Between Judeus' and HMF's comments in the other thread, this has been a pretty funny night.

 

Dan replaced my Alpha Primes with an Ether cause I had to send mine back like a gazillion times. Plus he insulted me so....

I'd take the Code-X, Enigma, Paradox Slants, HE400S, and HE1000 over the Ether.

This isn't even taking into account HD650 and HD800.

Stop hating on ching chong. I'll hide some lead in the next HIFIMAN headphone for you.

EDIT: I barely listen to the Ether. Might be time to put it on tour... Ergonomically, it's probably the best headphone I have. Dan should start selling the headband separately.