Congrats on the acquisition. It's a headphone that requires a bit of brain burn-in, IME. It also likes some tubes in the chain. Funnily enough, I've recently been contemplating selling my E3, as I really only require a closed-back when traveling. I prefer the airiness and overall tonality of...

Putzeys' philosophy is to deliver the best possible performance within the audible band, and not really care about performance at ultrasonic frequencies. Seems like a logical approach to me. And no, the energy in play at ultrasonic frequencies is negligible, and not remotely a threat to...

At a given volume, any amp driving a particular headphone delivers an identical amount of power. So a speaker amp isn't pumping extra power into Susvara, it's just got more in reserve for dynamic peaks and can play louder without approaching its operating limits (which is where distortion...

I have a lot of respect for both you and GoldenSound. You are both tremendous contributors to this forum, and elsewhere. That said, I just typed out a detailed response wherein I documented why I thought you misrepresented what he posted, and why I thought he exaggerated the dangers of using...

GoldenSound post on class D amps for reference Class D amplifiers are not load invariant. This means that with higher than expected load impedances, they will behave abnormally. Class D amps use an output filter, and the driver itself forms a part of that filter. If the impedance is different...

Sorry, but this is nonsense. GS pointed out that many/most cheap class D amps were specifically designed for speakers and don't have flat frequency response when driving typical headphone loads (anything higher than 4-8 ohms), although the latest class D amp(s) from Fosi appear to have addressed...

IMHO, estats and electronica usually play very well together, particularly on sub-genres where thumping 4/4 bass isn't the main attraction. Layering and micro-detail are typically estat strengths, and that really illuminates the studio craft and artist's intentions on a lot of IDM tracks. I...

Higher sensitivity (efficiency), and lighter weight primarily. I auditioned both headphones at Audio46 in NYC off the Questyle M15, and thought each sounded great. The Empy2 probably had a more spacious soundstage, but both were very neutral and highly musical to my ears. In a desktop scenario...

Lots of entertaining speculation from various corners. I think I'll conserve neuron firings and just chillax until the actual announcement...... :dt880smile:

Yep, estats are well-known to lack bass impact relative to planars, although the Warwick Acoustics offerings and Sennheiser HE-1 do bridge the gap to varying degrees. Enter the new Raal 1995 cans, which combine estat resolution with bass on par with the best planars... per early user reports...

Yeah, Susvara sounds like the last word in resolution... until you listen to a top-class estat or ribbon. Given that planar drivers will probably always have more mass, it's not clear to me that they will ever quite catch up in that department. OTOH, I don't need ultimate resolution to truly...

As a former Noire owner (who upgraded to the E3 at its release), I actually prefer the Noire's bass to Stealth's. I do agree that in all other areas of the frequency response, the Stealth is superior, but I still found the Noire a more fun and involving headphone overall. The E3 is the sweet...

This new HFM flagship rumor came out of nowhere, and my curiosity is definitely piqued. I was a bit ambivalent about attending CanJam SoCal this fall, but if the reviews are enthusiastic, I may have to head down and check it out. :relaxed:

I've never heard the MDR-R10 or ATH-L5000, but of modern closed-backs, the DCA E3 is the best I've heard if you're looking for a neutral-ish tuning, à la Susvara or Utopia. And similar to Susvara, E3 needs some power to get it fully on song, so it's not ideal for portable use. In terms of cans...

No, Groucho Marx. Woody Allen later "borrowed" it...