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Bobthedespot
85
Feb 20, 2018
Voicing on the headphones done by the guy who mastered this grammy award winning music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk2ODNfVeHM
Expect the headphones to play similar music best.
The idea of a 3 driver headphone is rather flawed though. The only other audiophile grade multi-driver over/on ear headphone I have listened to is the Final Audio Design Sonorous (previously Pandora Hope) product line.
The main issue is phasing around the crossover and the modulation distortion that is a result... even though that won't show in most AP measurement plots.
Having a balanced radiator in a headphone seems kind of useless... never seen a headphone driver with a Q over 0.7 before, and I seriously doubt that the LF driver can reach an suitable CX point to a balanced armature if it has a Q that would necessitate the passive radiator.
The only engineering reason there might be for the radiator is to avoid conflict with "prior art" or to establish some level of sufficient novelty from an intellectual property standpoint.
brainwave
703
Feb 20, 2018
BobthedespotThanks very much for this technical and background information. That's all I need to know. I don't trust any glowing reviews, especially from people who did not purchase the product for its full price.
calraith
56
Feb 20, 2018
BobthedespotI'll elaborate a little on the phasing problem. Since limited real estate prevents adding the components needed for a complex crossover, the tweeter and woofer will be playing the same notes across part of their range. Two drivers playing the same frequencies near each other will result in a comb effect of cancellations where the waves are out of phase and additive peaks where the waves are in phase. A 6 dB / octave filter on the tweeter at 10 kHz won't be enough to stop this. Read the Wikipedia article on acoustic lobing for more information. This seems like a kludge to augment the waning high frequency response of a poor headphone driver to me, and would likely result in profound differences in sibilance from only slight position adjustments on the ear.
However, it is possible that the headphones still sound nice. Coaxial speakers often have a tweeter mounted in the center of the woofer, but still offer a reasonably smooth on-axis response. It could be that the phase rotation introduced by the tweeter's high pass filter moves the constructive peaks out of the range of irritation.
I say all that to say, I really don't know whether these will sound good or not. For the money, though, I'd be more likely to grab a pair of AKG K7XX or Sennheiser HD 6XX. Those seem like less risky designs to me.
Bobthedespot
85
Feb 20, 2018
brainwaveI'm sorry if I wasn't clearer. I am certainly not saying that you shouldn't buy these headphones.
My 2-way Pandora Hopes are EASILY the most revealing headphones I own. They are also fatiguing, and just about the least forgiving headphones I have ever heard.
I'm really just encouraging people to recognize the difference between marketing and reality... just because the headphones have 3 drivers, doesn't mean they are "better".
The FAD Pandora Hopes are metal diaphragms with a particularly harsh BA for the tweeter. These headphones might not fatiguing (or revealing).
Bobthedespot
85
Feb 20, 2018
calraithEverything you said is accurate. I'm confused by your second paragraph though... the only way that would be true is if the slopes are asymmetrical... which wouldn't likely be the case here. Am I missing something?
I didn't realize this was a 10khz CX at 6db/octave. That's pathetic.
calraith
56
Feb 20, 2018
BobthedespotProlly not. I was just trying to give this design the benefit of the doubt and temper my dire predictions of the shortcomings. I'm hesitant to guarantee they're not well behaved since I haven't heard them.
Re: HPF details, I just guessed based on @ZeosPantera's description a few comments up: "... and a 10k soft Crossover point for the tweeter".
ZeosPantera
1246
Feb 22, 2018
BobthedespotI never believe in dual driver stuff. But if you make that second driver small enough and keep the crossover soft you can do amazing things. If you get a set to try report back. I'd love to know how they compare to your Final Audio's
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