Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
I've been listening to Tidal for a few hours now with a large variety of genres and here's my initial impressions:
Before the sticker & Kleenex mods: Highs were a little overwhelming. There was no question that they were more pronounced than was really comfortable, but the bass definitely was in balance for what it should be. I tend to prefer a little more thump so it was less than I would have liked but from an audio engineering standpoint, seemed to be within specs.
After the mods: I folded up a piece of Kleenex into quarters and put it under the pads. It definitely tamped down the highs and actually I will be taking out a layer or two to get back to a happy medium. I was shocked at how dramatic removing the sticker under the grills was! Holy mole. With four layers of Kleenex and the sticker gone, the bass began to outweigh the midrange a little and definitely had the kick that will appease those that want a stronger lower range.
The Brainwavz angled pad mod - not so much. I have no clue what model pads that people are buying for this, but item "BWAVZ-ANGLED-PUBLK" from Amazon does NOT fit. Or, if it does, it takes some effort of stretching and possibly breaking the mounting bracket that I wasn't willing to engage in. Any info on which ones will fit is greatly appreciated because the stock ones are a wee bit firm for my liking. [EDIT - I ended up going back and watching a couple of videos on this and ended up making it happen, but it is super klugey. That said, they are an *amazing* improvement. Check the YouTubes.]
With or without mods, the soundstage on these is, no question, impressive. There is an expanse that I never expected.
Ultimately, my takeaway is this - While I thought the mods were BS and a little ridiculous to have to make, my disappointment vanished when I realized it was kinda fun to customize a set of cans. The result was absolutely worth it, and the sound quality is that of headphones FAR more expensive. And that brings me to the final point -
THEY ONLY COST $99! Jebus. Seriously people, at that price you could use them three times, screw around with them and then give them to a three year old to play with on your old iPhone and you got your money's worth. In my opinion, if you're bitching about issues with something this high quality at this low of a price, your laments fall into the "More time than sense" category.
Two thumbs up on the purchase, I would definitely purchase again.
Personally I used the Brainwavz flat hybrid pads as the seem to help reduce some of the brightness.
But, I found the HE-350 to have a really big soundstage so even if it becomes a little more narrow I would think it's still pretty wide, relatively. But I don't can't really say. I no longer have the HE-350, as I recently had to well a few headphones.
Perhaps the hybrids would be better for you, but your ears would have to be the judge.