I don't understand how the supposed advantages of planar speakers translate into earbuds that channel the sound from the flat drivers into a narrow tube. How is that going produce a different sound from conventional earbuds?
About the appearance... IIRC, Magnepans (back in the day) radiated both front and back, and alleged to take advantage of room acoustics to present an improved soundstage.
Assuming the tech has been miniaturized, those headphones would still need to radiate sound front and back... hence the need for a vented support frame (the tie fighter look). This implies significant leakage, as the amount of sound radiated away from your ear is just as strong as what is going into it.
Also, depending upon how thin the membranes are, it's possible that they would simply pass along any external sound you encounter. So I'm really curious about how well these 'phones isolate.
Neil, Just wondering if this uses the Ultra Accessory connector we read from Mike Wuerthele a couple weeks ago and if so how does it work. A picture of the connector would be nice too.
No, as noted, it's a proprietary connector. Here's what it looks like.
Interesting photo -- shows the size of the in-ear portion much better. It also makes it easier to believe these would stay in your ears w/o clips (if they don't rupture your eardrum putting 'em in ).
Different subject but IMHO I expect from the touted quality of sound these have no business being compared to BT earphones as the quality of the sound (with wireless) is slightly sacrificed for the convenience of no cable and sometimes aesthetics. Two totally different leading design goals.
Neil, Just wondering if this uses the Ultra Accessory connector we read from Mike Wuerthele a couple weeks ago and if so how does it work. A picture of the connector would be nice too.
No, as noted, it's a proprietary connector. Here's what it looks like.
Thanks, Not sure if I like those two little prongs as the connection. Doesn't seem as nice as lightning.
Lightning would be overkill with 16 pins, when only two are needed. However, while these are standard audio cable connections for this purpose as noted by @pkwisconsin, I do appreciate your comment in that these are somewhat fragile. Any solution with tiny pins that can break off is inferior to a solution like Lightning which is a solid metal tab. That's why USB-C is physically inferior Lightning in my mind, with a plastic tab on the board side that could be broken off inside the connector. What's worse, is that since Apple does not yet seem to have a solution for a Lightning adapter, swapping the cables repeatedly seems to be the only way to move between devices, including iPhone to Mac.
Although I agree in general about the tiny pins possible fragility, these are short and have a bullnose. The L/R ratio appears to be very good and the connector has a keyway for insure proper direction of insertion. The connector also appears to have a friction connector on the ear piece, possibly an o-ring and the male end (cable side) has a small lip to guard from dust/moisture after connecting them. All that said and I think the idea was for this to be a connection that is made either once or rarely unlike the Lightning or 3.5mm end which are both designed for 1000's of cycles of connecting.
I love the
sound out of these IEM's. The cables and plastic accessories can be of
better quality, but the headphones are solid. Sound is crisp and clear
on the highs, the mids are detailed and don't make any sacrifices
because of its balanced lows. I like a bit more bass than the neutral
sound these headphones offer, so I downloaded a "bass boost" app on my
phone, an viola. The best sounding headphones across all types, imo.
Comments
Assuming the tech has been miniaturized, those headphones would still need to radiate sound front and back... hence the need for a vented support frame (the tie fighter look). This implies significant leakage, as the amount of sound radiated away from your ear is just as strong as what is going into it.
Also, depending upon how thin the membranes are, it's possible that they would simply pass along any external sound you encounter. So I'm really curious about how well these 'phones isolate.
Different subject but IMHO I expect from the touted quality of sound these have no business being compared to BT earphones as the quality of the sound (with wireless) is slightly sacrificed for the convenience of no cable and sometimes aesthetics. Two totally different leading design goals.
Although I agree in general about the tiny pins possible fragility, these are short and have a bullnose. The L/R ratio appears to be very good and the connector has a keyway for insure proper direction of insertion. The connector also appears to have a friction connector on the ear piece, possibly an o-ring and the male end (cable side) has a small lip to guard from dust/moisture after connecting them. All that said and I think the idea was for this to be a connection that is made either once or rarely unlike the Lightning or 3.5mm end which are both designed for 1000's of cycles of connecting.