Wow, the alpha dog thing has really exploded on headfi. I'll be interested to see some measurements to see if they objectively match the subjective love they're getting.

It will be interesting to see how the funky hollow ABS cup design works out. I wonder if that causes resonances that are responsible for the hard plasticky sound Purrin was hearing. How long does it take to 3D print a set of cups? about 2 hours a pair?

I wonder how this might affect the market for LFF's new Slant Paradox. It's impressive that the AD's are expected to ship only month after the announcement. LFF will have some catching up to do... he's already behind 3 months behind shipping old Paradoxes!

Cheers

As far as I'm concerned, I think a little healthy competition is a good thing. It's safe to say Dan may have turned some heads in the headphone industry with his 3D printing cups idea. I also think it's unfair to count Luis out. I personally like supporting people who contribute to the community like Luis and Dan have. Here's hoping Luis comes out with his own cannonball of an idea and here's hoping they both make the big shots of the industry stop and think concerning what they come up with next. As it is I think Luis probably has his own ideas brewing away in the skunk works concerning what new products he's going to release.

Hey Purrin, are you going to grab a pair of these for measurements and post final impressions?

Paradox Slant

Have to wonder whether it's available as an upgrade for Paradox users (my guess would be not).

It's noteworthy that the Mad Dogs can be upgraded to Alpha Dog by topping up the price difference.

Luis may take longer than Dan to put out a Paradox, but in my experience the consistency from one to the next is much, much tighter. Luis really slaves over each Paradox, and he's really trying to keep it a small handcrafted sideline type thing rather than ramping up production. Dan's biggest issue IMHO was just that: consistency. One Mad Dog sounded totally different from another, and he used his customers to beta test way too much I felt. When a customer reported a major issue---borked bass response for instance---it was always chalked up to an earlier version somehow getting out in the wild or something.

Consistency seems to be getting better, or at least that's the impression I'm getting. The 3D printing should help with that. I'm really looking forward to hearing the Alpha Dogs, and I'll probably buy a set if they sound as good as folks are saying. As for the Paradox Slant, from what I understand that mod is quite different from the "Classic Paradox," so who knows. Consider: maybe it's not an "upgrade" in the sense of the MD -> AD but rather more of a side grade, a different flavor some folks might prefer and others not?

LFF has some other exciting things in the works, too.

Is Thunderpants in same league? & is it in production?

There has been some hassle lately regarding Smeggie's enterprise. I know that there have been delays and that some people are unhappy. Maybe the order inrush after the HF publicity was too much. Hope he'll be able to handle his end of the deals - from what I've read over at HC he seems like a swell guy. Just something to keep in mind when running these one man operations, I guess.

The mid voicing is not offensive at all , it is glaringly noticeable when you are coming from listening to exceptionally well modded T50rps - ala Paradox and RD. To me there is more air in either of these too and I find them more comfortable because of the pads used.

That said, RD is not modding for general consumption and the Paradox are as MF commented - hand crafted and low volume , thus not an option for the demand that Dan has generated. In addition, many people want a different voicing when compared to the Paradox and thus the alpha dog ( I think ) will have a much wider appeal.