Introduction
This headphone doesn't need an introduction. Luis said it is meant to have a bass boost and a larger soundstage compared to the regular Paradox. Thanks to Greed for lending me this pair!
Looks, Build Quality, Comfort, Misc.
Clearly there is a lot of work put into this headphone with close attention paid to small details. The paint job is beautiful and close to flawless. I love the clear coat finish on it as well. Gives it a great, glossy look, and feels well protected. This particular pair has a silver finish to it. The mini-XLR jacks look seamlessly integrated with the headphone. The cup, near the bottom edge and below the cup "chamber," has been bored and smoothed out a bit so the jack can fit flush against the bottom of the cup chamber. I can only tell it's not stock because I'm familiar with the T50RP.
The suspension headband is comfortable as always. The soft leather on this pair feels great when you're wearing it. I believe this shares the same angled pads as I saw on the Enigma, but I could be wrong. I'm not sure if these are custom or those angled NVX/HM5/FA003 pads. Either way, they're extremely comfortable. This is definitely the most comfortable T50RP modded headphone I've worn yet. And the Norne cable this came with seems very nice. Not sure if that came standard or if Greed got that separately.
Anyone interested in one of Luis's headphones can rest easy knowing the amount of care he puts into them.
Sound
The first thing I noticed about the Slant was its mid-to-upper bass emphasis, which was not unexpected. It's clean and not too exaggerated, but it does make things sound a touch wooly. There were a few times with specific tracks where I wasn't crazy about it, as it started to get in the way of some details, but it is tasteful and enjoyable overall. I also want to say relative to some other headphones I've tested lately, the Slant has a tiny bit of a recession in the upper-mids or lower-treble. Perhaps describing it as more relaxed in that area makes more sense. The Slant responds well to EQ if you like to use that.
The Slant is fairly smooth and easy to listen to. I want to say it's a bit on the laid-back side. Overall clarity and detail across the spectrum seems good. Sometimes the bass emphasis makes it harder to tell, but the Slant's sound is simply more refined than you'll get from the T50RP mods elsewhere. However, I do think I hear a bit of treble roughness. Some of this roughness I hear in about every T50RP mod. Some seems specific to the Slant. They are still smooth sounding, and this minor thing wasn't anything that gets in the way or required EQ.
Soundstage is another highlight of the Slant. It doesn't sound quite like an open headphone, nor do I have the Alpha Dog on hand for comparison. The AD might sound a bit more expansive...can't remember. The Slant doesn't sound closed, but instead sounds natural.
Going back to the refinement aspect I mentioned earlier, I noticed the Slant didn't give me a sense of channel imbalance. With other T50RP mods, there's usually a slight sense of imbalance, though usually not enough to get in the way (and I've heard much worse). The Slant is just good to go right away. I also have yet to hear a T50RP mod that sounds like a Paradox. There's just something about them that doesn't sound like a typical T50RP mod, regular or Slant, and even if the other T50RP mods still sound really good.
The Paradox headphones are well worth consideration. It's been a while since I've heard it, and would like to again soon, but the regular Paradox is a good choice for neutrality. The Slant is not what I'd call neutral, but it is smooth and enjoyab
le to listen to with a bit of a fun, bassy, and yet still relaxing or smooth sound signature and a natural soundstage. I prefer the response from some other T50RP mods over what I hear on the Slant, and by a decent margin, but they also don't offer quite the level of refinement you get from a Paradox headphone. (Gonna repeat again I need to hear the regular Paradox again.)
Measurements
Frequency response results indicate a bass bump centered around 80-90Hz or so, roughly 5dB up from the 1KHz point. Treble is a bit peaky and rough, keeping in mind dips are probably artifacts of some sort, but they never bothered me subjectively. The 10KHz peak probably helps with detail, and the bass level is high enough to not make the treble stand out. Notice the linearity of the overall response from 100Hz to 5KHz or so. It does have a bassy tilt, but it's fairly smooth and balanced for the targeted sound. FR looks a bit rough at spots, but I wouldn't worry about that. Channel matching is really pretty good.
Harmonic distortion results are pretty impressive for a T50RP mod. Low levels without too much of a rise in the low bass. You can see a bit of roughness in some of the D2 spots, but this is common on the T50RP. Very little D3 or D4 relative to the limits of my equipment. I think the great THD results explain the refinement and clarity I heard on the Slant.
CSDs look pretty clean. Though not always trustworthy on my setup, the Slant may exhibit less resonance below 1KHz compared to some other T50RP mods. Perhaps not the cleanest CSDs I've seen ever, but nothing that really stands out as bad either.
