CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Headphone Measurements => Topic started by: ultrabike on November 09, 2013, 10:35:14 PM
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Milos brought the King Sound Emperors and let me take a listen and measure.
Sound
TBH, I didn't like these that much. They did sounded rolled off on both ends, and quite scooped relative to the SR-009s. Seem like I was hearing music on a room with slightly weird acoustics. Still, fairly clean though. There were quite a few similarities with the 009s, but the cans were not as well executed.
I wished I had compared the KS with the Lambdas side by side, but going by memory I think I liked the Lambdas better (SR-407). These were heard out of a SRM-727 (modified).
Comfort
I felt these were quite comfortable, but I didn't feel a secure fit.
Presentation
The build was not at the level of the SR-009/7, and don't like how they look... but to be fair, I don't like how the toast like Lambdas look either. Hell, I don't like the 009 Franken-band. I guess one buys these cans if one likes what one hears from them.
Price
I think they are going for $625. The SRS 2070 combo might be a better overall deal depending if one digs their sound better than the KS.
Overall
Not Oh Mie Gawd. But exciting to see a new player in the stat world. And for their first headphone, not bad IMO.
Measurements
Frequency Response
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1227.0;attach=4563;image)
Distortion right
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1227.0;attach=4565;image)
Distortion left
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1227.0;attach=4567;image)
CSD right
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1227.0;attach=4569;image)
CSD left
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1227.0;attach=4571;image)
The deep null fills up quickly in the CSDs and might be a coupling artifact.
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The deep null fills up quickly in the CSDs and might be a coupling artifact.
Similar to the "ortho wall" you think?
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Glad to see you got some measurements here. When "blackbeard" is a bit more mature it will be good to have some stock measurements to compare with the mods! :)p6
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Similar to the "ortho wall" you think?
I think is more related to the fact that I use less foam to measure cans that require seal. Adding more foam around the mic while still having seal seems to smooth out things, but it also seems to lower the treble more than I think it should. Also seal may become more difficult as the foam starts to get in the way.
Glad to see you got some measurements here. When "blackbeard" is a bit more mature it will be good to have some stock measurements to compare with the mods! :)p6
No problem mate! Again, special thanks to Milos for providing these for measurement and impressions!
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Hmm, these measurements and impressions make me glad I went with Stax instead.
Thanks for the measurements though ultrabike!
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Good times :)p7
Anybody interested in buying my set? Very good price (I got hooked up), and I've only had them on my head about 10s. UB actually has more listening time with them than me
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The deep null fills up quickly in the CSDs and might be a coupling artifact.
Similar to the "ortho wall" you think?
Not quite, but I see this often in planar headphones. The frequency / wavelength of the null seems to coincide with the inner diameter or the width of the earpads. I think it has something to do with the seal of the pads and the planar driver, creating destructive interference at that wavelength.
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The deep null fills up quickly in the CSDs and might be a coupling artifact.
Similar to the "ortho wall" you think?
Not quite, but I see this often in planar headphones. The frequency / wavelength of the null seems to coincide with the inner diameter or the width of the earpads. I think it has something to do with the seal of the pads and the planar driver, creating destructive interference at that wavelength.
Interesting theory, that could explain the mechanism behind my earpad mod.
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It was actually your mod which may me think along this direction. The holes in the pads allow soundwaves to get absorbed instead of bounced back.
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Alternatively you can use low seal/acoustically transparent pads, like velours, to reduce this effect.
Or add foam dampening in front of the driver, like below the ear pad. (Which hifiman has tried, but they used the wrong kind of foam.)
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Alternatively you can use low seal/acoustically transparent pads, like velours, to reduce this effect.
Or add foam dampening in front of the driver, like below the ear pad. (Which hifiman has tried, but they used the wrong kind of foam.)
On stats, velours most likely would roll off the bass too much. I could see a Jerg pad variation making sound quality improvements to stats (and other cans that require seal).
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So basically,
(http://i.imgur.com/2ANvvQk.png)
Where R1 is the acoustic resistance of the leak through the pad. The same text suggests, "The remaining leak R1, which is variable, influences the frequency response. In order to combat this effect, the cushions are frequently made of a porous material such as foam. The acoustic resistance of the foam is chosen to be a little lower than that of the leak, so that this combination of two resistances in parallel is mainly determined by the foam, rather than the non-reproducible leak R1. ... Since the porosity of the foam is also influenced by the mechanical pressure against the ear, a further improvement is obtained by dividing the foam into two parts. The first part, which is in contact with the ear, is non-porous but soft, providing the best seal. The second part is rigid but porous, providing the well-defined low acoustic resistance".
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Alternatively you can use low seal/acoustically transparent pads, like velours, to reduce this effect.
Or add foam dampening in front of the driver, like below the ear pad. (Which hifiman has tried, but they used the wrong kind of foam.)
Off topic, and I know I've asked this or similar questions often in the past, but is there some place I can buy sheets of foam that would work well for these purposes? I've often added front damping foam on headphones, but the material has always been from spare foam ear pads (like the KSC75). Probably not ideal acoustic material, nor is that large enough for the HiFiMan driver.