Based on the amount of experience I've had with the Dog line of headphones, I do have some thoughts on the Prime.

1. In regards to the modified driver, I'm mostly certain there are still gains to be had from the stock T50RP driver. I don't know if Luis makes driver changes to his Paradox headphones, but I know the ZMF headphones use the stock driver. With my subjective tests and measurements, I'm of the belief you can get overall better performance (frequency response, resonance, and especially harmonic distortion) than what the AD exhibits without driver modifications. I found some interesting results by changing up the AD's front damping config (better, IMO, but YMMV). Now, that's not to say these driver mods don't do great things, but I'd be curious to see what could have been done otherwise at a lower price point (maybe another tuning and/or front damping revision on the AD?). Perhaps these driver mods are truly great. I'm also curious if these changes are at all similar to other T50RP driver mods I've seen before...I think it was from some Russian forums or something.

2. Dan's headphones have historically needed some revisions, internal or external, before things seemed "right." I personally wouldn't worry about signing up until at least a few months after launch and when the dust has settled. Yeah, this conflicts with my point above wondering what could have been gained with an AD revision vs. an entirely new product (might be easier to sell a new product than continue to have more revisions, which you can tell rub some people the wrong way when they feel they have to send their product back at a cost or buy a new tuning kit). I know a lot of guys liked the AD when it launched, and I got a lot of shit for my opinion on this, but I thought the product wasn't quite ready for launch from a sound perspective.

3. More of a personal thought (welcome to disagree with me), but claims of how much time and hard work fall on deaf ears to me, which isn't exclusive to MrSpeakers for sure. I just know I've heard Dan say this a few times. Still, you can work as hard and long as you want, but that doesn't guarantee any sort of success. Doesn't help me when evaluating products. (Shouldn't hard work be a given in life?)

4. I'd like to see Dan bring back headphone measurements and start incorporating THD results to backup and emphasize his specifications. He used to be all about this with the Mad Dog, and it was refreshing to see this in the industry (in tandem with a budget headphone that broke the $1k+ trend). I know his results were kinda hard to read for the public, but I think there's enough knowledge out there now even about basic and fairly cheap measurement setups that he could utilize to revise his measurement setup.

Don't get me wrong...I still hope to hear the Prime and will definitely do so if I make it to RMAF, but after my experience with his headphones and some other business practices, I'm a bit cautious at this point. If it's the best shit ever, though, I won't be afraid to say so publicly.

I still hope to hear the Prime and will definitely do so if I make it to RMAF, but after my experience with his headphones and some other business practices, I'm a bit cautious at this point. If it's the best shit ever, though, I won't be afraid to say so publicly.

Yup!

At this point it's unclear to me what makes this can worthy of $1000. I don't know if it will require eventual Prime Doggie Treats and further tuning, all at the expense of the costumer's wallet, and for who knows what random result.

Quote from: hans030390 on October 04, 2014, 05:28:22 PM

I don't know if Luis makes driver changes to his Paradox headphones,

Luis has made a new isodynamic driver of his own 

Still, I really want to know more about all this, especialy concerning the driver tuning.

You've talked about the ZxF, just wanted to say I'm sooooo eager to get one ! One last headphone to sell ! (my Yamaha YH100)

Right, I was referring to Luis's T50RP mods (Paradox headphones). Not sure if he makes mods to the driver or not. And, yes, I'm still curious to learn more, though Dan is tight-lipped about mods, and test out the Prime.


Hopefully you enjoy the ZxV. I found it to be a step up in some ways from the AD, a close match in others. Pleasantly surprised with it. We'll see what the Prime driver mods and any new tuning bring to the table. Could very well be as good as claimed. Won't know until I try it!

That's probably what I was thinking of. Do you happen to have a link on hand? Don't worry about taking the time to search if not.

You mean Dan Clark, right? This isn't Dr. Alex Cavalli we're talking about here.