freddy333 Posted June 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2011 My ultimate in-ear headphones have arrived As they arrived during a busy work day, I have only been listening to them for about 15 minutes, but, already, I can tell they have, by far, the flattest mid-range I have yet heard from any type of headphone...........I have heard many. I am still getting acclimated to the feel of having the earphone so deep in my ear canal (these are customs made from impressions of my ear canal, so they are a perfect fit) & the seal they provide is both absolute &, unlike any other in-ear headphone in my experience, immediate. No fiddling to get them to sound right. Just insert, twist & they are in & fit perfectly every time. I can open my mouth, eat, drink & they stay in place without ever disrupting their seal. Also, because the outer pieces, which contain each unit's 3-way drivers, sit flush within the confines of my outer ear (as opposed to sticking out a half-inch or so as in the case of standard in-ear headphones), they will not fall out or break their seals when I put my motorcycle helmet on. But, more importantly, as I opted for the greater isolation option, they (mechanically) block out alot more ambient sound than other 'phones &, that alone, puts them head & shoulders above standard in-ears since you can listen at lower volume levels & still hear low-level details. Ok, I am hearing my 1st WOW..........The Beatles' Rocky Racoon from the recently remastered Parlophone CD set. Years ago, I heard a 2nd gen master tape of the Beatles' original recording of this song in EMI's recording studio & this is as close as I have heard (through headphones) since then. Compared to any of my previous headphones, these appear to be dead flat (a good thing, if you want to hear what the producer & artist heard in the studio). More to come, but I may be busy for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted June 14, 2011 Report Share Posted June 14, 2011 Looking forward to hearing more about these Freddy. What was the process to get your custom inserts made? Did you have to go to an audiologist for the mold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subbiesrock Posted June 14, 2011 Report Share Posted June 14, 2011 Looking forward to hearing more about these Freddy. What was the process to get your custom inserts made? Did you have to go to an audiologist for the mold? The UE customs require you to visit an audiologist who will take a particular type of mold of your ear canal. The description is on their site, once you click on 'further details'. The monitors themselves are very interesting, they have several variants, I think the one's Freddy chose are top of the line (and not at all cheap), they have three independent drivers in each module (bass,mid,highs) as well as miniature crossovers. It's insane. On a slightly different topic, you all talk about vintage speakers for your home setups, but the studios that mixed most of the music you listen to, did so most probably on Yamaha NS-10m studio monitors. Why not just get yourselves a pair of those or a pair of studio reference monitors if you're interested in flat response? I never got all this business about speakers. The problem is that all of them have their unique characters, but if you want a true representation of the music as it was performed, wouldn't it be best to try and replicate the exact conditions in the studio at the time? Just some thoughts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted June 15, 2011 Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 Being a studio rat for many, many, years I can comment on the NS-10 thing. First off, the NS-10's are setup (albeit not ideally) onto of the console meter bridge. Spaced apart for an optimum spacial image. They are NOT flat by any means. They were made popular because some engineer mixed some grammy winning records on them and everyone followed suit. Secondly, they are setup in a studio that is "supposed" to be acoustically sound. Minimal reflections, proper room response time (ie: reverb time) etc. Some of the studios in the US have had a fortune poured into them to get an optimal sounding room. There is no way that a pair of Yamaha NS-10's will sound the same for the home user. The basic concept behind using the NS-10's in the studio is for a "reality" check. Most studios have large main monitors setup and tuned for the best response. If you mixed a record entirely on the main speakers and then took the record home it would most likely sound terrible. So engineers will do a reality check on what has been considered the worst possible scenario. The common phrase was: "If you can make it sound good on NS-10's it will most likely sound good anywhere". And its true. If you can stand listening to your mix on the NS-10's and it doesn't want to make you run home and cry to momma, then you probably have a pretty awesome sounding mix. NS-10's are extremely hyped, especially in the mid-range (1kHz - 4kHz) and in a lot of cases, you will see some engineers put some two ply tissue paper over the tweeter to help calm down some of the harshness of them. Before the NS-10's the popular mixing "reality" check speaker was a little 5" full range speaker by Auratone. Same concept. If it sounds good on the Auratone, it will probably translate extremely well on any speaker system. Anyways - really looking forward to your review Freddy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 Ok, since my initial mini-review I have experienced a handful of additional (pleasant) s with the Capitols. As I write this, I am listening to Vince Guaraldi (he composed/performed the jazz music for the Charlie Brown tv shows) & the Capitols are dead flat. Some of red's comments above about studio monitors are spot-on. My studio experience is ancient (pre-1985) & limited (mostly as a performer, but I have done a wee bit of producing for friends), but speakers like the NS-10s are only used as a comparison or in those cases where the producer is consciously trying to target the low-fi (AM radio, 8-track, cassette - see, I told you it was ancient ) market. Most studios, as redwatch correctly pointed out, have not only very accurate studio monitors, but the monitoring room (or studio) where they reside is designed & tuned for optimal response as well as a number of other pro audio (not to be confused with audiophile) parameters. Those of you who are familiar with (& appreciate) B&Ws or Kefs would love the Capitols. Very flat & uneuphonic. The frequency response of most headphones are tweaked to achieve a particular 'sound'. Such is not the case with the Capitols. Another noteworthy WOW was Wings' Silly Love Songs, which is another song I heard via 2nd-gen master tape at EMI. It is a very clean recording with a very punchy (but not bloated) bass foundation. In fact, I remember thinking how 'woody' the song sounded in EMI's studio & the Capitols get that 'woody' sound nearly right. But I think the biggest eye-opener (so far) was Harry Nilsson's Good Old Desk, which is not 1 of his more well-known pieces, but it is a nice song & 1 of the most natural pop recordings ever made. There is a triangle in the mix that the Capitols reproduce so accurately in its own 3-dimensional space that you can almost point to it with your finger. 1 thing about flat transducers like the Capitols (or the Quads I use in my home system) that differentiates them from everything else is that they add very little of their own color to the sound. The old computer adage of garbage in, garbage out is very relevant with headphones like these. My ipod contains a variety of music (nearly all converted to high resolution 320kHz mp3s), which makes it very easy to pickup production differences between studios, producers, record companies & pressings. I also wore the Capitols while I did a bit of work on my motorcycle & they really isolate you from the world around you. Here is probably the best example of the Capitol's greatest strength - I have 2 mp3 copies of Nilsson's Everybody's Talkin' on my ipod. 1 came from an LP & the other from a CD. Switching back & forth between the 2 versions of the same song, I can clearly hear the air & 3-dimensional space of the sound room where Nilsson recorded his vocal tracks on the LP version, but this is lacking on the CD version. Now, I mention this not as an example of the LP vs CD debate, but only to demonstrate 1 of the Capitol's low-level resolving capabilities. Pretty impressive for a relatively compact in-ear headphone. Because of their truly flat-response, I would not recommend the Capitols for people who want all their music to sound good. But if you want to hear all of your music the way the producer & artist meant it to be heard, good or bad, these are your babies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted June 16, 2011 Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Funny you should mention Vince Guaraldi .. my friend is the executor of his estate, and I was able to aquire a pre-release (by almost a year) copy of his latest CD (Trio Live on the Air), the masters for which were found by Vince's son in his dad's desk drawer. Really great music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Really great music. No doubt. Small world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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