Final audio thread, D8000 / Pro / X8000 / Sonorous II / III / IV / VI / VIII / X

I recommend the Beautiful Audio hybrid headband, takes the comfort level up a few notches

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I’ll check that out if these stay. The headband isn’t too bad, but the clamp is a little bit much at times. Maybe that will get better with time.

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So i havent tried this myself, but having had the le for a while on demo i do kinda feel like it would be better sevrwd by a somewhat spicy amp. Something like masskobo 428 maybe. I found the layering actuaky fairly solid (still behind sus but not by a lot tbh) but the fairly relaxed nature made it harder to notice imo. Cfa3 seemed to help with this, but hinestly it had so much gain the combo was nearly unusable unfortunately

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I’ve been noticing that I’m much preferring it on amps like my 394ii and concero 25 rather than the afm and let’s say wa8, so something more forward, more energetic, and more direct really is a nice combo. Although I don’t know if I’d go the extremes of that lol, still want something with some body and an organic presentation imo

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I used it on the bliss and it’s not too laidback. The stage and air is what’s getting me tho. And I don’t feel the imaging is great either (better than most but not best/on par among other TOTL). Definitely behind the Sus and Utopia IMO. Maybe it’s the way I perceive it?
Should be able to test it off the EC soon.
I haven’t listened much the last two days. Letting them burn in. Maybe get to that 100 hr mark and something magical may happen :sweat_smile:

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It’s not exactly it being laidback, but rather getting the most out of what it can do texture, depth, and imaging wise which really makes the headphone imo, but I’d agree that overall spatially it’s not going to be as immersive as the utopia and accurate as the susvara

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It’s sooo close tho. Just a bit more space and air and it would be really nice. I mean it still is and if I didn’t have the Sus or Utopia for comparison it would probably have a place in my collection. Maybe it still will…need more time.

Does the clamp ever improve? It’s pretty tight imo.

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I didn’t have any problem with the clamp (it’s a little tighter than sus for sure) but you’re dilemma with owning one vs having things like susvara and utopia remind me of my thoughts. Not necessarily because of space and air, but simply because of ā€œif I can drive Sus well, I personally don’t need LE hereā€.

EDIT: but if I didn’t have a sus worthy/optimized chain or no intention on building one, it would be one of two I’d build a system around (Utopia OG being the second).

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Yeah I can see that for sure, I think the d8k pro offers more difference between the susvara compared to the LE, the LE is more in the middle there and closer to the susvara than the regular pro

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I gotcha. Yeah the clamp to me is much more than the sus. Maybe I just need more time to break it in.

In what way would you say it’s closer? Better timbre, maybe more detail retrieval?

Closer in tonality, timbre, and presentation imo. The d8kp is more unique in tonality and presentation, although more hit or miss on pairings and preferences. I do think that the LE synergy pairs closer to how the susvara pairs, whereas I find the d8kp to pair more how the utopia pairs if that helps lol.

I do think with the right chain, especially as you continue to go higher up, the susvara is just a step above the d8kp le overall, but I’d rather take the le on more entry level to midrange higher end chains. While I don’t know if I’d say the LE is super similar to the susvara, I can see it filling a similar role for some, whereas imo the d8kp to me just focuses on a more different experience that the susvara doesn’t provide as much

I’m honestly considering sticking with the pro due to that reason, and also because pairing wise, I think it pairs better with my gear

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if my memory isn’t completely off, I really liked the Susvara with WA23 and didn’t like the LE on it that much fwiw

100% on the comparison between Sus and LE. Can’t comment on the regular d8kp as I had it here only for a few days with little listening.

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Oh interesting, although not heard the wa23, honestly with how that’s described imo that sounds like an outlier in typical pairing for the susvara lol. I did not like the d8kp off of the wa33, but I bet the LE would be better off the wa33

:+1:

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I think the D8KP really likes low output impedance, it’s one of the few headphones I used SE on the stratus, because 3 vs 8 ohms output impedance made a difference.
While I agree it’s a technical step back from the Susvara, I’m not convinced it’s a step back from the Utopia in that regard, though they are VERY different headphones.
The staging to me on the D8KP can be overly ā€œsharpā€,and feel a bit unnatural, though I got used to that. The stage isn’t huge, but separation was never really an issue for me.
I haven’t heard the LE

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Yeah I’d agree, I think it’s more on the level of the utopia than it is susvara

That’s true, but I also feel like it’s one of those headphones that really shines on tubes as well lol (at least for the regular pro, feel like the LE depends)

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Has me even more curious what direction the x8k will skew towards (although I’m not supposed to be buying any more hps lol)

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The Pro worked well with an LTA MZ3, even better with the UL+.

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Would agree for sure on the mz3, very nice

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LE worked very well with Z10E and I’d expect it to be very good with UL too. MZ3 probably depending on tubes and maybe would like a bit more power but haven’t tried that combo (that I can remember lol)

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