I would get that the chain makes a difference but if I’m using both types of headphones on the same chain… Youknowwhatimsayin?
At that point, wouldn’t it just be reduced down to the headphones’ engineering?
Do you guys rock separate chains for both types of HPs?
Im gonna see if i can maybe demo a Focal or Kennerton or something and bring it home. I think that’s the smart thing to do
I think they both have their place and a lot of it comes down to what you value in sound.
Mechanically Planars and more so EStats have lower moving mass, but they are less of a point source, dynamic drivers can also have much bigger excursion and hence move more air, whether that’s good or bad probably depends on your design objectives.
As for depth of stage I can’t say I have found one driver type better than another, but like everything else in this hobby people hear it or even define it differently. I do think that some Planars, ribbons and Electro Statics can have an almost Ethereal feel which I’ve never really gotten from a dynamic driver.
I do tend to agree the Utopia is pretty easily the best dynamic driver headphone I’ve heard.
Some chains don’t really play as well with some headphones, the Utopia in particular can be pretty fickle. But it’s easy enough to find chains that work well with both. At lower price points it’s harder to find tube amps that play well with some lower impedance planars.
What headphones specifically are you comparing.
The higher end ZMF’s do a decent job of staging, especially the ones with the denser woods.
The last comparison I did was with the:
DT-1990 Pros
HD600
R70x
Vs.
T60RP Argons
There’s a song from The Fight Club soundtrack called Medulla Oblongata that I often listen to.
It sounds such that with the DDs, they will present a certain sound being farther away by squishing its stereo closer together, BUT they still sound like they are a similar distance as everything else playing in the track.
The Argons, however, make it sound like things are actually farther away from each other. Whatever reverb is on that sound, it will silo/separate and play it in spades.
This isn’t to say DDs have zero depth
I probably should’ve clarified what i define as depth.
EDIT: i could mention other headphones, but i don’t think its fair cause i haven’t heard them on my chain.
I think it’s more a question of the headphones you tried rather than anything driver specific.
The T60RP doesn’t even really sound like a typical planar (I haven’t heard the Argon version).
The HD600 is very 3 blob on presentation.
Topic revive time
Is the 3 blob presentation phrase used to depict something that applies even on a higher chain?
For the longest time the 3 blob was all I heard on my hd650 (never had 600), I used magnius, little dot mk2 (fully solid state sounding tube amp), then I upgraded to RNHP and Burson Funk and my dac to a pro-ject s2 digital (nice $500 dac)
The 3 blob was very real, and It also felt wall-ish of sound. The depth was very poor or non existant.
But It was when I got my BHC+S that the 3 blob concept on the hd650 sarted melting away, specially after I upgraded tubes.
The wall of sound was gone, I could still hear the 3 blob concept but it was getting shaky and then…
I sold my hd650 because it was too clampy, I switched to ATH r70x which is quite similar in many ways to the hd600, and upgraded my dac to bifrost2 + DDC.
I could no longer (or barely) hear the 3 blob concept, and I think it would have been the same with the hd650.
…..
Now I have a matrix xsdif3>exogal comet plus running to either woo wa3 with rca 60’s black top drivers and 6080 mullard, or a Quicksilver HA with 60’s amperex drivers and telefunken for power.
I cant hear a 3 blob at all in the ath r70x, or the akg k612 or anything for that matter except for the koss ksc75.
Im pretty sure If I used an hd600 there would NOT be a 3 blob OR am I just understanding the 3 blob concept wrong?