Oatmeal Porter by Highland Brewing in Asheville, NC. I’m a huge sucker for a nice dark beer. Great synergy with these headphones if anybody is wondering.
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I would say the HP-2 sounds the most tonally balanced to me and it is the one I would pick if I were looking for a reference set. I would say timbre and detail are similar between all of them but the way they present them are different because of what I percieve as differences in stage. The HP-2 comes across as the most noticeably detailed because it is a little more forward sounding than the other two.
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I find most beer has good headphone synergy tbh
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Porters are my go to
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Cold Mountain Ale is my favorite from them, though I do like that porter. Since you’re semi local, if you happen across Homeplace Coffee Blonde Ale…🤌
I recently bought a new Gjallarhorn and I remember a couple people saying that they had a particularly drastic break-in process with it (I think @NickMimi in particular had a lot of weirdness breaking in their Gjallarhorn), so for people who own one, how long did it take for the Gjallarhorn’s sound to settle down?
I currently have mine just sitting on a desk playing music, which isn’t a huge loss since I have another new toy that I’ve been occupied playing with. 
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Hey, my GH-50 sounded way off. There was a channel imbalance initially which i was terrified would mean another trip back to Russia, then after that went away there was an occasional crackle in the driver. Lastly I had a portion of time where no matter how much power i gave then the drivers sounded “weak” and i could not get the volume up past a certain point on them. I had to keep them on a continuous loop for over 100 hrs and now have them lent out to at least 3 different people who are putting even more hours on the HP.
On a good note, they are going through multiple sets of ears now and other than personal sound preferences nobody has mentioned having any issues w/ them so far. 
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My HP-2 opened up more noticeably after probably 50 - 60 hours. (Didn’t really keep track.) It was not a dramatic roller coaster like @NickMimi had to go through but I did notice a difference. Everything felt less constricted and I think the low end became a little more prominent.
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Have you gotten some listening time on the Gjallarhorn yet? I’m curious to hear your thoughts. I got some more time with them this weekend and they have yet to disappoint me. Rich, detailed, impactful, powerful sound, with a very lifelike timbre. I’m especially curious how you feel the bass compares to the Eikon and the Dunu Zen. I don’t have experience with the Eikon but I did own the Zen for a while and it’s honestly the IEM I think I miss the most. Bass was so good on them (tight, textured, and BIG). The horns are currently my favorite bass I’ve heard so far in full size headphones.
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Hello hello! So I still haven’t gotten a ton of time with the Gjallarhorns yet, but sure, I can give some quick impressions!
Let’s start off with some non-sound things: I think these headphones are gorgeous. So ZMFs are beautiful headphones, but as nice as they look, they’re really big and they still kinda look goofy when you actually have them on your head. The Gjallarhorn still isn’t a small headphone, but it’s much more like what people expect a headphone to look like when you’re wearing it. The headband uses some kind of elastic or something which is nice in terms of just being able to put it on your head and go, but I’m skeptical about its longevity. The included cable seems nice enough, but I find it to be pretty microphonic. (EDIT: Actually, I think it’s just the housing itself that’s loud, I don’t think it’s the cable.) It also comes with a case! I love it when headphones come with cases since I don’t have a great storage solution for my headphone collection yet.
As for the sound, I find that the Gjallarhorn just has an instant “pop” to it. I’ve heard the Elex and the Eikon occasionally referred to as more fun tunings of their sibling headphones, but I don’t know that I’d call either of them “fun” headphones. The Gjallarhorn is such a fun headphone, it’s so great. Comparisons are going to be a little dicey here since I’ve heard all of these on different chains, but as far as I can tell, the Eikon with the stock pads has a higher sub-bass elevation than the Gjallarhorn, but I think the Gjallarhorn has more bass overall than the stock pads Eikon. (Note that I primarily listen to the Eikon with Auteur pads, which takes away some of that sub-bass, so I’m going off of memory.) Similarly, the Zen has great bass impact, but I don’t feel like it’s bass elevated at all really.
The comparison that makes the most sense in my head is actually the T50RP, weirdly enough. I’ve heard the T50RP with Dan Clark Alpha pads and ZMF cowhide pads, and the T50 has more of that bassy, fun (maybe V-shaped?) kinda feel that the Gjallarhorn has, but the Gjallarhorn is so much better in every way, lol—especially when it comes to detail and timbre. I haven’t listened to the Gjallarhorn for long enough to figure out what’s going on with the staging/imaging though, it somehow sounds like it’s both forward and spacious at the same time.
(Update: The comparison to the T50s may be underselling these a bit. The T50RP sounds a bit wonky and unnatural to me, but I actually like the Gjallarhorn with acoustic/organic music. If anything, I think prefer it with that kind of music over using the Gjallarhorn for dubstep and whatnot. Weird, I know.)
I think the main drawback is that I don’t think I’m going to want this kind of sound over long listening sessions. I do a lot of headphone listening during the work day, and I also do a lot of like, listening to full albums or listening to entire playlists, and I don’t think the Gjallarhorns would be good for that? I dunno, it probably depends a lot on the individual person.
But man, if I had a non-audiophile friend come over and ask to hear my setup and they were only going to listen to one or two songs, I think I might have them listen to the Gjallarhorn out of any headphone I own.
Okay really though, I haven’t listened to it for very long at all, so all these thoughts are subject to change, but there are some opinions for you! 
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Oh also, another thing that will matter a lot to use case: these are listed as closed-backs and they do isolate reasonably in terms of what you can hear from the outside world, but I feel like they bleed sound kind of a lot? So maybe not the best if you’re trying not to disturb your spouse or office mates or whatever. (Or maybe I’m just not getting a tight enough seal or something.)
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Yes they leak a lot of sound for a closed back.
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Oh, I should mention that my OG has the Kennerton-branded cable and the rectangle-shaped left/right cup indicators, so it seems like you’re right here!
My serial number is in the 100’s and the date of production is from May of this year.
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When I posted about the Gjallarhorn before, I’d been testing it out with some acoustic tracks, some dubstep and electronic music, but today in particular, the Gjallarhorn’s been really impressing me. Weirdly enough, today’s music pairing has been just regular pop music: I’m sitting here listening to like, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber and The Weeknd and something about the Gjallarhorn’s signature with this kind of music is just really working for me (probably my favorite I’ve heard the Gjallarhorn sound so far!).
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Also, an update on this note: my girlfriend Ellen listened to a couple songs on the Gjallarhorn, and she likes the sound better than the Clear, the Eikon, and the HD600. She had a lot of difficulty describing what she liked better about them, but eventually referred to them as having a “richer, fuller” sound.
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PSA: Everybody be careful with your GH50’s and HP2’s. I recently had an issue with my set. The sound got strange and I started to notice some mild channel imbalance as well as some slight crinkling sound sometimes when I put the headphones on. Also the bass seemed like it was totally gone. I tried swapping cables, checked all my source gear, and determined it was the headphones and specifically the drivers that I suspected were the problem. I contacted Kennerton and they agreed to check on the headphones under warranty even though I purchased the set second hand (they never asked if I was the original buyer). So they sent me a UPS label and customs paperwork and I packed them up and sent them to Russia.
In a little under 2 weeks they contacted me and let me know that the headphones had arrived safely. They took them into the shop and began to investigate. After about a week I heard back again and they told me they had determined that both driver membranes had been damaged. They said that this damage occurs if you press the headphones against your head too quickly or forcefully. It is technically considered “physical damage” and as such is not covered under their warranty HOWEVER they offered to repair them anyway under warranty at no charge to me! Can’t complain about that!
So my cost in the end will be about 55 euros for the return shipping. (Kennerton covered shipping one way.) I’m very happy with the service I have received so far and I look forward to getting my headphones back.
Two additional notes: When my headphones malfunctioned the sound actually reminded me of the way the JM edition sounded when I had it on loan from @NickMimi. As I found out after writing my comparison, Nick ended up sending his JM edition back to Kennerton for repair because of a similar driver issue. So now I suspect that my impressions of the JM edition may not have been accurate because I think the set I heard may have been suffering from a damaged driver when I heard it.
Also, Kennerton mentioned in our email exchanges that they offer alternative pad options for the GH50. This was news to me since I had not heard of any other pad options for it. Here is the list of available options that they sent me. They said the prices range between 55 and 70 euros.
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ECL-M MF - just like the standard ones, but made with memory foam. Adds lower frequencies, more comfortable.
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ECL-M SR (suede ring) - like the standard ones, but with suede ring on top (surface, that touches your head is made of suede). Sound is almost the same, but more comfortable fit.
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ECL-MF (M12) - like the standard ones, but thinner and made with memory foam. Makes the sound more neutral (perfect for everyday use), more comfortable, due to the memory foam. Recommended
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ECL-MFC - like the standard ones, but wider inner diameter, thinner foam and made with memory foam. Makes the sound more neutral (with great subbass), more comfortable, due to the memory foam. Recommended
I’m planning on picking up a set of the last pads on the list. I’ll let you guys know my thoughts when they arrive.
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After 2 years of going back and forth w/ Kennerton I will openly say their warranty service has been excellent and despite several weird set-backs they never left me hanging. They completely replaced my Magni Headphones, i received a brand new unit. On my GH50, JM both drivers were replaced upon my insistance. I was also given new pads, new boxes, new cables and a spare set of the ECL-MFC pads to try when i mentioned larger openings would work better for my big ears. All this because i was patient and polite w/ my extended dealings w/ them and my streak of bad luck.
If anyone is interested both sets, GH50 JM and Magni are for sale. Neither have any hours other than test for function on them since final exchange. I would also consider partial trades etc. for something interesting or tubes, i need some good matched but OLD tubes. Damned tube sickness has struck me and i need money for old tubes… 
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When everything is great, everyone is great. It’s when you have a problem that the good vendors quickly set themselves apart from the bad. I agree, patience will go a long way.
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