These look like they would sound amazing. But they are wireless. Surely a wireless connection defeats the purpose of this level of fidelity.
Next level headphones – but they’re wireless!
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I’m looking forward to the comments/advice as I’m also considering the same
A mate commented as follows:
mmm, 450 gm weight on your scone. Weigh some rice and place in plastic bag. See how it feels, then check out the price and most likely end up in the emergency dept
I bet the valves help keep your ears warm on cold days.
Interesting choice of Bluetooth 5.3 which, at 2.1Mb/s peak burst rate, is *just* fast enough for 16/44.1 (i.e. CD quality) lossless. But they use Sony’s LDAC, a lossless coding scheme similar to MiniDisc, which limits to 990kb/s. So the Bluetooth connection should be fairly robust without dropouts.
Even though the DAC is capable of 24/192, there’s no way to get hi-res data to it over Bluetooth. Further down the page it says the DAC is 32/384, which makes me think the marketing department have written the specs without really understanding what they mean.
I suspect you have to connect them (via USB-C cable) for the full-fat performance.
At the end of the day, many factors affect the sound of cans, and fancy electronics is only part of it. The “40mm titanium-coated mylar” drivers are nothing particularly special – I’d hope for something more at this price point.
Dullard verdict: Hmmm.
Yes I wondered about the heat especially so as they are closed backs.
Hmmm indeed.
Don’t get me wrong: I like valves. I’ve used a Beard P35 and Quad IIs over the years. I still have a Croft pre/power set up and a Schiit Valhalla 2 headphone amp.
But valves in a headphone set? Surely this way lies madness?
There is a current fad for sticking a valve into components of all sorts at the moment. It’s the latest bit of “audiophile catnip” marketing bollocks. They promise the usual nonsense along the lines of a “warmer more analog musicality” all absolute tosh.
There are two reasons to use an amplifying device in a circuit.
The first is (to paraphrase Quad founder Peter Walker) as “straight wire with gain”, so to operate in the linear-gain region. Both transistors and valves can operate equally happily in the linear region as devices with gain.
The second is to go into the non-linear gain region in a pleasing manner. Where they differ is that valves, when operating beyond their linear gain region (i.e. when distorting) produce second harmonics, which sound ‘nice’ to the ear. That’s what guitarists call the “tone” of a valve amp.
Transistors, when operating beyond their linear gain region (i.e. when distorting) produce third harmonics, which sound like a wasp in a jam jar.
Why you would deliberately operate your headphones in the non-linear region of a valve is beyond me. You either design the circuit to drive the valve into distortion all the time, or to distort gracefully at high levels when – crucially – permanent hearing damage will occur at the SPL required.
In summary, I agree with Mr Squeezer: marketing bollocks.
I understood that last para and I suppose that’s all I needed
I’m a confirmed headphone junkie, when I buy headphones I look for comfort and sound quality not gimicks. Headphones need to fit on your head properly. If they are heavy the weight needs to be distributed across the top of your head evenly or you’ll get a “hot spot” on the top of your head which means listening for any length of time becomes problematic. It doesn’t matter how wonderful a set of headphones sound if you can’t stand wearing them. As for gimmicks. This press release is loaded with audiophile catnip. Valve pre-amps, Duel Monoblock amplification, reference dac. All marketing bollocks. All pretty meaningless. I own a number of headphones and iems ranging in price from a couple of hundred quid to a couple of thousand. Most of them are wired a couple of them are wireless like these. The latest wireless set I aquirred are a Bowers & Wilkins px8 s2, they are overears and are capable of the latest Aptx Bluetooth codec which delivers as close to lossless sound currently available from any implementation of Bluetooth. I had to purchase a dongle to slot into the usb c port on my phone to utilise it because my phone isn’t capable of Aptx Lossless. It works faultlessly and results in a sound quality that is indistinguishable to me from 16 bit/ 44.1 kHz. I’m very happy with them but for home listening they aren’t a patch on any of my wired cans hooked up to my Violectric V222 headphone amp.
These probably sound pretty good but be careful of the marketing bollocks. It’s a crowded market so companies resort to all manner of nonsense to make their products stand out and this piece of marketing absolutely reeks of it.
Yoiks! This is the “valve”, according to the specs on the website quoted in the OP:
https://diyaudiostore.com/products/korg-nutube
Not much heat needing to be dissipated, then.
Quote from the link above : “As you might also conclude based on the audio performance measurements, I view the Nutube not so much as an active amplifying device as a signal processing element. Yes, it does provide voltage gain – but if accurate voltage gain is your goal, you are much better served by using other devices, both tube and solid state.”. H’mmm…
As always with audio – if you like the sound, then fine. However, I think I’d be giving these phones a wide body swerve.
Prompted by Junior’s post I’ve been reading what reviews of these I’ve been able to find and to be fair they seem to be very positive. As I said it’s an incredibly crowded market, there are thousands of headphones and iems available. The Chinese churn product out on a weekly basis especially iems. Admittedly premium wireless overheads are a little more rare but nevertheless there is a fair bit of choice from audio companies like B&W, Focal, Dali, B&O, Martin Levinson and T&A. All of these manufacturers manage to build flagship quality wireless headphones without resorting to gimmicky bullshit. I have purchased a pair of B&W recently as I mentioned and for what it’s worth they sound fabulous, they are supremely comfortable, they are very well made and they are far more discrete looking for outdoor use than most if not all of the others which is important as that is what wireless headphones are made for. If anyone wants the best sound from headphones at home my advice is always buy wired and buy a headphone amp to drive them properly. If your home environment is quiet buy open backed cans they almost invariably sound better than closed backs and most important of all if at all possible try before you buy.
I know it’s not the point but they manage to be both ugly and boring looking. The vent holes especially. They look like a pastiche of design from the 70s or 80s.
I’m not sure I like the sound of valves. For me it’s good on some things (classical, jazz, some rock) but it’s misses the point of modern pop music. I suspect these would sound brilliant some of the time and ok the rest.
Looking at the video reviews I’ve found I wouldn’t walk around in public wearing these. They easily fail the Cyberman test.
Cyberman. That’s it.
Cyberman? Pshaw! I used to sport a pair of Ergo 2s, to the amusement of the kids.
Have looked them up. Bloody hell. I reckon Molly Sugden could design better.
They sounded great and were surprisingly comfortable, with no side pressure at all. At the time, I didn’t care what they looked like – strictly indoor use, of course.
Snort! The sexy black version or the 70’s brown?
Black, black, starless and bible black…
Useful for grating cheese too.
Depends on the implementation, @Leedsboy. Crofts (for example) don’t sound warm, mushy and Romantic – they sound fast and modern.
@fitterstoke so what is the point of using valves? What do they add to the mix that can’t be done by the other components? Or is it audiophile fashion?
@Leedsboy
Audiophile fashion?
Sometimes they’re a buzzword (I suspect this is the case with the headphones in the OP) – they come in and out of fashion, but there’s always a hard core who feel that valves are the best way to implement an amplifier. Each to their own – but I’ve been out of fashion more often than in, I suspect. Where’s @fentonsteve when you need him? I’m not an audio engineer…I just go by how they sound to me.
Point for most people is looking for the “lush, warm, romantic sound of yesteryear”. That’s the standard cliché, isn’t it?
Point of Crofts? Well, they are hard-wired, shortest possible signal path, no pcbs, etc – when you take the cover off, it’s like looking inside a Swiss watch. And they sound superb. Mind you, the models that I have are valve/solid state hybrids…big disappointment for people chasing the valve cliché!
Fents commented earlier
True – but I thought Leedsboy was asking about valve amps, not the headphones in the OP. Maybe I was wrong…?
It was the wider valve use yes.
Believe it or not, I actually have a life away from here! Especially at the weekends (I was listening to Charity Shop Classics).
Fast and bulbous, even?
I love threads like this. I don’t understand any of the technical jargon, but a little frisson of audiophile porn never hurt anyone. For the record I have a pair of cheap as chips Sennheiser HDR-175 wireless cans which were gifted to me. They have an uncanny tendency to fade in and out, but at least they keep the neighbours happy.
Here’s some audiophile porn to keep you warm and glowing…
That looks lovely. But isn’t being an audiophile all about the sound? I suspect there is a need for audiophime equipment to look like audiophime equipment otherwise no one would notice.
Pic was specifically chosen as an example of “audiophile porn”. My own amps are black boxes – not that I’d object if they looked nicer.
Anyway, I’m not in the right frame of mind for an argument about what being an audiophile is about – so I’ll get off here. Have a nice Sunday!
Apologies if I came across looking for an argument – I really wasn’t. I’ve never owned a valve amp and thought my Nad and Rotel amps that I had a few years ago were a bit audiophile. I am genuinely intrigued about whether the sound is better (i.e. the science part) or just sound better to people preferring a certain type of sound.
You can divorce sound from music but you can’t divorce music from sound.
Like @Boneshker I listen to Sennheiser HDR170’s most of the time and I find them very comfortable and a reasonable sound too. I have other headphones and IEM’s but these are my go to.
$1266. Wow! They really should be good at that price. I will stick to my Airpods