Few hours listening so far, giving the gold ole a/b with the Ether 2. Ether 2 I personally liked the Perforated Ether 2 pads the best and have them on my pair. And Ether 2 I am hovering around 9-10 o’clock so certainly Expanse is the harder cans to drive.
Impressions so far:
Going back and forth between the two its quite obvious the improvements, Expanse is wider and airier sounding. The Expanse bass has a similar boosted mid bass but it is well controlled and tight, hard hitting so not a slouch in the bass.
Techs really are a step up and next level in comparison. Timbre is improved and instruments are notably more precise sounding. Ether 2 timbre comes off slightly dull especially in the treble in contrast.
Threw the EQ on for a giggle, hit the bass knob to max, turned on a low shelf at 80Hz, slapped on some EDM and we rocking. Ether 2 didn’t seem to extend as deep or hard in contrast so the difference between the headphones really starts becoming quite a bit more apparent. Tried using my test track of Lights Out by Dustvoxx
Transient response, the Expanse is notably quick and effortless for a planar so hats off to Dan for that. Slapped Dream House by Deafheaven since there is just so much happening I like using this song as a reference. The Ether 2 in contrast comes off little smeared in contrast.
Overall I want to say the Expanse is probably the best cans Dan has come out with so far. Don’t have a Stealth here to contrast, just my personal Ether 2. Can’t wait for CanJam this weekend for some more folks to get their impressions in.