Hi All!
Had been looking to up my headphone game for a bit, decided on the Elegias since I needed a closed-back for various reasons:
–A combo of pleasure listening and mixing
–Live in a loft w/ my gf, so I couldn’t have a mini speaker on my head though I’d love some open-backs
–I liked 32ohms in case I wanted to pack less for travel and still have great sound. I will say after experimenting, and if you want to build a BottleHead Crack, I’d actually rather have a harder to drive headphone to use with beautiful sounding tube amps.
I have my background in my profile if you’re curious, suffice it to say I’ve been playing drums since 8th grade, listening to music since I was a kid and am a general lover of all things music.
So, first off this headphone is large improvement over my previous one, the Beyerdynamic DT770 16ohm version.
Before you laugh, I had auditioned the Beyers a couple years ago in all the versions from 16-250 on my Apogee Duet and a DragonFly Red, and found the 16ohms were the least sibilant of the bunch.
I was doing lots of VO work and DESPISE sibilance. Same w/ my music listening.
This was one of my large concerns with the Elegia, and knew I just needed to hear it for myself. I’m happy to report, like others have found the top end is highly accurate and brings forward details without being sibilant or steel-y on most recordings (the hi-hats in “Rope” by Foo Fighters after the first chorus…Couldn’t listen to this). So, my impression is accurate treble that I could use for both mixing and pleasure listening that is not “steel-y” or sibilant.
Other characteristics I found on the Elegias on their own:
–Bass: There’s definite sub bass on this headphone. It has good impact on it’s own and bass presence, though I feel this is brought out even more with the right DAC/amp combo.
–Mids: I loved the detail in these headphones. Especially as a drummer, there was body and texture in some snare drums I hadn’t ever heard before on the Beyers.
–Comfort: It’s a comfortable headphone! I don’t really worry about the weight as it’s a comfortable fit. I have Nike glasses w/ thin frames and the seal stays in place.
–Soundstage/leakage: I love that the Elegias have the vented logo on the sides, which helps w/ fatigue and lets some air out. It ALSO lets out some sound, my girlfriend knew what artist/song I was listening to downstairs in our loft. Just to put it out there, in case you’re worried about this.
–Accuracy: If I had to define the Elegias in one word, actually, accurate would be it. And I think it fairs REALLY well letting amps/tubes/DACs shape its sound. It’s a great headphone for my uses of mixing and pleasure listening. Focal of course makes studio monitors, so I love that they have experience in helping us create music. And again, I love the detail retreiveal of the Elegias.
I tested the Elegias on the Apogee Duet, the Grace m900, and happened to find a Schiit Vali 2 on eBay with a Telefunken 6DJ8 in there and thought, why not?? So I piped that into the chain and had some fun and found a pretty killer combo:
Audirvana (using Qobuz and purchased FLACs)–> Grace m900–> Vali 2–> Elegias.
Mind you, I didn’t have the stock tube on the Vali 2, but did pick up an EH6CG7 that is @Torq’s favorite combo w/ the Elegia to have some reference of a decent but not overboard tube in the Vali.
I also got a Matsushita 7DJ8 the will be coming and will post some impressions of that tube as well later.
All performance notes below will be using the Telefunken 6DJ8 unless otherwise noted. The m900 was always in low gain and most Duet listening was in low gain, though I experimented with this.
What takes longest in this combo to break in?? The cable!! (a-thank youuuuuu).
Seriously…Ok, moving on.
Overall:
Vali 2i+m900 offers slightly more detail, pleasing textures (clean guitar, strings, air in drums, etc) and a wider soundstage than Duet+Vali 2. There’s a more controlled presentation (keeps mix in tact), no fatigue, and instrument separation is awesome.
This is personally what I’m looking for in my listening experience w/ the Elegia and is my recommendation in the “budget” solution.
Vali 2 also opens up Duet sound stage and gives more texture/detail. Don’t hear much “tube vibe” effect in low gain. Switching to high gain gets the Duet to match most of energy/texture, but then the lack of control with instrument separation becomes apparent, as does a bit of steel-y ness/sibilance. Overall high gain on the Vali w/ Duet is too fatiguing and not that enjoyable.
The tubes:
Telefunken 6DJ8: THE tube w/ Elegia in this combo for me. Great balance, the bass is stern and accurate, and the presentation is ideal and transports me. Instrument separation is great. The atmosphere and texture it adds to strings, guitars, is sublime. Honestly I’m not even sure if it’s genuine, the label rubs off and it has the bottom diamond mark so that’s a positive, but man it sounds fantastic.
EH6CG7: Great detail/sound stage, not as much bass/slam as the Tele, which makes the presentation ever so slightly lacking because of this. But to @Torq’s point: If you don’t want to be ridiculous and spend a ton on a tube for an entry amp, this one won’t steer you wrong.
Did changing the DAC really make that big of a difference? In a word: YES.
First off, the Duet output per Apogee support is 30ohms. Normally this would be horrible, but comparing to the m900 the Duet just gave the Elegia some more low end, it was pleasing to my ear and just slightly distorted, but nothing I would call bloated or inaccurate. It just didn’t have the pinpoint accuracy the m900 had.
I could be convinced to just be happy w/ the Elegia and the Duet. Which, if anyone was wondering–to go from Duet to a headphone amp, use the outs w/ TS to RCA cables and set the gain to -10…It’s an unbalanced connection and the appropriate way to do this rather than running some cable from the headphone out (like some had suggested).
Overall though, the m900 just has great synergy with the Elegia to add some detail/accurate low end. It plays 32 bit/DSD, has 4 different filters, and an interesting cross feed circuit (which I honestly didn’t prefer for critical listening). It also takes one USB cord to power, so…YAY.
Take the Vali 2 to add tube vibe, great separation/presentation, and some more slam/sub bass from the 6DJ8 ands it’s my ideal sound (for now, until I hear these $2k tube amps).
To get these impressions, I listened to a wide range of music that speaks to me and is also technically recorded well. Everything from Jeff Buckley, Tool, the amazing Telarc recording of the Cincinnati symphony doing the 1812 Overture (CANNONS), Chick Corea, Radiohead, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Fleetwood Mac, Imogen Heap, John Williams, etc.
Here’s a link to my Qobuz Headphone Demo playlist.
I also have some NIN recordings direct from the board in FLAC which are killer.
For those of you who like this sort of thing, here are some impressions/notes from a few songs:
"Last Plane Out" (Toy Matinee):
Overall, Vali 2 improves the slam and stage on both amps.
Duet+Vali 2 has great detail, not as much bass as m900 (Filter 2)+Vali 2.
m900+Vali 2 little more balanced due to increased low end.
2:36 on last plane out (bridge) shows just how lively m900+Vali 2 combo gets (great slam on kick drum and brilliance on high hats.)
M900 by itself has reverb on the kick, but not that slam. Snare, kick and bass basically more synergy and power w/ Vali, opens up sound stage a touch more.
Through Duet it’s great detail, but the kick doesn’t have slam and audible reverb of m900/Vali 2 combo.
Adding Vali 2 to Duet here increases detail but decreases low end. Definitely prefer high gain w/ Duet out. Went from pedestrian and unimpressive to much better soundstage and details. Just gets fatiguing after one song since it’s not as controlled and more sibilant.
"The Nurse Who Loved Me" (Failure)
As a rock drummer, I friggin’ LOVE this recording, especially when the drums come in. I also have the FLACs from their digital box set, but honestly the stream sounded extremely similar. Check out this whole album (Fantastic Planet) if you’ve never heard it and love rock music. Anyway…
Grace+Vali 2: NO LACKING LOW END when the drums come in. All the flab of the drumhead, body and thickness from huge toms Scott Kelly is using is there, and THAT SNARE. That’s what it sounds like in the studio. GREAT reference track for rock drums and what it should sound like for other monitoring systems. Deep bass guitar is there as well with great separation.
Duet+Vali 2: At 1:40 could hear “but you sneezed them out while sleeping” harmony. Bass fill after is present and detailed. I can hear it but don’t feel it, it wasn’t a detail brought right to my ears as it is with the m900/Vali 2 combo.
However, when putting into high gain, this is when the combo was very close to Grace. Again, it just gets overwhelming, presentation is in my face and fatiguing too quickly. Lack of control and musicality.
"Bargain" (The Who)
m900+Vali 2: The Who was actually one of my favorite artists to listen to in this combo! Bass is very balanced/present, love the air in the recording (vocals, cymbals, Moon’s drums). Moon’s cymbals were always airy, but these do them even more justice. Vocals sound GREAT (especially bridge, “free ride” vocal). Everything balanced and presented VERY well. Of course, drums sound great or I wouldn’t like it. Acoustic guitar before solo has great body.
Kick drum in drum solo very present and pronounced, this is just how it was mixed. Love the low end emphasis so bass and kick get their dues. High end isn’t abrasive at all.
LOVE the sound of the clean guitar in left channel at end, this is actually a new favorite moment of mine in this song.
Tried playing w/ Grace at 90 output volume (which is unity) into the Vali, stuff like clean guitar at end just didn’t have same vibe. (And much more noise floor). 99. All the way!
m900: Good digital presentation. Not as much separation by a little. Still very pleasing, testament to the recording. Ending solos get a little overwhelming/in your face.
End clean guitar just there, but without the charm.
"Prologue (Birth)" (Alexandre Desplat)
Duet: Strings are there, accurate, just not as much “mojo” in strings @ 1:12. Low end is there.
m900+Vali 2: 1:12: A little more texture in cello in beginning low notes. More mojo in strings, get more of the emotion and texture I’m looking for.
Duet+Vali 2: Mojo in strings not really there in low gain. Horns are a little muddy. So are details. Strings sound more holographic than textured.
Engage High gain: Mojo is there, bigger sound stage or just more volume coming in. Overall maybe just too much at one time, a little overwhelming.
2:10—lots of audible hiss from high gain and high volume on Duet+Vali 2.
Whereas on Vali 2/m900, much less hiss at 2:10 (makes sense on low gain), everything just contained and presented better, much less fatiguing. (2:15 is a great example of this). It’s a lot on m900+Vali, but not overwhelming. And the next tympani/BD section is powerful and does these instruments justice. Great sub bass thunder/reverb after last hit.
So, there you have it. The Elegia is a great headphone on it’s own and I recommend it for many applications, but the addition of the Vali 2/6DJ8 and m900 gave my music the experience I was seeking. I’m impressed with the Elegia’s ability to respond to signal chain tweaks and become your realized sound.
Now, who has a ZMF Pendant and Aeolus I can borrow?? Thanks for reading!
Maddog
- so with the 800 + 600 bucks, I am one month away from the 1649 HEDDphone … though my wife would kick me hard in the gents region, I fear 
Tomorrow should be the day they arrive! Keeping my fingers crossed because I would love to do some listening over the long weekend.
