I’m not usually very big on the typical “audiophile classics” for evaluating gear. But I do enjoy, purely for it’s own musical sake, the “Jazz at the Pawnshop” series.
Sitting on the deck, watching the boats, sipping some coffee … with the MySphere 3.2, Cayin N8, and the above musical selection … bloody marvelous. The spaciousness and depth of that recording is extremely evident in the reproduction, instrumental timbres are nigh-on perfect, and the overall effect is mesmerizing.
I’m sure there’s something I’m supposed to be doing today … no idea what it was though …
Since “coffee and jazz” turned into a very lazy morning, which turned into lunch - a decidedly liquid-affair - which turned into another nap, I was awoken from my impromptu slumber by the unmistakable roar of an F18-C, or six …
Having been involved on both ends. Ultimately it’s about what each company wants.
Heinz is arguably one of the best headphone designers alive. But he’s perfectly happy enjoying his semi-retirement between southern Italy and Vienna. The Mysphere project mostly came out of people bugging him for a K1000 re-release and him feeling a bit restless and wanting a challenge. LB doesn’t care about expanding too quickly or capturing the market, and their pricing pretty clearly reflects that. There’s also a 5-10 week build process, again because Heinz wants to build them in Vienna where labor is both expensive and slow.
R-R wants to upend the headphone market as we know it. Go in with a super-flagship at a (relatively) aggressive price point. They have to hype things up and be aggressive about reaching out to the audiophile community. It’s also pretty radical technology (the Mysphere has some interesting stuff too, e.g. the square driver and built-in expandability) that’s not a “vol.2” in any way.
The Cayin N8 drives the MySphere 3.2 incredibly well. Plenty of power, even on medium-gain on the single-ended tube output, though in high-voltage mode.
Though the N8 can get a bit warm doing this (the picture below is using the balanced, solid-state, output), especially with high-definition material (24/88.2 and 24/192) … again with the MySphere 3.2:
Yeah that makes sense and that is cool that MySphere runs off regular headphones DAPs/amps. However, I wonder if this will be a moot point in the near future as it seems very possible that a company (maybe Schiit?) or a DIYer will put out a direct drive amp for the SR1a. Since Jason was able to rig up an amp for SR1a into a Jotunheim body, and did it in a day, I imagine we’ll start seeing more options come about once the SR1a builds up a bigger user base as it seems to be doing.
A direct drive amp would certainly expand the low-hassle usage potential for the SR1a. The “Weldenheim” as Jason currently refers to it, is definitely something I will pick up if it makes it to production. It’d make having the SR1a in the office an easy thing to justify.
On the go (transportable) … or on the deck … I’d still want something completely self contained, right down to not needing a power-cord, so I imagine these are going to serve me well in that capacity for a good while to come.
On top of which, they’re an excellent headphone in their own right. My HD800S and Clear are shaking in their boots at this point … as they were pretty much sticking around for where I can’t use the SR1a …
I just packaged the demo kit back up to return to LB-Acoustics.
I am definitely going to miss these until my own set arrive. At home, on my primary rig, I am well catered for still … but in the office and on the deck, and anywhere else I can’t put a speaker amp … I shall be eagerly awaiting their re-arrival.
WELL worth auditioning. Remarkable in most important respects. The fastest dynamic headphone I’ve heard. Detailed, nuanced, dynamic, and highly addictive.
Tried the 3.2 with the SP1000 AMP today - reasonably good, but IMO the WA11 is the right way to go as far a portable kit is concerned. That or something like the DMP-Z1…
Just using the direct output (balanced) from the SP1000M, which is a tad more powerful than the regular SP1000, but less so than the AMP module (which I’ve not heard), I still have more than enough headroom there not to want to fiddle about with external amplifiers.
I heard the WA11 at CanJam @ RMAF 2018 (I’m not sure if it was final then) and it was an excellent sounding amplifier. But … I don’t care for the DAC in it, so it means going back to carrying a “stack” … and that just isn’t going to happen.
Besides, I’d just take the Cayin N8 along instead anyway (smaller, lighter, more than powerful enough, much better DAC, and the option for both solid-state and tube-drive).
I just got a more specific estimate, of 3-4 weeks.
So, I put that on hold and will re-order while I am on my next major trip - as otherwise they’d show up while I was gone. I could have them hold off on shipping them - but I don’t see a good reason to pay for something now, instead of in a month or so, when it won’t make any difference to how long it takes for me to be able to use them.
Due to an unfortunate, but entirely understandable, miscommunication, I am still 4-6 weeks out on having my own, permanent, set of MySphere 3.2.
At the same time, some very generous and pro-active accommodation from the US MySphere Dealer (Woo Audio, and Mike in particular) means that I have a set of the 3.2 in my hands (and on my head, right now) and will be able to keep them until my fresh set is built and shipped.
If there’s a down-side, it’ll just be in burning-in a new set once mine ship. But that should make for an entertaining thanksgiving!
Speed, resolution and neutrality are still … impressive! Especially where they’re running off the N8 right now …
In what turns out to be near-perfect timing … my own set of MySphere 3.2 just arrived!
And the timing is perfect as by the time I have the Jotunheim R and Bifrost 2 properly written up, and have posted my full SR1a review … these will have a 100 hours or so of time on them.
After about 7.5 hours of straight listening with my own set of 3.2s …
… they’re as good as, maybe better than, I remember them from my demo/loan set. Ran the battery down on my A&K SP2000 in one sitting, with no fatigue, volume changes (changing volume is a dead giveaway for fatigue or engagement issues), nor any other issues at all.
A testament both to the MySphere and the SP2000, I think.
While I would still say that my initial interest in the MySphere was in getting something as close to the SR1a as I could, that would work with conventional gear … I have to admit that they are genuinely excellent in, and of, themselves.
Now to find the smallest, properly-protective, case I can that’ll take both the MySphere and one of either SP2000, N8 and/or Hugo 2 … which I think I can do in ONE with a stacked/staggered cut-out in the foam.
Check out Van Nuys. They have cases for about every conceivable product/ audio category. The materials aren’t really luxurious feeling but extremely durable.
I bought the 2x3 IEM case hoping to put the SP1000+AMP side by side with the Mysphere disassembled, but the 2x2 space is just a tiny bit too small for the headband. A 3x3 IEM case should work like a charm.
They also have a proper headphone case if you want to store them without disassembly.
Though I suspect I’ll wind up finding the smallest Pelican or Seahorse case that I can make work with some custom cut foam to keep the MySphere assembled, and have the DAP sit in the oval between the drivers/under the band.
I may bribe one of the engineers in our (SOTA) fab-lab to do the insert …
Torq is there no interesting news from this model … after a few months using it (I suppose) ?
I am a bit disappointed the mysphere 3 was not included in your top 5 open-back Headphones.
At this stage, and as I understand the situation :
-> the Raal SR1A seems actually too restrictive to live with, even at home (as you must be glued to your seat near an Headphone Amp 100% of the time you are listening to it, a bit like any Stax or Kingsound Electrostatics headphones I already own except the SR-003MKII with a portable amp like KS-M03).
-> As I understood, the Heddphone seems more or less “incompatible” too with most portable players (like H6Pro/WM1A/…) and, it seems, after all, not to be so impressive as we were all thinking initially (a game changer ?). More over, some are reporting that first deliveries may have some significant quality issues https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hedd-announces-heddphone-with-amt-technology.906270/page-74#post-15458189. I particularly worry with the lower pads and the headband, which can impact significantly the sound.
-> I am wondering if the mysphere 3.1 is not, after all, a more versatile headphone even for indoor use, either in an armchair near some Streamer+amps or with a modern portable Hires Player when needed sitting near an office table or any desk to do some other activities while listening.
-> if, upon your mind, a Focal Utopia sounds more or less in the same category as the Mysphere 3.1, it will be even cheaper to find a second hand one on ebay than a brand new Mysphere, which is a bit disapointing.
Not really … I am just trying to choose a Home Headphone beside my closed and near to perfect Ultrasone Veritas 15 (used for all Travel matters by train/plane) my KingSound-H4 + M10 used at Office and a Apple Airpod Pro (Walk Around/Bus/Metro)
I am not sure, I need to prove anything but …
This is more or less my travel (Train/Plane) combo
As I want/need to change my combo at home for an open headphone (actually I use a Sony MDR Z7M2+H6Pro, which is incompatible with a family life), I was more or less going to the combo SR1A + Jot R when it will be available from Raal Requisite directly. Unless the Heddphone was a real game changer, but it seems too young right now).
At home, I really would like to be keep the possibility to stream my music trough my H6pro when I need to change my place (at office, I don’t need to move with my headphone, so an electrostatic system was not annoying at all till now).
It seems that there will be soon or late a new version of mysphere 3 pads to add some more low frequency response… that’s why I follow this thread and still interested with this option.
Other than a potential new pad option, which isn’t available yet, things are as they were here. So it’s natural that commentary drops off when a) I was the making the majority of the comments (24 out of 39 posts, with only one other owner posting here) and b) lots of new gear has come and gone during that time which I have also been commenting on.
It is amazing to me how many messages I’ve gotten in the last not-quite-24-hours over people being disappointed (or actually angry) that some headphone they like is not in my top 5.
Why does it matter what my favorites are?
My “Top 5” is based primarily on how much listening time a headphone has gotten. Anything that’s been in my hands for less than six months, but more than a month, is at a disadvantage there.
Combined with the fact that I bought the MySphere primarily to have a more portable/transportable option that was as similar to the SR1a as I could get. The arrival of the Jotunheim R has meant there are more situations I can use the SR1a than before, so that’s eaten into head time for the MySphere, coupled with the weather not being conducive to sitting outside to listen.
Who knows where things will be 6 months from now?
It might be, for you.
I’ve no personal interest in wearing full-size headphones if I’m not sitting and working on something or focusing on listening, so that’d be 99.9% of models, including the MySphere out. I wouldn’t wander around the house with them on. I’ll either run my speakers or use IEMs/AirPods Pro if that’s what I’m doing. Otherwise, excepting not want to make a mains-powered amplifier a fixture on my deck, I don’t find any real limitation here.
And if I’m outdoors/in-public, it’s IEMs, pods, or nothing.
They need more power than most headphones.
Though I think you’re going to be unpleasantly surprised by how much it really takes to drive the MySphere well. The 3.1 is a bit easier, but I don’t think sounds as good with any of the sources/amps I would use with them - despite what the copy says.
The usual suspects hyped them to a level that its hard to imagine any product being able to live up to. That’s one of the dangers with hype. Nothing was going to live up to the billing they had gotten - a lot of which was from people that had never even heard them!
I do think, they’re going to prove highly disruptive. They $2,000 and under (or so) market is, I expect, going to get shaken up quite a bit. I’m more skeptical that they knock any of the current state of the art and/or $4,000+ models off their perches, but that was never a very realistic expectation anyway.
Emphasis mine.
Looks like one to me, talking about various “issues” none of which look like QC. Design choices and build they don’t like, communication and availability (it’s a multi-week wait for a set of MySphere, too, unless you happen across a dealer that keeps a set in stock) - based on not having even received their set yet.
The yoke/headband length issue is well known and isn’t an issue for everyone. Expecting that to be silently fixed, in the first couple of small batches of product released, prior to the manufacturer publicly saying it will is like buying stocks because someone tells you they might go up.
Smart/reasonable people, who were actually worried about it, would wait for confirmation of a change before ordering.
For some, probably - as with all things.
Comfort will be a factor for some … it either fits your head or, well, you’re buggered, but right now that’s true of the HEDDphone too.
For me, I have no use for the 3.1 as the 3.2 sounded markedly better with everything I’ve tried it with, from my big tubes amps to my DAPs, and everything in between.
Why is it disappointing that a similarly performing headphone is available for LESS?
As it is, the Utopia and MySphere are on a similar technical level. The biggest differences are stage/imaging and comfort. The MySphere are far better are the former, the Utopia far better with the latter.
Not really … I am just trying to choose a Home Headphone beside my closed and near to perfect Ultrasone Veritas 15 (used for all Travel matters by train/plane) my KingSound-H4 + M10 used at Office and a Apple Airpod Pro (Walk Around/Bus/Metro)
