Eww, I hope there will be an option to order the original grilles.
The option already exists, plus you can buy the additional grilles on the separate page for grills.
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I’m a bit confused with the V2’s page on the Modhouse website. Are the images supposed to be the new gen Tungsten?
If so, I’m not seeing a lot of difference in the powdercoat finish.
I put in my order during the last batch (July) but have been sitting on the fence with one leg already slung over on the V2 side. The main concern was sound and your take is very encouraging. Thanks
BTW I recently added the Ferrum Oor to my Erco2 and was blown away with how my Empy2’s scalled listening to Fear Inoculum. This is just another level and will make waiting for the new V2s much easier!
Thanks for providing us with your impressions.
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Welcome to the forum!
V1 and V2 look the same cosmetically, the differences are internal.
I have V1 and love it, I’d probably get V2 if I was ordering now but I wouldn’t stress either way.
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I wasn’t expecting major changes but thought the powder coating would make the finish noticeably smoother than the V1. Perhaps the feel and look in hand has more impact than what was captured in the pics. Regardless…I’m not sweating it and will patiently wait for the headphones.
Thanks for the info and warm welcome!
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I’m going for the V2 myself because I want extra headroom on my tube amp. Otherwise I would prefer the V1
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@rinzzlr posted his in-depth review of the V2 to Head-Fi. I don’t see anything there I disagree with. To me the improvement to the overall timbre makes the V2 easily the preferred Tungsten DS - no contest.
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Looks like the Hex grills continue to be preferred so I will likely add them to my order.
I wounder if the new jack system will require periodic maintance to ensure optimal contact?
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Anyone tried a Tungsten with Violectric amp? I’ve got the V280.
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I should think it will be excellent with the Tungsten. I have a V550 myself, and it’s a great match with Tungsten (v1 DS in my case).
Thanks! How do you like the v1? I’m torn from what I’ve been reading. The V2 seems to be billed as the more flagship hifi sound while the V1 has more of a lush, warm, dynamic sound. That’s a Sophie’s Choice scenario in my book.
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I like my Tungsten a lot, I think it sounds pretty great!
But I don’t have v2 to compare it with, a few peeps favor the v2 more, others have said 
.
Do you have an order in already where you can still choose v1? Ryan is going to go strictly with v2 unless you had a prior order.
Rinnzlr has a strong preference for v2, I think Zeos is more neutral on preferring one over the other. And @AudioTool preferred v2 also. I’ve learned to take it all with a bit of a grain of salt, as “consensus” opinions will sometimes not match up with what I’m hearing.
If you have the option to get v1 I definitely recommend the DeepTune rings for it, they are like a chef’s kiss, making an already excellent headphone a hugely satisfying listen!
Either way I don’t think there’s a “wrong” choice here. If I were buying it today, I’d probably go with v2 for the increased efficiency. Regardless, you’ll need an amp with some juice, which your Violectric has.
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That’s really helpful, as your comments always are. I don’t have an order in. I’m eying a Head-Fi classified for a V2 that claims it’s been used for only 10 hours. He’s selling it full price, $2200. Of course, no wait time. I might see if I can talk him down to 2K. He also has the stock cable at 4.4 and I need XLR. I might check with Ryan to see if he has any V1’s left. When I checked with his website left it said they had a few in stock.
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Once we get measurements in for both, I think the differences will be shown to be quite small.
The description of the changes from Ryan don’t seem to indicate anything other than treble changes.
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I want the V2 to give headroom on my tube amp, no other reason
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The treble changes may be quite important though. I found those spikes at ~8 - 10k (hybrid) to be a little much for my ears when I tried these (I could probably EQ it, but would be great if I could leave the treble alone). I’d also probably prefer a little less ear gain.
I’ve had the Tungsten V2 for over a month now and honestly I’ve been on the fence about selling them. It’s not that I have any complaints per se. It’s just that I’m gearing up for a big purchase and every time I A/B the Tungsten V2 vs Meze Empyrean II w/PEQ, the Empyrean II comes out on top. It just fits my taste better. It fits my head better too.
There is a risk with getting the V2 over the V1 in that there are no measurements of it on a 5128 rig yet. So I have to EQ by ear or using less accurate measurements. All of my experiments with EQ on the Tungsten V2 have resulted in a sound that I don’t consider an improvement - except simply adding sub bass. The Tungsten bass is just about perfect except if you listen to deep note electronica it can use some help below 40 hz. You’re gonna need a good amp to back that up too.
Based on what I heard at CanJam we are pretty flush with TOTL planar headphones right now. You could easily choose a Hifiman HE1000 Unveiled, Modhouse Tungsten V2, Meze Empyrean II, or probably a few others that I have not heard and you would not be missing out, especially if you are willing to EQ. They are all technically very capable with very natural tunings. It’s just a matter of your preference. I would say the HE1000 Unveiled is the leanest and the Empyrean II the warmest with the Tungsten V2 in between. The smart thing to do would probably be to just pick one, tune it with EQ, and never compare to any others.
But back to my problem with the Tungsten V2. It isn’t that it doesn’t sound as good as you’ve heard. It’s just that I don’t have a role for it to play in my collection. I already have a very capable planar for when I’m in that kind of mood. But that changed a couple of days ago when I brought them over to a friend’s and hooked them up to his Darkvoice 336se tube amp. They sound pretty great off of it! I’d tried a few different tube amps with my Empyrean II and other planars and decided that planars sound best off of solid state amps. But I hadn’t considered that the Tungsten have a much higher 150 ohm impedance. Suddenly I find myself in audio heaven listening to my Tungsten V2 off of my Cayin HA-1A Mk2 tube amp - an amplifier I was just about to sell because I didn’t have a role for it when I already have a Schiit Folkvangr. But the HA-1A can get more slam out of the Tungsten than any of my solid state amps. It also digs DEEP into the sub bass. It even warms up the Tungsten a bit. The sound is darker, but to me doesn’t lose any detail or natural timbre. Aside: This is not because the HA-1A is altering the Tungsten’s FR. I have multiple solid state amps that can power the Tungsten efficiently enough to get a flat FR out of it. It is an effect of the tube distortion.
I’m really enjoying this combo immensely and may have found a role for both the Tungsten V2 and the HA-1A. 
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That’s very cool, and interestingly really parallels my own experiences and conclusion on Tungsten.
I have a Cayin HA-3A and got it in my head there was no way it would drive Tungsten. WRONG! It sounds great with the Cayin, and a side benefit of it being so insensitive is that there is absolutely no noise from the amp whatsoever. 
I have a Violectric V590 which I bought primarily for Tungsten, which I’m now probably going to sell. It’s a huge extravagance to keep around for mostly 1 headphone.
I’d end up with a DHSA-3FN and the Cayin, with a Jot 2 I hung on to from way back mostly for preamp duties, though I think it could also drive Tungsten. So not exactly amp slumming here! 
Anyway, it’s interesting we arrived at a similar place. I do really like my Tungsten, and it sounds surprisingly great with the Cayin.
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I realized that the first time I heard the Tungsten V1 it was at a local meet and driven by a big tube speaker amp. I remarked that I’d never heard drums hit that hard before. The snare on Tool - Invincible was like a gun shot!
When I got my Tungsten V2 drums were impressive, but not at the level I expected. I figured it was my fallible memory + listening level in a noisier environment + I bought the Empyrean II in the meantime. Well it turns out it was probably the tubes because the gun shot is back baby! 
I should temper my opinion a bit by saying that some people are saying V1 has a little more slam than V2. I have not heard the V1 on my HA-1A Mk2 tube amp but I did not notice a difference in slam off of a solid state amp.
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