Been listening for several weeks now to the PMx2 headphone and thought I'd post some impressions. I should start by saying that I own quite a few flagship headphones and have done comparisons between the PMx2 and these flagships. I don't necessarily do my comparisons in a scientific way. I do go back and forth and I do replay the music in rapid succession but I blend that with longer listening sessions with each unit. I tend to listen to music around 70 to 85 db and I listen to all kind of genres (heavy metal, classic rock, jazz, orchestral, etc). The impressions I form are not based upon one particular song or one particular genre so I don't log how the unit sounded for this song or that song. Also, my sonic tastes have varied over time. I used to like the warm and rich sound of the Audeze, but over time I began to place priority on clarity and visceral impact. I used to prefer a forward sound, but now prefer a more neutral frequency response. In my comparisons the PMx2 quickly rose to the top of my preferred headphone list. The unit is not perfect but I would say it compared favorably to my T1, HD800, HE6, Audeze LCD-x, AKG 812, Stax SR-009, Grado GS1000E/PS500E, and even the GH1 which I like so much. At the time of my reception of the PMx2 my favorite headphone of all was the McIntosh MHP1000. The PMx2 surpassed them all. Like I said though, it isn't a perfect headphone to my ears so I'll start with some of my gripes.
The PMx2:
A little too forward and intimate sounding. It lacks air and comes off as a bit closed in sounding. It almost sounds like your in the studio listening in a vacuum, plugged directly into the instruments.
The bass is a LITTLE too warm and full-bodied or plump. But it is tight. It's sort of a rounded or softer sound, but still plenty of impact.
I wouldn't describe the overall sound of the headphone as crisp, its more organic. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I do like crisp sound.
Clarity is not what I would describe as crystal clear, but it is clearer than most other headphones and satisfying.
In terms of depth of sound, I don't know that I would characterize the headphone as having good front to back depth, but it does have a very large sound, especially side to side.
The headphones are very resolving but I do feel that it could be more revealing of detail if it had a bit more clarity to rival the clearest of the flagships.
Also, the opening for the ears is a little cramped. My ears are average in size and they fit snugly in the opening. Overall though, the headphone is comfortable.
Also, I tend to prefer these headphones to be played at louder volumes.
The PMx2 is certainly exceptional sounding to my ears. The headphone lays out texture and timber of music very well. It sounds 'right' and more realistic. It makes other high-end headphones sound like ...headphones, because invariably, the flaws of competing headphones are pointedly highlighted when comparing the PMx2. To me, the PMx2 sounds more like music. It has a very grand sound and I think it is improving with time and continuing to open up, but that could just be me adapting. Of all the headphones I compared the PMx2, it sounded most like my Audeze LCD-X. The key difference was that the PMx2 had tighter, more visceral bass. By contrast the LCD-x sounded loose and woolly, which I never thought before. In addition, I found the treble to be very natural and balanced. With the Oppo 1 I own I felt there was a slight brightness in the upper mids and a wall that the treble hit, meaning it fell off quickly and prematurely. Not so, with the PMx2. It loses that bit of peakiness in the upper mids and has very good treble extension.
So what would I change if I had a magic wand?
I would not characterize the PMx2 as completely neutral. But I'll say this. It sounds extremely flat to me. And I don't mean boring or non-engaging. I mean flat in terms of frequency response. There appear to be no substantial spikes or grossly disconnected sounds. It's a very natural sound. But, I would prefer to back down the lower midrange by a few dbs and boost the frequencies (in the mids/upper mids) where the upper portions of the voice reside, where higher pitched violin strings play, and where the air or atmosphere of the room can be heard, and where the snare of the drum exists. My adjustments would not be by a wide margin, mind you. The overall sound of the headphone is bottom up rather than top down. For the most part it is neutral, but those would be the changes I would make if I were king for a day.
Conclusions - I wouldn't claim the PMx2 beats all my other flagships but it does tend to make the other flagships sound a bit off-putting. My preferences do depend on genre and mood to some extent. As I have put more time on the PMx2 I enjoy them more and more, even making me question whether some of the things I have been critical of may just be me not being used to such a neutrally voiced headphone. In the end, I still conclude it has a slight warmth in the lower frequencies, but the sound is extremely appealing and the PMx2 has gotten more air time than any of my other headphones. I've also found it can be a money saver. I'm in the Process of returning the BeyerDynamic T1 Gen 2. Comparing them to the PMx2 was like running into a buzz saw. I have a feeling lots of headphones would suffer the same fate.
I mentioned that I did many comparisons. I'll post a brief synopsis below. But before I do I also want to say that I had the opportunity to communicate with the maker and he is a terrific gentleman. He is truly interested in how I experienced his product. In this case, as I told him, I am enjoying them immensely and count them as one of my top performers, which says quite a bit, considering the other units I possess.
Comparisons
I listened to a variety of music on the following headphones and formed the following conclusions in comparison to the Audio Zenith PMx2.
- McIntosh MHP 1000 (clean, bright, impactful, but a bit thin / lean sounding)
- Hifiman HE-6 (clear, impactful, well balanced, full bodied, a little more distant and a slightly hollow bass and very subtle horn-like sound of the vocals)
- Hifiman HE-1000 (brighter on top, fairly impactful, but lacking midrange presence)
- Sennheiser HD800 (wider soundstage than the PMx2, but size of the images in the soundstage were as big or bigger than the HD800. Very surprising. The HD800 was cleaner, but has a nasty spike in the upper mids that make the HD800 sound slightly bleached and less real when comparing directly to PMx2)
- AKG 812 - clean, clear, tight sounding. The PMx2 bass is excellent, but perhaps a bit plump in comparison to the tighter AKG. The AKG gad a very nice presentation, but a little overly bright in the treble. A little dry and thinner sounding too, compared to the PMx2. That said, the AKG was very impressive.
- Audeze LCD-x - the PMx2 sounds most similar to these. Very close, in fact. I may have preferred the LCD-x vocal just a bit (more open, less congested equally forward - maybe ever so slightly less forward which would be a good thing to my ears). I also found the vocals a bit clearer and the frequencies in the lower midrange to midbass a touch clearer in the LCD-X. BUT, the bass and midbass was not as tight or impactful. Any slight advantage the LCD-X had was completely outweighed by the significantly superior tightness, clarity, and impact of the PMx2 bass.
- Grado Labs HP-1 - This is a headphone I absolutely love. Clear, not as bright as other Grados, excellent midbass quantity with pretty good midbass quality too. The vocals are neutral and the overall sound is quite fun. While I couldn't quite put my finger on why, I did prefer the PMx2. Just slightly more realistic sounding, I guess.
- AKG 712 - too bright in the treble, but mids were somewhat recessed. I preferred the PMx2's overall balance.
