[VandyMan]

it doesn’t smell like that when I got it.

If it did not smell when you got it and the smell is "pretty disgusting," something has happened to the pads since you got them. Probably mold/mildew. They could have had a little bit of mold when you bought them used and then it got worse over time.

 

[domiji]

Thanks for all your help and advice so far

It seems that not the pads themselfs are smelling that bad but rather the „fabric“ material inside that covers the drivers.

Maybe I just have to buy some new pads

 

[classymaillot]

…so that’s why we call it Expanse!

I agree with that too. The soundstage presentation is so realistic. It starts closer to you but extends way further. When the recording calls for it, you can hear things really far.

Compare that to he1000se for example, the soundstage is epically large, but feels exaggerated, especially for a trained ear. That’s nice (and addictive) for epic music, but it’s not real or accurate.

I feel a lot of people are used to distortion and exaggerated presentations that when they hear extremely low distortion with realistic presentation, it does not sound as magical. And IMO it shouldn’t.

The expanse soundstage is so cohesive and beautiful, beyond any other headphone I ever tried. So is the Stealth and the E3. It’s incredible (and an engineering feat) that closed backs sound this large.

@mrspeakers - Thanks for these great headphones!

 

[SLC1966]

I agree with that too. The soundstage presentation is so realistic. It starts closer to you but extends way further. When the recording calls for it, you can hear things really far.

Compare that to he1000se for example, the soundstage is epically large, but feels exaggerated, especially for a trained ear. That’s nice (and addictive) for epic music, but it’s not real or accurate.

I feel a lot of people are used to distortion and exaggerated presentations that when they hear extremely low distortion with realistic presentation, it does not sound as magical. And IMO it shouldn’t.

The expanse soundstage is so cohesive and beautiful, beyond any other headphone I ever tried. So is the Stealth and the E3. It’s incredible (and an engineering feat) that closed backs sound this large.

@mrspeakers - Thanks for these great headphones!

Extremely well articulated. I could not agree more.

 

[gadus]

Over two weeks ago I received the wooaudio mini tube, a small but powerful tube dongle with excellent sound,
I was surprised when I connected it to the Expanse, it gave a really good result, however I was a little worried, it was a little hard for me to believe that a small dongle would drive the Expanse properly.
Now after many hours I confirm that it works great with Expanse, drives it easily and gracefully with tube sound,
It's great fun to the ears and it's great fun for the mobility it allows.

 

[mrspeakers]

Over two weeks ago I received the wooaudio mini tube, a small but powerful tube dongle with excellent sound,
I was surprised when I connected it to the Expanse, it gave a really good result, however I was a little worried, it was a little hard for me to believe that a small dongle would drive the Expanse properly.
Now after many hours I confirm that it works great with Expanse, drives it easily and gracefully with tube sound,
It's great fun to the ears and it's great fun for the mobility it allows.

I'll be sure to give it a listen next time I see Jack!

 

[speCD]

I want to thank DCA for bringing such a marvelous device into life.

100 hours of burn-in and now I can “see” the music. Nothing else matters, maybe except a higher upsampling rate.

P.S. I can understand people enjoying the expanse with a woo tube mini, but the bass through the dongle is nowhere close to what the cans are capable of (single ended though).

 

[gadus]

I want to thank DCA for bringing such a marvelous device into life.

100 hours of burn-in and now I can “see” the music. Nothing else matters, maybe except a higher upsampling rate.

P.S. I can understand people enjoying the expanse with a woo tube mini, but the bass through the dongle is nowhere close to what the cans are capable of (single ended though).

I like the combination of the minitube with the Expanse, using a balanced output, it's much better, the bass is also great, with a realistic texture,
With the power base it's even better,
I'm not saying it's better than a 'full' desktop amp, but it's a great and addicting combo,
Now I can listen to Expanse in different places and even in bed...

 

[gammi]

I just did a shootout where I measured almost all of my headphones using in ear microphones to see how they actually respond on head and the Expanse was a real standout.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/gammis-mega-headphone-shootout.972886/#post-18131663

Feels like a lot of them are doing similar things but Expanse stood out to me for having the most bass, for being the flattest in 1-2k (everything else had a hump of some kind there except verite which dipped), and for having the nicest treble roll off without major spikes. Expanse is my go-to when I want to listen to music while doing something. Out of all my headphones it's the one that makes everything sound the least offensive/smoothest. And after doing this test, it's clear why, such a smooth response without any spikes.

 

[gammi]

So I just rebuilt an old Sansui AU-X11 amp, I've been going back listening to all my headphones on it and it's been interesting. Listened to my Expanse on it last night and man, it almost makes me feel like I've never truly heard the Expanse even after all this time. The increase in impact I'm getting is huge. Drums in particular just SNAP when they're hit. It sounds as if the skin of the drums has been made more taught.

I was comparing next to Utopia last night, a headphone regarded as being one of the most impactful of all headphones and yeah, the Expanse was definitely punching harder.

I've always liked Expanse and it's one I find myself coming back to all the time but it has never felt this alive. Honestly it's the punchiest out of all my headphones now that I'm running it on this amp, something really woke up on this... I found my STAX got more impactful too with the exception of my X9000 which didn't benefit. But man, Expanse just became a whole new headphone for me, it is SLAMMING, yet still so delicate and smooth when called for like in female vocals.

Maybe if there's a meet some day in the NY/NJ/PA region, I can bring it out.

 

[speCD]

So I just rebuilt an old Sansui AU-X11 amp, I've been going back listening to all my headphones on it and it's been interesting. Listened to my Expanse on it last night and man, it almost makes me feel like I've never truly heard the Expanse even after all this time. The increase in impact I'm getting is huge. Drums in particular just SNAP when they're hit. It sounds as if the skin of the drums has been made more taught.

I was comparing next to Utopia last night, a headphone regarded as being one of the most impactful of all headphones and yeah, the Expanse was definitely punching harder.

I've always liked Expanse and it's one I find myself coming back to all the time but it has never felt this alive. Honestly it's the punchiest out of all my headphones now that I'm running it on this amp, something really woke up on this... I found my STAX got more impactful too with the exception of my X9000 which didn't benefit. But man, Expanse just became a whole new headphone for me, it is SLAMMING, yet still so delicate and smooth when called for like in female vocals.

Maybe if there's a meet some day in the NY/NJ/PA region, I can bring it out.

Congrats! Now try this…

 

[Christer]

Congrats! Now try this…

OMG ! and "audiophiles" pay thousands of dollars for headphones like the Expanse to listen to noise like this????

 

[warrenpchi]

OMG ! and "audiophiles" pay thousands of dollars for headphones like the Expanse to listen to noise like this????

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[gammi]

Congrats! Now try this…

Thanks for sharing, definitely some bass slam on this one!