mark_h
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
- Posts
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Final Revision (I will leave my previous comments un-edited.)
The Chordette has to be returned to the dealer tomorrow so I will add these final impressions.
I have had the unit burning in now for five days 24 hours a day and last night I had a watershed moment at around 120 hours? I had not listened to it for a day because, well, I didn't like it but I thought I would give it one more try before it had to be returned. To my astonishment (and I do mean double take!) All the faults I have listed above seemed to rectify themselves to a greater or lesser extent! The soundstage and imaging had opened up and the body of the sound was removed from the center of my head and given a proper sense of width, this in itself was a very liberating headphone experience, the imaging now clearly defined allowed me to relax further into the music! The muddy bass now had solidity and realism, it extended lower and was very engaging. The Grain in the midrange and treble had significantly lessened it was smoother with less sibilance. Overall it now sounded really musical, so good in fact that I spent the next few hours happily listening to some new CD's I had bought that day and ripped to ALAC (one of them is rapidly becoming a favorite on the strength of the Chordette's presentation of it).
I am sure that given this dramatic improvement, in stages, during burn in that if I had more time with the unit, say 500-600 hours that it would improve further and become a really good option at the price it is.
On the strength of this last day:-
Revised Summary
BASS = 8 (Deep and engaging)
MIDS = 7 (Still some grain but given more time I think it would shine!)
TREBLE = 7 (Smoothing out to become accurate and extended)
SOUNDSTAGE = 7 (Getting there again needs more time!)
CONSTRUCTION = 9 (Really well made)
CONNECTIVITY = 6 (Easy to connect, I am fairly sure my unit is faulty)
VALUE = 7.5 (I need more time!)
It needs time to burn in and develop, with my unit getting better daily I am convinced this would be a really good investment. the difference between 0-20 and 90-120 hours was startling. Definitely more to come. Will open it up and take some internal shots before I take it back...
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...kdog/Dac-3.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...ackdog/dac.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...ackdog/Cir.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...lackdog/BB.jpg
The Chordette has to be returned to the dealer tomorrow so I will add these final impressions.
I have had the unit burning in now for five days 24 hours a day and last night I had a watershed moment at around 120 hours? I had not listened to it for a day because, well, I didn't like it but I thought I would give it one more try before it had to be returned. To my astonishment (and I do mean double take!) All the faults I have listed above seemed to rectify themselves to a greater or lesser extent! The soundstage and imaging had opened up and the body of the sound was removed from the center of my head and given a proper sense of width, this in itself was a very liberating headphone experience, the imaging now clearly defined allowed me to relax further into the music! The muddy bass now had solidity and realism, it extended lower and was very engaging. The Grain in the midrange and treble had significantly lessened it was smoother with less sibilance. Overall it now sounded really musical, so good in fact that I spent the next few hours happily listening to some new CD's I had bought that day and ripped to ALAC (one of them is rapidly becoming a favorite on the strength of the Chordette's presentation of it).
I am sure that given this dramatic improvement, in stages, during burn in that if I had more time with the unit, say 500-600 hours that it would improve further and become a really good option at the price it is.
On the strength of this last day:-
Revised Summary
BASS = 8 (Deep and engaging)
MIDS = 7 (Still some grain but given more time I think it would shine!)
TREBLE = 7 (Smoothing out to become accurate and extended)
SOUNDSTAGE = 7 (Getting there again needs more time!)
CONSTRUCTION = 9 (Really well made)
CONNECTIVITY = 6 (Easy to connect, I am fairly sure my unit is faulty)
VALUE = 7.5 (I need more time!)
It needs time to burn in and develop, with my unit getting better daily I am convinced this would be a really good investment. the difference between 0-20 and 90-120 hours was startling. Definitely more to come. Will open it up and take some internal shots before I take it back...
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...kdog/Dac-3.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...ackdog/dac.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...ackdog/Cir.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...lackdog/BB.jpg
