Project Ember

The difference in delivery between the Project Ember & the O2 is stark. I had initially harboured some faint hope that the Ember might not be quite as good as my head was telling me and that the O2 would bring something to the party. Sadly not. The O2 just sounds thin & quite strained at the top end. Curiously the O2 is almost unlistenable with my flatish PEQ adjustments and actually benefits from the mid-bass bloom of the HD 650. I guess that's why it is generally regarded as a 'forgiving' headphone. I'm not going to bother with my Q701's, lol.

Having the Project Ember has been an eye-opening experience for me. I really was content with the sound of the O2 prior to this experiment. The addition of a valve did not bring the kind of changes I might have expected either. I thought that if anything changed it might be the addition of yet more warmth to the sound but that wasn't really the case. The Ember's biggest feature for me was the soundstage. Everything got bigger and yet at the same time less congested. The bass has much more weight to it and is able to breathe. It became much easier to distinguish bass guitar from bass drum, for instance. One criticism of the 650 - certainly when driven by the O2 - might be that the vocals, whilst clearly imaged, are just a bit too up-front and central. They sound kinda locked-in. Not so with the Ember. Vocals are still clear and present but there's also a sense of air around them too. Much better. The treble improves also and in a way I hadn't expected. There's more air and yet it's not any edgier.

For optimum performance when paired with the Sennheiser HD 650...

Input Gain ------------------- Low (the higher gain setting only serves to reduce the amount of useable travel on the volume control; there's plenty of power on the Low setting)

Input Capacitors ------------- Bypassed (sure, the volume pot becomes 'scratchy' when adjusted but that is a very small price to pay for the ambience this tweak brings to the show)

Output Resistance ------------ Low (higher settings only serve to thicken the sound and bass becomes slower)

All testing was undertaken using the stock valve.

In short, my time with the Project Ember has been a thoroughly enlightening experience. I genuinely thought my O2 was maybe, say, 90% on the way to perfection. The Ember clearly bettered the O2 in every single department.

Better, stronger, wider bass. Mids that are even more natural and breathy. Treble that adds sparkle yet avoids edginess.

It's also better built and better looking. The Ember is actually not that much more expensive than the O2 but it performs in a different league altogether.

I have to say a word or two about the whole Garage1217 experience. As a company I don't think I've ever seen one be so responsive to feedback. There's not a trace of arrogance to them. Everything is done for a reason and those reasons are debated & explained in a thoroughly good natured way. The community at DIYAH is beautiful too. There's a genuine sense of enthusiasm there which is quite contagious and, unlike many other headphone-oriented communities, no-one has lost sight of what this is all actually about. The music.

My heartfelt thanks go to Frans, Jeremy, Javier, Ian & all the wonderful, helpful people I've met at DIYAH. I will be an owner soon

Gordon.