Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
I purchased Teak and Ebony cups, but changing the cups takes some decent effort, so it's really not worth switching them often, and I recommend you stick with the teaks because they are SO much lighter and seem to sound better to me. I'm not sure about other woods, but I think E-MU knew what they were doing when they made these come with Teak.
I did end up getting a small crack and a scuff on one of my teak cups, but I doubt its affect on sound quality is noticeable. I'm really not too upset about this, since these aren't the kind of cans you take out and about for the world to see, and my ebony, which are the ones I switch to when I'm showing off, were 100% intact. (I also don't want to pay the extra $50 for replacement cups)
My one and only real criticism I have of these is the build quality. Both of my $200 headphones, an Audio-Technica MSR7 and a K7XX, feel more solid than this. The metal frame doesn't feel very solid (though it is lightweight), the headband feels thin and flimsy (it cushions the teak cups fine, but those heavy ebony cups start to press down after a while), and the removable cord mod on mine was surprisingly shoddy. The plastic covering the left ear jack was left loose and jiggled audibly when I moved my head, and I had to disassemble most of the earpiece to tighten it. The socket itself doesn't hold the cable connector securely, so if I put pressure on the cable the tip shifts in the jack and sound to that ear cuts out. The right wasn't much better: the jack is actually loose and rattles whenever I bump the cable or tilt my head even slightly, which I hope I can fix the next time I switch cups. The cable is also incredibly stiff, which I don't mind, but it's also highly microphonic. The only part of the build that really impressed me was the ear pads, which are plush and comfortable for long periods of time without getting hot or cramped, but the wouldn't fit large ears well.
Anyway I don't know how the build or sound compares to the TH-X00, but for $100 more I would at least expect a quality mod (and I realize the cracked cups aren't E-MU's fault but rather the way the wood warped as it shipped).