Mr. Speakers Alpha Dog Prime phones

Douger33

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2013
47
2
248
Omaha NE
Having heard these at RMAF, I determined that I would buy mine in November... It's November, so I ordered mine today. I will follow up after I receive them and
put some hours on them.
 

dalethorn

Headphone user
Dec 9, 2012
476
7
18
63
Cleveland TN.
dalethorn.com
I would really like to know how it compares to the standard Alpha Dog.
 

Douger33

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2013
47
2
248
Omaha NE
I did get my Primes on Thursday afternoon, and now have 18 hours on them. The first hour they were not very special, but I had heard them at RMAF and knew they would develop... There is quite often talk of soundstage developed by headphones, but that has never meant anything to me. If I want soundstage I listen to my speakers, but most live concerts I've attended don't have much soundstage, the music comes out coherently and engages me; if soundstage is present I don't pay attention.
The Alpha Primes have soundstage, allowing great appreciation of nuance and detail. My Alpha Dogs are still great, with lots of flavor, bass and rhythmical righteousness!
I am glad I kept them so comparisons are easy. The Primes get you into the neighborhood of STAX, ABYSS, and all the other planars. The Alpha Dog serves up very good music
with very good detail, but the Primes offer so much more microdetail and soundstage, it is similar to listening to my speakers.
They are comfortable, using the same Alpha pads as the AD's. An example of profound improvement in listening was during Mike Oldfield's The Music of Distant Earth. Very well-engineered, but complex levels. In track 2, there is a voice saying burning, melting, dissolving (different panning and levels, so may be different voices or not). With other phones I have had to strain to hear dissolving, but here it is perfectly clear. I am a fan!
 

Douger33

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2013
47
2
248
Omaha NE
Having had my Primes for nearly a month, and realizing that my Mad Dogs finally started to bloom, I am finally able to offer a more meaningful comparison. I have been a longtime Grado
fan and still am. However, Head-fi ruined me by seducing me out of the Grado fold... I have been to the Audio-Technica and Denon stables, and then thought I would quit with the
HiFiMan HE500. Then I started listening to Mr. Speakers' works... It takes me a long time to break in phones because I don't need to use them, so I usually fire up my speakers. Frankly, my Mad Dogs had not gotten to the point where they impressed me, and a few months later I was able to buy the Alpha Dogs. They could have been my final purchase until I heard the Primes at RMAF 2014.
A couple of weeks ago I listened to the MD's, what a surprise! They were blooming nicely and I realized why they got such good press. Very good value for $300, and if that is all you
want to spend you can justifiably be happy! (Just don't read head-fi...)
The Alpha Dogs perform wonderfully on most music, for instance rock, bluegrass and folk.
I have long been wary of expansive development of music, because years ago the systems I heard do it seemed to have lost the essence of music and high fidelity. I have heard STAX SR-009's, HiFiMan HE6's, and Audeze LCD-3, and all are good but did not fit my budget. The Primes compete in that arena very well, and the extra performance is the result of
extra depth of detail and excellent bass. I am not an extreme basshead but I really appreciate a solid foundation in music where it exists. I also perceive less compression with the
Primes. Other people have been able to compare the STAX's with the Primes for more time with more challenging material and have pronounced the Primes solidly at that level.
For $1000 they are an exceptional value, and I am grateful to own them!
 

dalethorn

Headphone user
Dec 9, 2012
476
7
18
63
Cleveland TN.
dalethorn.com
I did not like that the Alpha Dog I had took a nosedive above approx. 9 khz. It does seem that most headphones are weak above that area, and then again many 'flagship' headphones are way too bright in the upper treble (HD800, K812, T1, T90, etc.) So I wonder how the ADP compares to the AD - does the response continue smoothly from say, 8 khz up through 13 khz at least, or does it fall off sharply in that area?
 

Douger33

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2013
47
2
248
Omaha NE
Hi Dale, I will listen to more treble-rich music this weekend and let you know... AFAIK my ears don't work well after 12K and maybe worse. They have no extra brightness, I am very sensitive to that and don't like it. I had listened to The Nutcracker ballet on Mercury Living Presence cd, and then the 1st disc of Chimes of Freedom, Bob Dylan's music done by a host of other artists.
Not treble rich, but so well delineated that I was just captivated!
 

dalethorn

Headphone user
Dec 9, 2012
476
7
18
63
Cleveland TN.
dalethorn.com
Hi Dale, I will listen to more treble-rich music this weekend and let you know... AFAIK my ears don't work well after 12K and maybe worse. They have no extra brightness, I am very sensitive to that and don't like it. I had listened to The Nutcracker ballet on Mercury Living Presence cd, and then the 1st disc of Chimes of Freedom, Bob Dylan's music done by a host of other artists.
Not treble rich, but so well delineated that I was just captivated!

Thanks! If you're good up to 12k then no problem - the AD took a huge dip around 9k and above, so it's pretty easy to tell.
 

Douger33

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2013
47
2
248
Omaha NE
I was able to informally test the treble I experienced by listening to the Ayre "Irrational, But Efficacious!" tuneup cd. The point it became inaudible did not bother me, and higher tones came back sporadically!!! The Alpha Primes use tuning dots to tame the high end which some people consider ragged. I have not looked
inside mine, but you might ask Dan about how to change those and if they would restore higher frequencies. I really love mine!
 

dalethorn

Headphone user
Dec 9, 2012
476
7
18
63
Cleveland TN.
dalethorn.com
I was able to informally test the treble I experienced by listening to the Ayre "Irrational, But Efficacious!" tuneup cd. The point it became inaudible did not bother me, and higher tones came back sporadically!!! The Alpha Primes use tuning dots to tame the high end which some people consider ragged. I have not looked
inside mine, but you might ask Dan about how to change those and if they would restore higher frequencies. I really love mine!

I looked into that, and saw that the pads didn't exactly block anything significant, and Dan's instructions also said they would not affect treble quantity, so I didn't touch them. I hope to find out more about the Prime and see where the changes changed the sonics.
 

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