Nan-7 Planar Magnetic Headphone Review

[byfang]

What I don't understand is why people buy this stuff. What is the appeal - rarity, amazing sales team?

The maker (A-Nan) sends several samples for constant tour auditions within the country, and you only need to afford one-way postage fee to the next guy. So I got the chance to listen to it before buying it.
It's original price is 5349-5499 CNY, which is 750ish USD, i think. He is responsible and skillful for the planar repairing stuff, but i guess it would still be a pain for people not in China to send them back to him for repairing.
Something off the topic, there are already some 4128/5128/gras measurements available for Nan-7 before I bought them. Though I didn't see any group delay measurements.

 

[IAtaman]

The maker (A-Nan) sends several samples for constant tour auditions within the country, and you only need to afford one-way postage fee to the next guy. So I got the chance to listen to it before buying it.

Well, that is a very smart way to make your product reach your target segment of customers with as little as distraction as possible - kudos to him.

Something off the topic, there are already some 4128/5128/gras measurements available for Nan-7 before I bought them. Though I didn't see any group delay measurements.

Do you know if he measures his products - or is any of those measurements available are from the manufacturer?

 

[PenguinMusic]

A strange beast for sure. No way should anyone pay full price but might be worth a punt second hand or if deep discounted. But there is plenty to be had at $500 and less.

Exactly my thoughts... despite the "objective flawxs".

 

[McFarley]

Try measure this headphone with thinner velour pads instead of thicker ones designed for 1266 and the stats won't look as bad...

 

[byfang]

Do you know if he measures his products - or is any of those measurements available are from the manufacturer?

I don't know much (I'm just a newb), but I do know he archives every single unit's frequency response graph (I've got mine in the picture). He examines the consistency of the unit with the graph.
Also he says @sokillso in this thread is him in person lol

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

I am surprised it sounded OK to Amir, but he's got to report what he experiences.

There is no surprise here. It follows Harman target more or less. It just has many resonances so it lookss awful.
Fortunately our hearing is not an analizer so it sounds good.
Hope that helps.

 

[KxDx]

The headphone world seems like the only place I can think of, that you can spring up a company, have no demonstrable engineering prowess, provide no measurements, and charge £1000+ for your product…..and people will still buy it.

Allow me to introduce you to "audio" power cables...

 

[sai]

Finally! Shout out to Amir for the great review.

Our measurements seem to align pretty well (pic below). The main difference pops up in the upper treble around 14kHz, which is largely due to the coupler main resonance. This is expecetd as I am working with the GRAS standard coupler RA0045S1 while it's the hi-freq version on Amir's 45CA-10 (I believe it's 10? do correct me if I'm wrong). The pinna is the same shape and softness so nothing's out of the blue (mine is the KB500X oo35, 45CA has the KB501X oo35).

As for THD and GD measurements, I don't normally post them as I don't have access to an anechoic room. I am just a hobbyist. Besides, living in 'the big smoke' doesn't help...
GD and THD are both measured under 94db. As you can see, there's quite a bit less messiness or jaggedness with the stock hybrid pads.

This is pretty much what I can get under normal conditions. I have adjusted the perspective to fit ASR standard.

Total harmonic distortion (2nd-9th), similarly, is a bit better with the stock pads.

Also available in THD (SPL):

So I guess the takeaway is that the 1266 pads do degrade test results quite a bit. Whether this translates into a less pleasing subjective experience, though, is another matter. When I bought my unit they didn't come with the 1266 pads. The hybrid, perforated leather, and PU ones were the three included.

For those who are keen on diving deep into measurements, there are also measurements of the NAN-7 using the B&K 4128 and the 5128. The 4128 measurements are publicaly available.

 

[Soria Moria]

This looks too jagged and messy for me to believe that it sounds just like how a non-jagged version would sound. I agree with the blur comment.

 

[Robbo99999]

It says OMG BAD BAD for a hamster new to this.
What you actually do hear is:
View attachment 317466
Good but with some colorations which will require rock and metal guitar sound to be detected. If all you listen is Diana Krall and Skye Edwars you will never suspect it's even there

I'm less certain that a jagged frequency response of this headphone would sound exactly like a headphone that had the smooth frequency response of your thick red line. Intuition and somewhat limited personal experience suggest that they would not be the same. I don't think the jagged nature is in any shape or form a positive. (I did an earlier post explaining in more detail my experience) (I think the jagged frequency response "blurs" the music).

 

[Robbo99999]

There is no surprise here. It follows Harman target more or less. It just has many resonances so it lookss awful.
Fortunately our hearing is not an analizer so it sounds good.
Hope that helps.

You deleted the important parts of my post in the quotes, so no, that does not help and takes my post out of context. Fortunately members can read the post directly above the one I'm posting now to get the gist of where I'm coming from.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Finally! Shout out to Amir for the great review.

Our measurements seem to align pretty well (pic below). The main difference pops up in the upper treble around 14kHz, which is largely due to the coupler main resonance. This is expecetd as I am working with the GRAS standard coupler RA0045S1 while it's the hi-freq version on Amir's 45CA-10 (I believe it's 10? do correct me if I'm wrong). The pinna is the same shape and softness so nothing's out of the blue (mine is the KB500X oo35, 45CA has the KB501X oo35).


View attachment 317499


As for THD and GD measurements, I don't normally post them as I don't have access to an anechoic room. I am just a hobbyist. Besides, living in 'the big smoke' doesn't help...
GD and THD are both measured under 94db. As you can see, there's quite a bit less messiness or jaggedness with the stock hybrid pads.

View attachment 317525View attachment 317526

This is pretty much what I can get under normal conditions. I have adjusted the perspective to fit ASR standard.

Total harmonic distortion (2nd-9th), similarly, is a bit better with the stock pads.

View attachment 317527

Also available in THD (SPL):
View attachment 317528View attachment 317529

So I guess the takeaway is that the 1266 pads do degrade test results quite a bit. Whether this translates into a less pleasing subjective experience, though, is another matter. When I bought my unit they didn't come with the 1266 pads. The hybrid, perforated leather, and PU ones were the three included.

For those who are keen on diving deep into measurements, there are also measurements of the NAN-7 using the B&K 4128 and the 5128. The 4128 measurements are publicaly available.

I've been reading your page for quite some time. Good work, keep it up.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

You deleted the important parts of my post in the quotes, so no, that does not help and takes my post out of context. Fortunately members can read the post directly above the one I'm posting to get the gist of where I'm coming from.

Oh yes you are saved.

 

[uwotm8]

I'm less certain that a jagged frequency response of this headphone would sound exactly like a headphone that had the smooth frequency response of your thick red line

It obviously does NOT sound same as such curve but really smooth. But, as i said before, depending on genres you listening to, it can be detected easily, or sometimes, or never.
You also will almost never detect even deep dips if the'ye 1/4 octave or shorter. Peaks/resonances is the only problem.

I would never buy these cans for sure, I'm just trying to explain how it works

 

[Robbo99999]

It obviously does NOT sound same as such curve but really smooth. But, as i said before, depending on genres you listening to, it can be detected easily, or sometimes, or never.
You also will almost never detect even deep dips if the'ye 1/4 octave or shorter. Peaks/resonances is the only problem.

I would never buy these cans for sure, I'm just trying to explain how it works

On a basic level, I don't think you can justify & explain away the extreme jaggedness in this headphone, in my eyes/intuition as well as experience it's a no-go. It's the main point I want to make re this headphone.

 

[markanini]

Who let the graph-Karens out? It gets old seeing those contributing to an open ended discussion getting stonewalled. Nothing scientific about acting like granular linearity is a strict goal of ear-mounted transducers, it's well known that individual HRTF and fit will trump that.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I think I now know why my Audeze LCD X's are built like a tank--resonance control! My bet is that both the frames and the drivers resonate like drums. Probably nothing on the diaphrams to control that either. Just a big old sheet of mylar with a few embedded wires to get it vibrating, but nothing to stop it once the signal ceases. At first, I would think, these might sound "exciting" and "live". But as time goes on, the user would recognize their sonic signature as a kind of snap-blur. Good leading edge with badly obscured overtones. Be very easy to quickly become bored with these.

And aesthetically, the side of the cups look like the filter on my car's air conditioner with the cover off.

 

[shuppatsu]

in my eyes/intuition as well as experience it's a no-go

This being ASR, eyes/intuition/experience are given all the credit they deserve.

 

[Robbo99999]

This being ASR, eyes/intuition/experience are given all the credit they deserve.

Well, there's not much beyond "eyes/intuition/experience" when it comes to interpreting the graphs & data - the more direct experience you have with it the more sense it makes, albeit there's some rocky points along the journey! (Particularly with headphones no one has all the answers, there are inherently more grey areas with headphones, but still there are gonna be some incontrovertible truths)

 

[CleanSound]

I do own a Drop Sennheiser HD6xx, and I use it only when I have to. I don't understand why people are into headphones. Maybe in paces like Asia where space is very limited, I get it. But most North Americans aren't too limited with space in their homes.

For this price, you can get yourself a pair of Revel M16. I don't get the headphone culture in North America.