The Airmotive GR1’s by Emotiva are a a first step by Emotiva into the headphone arena (I hope that statement is true, my research says it is). And if I’m right then they did a bang up job. Many Audio companies that start making headphones usually don’t do this well first time out. Now some have said that these are Sendy Aiva’s or at least they were made in the same plant with the same parts. I cannot confirm this and I am not trying to start a conspiracy thread. Wherever they were manufactured or what there lineage is I don’t know or really care, they sound good. They have beautiful construction and come in a great case. They have one cable that is reminiscent of an IEM cable but slightly longer. Overall their build is on par with much higher end headphones. Their accessories are not (as in the cable), I would have liked to see a slightly heavier cable with a balanced option.
So what did I test these against?
- Sundara – $349.00
- DT1990 – $599.00
- Philips 9500 – $79.00
Compared to the Sundara: The Sundara had slightly better detail and treble. The timbre was much better in the Sunadara. Mid’s were a close race and the bass was much better in the Airmotive.
Compared to the DT 1990: The Airmotive was beaten out in almost every area. but let’s keep in mind the 1990 is $300 more (double the price). And when I say the DT 1990 is better I mean only slightly. The detail was t a little better on the Airmotive, the treble was so close it’s barely noticeable. The mids were slightly better on the 1990’s and the bass was definitely better on the 1990’s. What was really the separator is the timbre. The 1990’s have fantastic timbre and really outshine many headphones above and below this price range.
Compared to the Philips 9500: Interesting comparison I know ( I took a beating from some on using this one). Oddly these have very similar tuning. (That statement made a few people mad) but that’s not to say the 9500 is better. In fact the Airmotive was better in every area than these but not by miles. What I am saying is that on many tracks with these two side-by-side on my desk coming out of the same amp I could not hear a really audible difference on many tracks.
Amping these was interesting also. I found the best experience by far was on the Darkvoice. To start I used the FiiO M11 Pro. I could play these but reaching a “loud” volume was not possible. But wait, these are only 32 OHM impedance? So I moved on to the Monolith Portable THX amp, again the experience was the same. Max volume on the amp was slightly loud but not as loud as the Sundara’s for sure. Not nearly as loud as my Focal Clear’s. Keep in mind that amp puts out 340 mW at 32 Ohms. So I would say forget running these on a phone if that’s your intention. You will be able to hear sound but you will not be able to drive these properly and realize what they can achieve if properly amped.
That said on the Darkvoice 336 Se tube amp being supplied by the ADI-2 DAC the experience was fantastic and these truly shined above their price point. That’s when I think I understood they must have voiced/tuned/designed these using their own gear such as the BasX A-100 which can put 50W out of the headphone jack, hell yeah 50 WATTS!!
The things that were missing such as Bass and lower end Mids were suddenly enhanced to where I like them. I could still have used more bass as the upper end was very good and it seemed a little unbalanced.
A Powerful Desktop or Home system is the only way to go with these, phones and most portables will not power sufficiently IMHO.
For the portable “amping” experience: Detail was fantastic, treble was very good, roll-off and decay of symbols and guitar was really good. Mids were also good but in some cases a little thin and or forward
Bass was not “thumpy enough” for hip hop, rock or R&B. It was tight and present but needed to be raised up a bit. I bring up and harp on the mobile aspect of these because the cable they come with is obviously intended for mobile use. They should include that cable but also a longer balanced cable with a 1/4 jack adapter for home systems or even an XLR.
Overall though these are solid performers and I can recommend without hesitation in their price range.
FYI the button below is just to make things easy for you, I do not receive any commission for this article or if you buy them, I paid for these with my own funds.
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