Yamaha YH-100

야마하 하하하!!! HP -100 최곱니다. (YH나 HP나 같은 이름입니다.)

70년대 질곡의 시대를 벗어나지 못하고 헤드폰도 70년대에 묶여있네요. 

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YH-100 Stock

Model Intro

• As per Faust3d wiki, Yamaha released YH-100 in 1979 and they’re the last YH ortho model before transitioning to YHD. Please do not confuse chronological order between YH-1000 and YH-100 (former:1978, latter:1979) like I did lol.
• The frame was not designed by Mario Bellini, but the general design language did not change from YH-1 much. Cup dimension looks similar to YH-1 or HP-1 but vents are closer to the front of the cup just behind the ear pads.
• YH-100 is known to use stronger anisotropic ferrite magnets with 55mm diameter diaphragm, a 4dB improvement in sensitivity over YH-1.

Technical specifications

• Impedance: 150 ohms
• Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000Hz
• Magnet: Anisotropic Ferrite, 55mm
• Diaphragm: 12 micron polyester
• Sensitivity: 98dB/mW
• Rated Input: 3W
• Maximum Input: 10W

Tonality

• YH100 exhibits a somewhat similar bass character to other Yamaha stocks I experienced. They similarly and gradually start to roll off from 100hz. I could barely hear notes under 35hz. While they dont’ extend as low as decent budget orthos from Audezes or Hifiman, I liked YH100’s for its own light. More on this in the technicality part.
• I heard dips around 1.5hz followed by a peak at 2hz. HP-1 stock had this pattern but YH100 is definitely more W-shaped between lower and mid-high trebles. I also found YH100 is tougher to work with EQ than HP-1 (perceived characters persist and filters behave rather unpredictably for certain regions). Well-tailored physical damping must be necessary to tame highs imho -- I don’t guess it will be an easy fix at all.
• Please note that, even without EQ, they’re already very enjoyable. No harshness, stridency, or over-sibilance in my zero-tolerance zone (4.5khz-7.5hz). Hence, during my evaluation time, I was not much motivated to develop PEQ filters.

Technicality

• By the way, I recently changed my rig and the new main headphone amplifier and da converter made almost every inefficient ortho sound better (more impactful and much clearer) to my liking. So please take my claims with a grain of salt. De-biasing is highly recommended.
• Anyway, I was impressed by YH100 as they showed me the strongest bass slam among Yamaha stock orthos despite its tonal limitation. Bass feels tighter and more authoritative. They didn’t resolve bass gradation much.. But that’s probably because I’m a Susvara-head..
• From time to time, the loaner pair showed me some hints of the true capabilities. I won’t be surprised if YH100 with the right mod slay the modded YH1 or HP1. No doubt it is highly potential. As is, however, YH100 is less cohesive and less complete in experience as a total package.
• To me, the biggest disappointment was that they couldn’t resolve small details as well as nuances. After a thorough comparison with the HP1, it turned out (1) resolution per se isn’t too much different but (2) the sonic presentation made this weakness more obvious.

Verdict

• Yamaha’s new driver (or simply new magnet used in the driver) made meaningful changes over prior ortho models. Several major weaknesses I persistently heard during the evaluation made me think them rather a modding base for gurus.
• I fortunately got a chance to evaluate a very heavily modded (new housing + more damping + etc) YH100 at the same time. I’ll introduce and review it next time. Stay tuned!