This and That:
Probably the smallest manual I've ever come across in headphones/earphones. I don't get why they included a magnetic cable tie; it seems useless to me.
Two pairs of ear pads (deep and shallow).
Single-sided magnets.
Good storage box. Only fits the headphone with removed cable or box padding/foam though. Nice: spare pads can be stored in the lid.
I really like the design. Good build quality.
Self-adjusting height mechanism. Rather tight clamping force/fit, but I prefer that over a too light fit. High comfort, though (soft pads and headband).
A design flaw is however that changing the ear pads leads to the thin protective mesh being partially removed by the barbed hooks on the pads.
High quality cable; very supple. What I don't get is however why it is so short, as the Alpha is clearly not designed as a portable headphone.
Sound:
For what it’s worth, I have got hair on my head as well as mutton chops.
I'm using low impedance sources as well as mainly the included shallow ear pads.
Tonality:
The deep and shallower pleather pads only differ slightly in terms of sound. To my ears, the difference is that the deep pads showcase very slightly more bass impact and warmth, and tend to have a very slightly different treble response around 2-ish and 9-ish kHz (minimally more brightness here while minimally less brightness around 3-ish kHz) compared to the shallow pads.
My personal preference tends towards the shallow pads that are otherwise similar when it comes to sound quality, albeit with a slightly narrower soundstage to my ears.
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The tonality is generally balanced, near neutral, but not absolutely flat (not Etymotic-flat in the lows, more like UERM/InEar ProPhile 8-flat).
The bass heads into the just slightly warmer, more impactful side, but doesn’t cross the border of being bassy yet – in fact, compared to the Sennheiser HD 600’s bass, that has actually got a bit of a hump and warmth compared to what would be actually flat neutral, the Alpha has got a bit less impact and quantity in comparison, and is quite similar to the Audeze LCD-X in terms of bass quantity, albeit not as warm and full sounding in the lower mids and higher fundamental range, so the Alpha could be definitely still considered as quite flat and neutral in the bass, although not sterile-neutral.
The moderate lift/impact takes place in the lower root beginning south of 200 Hz to my ears when listening to sine sweeps, and extends flat into the true sub-bass without any roll-off, which is a strength of many planar magnetic headphones (this linear extension down into the true sub-bass is also what I really like about my LCD-X, HiFiman HE400 and MrSpeakers AEON Closed, and only my planar Fostex T50RP Mk3 shows poor bass extension in comparison, with a roll-off in the lows).
The Alpha's midrange timbre is almost perfectly flat, with just a hair of warmth in the lower mids, neutral central mids, slightly reduced 2 kHz upper mids/presence range wherefore brighter voices are sometimes slightly on the darker side, and a slight, wide lift around 3 kHz that adds a bit more crunch to electric guitars.
In comparison, my Audeze LCD-X is noticeably warmer and darker sounding in the mids, and my HiFiman HE400 has got the somewhat more forward central mids (as it's got a bump here), with more recessed, darker upper mids.
The treble is otherwise flat, with a slight peak around 8 kHz audible when doing sine sweeps, however without any sharpness or any of that (my Campfire Audio Andromeda sounds much sharper and more piercing in the upper highs in comparison). However, it makes cymbals sound a little spread instead of to the point.
Around 10.5 kHz, there's another mild peak. Extension past that is good.
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I read that some people described the Alpha as off in timbre in the highs and upper mids, as well as too bright/sharp, however that's not what I'm hearing. The Sennheiser HD 800 is noticeably more coloured in the middle highs, the Andromeda has got the sharper, more piercing upper highs, and the HE400 is brighter in the upper highs as well.
The way I hear the Alpha is very balanced and mostly even, with only slightly more level around 3 and 8 kHz, but nothing that would make the timbre unnatural.
Resolution:
Typically for most planar magnetic headphones, the Alpha's bass sounds fast, very tight and highly controlled, without any problems handling complex and fast bass lines, with definition that is good even in the sub-bass.
Bass details are high, although not fully at LCD-X levels, that sounds more layered and textured in the lows as well.The midrange resolution and speech intelligibility are very high, which is nice to hear. While I hear some "hardness" in the midrange of my HiFiman HE400, that's not present on the Alpha.
Treble details are there and separation is good, however ultimately I'd wish for a bit better separation in busy parts of the music. In comparison, my darker sounding LCD-X is ahead when it comes to treble separation, as is my AEON Closed. Nonetheless, the Alpha is quite similar to my HE400 in this area, so there's no real lack of precision.
Soundstage:
Most of the planar magnetic headphones that I own have got a believable soundstage in terms of shape, however with limited size/openness (the AEON is a really nice exception and sounds like a good open-back dynamic driver headphone even though it's a closed-back planar magnetic headphone).
The Alpha is no exception in this regard and has got a quite small soundstage (it exceeds the space between my ears just slightly) that doesn't have the openness of many comparatively priced dynamic driver headphones. In terms of shape, the Alpha's stage is rather slightly oval to my ears.
To bring in some comparisons, the Alpha’s stage appears a bit narrower than the HE400’s to my ears, however a bit wider than the LCD-X’s.
Imaging on the other hand is precise and the stage doesn’t become muddy or foggy, fast or complex tracks.
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Compared to other Planar Magnetic Headphones:
HiFiman HE400:
Similar bass extension. Alpha slightly fuller, slightly warmer impact in comparison.
HE400 central midrange bump and darker upper mids. HE400 recessed middle highs, Alpha neutral middle highs. HE400 brighter, leaner upper highs than Alpha.
Alpha more natural, all-round signature to my ears.
Similarly tight, precise and fast bass. Alpha slightly more texture.
Bit of midrange hardness on the HE400, none of that on the Alpha. Similar midrange resolution and speech intelligibility though.
Pretty much similar treble resolution and separation.
HE400 somewhat wider soundstage. Similar imaging precision.
Audeze LCD-X:
Similar bass extension, pretty much similar quantity. LCD-X warmer, fuller sounding due to fuller lower mids.
LCD-X warmer, darker midrange; presence range more recessed.
Audeze highs darker but more even in the upper treble.
Similar bass speed and control. LCD-X bit softer sounding, therefore however also nicely visceral, "magical" bass body that the Alpha doesn't have. Alpha less layered and textured sounding in the lows.
Finer small details on the Audeze, overall more precise reproduction of tiny elements despite being tuned warmer and darker.
LCD-X smaller soundstage but fairly good depth and layering. Layering superior on the Audeze. Quite comparable, if not even similar, separation.
Conclusion:
Balanced sound, mostly natural. Nothing that's annoying or off sounding to me. Good technical performance. Good build quality. Some room for improvement though (the cable is (too) short and changing the ear pads leads to that the barbed hooks on the pads partially remove the drivers' protective mesh screen).