I thought I'd share this here. Yesterday, I flew down to meet some of the most prolific Electrostatic collectors in Bangalore, India.
This was their first time seeing or listening to the RR1 Conquest -
A lot of the people there were STAX owners of course, many owning 009s, 007s etc as well as some very sophisticated Amplification was present there as well.
I also brought along the XP1, which stands for "Experimental Prototype 1". The XP1 was our original test mule that was created to be subjected to the worse possible conditions and also served as our stress mule, having over >3000 hours of service. It was on our dummy head running various impulses for 4 months, 24 hours, all day every day. It still lives but I had to open and clean the drivers once as there is intentional lack of dust protection on it. The XP1 is named after the McLaren F1 XP1, which I regard as one of the greatest examples of man and machine harmony. The XP1 is a special chassis that I intend to keep for my personal collection.
Here are some impressions from the folks at the meet (I have taken a direct screenshot from the TIAF group) -
I'm glad they liked it but I will say this - I don't like hype. It's the worst thing in the world. These guys are quite experienced and have been in the game longer than me but I still say, take it with a grain of salt. I might be the only Manufacturer in Headphone history to say that but, that's how I like doing business. I don't like hype, that's why I will be travelling around the world to show the Headphone this year. Hopefully, people get to hear it for themselves!
Also, this was my first time listening to RR1 on the KGSSHV Carbon and oh boy! I have two "normal" KGSSHVs on order from Spritzer as my primary Amplification for international shows, I think I will need to get the Carbon too for my home setup. That thing is pure lunacy.