GPH

Never mind my last post, I stopped the laziness and took out the multimeter.

Quick question: does the Stax cable have the same configuration as the Koss cable:

Cool, I'm currently in the process of removing the stock cable. The little screws and incredibly tight, I'm worried it'll break the plastic every time I remove one of them. I was planning to do a Koss to Stax adapter, but since I'm doing the recable, I'll do a Stax to Koss adapter when I receive the Stax socket and I'll be able to use the E/90 if I feel like it.

Recabling sounds like an interesting option, but wouldn't it void the Koss warranty? With the common problems that these phones have, I need the lifetime warranty. About the 620v, I'd like to experiment that someday. From what I understand, very few people have tried the ESP950 at this bias and those who did like it very much.

Did you really need to make this pointless thread?

Thanks for the information, I just ordered both. Don't have any use right now for the socket though, but it might be useful sometimes in the future if the part becomes out of stock.

Wouldn't that be dangerous for the O2, with the E/90 bias being higher?

Can you tell me the part number? I've been looking on Allied Electronics and the only thing I see that would perhaps work is a 6-pin microphone connector with locking jack...

Where can I get Stax connectors?

I'm also considering doing that, but I read a post somewhere (I think it was KG) which said the recable was hard because of glue inside or something like that. Also, it would be my first recable and I'm hesitant to do that on 500$ headphones...

I don't know, maybe I'll build one myself. The guy from whom I bought the KGSS threw a Stax extension cable in the package, and I don't use it, so I might just build an adapter with that. It will look very ghetto though. There's also webbie64 from Australia who wanted to lend me his pair of ESP/950, but I guess he could just lend me the adapter now that I've bought the Koss. Did you try them with an adapter yet?

I forgot a couple of things: - With the Koss amp at least, the ESP/950 is quite forgiving with bad recordings. While the OII and the Lambda Signature don't like music poorly recorded, the Koss do just fine. Is it because the ESP/950 doesn't have as much resolution power as the Stax or just because the E/90 amp sucks? I don't know yet. - I said earlier that the overall presentation was more forward than the OII, well that's true with everything except vocals. I wouldn't go as far as calling the midrange recessed, but it surely doesn't have the OII magic. Don't get me wrong, the mids are good compared to most headphones, but that's the place where the OII really shine IMO and there's no going back when you've heard it. - The ESP/950 does headphone "soundstage" pretty well. There's a sense of air typical of electrostatic headphones and the positionning of the instruments sounds accurate to my ears. Again, it's a big notch under the OII, which does instrument placement like no other, but it's better than most of the dynamic headphones that I've heard. A lot of the flaws that I mentionned in my impressions can possibly be cured with a better amp, so take what I said with a grain of salt.

More impressions of the ESP/950 with E/90: - Compared to the OII/KGSS, they sound much less dynamic. They miss the small nuances and the differences between loud and soft passages seem minimized, at least compared to the Stax emperor. It's not too bad with pop, rock, metal or even jazz, but doesn't cut it with classical. With that said, I still haven't found headphones that work to my tastes with classical, but the OII comes damn close. - Like some people have already reported, the overall sound signature is more forward than the OII. I'd say it's comparable to the Lambdas in that sense, but it's been a while since I listened to a pair. The percussions and guitars sound harsher than on the OII, so it seems like they "rock" more. It's not black and white like a HD650/RS-1 comparison, but it's pretty apparent that they are more lively headphones than the OII. I like that because it makes a nice contrast in the listening experience, and I'm sure it'll only get better when I power the ESP950 with a better amp. - Again, compared to the OII (my ultimate reference), the bass of the ESP/950 isn't as linear. There's a typical mid-bass hump apparent and it doesn't extend as far as the Stax. The bass notes also appear more cloudy than on the OII, where they are really cristal clear and punchy. I've read some reviews where they said the ESP/950 was a little light on bass. I don't find that at all, to my ears, the bass quantity is just right.

Given the choice, I'd probably pick a pair of HD600/650 over the PS-1. I have to admit I didn't heard the PS-1 in a top-notch setup, but I have a hard time believing they can be good all-around headphones because they imposed too much of their own sound signature to the music. Other than the big juicy bass, nothing really shined with them, so spending 3000$ on them seems a bit crazy to me, considering you can have other headphones like the OII or the K1000 for less than half of the price.

Never seen so much asshatitude by one user since the last time markl paid us a visit.

You told in at least one post on Head-fi that you were an engineer... Is it someone else who wrote that too?

SARN-Industries | Welcome Looks like some serious competition to ALO.

I received the ESP/950 today and have been doing some listening out of the E/90 amp. Here's some short first impressions: - Everything about the Koss looks cheaper and feels cheaper than a Stax Lambda, let alone the OII. I dig the leather bag though. - On the other hand, the comfort is pretty good and comparable to a Lambda model. It takes the same approach than the Lambda by feeling light on the head and not applying a lot of pressure. The best way I could describe it is "non-obtrusive". When I wear my OII, I definitely feel it because it's quite heavy, but it's like a good pillow so I don't mind. These, I don't really feel them because they're very light and don't clamp much. - I really like the sound so far. Like many people reported, the tonality of ESP/950 is very right in the sense that nothing stands out and everything sounds natural. The sound isn't round and slightly euphonic like the OII, nor dry and slightly thin like the Lambdas. It appears so far to be a middle ground between these two. - They are not "impressive" headphones. They won't blow your head off on the first listen like the Stax Lambda, Grado RS-1, Sennheiser HD650, Grado PS-1, AKG K1000, or that kind of headphones. In my experience, that's a good sign because my favorite headphones have been those that takes some time to appreciate: Stax OII and Sennheiser HD600.

People here are pretty direct and honest and they'll call bullshit whether your're here or not. About setting the record straight - do you sell cables for profit, yes or no?

I don't know about a gallery of his work, but here's a picture of a stand he made me for my OII:

If you like challenge, take a couple of French classes and move to Quebec. Summers are very hot, winters are very cold. Pretty good health care system, good job opportunities, lots of outdoor activities. Learning some French is necessary, but you can do pretty much everything in English in Montreal. Also, I don't know how to describe it, but the people here are different than the rest of Canada and North America. More European in a way...

I'm planning to build a small speaker rig later this year and I'm looking for a transformer box to see how it performs against a KGSS. It'll be mainly for the Omega II, but I might try it with the Koss if I get my hand on a Koss->Stax plug. I've got an electrostat fever.

I use my OII all the time too and I don't think the Koss will dethrone them to be honest. The only reason I bought the ESP950 is pure curiosity, the SR-007 already does everything I need from headphones.

Do you still have yours?

560$ new. Not the deal to end all deals, but I can sell them without a big loss if I don't like them.