What I've heard is that Sennheiser had a big quality control problem with their HEV90 amps., and that this is the reason that they stopped producing their HE90 headphones. If that's true, then today's situation is quite different than it was two decades ago; i.e., several companies are now marketing perfectly good amps for driving electrostatic headphones, and more such amps are becoming available all of the time. So, all that a company such as Sennheiser, Stax, or Grado now needs to do is to produce and market a superior electrostatic headphone, *without* bothering with the development of a matching amplifier. Such companies can now leave the development and marketing of such amplifiers to others; i.e., there is no longer a need to market an electrostatic headphone and amp as a "matching pair." So, it seems to me, that this situation of having numerous electrostate headphone amps readily available, should make it much easier for both small and large firms to produce and market superior electrostatic headphones. This would also give lots of other small manufacturers the opportunity to develop and market all sorts of amps. for an expanding electrostatic headphone market, which I think is now happening anyway.
Originally Posted by Wmcmanus
I think Stax will do it, but they've been slow to announce (and in fact haven't announced) anything about an Omega III (or whatever their next flagship product might be called). Their normal product development life cycle would suggest that another top model should at least by now be on the planning horizon, but no word yet. Chances are that when it does come along, the changes relative to the Omega and Omega II will be incremental and not revolutionary in any way. Some people already prefer the Omega II to the HE-90, so I'd very much doubt that Stax would completely revamp their approach.