HeAudio 1.3, 1.2B and the new JADE Stat Headphones

[immtbiker]

Originally Posted by pabbi1

As a woodworker, and having used thin bent wood in the past, it just looks suceptible to breaking / chipping with the first drop on the floor. That would be the reason I would prefer the prior design.

If you look closely, the prior design uses the same bent wood approach.

Originally Posted by spritzer

So I'm exuding negativity by not joining the hype bandwagon? Shame on my for questioning something instead of just rubber stamping it...

Actually Spritzer, I hold you in high regard because I know that you have many stats and value your opinion. I just think that you posted a negative response without seeing or listening to the actual units.

[immtbiker]

Originally Posted by smeggy

Can't wait for impressions

Do they have a website we can peruse?

This is exciting!

* immt, you first pic link needs fixing, that pic is a good indicator of how they were put together.

NM

I know, blame it on a cloudy day and poor indoor photography with a decent digital SLR.

The website is:

Head-Direct.com

They have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee, so it's a win-win situation.

Repairs are taken care of in the US, not China.

[smeggy]

Originally Posted by spritzer

Congratulation's but man is it ugly! That grill while being an eyesore is also going to cause some problems with the backwave as it can be partially reflected. I'm glad to see they changed to a ribbon cable though.

I dunno, they have a lot more open space than the Lambda, Sigma and the ESP 950. Those appear to have much more reflective grill area than these do.

Edit, Gah! my thumb keyboard typing errors are getting worse.

[h4n9m4n]

did they deliver that to you in a ramen box?

[krmathis]

Interesting, thats for sure!
Can't wait for one of you guys writing a review on the 'phone, compared to more known 'phones.

[spritzer]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

Actually Spritzer, I hold you in high regard because I know that you have many stats and value your opinion. I just think that you posted a negative response without seeing or listening to the actual units.

First of all they are damn ugly but you can blame that notion of mine on my Scandinavian heritage. The 1.2 looks much better and might even sound better.

I do have some reservations about the design and I only need pictures to see them. The biggest one are the large, under damped stators. The stators don't have any support structure on the back to help transfer the resonances to the shell of the headphone and then to the head. Stax used a cartwheel made of plastic and then aluminum on the SR-Omega to stabilize the stators while the SR-007 and He90 use non metallic stators that aren't as prone to resonate. This could be just the basic over engineering talking but it is still worth a mention. Another one are the use of a set back driver with non tapered pads. This will cause a larger headstage but sacrifice precision in the process. This is exactly what Senn did with the HE90 and will make them sound similar.

I do think that criticism of the design is good as Stax has made a lot of mistakes over the years and the Sennheiser HE line is far, far from perfect with quite a few mistakes. One of them could make itself know to you if you store the HE60 like that in the background. The HE60 should always be kept under a dustcover when not in use.

Originally Posted by smeggy

I dunno, they have a lot more open space than the Lambda, Sigma and the ESP 950. Those appear to have much more reflective grill area than these do.

Edit, Gah! my thumb keyboard typing errors are getting worse.

I wasn't really comparing it to the Lambda housing as we all know that is 30 years old and they should have stopped using it 20 years ago. The Sigma is even older and Koss is a bit of an oddball. I was comparing it to the more recent designs such as the SR-Omega, He60, He90 and the SR-007. They are all more open and have either a damped grill or a convex one to handle the resonances. A grill like that might cause some slight tunneling effect as part of the air speeds up but that shouldn't really be an issue as the reflections overshadow it.

[milkpowder]

Interesting. I too think that the 1.2 looks nicer

[003]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

These cost $999.00 and sound close to/equal to/or better than the HE-90's

!!! You can't be serious.... seriously? Do they come with an amp, and if not, what is a cheaply priced amp that will work well?

Are these going into mainstream production? They won't be a limited edition or discontinued or anything like that?

[J-Pak]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

Why is it, that some members feel a need to put down a component, without ever holding it in their hands or listenng to it. Is it that some people are just negative in general?

Spritzer and J-Pak, you seem to exude a lot of negativity in your posts, why is that?

Anyway...my doorbell rang at 7:30 this a.m. and I received mine too. However, the color of the body of the cans on mine are lighter:

The wood leading from the cans to the headband is heated up and reformed to make a beautiful arc.



Here are the 1.2 prototypes next to the new production 1.3's



Notice how the swivel holder integrates and disappears into the headcups themselves (nice construction!)



Looking good and sounding great



These cost $999.00 and sound close to/equal to/or better than the HE-90's and come with a case that is quite similar to the case that the Omega 2's come in, and the adapter is included in the price. Not sure what else an electrostat lover could ask for. The bass is subsonic, clean and fast.
I've had the prototypes since November (when I first ordered these) and they had some time on them before I got them and I've put hundreds of hours on them since I got them.
I'm going to let the 1.3's run for a while and let them cure and warm up before making comparisons.
Even with the design change (which was caused by everyone calling them HE-90 clones) the manufacturer says the two revisions are identical in sound signature.

Of everything that gets posted in the cable/amp forum, my posts come off as negative?

I haven't even posted in these gear forums or offered my opinion in a really long time.

[Wmcmanus]

Interesting indeed! Yet another development that I was totally in the dark about. Seems like I've lost a step or two in the headphone world.

[m00hk00h]

Wow...just wow.
I don't know what to say. They look different, maybe...odd.
I'm kinda torn between being totally disgusted and being totaly amazed. Strange.

How does that headband work? Like the AKGs?

m00h

[immtbiker]

Originally Posted by m00hk00h

Wow...just wow.
I don't know what to say. They look different, maybe...odd.
I'm kinda torn between being totally disgusted and being totaly amazed. Strange.

How does that headband work? Like the AKGs?

m00h

No, like the R-10's.

[Wmcmanus]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

No, like the R-10's.

Getting more interested by the minute. A call to my mountain biker friend may be in order!

[vcoheda]

okay. i'll throw out some initial impressions. but bear in mind a few things. i was told that the headphones need 50-100 hours of break in (mine have about 8). i have little experience with electrostatic headphones. i have listened to the HE60, HE90, and O2 as well as various other stax headphones on a few occasions but always at meets. i have a general idea about what they do and how they sound, but i have never owned a pair myself. also, i am using what is probably considered not an ideal setup. i have a prototype solid state amp, the quality of which i am unclear of and which also has no burn in. the amp is set for 240 volts, so i am using a 500W voltage converter with the amp and the voltage converter has a european plug, so connected to that is a euro to u.s. adapter. add to that new RCA cables (nordost heimdalls) and a silver power cord (aural thrills), both of which have little break in and may be too clinical for this setup as well.

as for the construction, the EH-1.3 is very light and b/c it is almost all wood, i would be scared to drop it from any height. but the build quality actually seems fairly decent. as mentioned, the cups and outer frame are solid wood and the head band, top and lower portions, as well as the earpads are genuine leather. the ribbon cable is very flexible and of good length. i could not imagine it breaking or fraying. the cable is terminated with a quality silver neutrik (or neutrik looking) 5 pin plug. the only point of concern with the cable is where it connects to the left and right cups. i think a sharp pull here would not be a good idea. also included is an adapter, which i assume allows the headphone to operate on stax amps or amps with a stax plug. but since i am using a he audio amp, i connect the headphones directly to it without the adapter. the carrying case is very nice looking and sturdy - all hard plastic and metal. as for looks of the headphone, i agree that the 1.2 version, modelled closely on the HE90, looks nicer. but i'll get used to this look. although the headphone is very light and feels less than substantial, it has as nice snug fit on the head as there is some clamping force to the headphones and the cups swivel for additional fit. the headphone is very comfortable too. could easily wear it for a few hours straight.

as for sound, my initial impressions are the following. the bass is very good. not only quality but quantity. there is depth to the bass and it has good force. i would say it is easily on par with the HD650, but not as good as the L3000, which is the best bass i have heard from a headphone. no other headphone has the slam of the L3000. my general complaint with most lower end stax models (at least what i have heard) is they tend to sound a bit thin and slightly unmusical. the EH-1.3 has very good rhythm and a quick pace. it has some body to it as well but definitely not the rich, layered texture of the 650, which is something i find unique to that headphone.

the sound is forward. almost like a grado. you seem to be in the first row or close to it. the soundstage is average. not bad but not spacious. no where on K501/701 level. however, the left to right presentation is very good. very wide, like an HP1. it can place an instrument or sound effect a few feet to one side or throw it some several feet away. imagine sitting in the first few rows of a stage where the stage is long (left to right) but not deep. that is what the presentation seems to be like. there is also height. just the overall depth seems limited.

the instrument separation is also as good or better than any of my dynamic headphones (balanced or single ended). voices have great articulation. you can hear clearly the syllables of the words being pronounced and sung. closely related is detail. the detail is very good but strangely not always sharp. on some tracks, there seems to be a somewhat echo feel to voices. there is also a bit of brightness to everything, esp of some female vocals where the highs go high. this is possibly due to the newness of the headphone and amp and nordost (speed of light) cables and silver power cord. may experiment with some copper at a later point.

percussion and cymbals and electronics (and voices) sound very good on this headphone. as mentioned, the bass is surprisingly very good. the headphone also seems very fast. violin is so quick on this thing. not a note is missed. it has great attack one would say. but i'm so sure how good the decay is. the headphone does not want to slow down. on acoustic guitar and piano there is little resonance after the chord or key is struck. acoustic sounds better on my grados and piano may be a weak point. i actually purchased the EH-1.3 for classical. the violin pieces and works for solo voice i listened to sounded very good, but i'm not sure they sounded any better than my balanced K701 - my main classical phone at the moment. i somehow had it in my mind that stats were ideally suited for that genre. but my initial impression is that the EH-1.3 may turn out to be an electrostatic rock headphone - and a very good one i might add.

that's it for now.

[luvdunhill]

Originally Posted by J-Pak

Of everything that gets posted in the cable/amp forum, my posts come off as negative?

I haven't even posted in these gear forums or offered my opinion in a really long time.

'cause you're *thinking* about a SR-007 and not rushing out to grab these fugly phones... I'd rather wear the Swiss crash helmets over these personally