HeAudio EH-1.3 & EH-1.2B Electrostatic 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.