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Electrostatic vs. Dynamic Headphones - Page 22

post #316 of 327
4/6/03 at 8:59pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Mike Scarpitti
Do you understand the difference between:

Belief, Opinion, and Knowledge?
Those are the questions people have been asking you. Your posts indicate a severe confusion among them.
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post #317 of 327
4/6/03 at 9:44pm
Quote:
Those are the questions people have been asking you. Your posts indicate a severe confusion among them.
This is very, Very, VERY true! And I think everyone here would agree too. Mike has been confusing his opinions and beliefs with his knowledge in that he thinks his opinions and beliefs are in fact, factual knowledge when they clearly aren't...not to mention the factual knowledge that he thought he knew. Mike, if you haven't yet realized this yet, then I guess there's no convincing you
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post #318 of 327
4/6/03 at 10:15pm

Re: Re: Now...

Quote:
Originally posted by Mike Scarpitti
I had an excellent LP set-up (Stax cartridge, Magnepan arm, Thorens table) and I enjoyed it. The Stax electret cartrige ($750 in 1983) was among the best I've ever heard.

But the question is, was it better than CD's, and in my opinion the answer is no.
Of course, I haven't heard your analog setup, so I can't comment on its sonics. I have, however, heard great vinyl rigs on countless occasions, and, though I use digital primarily out of convenience (I like to listen almost everywhere I go, and carry music with me to accommodate this), good analog is still the standard for the best reproduction of musical performance in the home, as far as I'm concerned.

Last week, I spent some time at the Wadia headquarters (Wadia is generally thought of as the manufacturer of some of the best digital audio gear available), and was given a tour of some of the facility there (I'll post more about this later). Sitting in what is currently their primary evaluation room, we were listening to Patricia Barber through some of Wadia's best gear (and an overall killer rig), and I said, "If you told me we were listening to a good vinyl rig, I'd be inclined to believe you." The Wadia gentleman's response? "I consider that high praise."

As far as recreating the magic of a live performance goes, I've yet to hear any CD (or even SACD) player trump the best analog I've heard. It seems to me that designers of audiophile CD players are often chasing a lot of the magic that makes great analog great.

I'm not going to argue with you, Mike -- but I'm wondering if you've really heard a good analog rig.
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post #319 of 327
4/7/03 at 12:04am

Re: Re: Re: Now...

Quote:
Originally posted by jude
Of course, I haven't heard your analog setup, so I can't comment on its sonics. I have, however, heard great vinyl rigs on countless occasions, and, though I use digital primarily out of convenience (I like to listen almost everywhere I go, and carry music with me to accommodate this), good analog is still the standard for the best reproduction of musical performance in the home, as far as I'm concerned.
The trouble is not what vinyl is CAPABLE of, but rather what it actually delivered. I had a Stax cartridge, which used an electret principle rather than magnetic. It was glorious! One of the troubles with vinyl is inner groove distortion, especially troublesome if you listen to Classical or Romantic symphonies with giant crescendi at the end of the side. It just all collpases into mush, no matter whjat the cartridge is capable of, because of the lower linear velocity.

Then there's warp, and eccenticity, and surface noise, and....the list goes on and on. I got really sick of it all. I could not wait to get rid of my record collection.

When vinyl was the only way to go, back in the 1970's, production standards were so low that it was disgusting. Since vinyl was the only medium of distribution, the rcord companies had no incentive for high quality, and the product got worse year by year. Now that vinyl has been relieved of the burden of supporting the mass market by the CD, quality I'm sure has been greatly improved. If you have been buying vinly only recently, you missed the worst of it, and the worst of it was horrible. So, don't tell me how great vinyl can be, when the problem was how bad it was. I'm not going back.
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post #320 of 327
4/7/03 at 12:30am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Now...

Quote:
Originally posted by Mike Scarpitti
The trouble is not what vinyl is CAPABLE of, but rather what it actually delivered. I had a Stax cartridge, which used an electret principle rather than magnetic. It was glorious! One of the troubles with vinyl is inner groove distortion, especially troublesome if you listen to Classical or Romantic symphonies with giant crescendi at the end of the side. It just all collpases into mush, no matter whjat the cartridge is capable of, because of the lower linear velocity.
Inner groove distortion is problematical, but it can be minimized by proper cartridge setup. I'm with Jude in wondering if you've ever heard a good analog rig.

IIRC the old Microacoustic line of cartridges were electret cartridges. I used one many years ago, but it really wasn't as good as a low output moving coil, or even the best of the moving magnets.
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post #321 of 327
4/7/03 at 12:41am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Now...

Quote:
Originally posted by Hirsch
Inner groove distortion is problematical, but it can be minimized by proper cartridge setup. I'm with Jude in wondering if you've ever heard a good analog rig.

IIRC the old Microacoustic line of cartridges were electret cartridges. I used one many years ago, but it really wasn't as good as a low output moving coil, or even the best of the moving magnets.
The Stax was beyond anything I've ever heard. Unlike nagnetic cartridges, which require an elaborate RIAA compensation newtork (which causes problem in itself) the Stax electret had its own battery and pre-amp that had a very gentle RIAA compensation. It plugged into a n "AUX" input, not a phono input. I had owned several good moving coils immediately prior to the Stax, including Dynavector Ruby and Ortofon's MC-20 with the MCA-76 head amp, which were close to state of the art at the time I purchased them in the late 70's or early 80's. The Stax absolutely murdered them in quality. I had the Stax for a few years before I quit vinyl altogether.
Trust me, I had a VERY GOOD vinyl set up in the late 70's and early 80's.

From time to time I visit audio shop even now, and when I hear an MC cartridge on what's supposed to be a good setup I leave the room after a a few minutes...the distortion just drives me nuts!
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post #322 of 327
4/8/03 at 12:22am
I'll have to agree with Mike that, in its heyday, vinyl had LOTS of annoying problems--warp, rumble, inner-groove distortion, surface noise, cleaning hassles, etc.

I've never had a great vinyl rig though, nor high quality vinyl, for that matter.

My understanding though is that to obtain an EQUAL level with, say, my Sony XA777ES SACD player, I'd have to spend quite a load of money. Am I right on this? How much WOULD a person have to spend, ratio-wise, to get the same/better sound out of a vinyl rig?
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post #323 of 327
4/8/03 at 12:57am
Quote:
Originally posted by dparrish
I'll have to agree with Mike that, in its heyday, vinyl had LOTS of annoying problems--warp, rumble, inner-groove distortion, surface noise, cleaning hassles, etc.

I've never had a great vinyl rig though, nor high quality vinyl, for that matter.

My understanding though is that to obtain an EQUAL level with, say, my Sony XA777ES SACD player, I'd have to spend quite a load of money. Am I right on this? How much WOULD a person have to spend, ratio-wise, to get the same/better sound out of a vinyl rig?
At least $4K
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post #324 of 327
1/7/12 at 12:47am

Is there a great electrostatic headphone priced between $300 - $500 and sound quality is on par of Senn HD 650? Does it need special amp? Will Nuforce icon HDP work fine?

 

Sorry for exhuming this zoombie thread. I only saw that the last post was in year 2003.


Edited by HiAudio - 1/7/12 at 12:52am
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post #325 of 327
1/7/12 at 3:32am
I've read the first few pages of this thread and i noticed there is alot of talk about the Sony cd3000. I have a pair, just missing the ear pad foam. Are they worth anything?
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post #326 of 327
1/7/12 at 7:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiAudio View Post

Is there a great electrostatic headphone priced between $300 - $500 and sound quality is on par of Senn HD 650? Does it need special amp? Will Nuforce icon HDP work fine?

 

Sorry for exhuming this zoombie thread. I only saw that the last post was in year 2003.



Hi!

 

For electrostatic headphones you need a special kind of amp or a energizer that will drive them from a normal amp. You some models like some of the older lambdas or something like a sr5 paired with a amp or energizer fairly cheap if you'r patient and/or lucky. I bought a lambda 303 with a srm313 amp for 600€ last year, but I think you should be able to find it for a bit less in the US, So 500$ should be plausible. And I certainly haven't regretted taking the plunge smily_headphones1.gif

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post #327 of 327
1/16/12 at 8:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiAudio View Post

Is there a great electrostatic headphone priced between $300 - $500 and sound quality is on par of Senn HD 650? Does it need special amp? Will Nuforce icon HDP work fine?

 

Sorry for exhuming this zoombie thread. I only saw that the last post was in year 2003.



Have a look at the Koss ESP/950. Easier to find than Staxes, anyway. Some impressions for you.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/132309/koss-esp-950-a-fine-electrostatic-headphone

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/328263/koss-esp950-better-than-s-e-hd600-650/

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