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King Sound Emperor: New Electrostatic Headphones!

post #1 of 166
1/29/13 at 5:21am
Thread Starter 

King Sound Emperor

 

New Electrostatic Headphones

 

 

 

 

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 90

 

 

Impressions from Moon Audio:

 

http://moon-audio.com/JustAskDrew/2013/01/ces-2012-final-impressions-by-drew-baird-of-moon-audio-lookout-for-king-sound-electrostatic-headphones-and-amps-here-soon/

 

Most interesting of all....

 

Price for the headphones is said to be $800-1000 with a solid state amp and around $1500-2000 with a tube amp.


Edited by MuppetFace - 1/30/13 at 3:29am
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post #2 of 166
1/29/13 at 7:08am

I've known about these for a while and two things worry me, first off they are not Stax compatible.  The bias is only 450VDC and who knows how they will behave at Pro bias levels.  It's all about how much headroom is built into the drivers.  Second issue is the general fail with any King Sound design I've seen.  It's almost if they don't fully understand the electrostatic principle and what makes it tick. 

 

Still it will be interesting to see test one of these and see how it responds to higher bias voltage. 

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post #3 of 166
1/29/13 at 7:31am

I knew about these one day before Spritzer.  The Stax incompatible thing impresses me - it says they're taking on a titan in the market, and they're not backing down.  Cue the VHS/Betamax, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, format wars.  If they were charging an arm and a leg it would be a different story - at this price it will be an intriguing addition. If it ends up actually sounding good that's just a bonus.

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post #4 of 166
1/29/13 at 7:34am

They look ugly.

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post #5 of 166
1/29/13 at 7:35am

Look somewhat gaudy and a little cheap, kind of how I felt about the King Sound "Chinese Screen" style stats with printed dust covers I saw when in Hong Kong. Still, the proof will be in the listening, if they sound great, its a good development.

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post #6 of 166
1/29/13 at 7:45am

If they aren't going to work with existing amps I wonder why they are even quoting prices for headphones only?

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post #7 of 166
1/29/13 at 7:57am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by shipsupt View Post

If they aren't going to work with existing amps I wonder why they are even quoting prices for headphones only?

 

Replacements or spares perhaps.

 

 


Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackmore View Post

They look ugly.

 

They look like vintage and / or DIY stats. Nothing wrong with that in my book.


Edited by MuppetFace - 1/29/13 at 7:59am
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post #8 of 166
1/29/13 at 7:59am

is it just me, or do they look to be incredibly cheaply made?

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post #9 of 166
1/29/13 at 8:03am

It's always good to see more competitors in the market. Wonder how they'd compare with the ESP950s or the Lambdas which are in their price range...

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post #10 of 166
1/29/13 at 8:04am

For building your own amp (or adjusting the bias supply in your existing amp), of course!  :D

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by shipsupt View Post

If they aren't going to work with existing amps I wonder why they are even quoting prices for headphones only?

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post #11 of 166
1/29/13 at 8:04am

Fair enough, I dont interested in them anyway, no matter how they sound.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuppetFace View Post

 

Replacements or spares perhaps.

 

 


 

They look like vintage and / or DIY stats. Nothing wrong with that in my book.

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post #12 of 166
1/29/13 at 8:22am

Apparently ther is a sand as well as a tube amp.

The six moons report was done with the sand amp beacuse drew couldn't fit the tube amp in his gear when he left the CES show.

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post #13 of 166
1/29/13 at 8:29am

Edit - I was never here.  You didn't see anything.


Edited by Radio_head - 1/29/13 at 8:31am
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post #14 of 166
1/29/13 at 10:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dscythe View Post

is it just me, or do they look to be incredibly cheaply made?
I think they look pretty nice. The gold version of course is awful, but consider this darker version and better looking amp:

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post #15 of 166
1/29/13 at 10:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by shipsupt View Post

If they aren't going to work with existing amps I wonder why they are even quoting prices for headphones only?

 

They will work but the bias voltage needs to be lowered.  Easy enough to do on many amps or simply to setup a dedicated bias supply for these.  Takes just 3 resistors... 

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