mrspeakers said:

Our goal is to have several amps well under $3K from 3rd parties. By keeping prices lower and having some good options, we believe there's a chance for the electrostatic market to do something new; grow. It's a wonderful technology, and we've learned TONS doing this. If we can bring electrostatic clarity and fun to a new class of user we think it's a win for everyone.

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Anything to share regarding 3rd party amps?

I can't share anything yet, the vendors aren't ready to announce.
 
We have decided to stick with the Stax connector for now.  Thanks for the feedback on this.

mrspeakers said:

I can't share anything yet, the vendors aren't ready to announce.

We have decided to stick with the Stax connector for now.  Thanks for the feedback on this.

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With all these late changes can we still expect a 2016 launch or is the estat not due until 2017 now?

hansotek said:

Listened to the Mr. Speakers Ether Electrostatic on the Liquid Lighting, iCan Pro electrostatic module and the Blue Hawaii this weekend. Absolutely fantastic. I love the tuning improvements since AXPONA. I know the SR-009 will always have its loyalists, but I definitely prefer the warmer sound of the Ether ES. Bridges the gap perfectly between the 007 and the 009 tunings. Just masterful. Can't wait to see more impressions roll in. This headphone is the real deal.

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Are they still quite loud when sitting next to someone listening to them?  When I listened I did not appreciate how loud they were for someone next to me until I passed them on to someone else.  Much more so than anything I own or have owned.  Non-issue for someone that listens alone.
 
HS

alcoholbob said:

With all these late changes can we still expect a 2016 launch or is the estat not due until 2017 now?

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Early 17.  We're moving to production, which will be a methodical process.  We don't want failures in the field.  
 

hemisam said:

   
Are they still quite loud when sitting next to someone listening to them?  When I listened I did not appreciate how loud they were for someone next to me until I passed them on to someone else.  Much more so than anything I own or have owned.  Non-issue for someone that listens alone.
 
HS

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Yes, they have very little isolation, if leakage is a concern in general electrostatics are not the best technology.   Check out the Flow, it's open but it actually does deliver more isolation than you'd expect due to the structure of our driver.

Great! Also can you explain what is meant by earlier statements about the "speed" of Stax and the Ether ES being a "slower" electrostatic headphone? What is the cause of this speed, is it the size/weight of the diaphragm or just a tradeoff of making a warmer sounding electrostat? Also is the goal of making the ES "not as fast as Stax" possibly going to create a muddier sounding treble and lose some of the uniqueness of electrostats vs a well made planar?

alcoholbob said:

Great! Also can you explain what is meant by earlier statements about the "speed" of Stax and the Ether ES being a "slower" electrostatic headphone? What is the cause of this speed, is it the size/weight of the diaphragm or just a tradeoff of making a warmer sounding electrostat? Also is the goal of making the ES "not as fast as Stax" possibly going to create a muddier sounding treble and lose some of the uniqueness of electrostats vs a well made planar?

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I don't think I ever said our goal is to not be as fast as other electrostatics or that ES is somehow "slower" than some other headphones that's not how we think about voicing at all (if I did that was incorrect).   I have said I wanted a warmer tone than a lot of electrostatics deliver, which isn't meant to be code for "slower," just a comment on tone. 
 
The ES is more resolving than a planar and there is nothing "muddy" about the highs, yet I hope they won't drill holes in your eardrum either.  This headphone is really, really fast and resolving, it's just not exaggerating or masking details, we try to walk a middle line that's true to the original.
 
Lastly, I can't comment on Stax or any other product, MOT rules.  All I can say is that I think we've created a 'stat with a unique sound and that it will provide a complementary experience for new and future electrostatic owners to consider.

We had a lot of great feedback in Japan on the pre-production voicing.  Today we've dialed in a small increase in speed and now our focus is to ensure consistency and reliability.  
 
Thanks to everyone who took the time to listen and share impressions!

mrspeakers said:

  We had a lot of great feedback in Japan on the pre-production voicing.  Today we've dialed in a small increase in speed and now our focus is to ensure consistency and reliability.  
 
Thanks to everyone who took the time to listen and share impressions!

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Is this anything that you can go into more detail with? How is greater speed achieved, is it more voltage/sensitive stators? Also is it true that pricing will be available in about 4 weeks? Any clue if there will be amp launch partners as well when the ES becomes available? Thanks for the great work!

alcoholbob said:

   
Is this anything that you can go into more detail with? How is greater speed achieved, is it more voltage/sensitive stators? Also is it true that pricing will be available in about 4 weeks? Any clue if there will be amp launch partners as well when the ES becomes available? Thanks for the great work!

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Hi!  The speed differential was by removing a layer of damping material we'd originally introduced earlier in the design process after a lot of listening tests.  However, as our stator design improved and we got better control of damping it was slightly softening the highs, so we simply felt this was no longer needed as the stator's design provided a more optimal load.  Without the extra material the transient response improved, we essentially were a little over-damped.  There's probably a 1-2dB gain in efficiency and some expansion of soundstage.
 
I do hope to announce pricing and estimated availability relatively soon.  Also, I don't know if I said this earlier, we have decided to stick with the Stax-Pro compatible connector.  It's really old-school and we feel there are many better options, but the practical concern of having to make adaptors for most customers with existing Pro-bias gear meant we'd have to do the work to produce this anyhow.  We really dislike the connector and feel there are much more attractive and easy to use parts on the market, but for now, we'll ride with this approach.  Thanks to everyone for the feedback on that.  

Very interesting to read and understand.  I was going to ask the same thing earlier, that there obviously is something that must change in one place to make things faster, and those changes have other effects on the system and sound. I really appreciate getting a look inside at what happens.  Thanks.
 
Also, I think the phrase that comes to mind with the connectors is "discretion is the better part of valor".  It's unfortunately that sometimes a better technical solution doesn't just win because it's a better technical solution.

We just won an award for ETHER ES from Fujiya-AVIC; we showed the pre-production unit at the Fall Tokyo headphone show and I guess it was a pleaser!

Congrats!!!
 
I enjoyed the earlier model when you had it in SF, I can only imagine how much better it will get.

Annoucement on pricing soon? Getting giddy

Any updates at all?