Ok, needed portable, made the usual Etymotic vs. Stax decision, weighed the pros and cons, yadda-yadda, blah-blah-blah. What you're concerned with is the rolled off treble. So:
Yes, at first, there was that problem. I was severely dissappointed, and thought of returning it for an Ety-4P. There was just about nothing above 16KHz - and my main rig is a Senn HD590, which isn't exactly subtle with it's treble.
But, as the wise man said, "when in doubt, upgrade the weakest part of your system." For me, that was the interconnect - I was using an old mini-to-mini salvaged from my venerable Wave 360/420 computer speakers (don't laugh
I'm a poor college student who can only waste hundreds, not thousands, a month for audio gear). Of course, quickly I realized the stupidity of this, and bought a Kimber 1-foot mini-to-mini from HeadRoom. Not the best interconnect, but I figured for my portable, it should be good enough. And believe it or not, the treble roll-off is gone.
Well, not exactly. Now it's more of a recess than a roll-off. The treble is fully extended and very detailed (Stax claims a maximum frequency response of 20KHz and I believe them), but is is a bit quieter and more distant than my HD590's. Frankly, I don't care, I thought the 590's were too generous in the treble department anyway, and I prefer the Stax's more polite way of handling things. At least now, I don't feel like there are parts of the recording that I'm missing - there's quite a bit more detail here, even in the treble, than my 590's could ever manage.
On my regular system, I still use a cheap interconnect between the source and the amp (I am soooooo lame), and out of the amp's headphone jack the Stax naturally still rolls of the treble. But, once every cable is up to spec (and I stop using the damn headphone jack), I have a feeling that it will be back to normal.
*PHEW* OK, treble issues taken care of (I think).
So, how about everything else?
In a word, IT RULES.
The amount of micro-detail is astonishing. This is my first electrostat, and if this is any indication of what awaits me when I move on to the full-size models, then I am a convert. Overall, there is far more detail than my 590's, which have been accused of many things - but lacking detail was never one of them (what was it that HeadRoom had said? "Detailed to the point of fatigue?" I still haven't forgiven them for that
). Also, unlike the 590, the detail is never shoved in your face. I'm pretty new to the whole audiophile thing, so I definitely lack the proper vocabulary to fluently communicate my impressions, but it seems to me that, when using the Stax, I can choose to "zoom in" on any single layer of micro-detail, or any single aspect of sound, and conciously focus on it, isolating it from the rest of the sonic portfolio - or alternatively, I can "zoom out," concentrating on the big picture, the overall sound, and not spending processing time worrying about peripheral details. I can't do that with the 590 or with any dynamic headphone for that matter - they just don't have enough space between the instruments to allow for that kind of mental isolation. The Stax gives you space and air around every single layer of sound, separating everything into it's constituent parts - but doing so without losing the overall intergity of the music. You're not listening to music on an electrostat, you're dissecting it, but leaving the overall musical structure intact. Does this make sense? I'm exhausted, so I can't be more articulate .
In terms of bass, it's natural bass level is definitely lower than my 590's, but it seems to respond better to equalization - the 590's start to distort way before these things when the bass it turned up, so in the end, these things will actually outbass my 590's quite handily. Of course, I'm not a bass head, so I leave the balance the way it naturally is.
The mids are every bit as good as everyone says they are, and then some. Let's leave it at that.
Imaging/soundstaging are pretty good for an earbud, I guess. Once again, I'm speaking from a lack of experience, but the soundsphere seems to be localized to within a few feet of my head, as opposed to other full-sized cans that sometimes give you a broad, wall-to-wall soundstage. However, within the soundsphere, every sound is precisely localized in a partucular 3-dimensional position; not only that, but there seems to be little to no spatial "overlap" between sounds - everything seems like it's coming from it's own spatial location - and yet you don't suffer from the extreme channel separation you can get on cans in general. By contrast, the 590's just blur everything together, and give you a general idea of where the sound is coming from - although the distances are magnified, and distant sounds are a bit more distant. I'd say on imaging the Stax wins - but this is an earbud. I'm guessing that in this department, the full-sized Stax units will blow it away (as, I'm sure, will good dynamic units, maybe even more so).
The biggest downside seems to be comfort. My ears are in PAIN after a long listening session. I don't wear in on the headband - I find that you don't get a good seal that way - I shove them up my ears, medium plugs and the cords facing straight down (best position for fullest bass sound). The first 30 minutes is all clear sailing. Throughout the next, my ears tell me "ok, you're not going to keep that thing in there forever, riiiight?" The next thirty are somewhat like "it HURTS," with the last 30 being "Cat, I f***ing hate your guts, you know." At this point the Stax comes out. I guess over time I'll get used to it. Too bad the large plugs don't fit.
So, is it better than the Ety-4P and 4S? Good question. I haven't heard Ety's at all (noob), but I can safely say that this thing blows my 590's clean out of the water - there's virtually no comparison (and I like my 590's, they're a really fun can to listen to, not like the typically lazy Senn sound). What I can tell you, though, is that at $240 from Audiocubes, this is a lot cheaper than what you would pay for the 4S and a good amp. The wise man says, "when buying headphone + amp, always consider the electrostatic alternative," and I think that's very good advice.
Well, now there's an SR-3030 Classic System II on my "to buy" list. As well as the rest of the system that will run it at good quality. God, I'm getting into electrostats... NOW, I'm doomed...
[Edit: Music I've tested it with so far: Arkadi Volodos' performances of Rachmaninoff's 3'd concerto, various Liszt, Rach, and Shubert piano transcriptions (Volodos performing), Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" and "Petrushka", all 3 Shpongle disks, all Hallucinogen disks, all of Juno Reactor (is it just me, or does the Stax have some sort of synergy with Juno? it sounds totally amazing), OTT's Blumenkraft (highly recommended), lots of Pink Floyd, Rush, and Led Zep, Porcupine Tree's "Signify", and The Aloof's "Seeking Pleasure." Overall, classical sounds amazing. Electronica is ultra-detailed but not quite as engaging as dynamic cans. Listening to Juno on my 590's I'm usually jumping around like a moron, but on the Stax, I'm completely zoned out, lost amidst layers and layers of detail. Shpongle is an out-of-mind experience
. Rock is beautiful but laid-back. This works great for more chilled out stuff like Floyd, but for metal and such I'm guessing it won't work as well]
Yes, at first, there was that problem. I was severely dissappointed, and thought of returning it for an Ety-4P. There was just about nothing above 16KHz - and my main rig is a Senn HD590, which isn't exactly subtle with it's treble.
But, as the wise man said, "when in doubt, upgrade the weakest part of your system." For me, that was the interconnect - I was using an old mini-to-mini salvaged from my venerable Wave 360/420 computer speakers (don't laugh
I'm a poor college student who can only waste hundreds, not thousands, a month for audio gear). Of course, quickly I realized the stupidity of this, and bought a Kimber 1-foot mini-to-mini from HeadRoom. Not the best interconnect, but I figured for my portable, it should be good enough. And believe it or not, the treble roll-off is gone.Well, not exactly. Now it's more of a recess than a roll-off. The treble is fully extended and very detailed (Stax claims a maximum frequency response of 20KHz and I believe them), but is is a bit quieter and more distant than my HD590's. Frankly, I don't care, I thought the 590's were too generous in the treble department anyway, and I prefer the Stax's more polite way of handling things. At least now, I don't feel like there are parts of the recording that I'm missing - there's quite a bit more detail here, even in the treble, than my 590's could ever manage.
On my regular system, I still use a cheap interconnect between the source and the amp (I am soooooo lame), and out of the amp's headphone jack the Stax naturally still rolls of the treble. But, once every cable is up to spec (and I stop using the damn headphone jack), I have a feeling that it will be back to normal.
*PHEW* OK, treble issues taken care of (I think).
So, how about everything else?
In a word, IT RULES.
The amount of micro-detail is astonishing. This is my first electrostat, and if this is any indication of what awaits me when I move on to the full-size models, then I am a convert. Overall, there is far more detail than my 590's, which have been accused of many things - but lacking detail was never one of them (what was it that HeadRoom had said? "Detailed to the point of fatigue?" I still haven't forgiven them for that
). Also, unlike the 590, the detail is never shoved in your face. I'm pretty new to the whole audiophile thing, so I definitely lack the proper vocabulary to fluently communicate my impressions, but it seems to me that, when using the Stax, I can choose to "zoom in" on any single layer of micro-detail, or any single aspect of sound, and conciously focus on it, isolating it from the rest of the sonic portfolio - or alternatively, I can "zoom out," concentrating on the big picture, the overall sound, and not spending processing time worrying about peripheral details. I can't do that with the 590 or with any dynamic headphone for that matter - they just don't have enough space between the instruments to allow for that kind of mental isolation. The Stax gives you space and air around every single layer of sound, separating everything into it's constituent parts - but doing so without losing the overall intergity of the music. You're not listening to music on an electrostat, you're dissecting it, but leaving the overall musical structure intact. Does this make sense? I'm exhausted, so I can't be more articulate .In terms of bass, it's natural bass level is definitely lower than my 590's, but it seems to respond better to equalization - the 590's start to distort way before these things when the bass it turned up, so in the end, these things will actually outbass my 590's quite handily. Of course, I'm not a bass head, so I leave the balance the way it naturally is.
The mids are every bit as good as everyone says they are, and then some. Let's leave it at that.
Imaging/soundstaging are pretty good for an earbud, I guess. Once again, I'm speaking from a lack of experience, but the soundsphere seems to be localized to within a few feet of my head, as opposed to other full-sized cans that sometimes give you a broad, wall-to-wall soundstage. However, within the soundsphere, every sound is precisely localized in a partucular 3-dimensional position; not only that, but there seems to be little to no spatial "overlap" between sounds - everything seems like it's coming from it's own spatial location - and yet you don't suffer from the extreme channel separation you can get on cans in general. By contrast, the 590's just blur everything together, and give you a general idea of where the sound is coming from - although the distances are magnified, and distant sounds are a bit more distant. I'd say on imaging the Stax wins - but this is an earbud. I'm guessing that in this department, the full-sized Stax units will blow it away (as, I'm sure, will good dynamic units, maybe even more so).
The biggest downside seems to be comfort. My ears are in PAIN after a long listening session. I don't wear in on the headband - I find that you don't get a good seal that way - I shove them up my ears, medium plugs and the cords facing straight down (best position for fullest bass sound). The first 30 minutes is all clear sailing. Throughout the next, my ears tell me "ok, you're not going to keep that thing in there forever, riiiight?" The next thirty are somewhat like "it HURTS," with the last 30 being "Cat, I f***ing hate your guts, you know." At this point the Stax comes out. I guess over time I'll get used to it. Too bad the large plugs don't fit.
So, is it better than the Ety-4P and 4S? Good question. I haven't heard Ety's at all (noob), but I can safely say that this thing blows my 590's clean out of the water - there's virtually no comparison (and I like my 590's, they're a really fun can to listen to, not like the typically lazy Senn sound). What I can tell you, though, is that at $240 from Audiocubes, this is a lot cheaper than what you would pay for the 4S and a good amp. The wise man says, "when buying headphone + amp, always consider the electrostatic alternative," and I think that's very good advice.
Well, now there's an SR-3030 Classic System II on my "to buy" list. As well as the rest of the system that will run it at good quality. God, I'm getting into electrostats... NOW, I'm doomed...
[Edit: Music I've tested it with so far: Arkadi Volodos' performances of Rachmaninoff's 3'd concerto, various Liszt, Rach, and Shubert piano transcriptions (Volodos performing), Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" and "Petrushka", all 3 Shpongle disks, all Hallucinogen disks, all of Juno Reactor (is it just me, or does the Stax have some sort of synergy with Juno? it sounds totally amazing), OTT's Blumenkraft (highly recommended), lots of Pink Floyd, Rush, and Led Zep, Porcupine Tree's "Signify", and The Aloof's "Seeking Pleasure." Overall, classical sounds amazing. Electronica is ultra-detailed but not quite as engaging as dynamic cans. Listening to Juno on my 590's I'm usually jumping around like a moron, but on the Stax, I'm completely zoned out, lost amidst layers and layers of detail. Shpongle is an out-of-mind experience
. Rock is beautiful but laid-back. This works great for more chilled out stuff like Floyd, but for metal and such I'm guessing it won't work as well]
The SR-3030 should be a good intermediate step though (in a year or two).
