[VandyMan]

An amp is hardly fluff for an electrostatic headphone, but I believe it has already been posted that they plan to offer the headphone alone or as a package deal (like STAX does).

 

[conquerator2]

An amp designed from the ground up by the same company for their headphone is one of the best things that can happen IMO. Of course, if it is priced reasonably.
Case in point, the EF6. That thing sounds beautiful with both the HE6 and HE1000.
That doesn't mean there are not other just as good or even better amp / DAC makers out there, but it is a plus to have the choice to stick with the same manufacturer. 
Now, 

 

[purk]

  An amp designed from the ground up by the same company for their headphone is one of the best things that can happen IMO. Of course, if it is priced reasonably.
Case in point, the EF6. That thing sounds beautiful with both the HE6 and HE1000.
That doesn't mean there are not other just as good or even better amp / DAC makers out there, but it is a plus to have the choice to stick with the same manufacturer. 
Now, 

True but don't forget that many of KG's designs have proven to work exceptional well with anything electrostatic headphones as well.  For instance, the SL's companion amp can still be build to price point...maybe 10k 

.  A really good electrostatic amps will never be cheap.

 

[Edwood]

Got a chance to listen to the Shangri La prototype at CES. They sounded faster and more transparent than the HE-1000. The bass dynamics and "slam" weren't as pronounced as thr HE-1000 however. But from what I heard, the Shangri La prototype wasn't finalized, as there are still planned improvements.

The accompanying amp is no accident, but as usual is designed to show off the headphones properly. Speaking with Fang, he wishes for the Shangri La to be paired with high end amps like the HeadAmp BHSE. While it will likely work with lower end Stax amps, the accompanying release of an amp helps to prevent sub par amp pairings early on.

 

[arnaud]

Sounds like a power hungry phone !

Impressions from stat owners eagerly awaited

Arnaud

 

[chowmein83]

Hey all, I just have a couple of pics of the entire setup at CES. Please forgive the somewhat blurry and grainy pictures, because I only had my phone with me and I headed towards Hifiman's room in the evening on the second day of the show (I actually listened to it on the first day).
 
Click on the pictures to see higher resolution versions.
 
First off, here's the entire setup - HM901S dock, amp, and headphone included:
 

 
Next is the rear of the setup - it looks like the HM901S dock was hooked up to the amp via RCA?
 

 
Finally, I have a photo of the tubes inside the amp. I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already but look at what's to the left of the four big tubes we have seen already - smaller tubes! To my very limited tube knowledge, they look like 6DJ8's/ECC88's? If somebody else knows otherwise, feel free to correct me.
 

 
One more picture of the amp's tubes, from another angle and with flash:
 

 
And finally, I tried to get a close-up pic of the headphone itself with flash, but I don't think it turned out so well:
 

 
EDIT: Just corrected a typo.

 

[kid vic]

  Hey all, I just have a couple of pics of the entire setup at CES. Please forgive the somewhat blurry and grainy pictures, because I only had my phone with me and I headed towards Hifiman's room in the evening on the second day of the show (I actually listened to it on the first day).
 
Click on the pictures to see higher resolution versions.
 
First off, here's the entire setup - HM901S dock, amp, and headphone included:
 

 
Next is the rear of the setup - it looks like the HM901S dock was hooked up to the amp via RCA?
 

 
Finally, I have a photo of the tubes inside the amp. I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already but look at what's to the right of the four big tubes we have seen already - smaller tubes! To my very limited tube knowledge, they look like 6DJ8's/ECC88's? If somebody else knows otherwise, feel free to correct me.
 

 
One more picture of the amp's tubes, from another angle and with flash:
 

 
And finally, I tried to get a close-up pic of the headphone itself with flash, but I don't think it turned out so well:
 

If my ears could only hear these I could justify selling my first born for this. Lool back to my HE-500's! 

 

[chowmein83]

  Very interesting feedbacks, but I feel it coming, the same sense of frustration I have with Orpheus 2 feeds : very few comparisons with 009 + T2-class amps.
 
Looking at Orpheus 2, we have :
- Jude, who owns 009 + F. Cooter's amp (  ) and did some comparisons @ Sennheiser, but no information about the amp which was driving 009. 
- Nomax, but not that easy to catch the point among the exclamations 

- lots of "uneducated critical headphones listeners", should they be famous musicians
- lots of theory, Sennheiser Orpheus => can't be anything else than best thing evar...no misunderstanding, I consider Sennheiser as one of if THE most competent and consistent company in this hobby, even if killer amps are not its game
 
Eagerly waiting for feedbacks from Purk / N3rdling / Mulveling (for instance), who know their stuff and have overcome the regular Stax fanboy-ism within which I'm deeply engaged 

 
Ali

 
I actually have heard the 009 and Frank Cooter's amp paired together. Based purely on audio memory (who knows how reliable that might be) I would say that the 009 and F. Cooter pairing would probably seriously give these two new electrostats from HFM and Sennheiser a run for their money.

 

[pipedreamer]

I've heard both the Orpheas and the Shangri-La at CES this week. It's apples and pears trying to compare them as the sources and content were so different.
Having said that, I sensed magic with the Shangri-Las that was not there with the Orpheus. The Shangri-Las disappeared whereas the Orpheus were all about resolution. More listening is required but the Shangri-Las show HUGE potential.
As for engineering, given the relative simplicity of the Shangri-Las, they could be priced at a disruptive point even below Stax009. Given how compromised the demo conditions were, I was really taken by these...

Cheers,

Peter.

 

[ufospls2]

Look how screwed up the post for headband adjustment already is. For a pair of headphones likely to cost over $3000 (The price of the HE1000) this is simply not good enough. "Oh but its just a prototype" you will say. It will be the exact same on the production pair, without a doubt, unless Fang Bian decides to up his game and deliver a quality product. That "wood" looks suspect as well, just like the "wood" on the HE1000. 
 

 

[aphex27]

All the HifiMan stuff look cheap, tacky and tasteless.
But I have the ugliest headphone ever, so who am I to talk?

 

[listen4joy]

and i thought that the  HE1000 is build very well.

 at least it look this way, i dont care if it real wood or not , if it sounds good and comfortable and have solid construction, but i guess the owners of he1000 knows the best

 

[Stillhart]

Guys, this headphone and amp are PROTOTYPES.  They're not representative of the final quality, design or sound signature.  They will be working on it for months to come yet.  Let's not jump the gun on some of these issues quite yet when a prototype unit isn't up to your exacting standards.
 
I had a chance to listen to it briefly yesterday and chat with Fang for a bit about it.  I'll try to post some more thorough impressions tomorrow as I'd like to hear more today.  (Unfortunately, the people next to me blasting their HE-1000 and EdX were drowning out a lot of the fine detail on the SL.)  
 
First impressions were of a much more organic sounding electrostat than some of the STAX stuff I've heard.  There was a hint of sibilance, which I'd probably attribute to the dual Sabre DAC they're using.  I also felt like the bass was a little lacking compared to the rest of the sound signature and let Fang know that.  He assured me that they're still actively working on tweaking the sound so nothing we heard is final.  Changing something in the cord could change the whole balance of the sound, etc.  Otherwise, it was a great sounding headphone and I'm looking forward to hearing more.
 
He did say that he wants to make this a statement product.  He's not as concerned with moving volume, he wants to make the best of the best just to show he can.  After that, similar to the EdX, we can expect to see trickle down models.  So yes, expect very high pricing, but also expect another unit that will be more attainable for the masses.  Pricing is nowhere near ready as the product is a prototype.
 
More later.  I got like 3 hours of sleep last night...

 

[preproman]

 

[Stillhart]

So, just to let you know, I tried to hear it some more yesterday but they'd packed it up early to ship back.    No more impressions from me until Canjam Socal in two months.  Fang will be there and this headphone should be further down the road towards production.  I'm looking forward to hearing it with more polish!