[Geir]

Been planning my own x-mas gift this year, and this definitively does not involve socks or ties.
I am thinking about taking the plunge into electrostat headphones, and the choices are rather limited for my budget.

I have a decent deals for stax srs2020(while supplies last) and srs 2050 II.
I will also audtion Koss esp950, but here there is no price given for my region. Msrp is msrp, but I guess that can be negotiated to a more reasonable level.

Will be feed flac files through foobar and keces 151mkI.

When I audition these phones, what can I expect, and how do they compare to each other, and is there anything within their pricerange which is similiar/better?

For the moment, I am suffering a little of information overload, and just need a little nudge in one or another direction to make my wallet lighter.

 

[FrankCooter]

Great question! Wish I knew the answer. Been pondering this issue myself. Plenty of people here with experience in both. Hope they'll chime in. I'm tempted by the 950's but have been scared off by their reliability problems.

 

[spritzer]

I prefer the ESP950 to all the Lambdas but they do have issues with comfort and build quality. To me the ESP950 is more neutral, the soundstage is less diffused and the bass is leaner with less bloat. The midrange is also cleaner with none of the Lambda etch we all know and love.

 

[sachu]

I will go out on a limb and say for me the ESP950+ExStatA combo which i regard highly was soundly beaten in every sense by the HE-5 orthodynamic + EHHA amplifier pairing.
I explored some highly regarded electrostats with equally impressive amplifiers with superlatives freely thrown around their performance abilities, but the orthos just seemed to suit me better.

The Koss was however more suited to my taste than any of the lower end staxes. It was a darker headphone compared to the japanese phones.

 

[matt fury]

ESP-950. No question. Can you get them from Amazon where you are?

 

[edstrelow]

The Koss amp is a poor affair. The 950 will sound better on most Stax amps but you need an adapter. The Stax Lambdas sound a good deal better IMO wth the foam backing removed.

As to the basic issue, I recently sold my 950 and Stax adapter cord after about 15 years and stuck with a Lambda Signature and 404.