[Vergex2]

I'm very, very close to pulling the trigger on a Beta 22. (well, commence, anyway). However, is there any reasonable way to use it with electrostatic headphones, such as the Stax 404? A way that is inexpensive and doesn't involve loss of performance? Buying a Beta 22 will involve a large sum of cash, and going out and getting an electrostatic amp seems a bit wasteful to me if it could potentially be avoided.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jjinh]

I suppose you could build the β22 with speaker outputs and use it to power a SRD-7.

 

[khaos974]

Ask on the DIY sub-board. But the voltage swing required for electrostats is beyond what most dynamic amps are able of.

 

[gbacic]

Quote:

I'm very, very close to pulling the trigger on a Beta 22. (well, commence, anyway). However, is there any reasonable way to use it with electrostatic headphones, such as the Stax 404? A way that is inexpensive and doesn't involve loss of performance? Buying a Beta 22 will involve a large sum of cash, and going out and getting an electrostatic amp seems a bit wasteful to me if it could potentially be avoided.

Thanks in advance.

 
If you want to use stats why are you building a B22? There are plenty of DIY stat amps that you could build for the same price.

 

[Vergex2]

Quote:

 
If you want to use stats why are you building a B22? There are plenty of DIY stat amps that you could build for the same price.

While I haven't tried stats, I definitely prefer regular dynamics over the ortho I've tried (HE-5). My current and future headphones are likely to be mostly dynamic - that is almost certain. Throw in budget limits, and I can't build one of everything.

 

[gbacic]

Hmmm, I see.
Well Woo Audio is coming out with its own version of the Stax Energizer so you could use that with the speaker outs of a B22 (you'd have to configure it to have them, obviously) and then you might be able to run the stats with it.