General Information
I am Steve Jones and I wrote this little blurb on these "Verisonix N-501 Self-Powered Hybrid Electrostatic Headphones" . Above it says by Verisonix. That is wrong, (I have edited it twice, and cannot fix it.I will follow this up when I build the balanced cable) . I just want to be straight about who wrote this.. This site needs to be easier to use or have a better edit feature. I got these by mail from Essence For Hi Res Audio (www.essenceelectrostatic.com. It is the only place that you can obtain them. For technical questions you can ask for Bob at 727-580-4393. He helped me understand how they work.
They seem to be a Very consumer oriented company, so don't be afraid to ask questions. (I did). I called down to ask if they had a balanced cable available and the anwer was no, so I am going to make my own and will report back. The longer I use them, the better they are sounding. Going to have some fun with these. I got them because I was interested in the technology and having had them a while have discovered that they can be made to sound better for very little outlay of time and money. They will scale nicely.
Wow.....OK, I will say it again, WOW. I posted some photos in the Audiophile Group on Facebook a few weeks ago when I got them, but I had to put a few hundred hours on them before I really had a good listen. This is a Two Way Transducer for your head space. I will not get into technical details as there is a lot of stuff written about how they function by people a Lot smarter than me that is a fingertip search away on Google. These are my thoughts on how these Hybrid's sound. I thought that because of the price, and how they sound, and the fact I cannot find mention of then on Head-Fi my Favorite site, that I owed it to you guys...Enjoy and remember to break them in, I was merely "meh" about them till I had a couple of hundred hours on them..They are a treat. You will find yourself just enjoying the Music again. Isn't that the objective though?
I have tried Five times to put my thoughts to paper, and every time I sit down to write I become so enthralled by the music that nothing gets written. I then realize that it is very late and I do have a day job. Yes, They are That Good...Yes...I am That Impressed. To give you guys some background I am 61 years old, used to manage a High End Audio Store and have owned or heard almost every type of audio equipment you can think of. The last quarter century, I have been selling High End German Cars to support my track hobby and my audio hobby. I have had everything in my system at one time or another, tubes, solid state, back to tubes, tube rolling, vinyl/digital. Then more rolling, and just chilling and enjoying the Music. At some point I lost interest because of the cost/performance ratio. Yes I couldn't afford what I thought I wanted. Turns out you don't have to spend Kilo bucks to get Killer sound. I currently run tubes and Proacs in my main system and use a Ragnarok to power my various headphones,. My current favorite was the venerable Sennheiser HD-650. I wanted to keep this short, you need to know my background so you can judge whether I am worthy of your trust or knot (sorry I race big sailboats and I couldn't resist) These Headphones have Imaging and Depth that astounds me. The bass is solid and very quick. It has to be to blend with the astounding top end. Vocals are superb. I constantly hear things on old albums that I know, that sound more real to me.You quickly forget the equipment and just enjoy the music with these on your head. I particularly like what they do with vocals. I have spent more time listening to old music with these than I think anything else I have had. I almost doubted writing this. They are Very efficient and I bet could be driven with anything you have including your phone. I am currently listening to Boston and the weight, depth and decay of the piano make you stand up and take notice. It is not an audiophile album, just a regular version. I am now listening to Sade directly from my Blackberry and yes her voice is coming across as sexy as it does on my big amp. I have used them extensively with my PA2V2 amp and they Rock. Get a pair of these N-501's and you can power them and be amazed with what ever you have.
I wish that someone had told me about a product like this when I was 20 years old and I would have saved thousands of Dollars and the endless quest for "That" sound. The leading edge transients on percussion, the sound of flutes, violins and vocals...did I mention Vocals? I Love my Vocals, So Natural through these things, they are Killer...KILLER for the price. Hmm, I just realized I am still using my phone as a source. Time to go back to the Raggy and some Floyd. People today go out and buy headphones based on a well known reviewer's credentials. Then they realize that they have a really good 600 ohm headphone that will sound amazing on a $3,000 plug in the wall 30 pound amplifier, and with what you have they will Never sound like at the store and then begins the start of you spending money on the quest.. This new Versonix headphone is 32 ohms guys. THAT means they will sound good powered by anything. They will scale up as you spend more money on your source and your amplifiers. One thing i did not like was the length of the supplied cable and the fact that although the headphones are marked left and right, the cables are not and I find them too short. But I would guess that they are the perfect portable length so you don't trip over the cord. Simple enough to remedy as the oxygen free cable are 1/8" mini's all around with a supplied 1/4 adapter for the big amps.There, that is my piece and I hope that I will save someone the money I had spent to get the sound I want because it is here in this headphone and it is portable.
They seem to be a Very consumer oriented company, so don't be afraid to ask questions. (I did). I called down to ask if they had a balanced cable available and the anwer was no, so I am going to make my own and will report back. The longer I use them, the better they are sounding. Going to have some fun with these. I got them because I was interested in the technology and having had them a while have discovered that they can be made to sound better for very little outlay of time and money. They will scale nicely.
Wow.....OK, I will say it again, WOW. I posted some photos in the Audiophile Group on Facebook a few weeks ago when I got them, but I had to put a few hundred hours on them before I really had a good listen. This is a Two Way Transducer for your head space. I will not get into technical details as there is a lot of stuff written about how they function by people a Lot smarter than me that is a fingertip search away on Google. These are my thoughts on how these Hybrid's sound. I thought that because of the price, and how they sound, and the fact I cannot find mention of then on Head-Fi my Favorite site, that I owed it to you guys...Enjoy and remember to break them in, I was merely "meh" about them till I had a couple of hundred hours on them..They are a treat. You will find yourself just enjoying the Music again. Isn't that the objective though?
I have tried Five times to put my thoughts to paper, and every time I sit down to write I become so enthralled by the music that nothing gets written. I then realize that it is very late and I do have a day job. Yes, They are That Good...Yes...I am That Impressed. To give you guys some background I am 61 years old, used to manage a High End Audio Store and have owned or heard almost every type of audio equipment you can think of. The last quarter century, I have been selling High End German Cars to support my track hobby and my audio hobby. I have had everything in my system at one time or another, tubes, solid state, back to tubes, tube rolling, vinyl/digital. Then more rolling, and just chilling and enjoying the Music. At some point I lost interest because of the cost/performance ratio. Yes I couldn't afford what I thought I wanted. Turns out you don't have to spend Kilo bucks to get Killer sound. I currently run tubes and Proacs in my main system and use a Ragnarok to power my various headphones,. My current favorite was the venerable Sennheiser HD-650. I wanted to keep this short, you need to know my background so you can judge whether I am worthy of your trust or knot (sorry I race big sailboats and I couldn't resist) These Headphones have Imaging and Depth that astounds me. The bass is solid and very quick. It has to be to blend with the astounding top end. Vocals are superb. I constantly hear things on old albums that I know, that sound more real to me.You quickly forget the equipment and just enjoy the music with these on your head. I particularly like what they do with vocals. I have spent more time listening to old music with these than I think anything else I have had. I almost doubted writing this. They are Very efficient and I bet could be driven with anything you have including your phone. I am currently listening to Boston and the weight, depth and decay of the piano make you stand up and take notice. It is not an audiophile album, just a regular version. I am now listening to Sade directly from my Blackberry and yes her voice is coming across as sexy as it does on my big amp. I have used them extensively with my PA2V2 amp and they Rock. Get a pair of these N-501's and you can power them and be amazed with what ever you have.
I wish that someone had told me about a product like this when I was 20 years old and I would have saved thousands of Dollars and the endless quest for "That" sound. The leading edge transients on percussion, the sound of flutes, violins and vocals...did I mention Vocals? I Love my Vocals, So Natural through these things, they are Killer...KILLER for the price. Hmm, I just realized I am still using my phone as a source. Time to go back to the Raggy and some Floyd. People today go out and buy headphones based on a well known reviewer's credentials. Then they realize that they have a really good 600 ohm headphone that will sound amazing on a $3,000 plug in the wall 30 pound amplifier, and with what you have they will Never sound like at the store and then begins the start of you spending money on the quest.. This new Versonix headphone is 32 ohms guys. THAT means they will sound good powered by anything. They will scale up as you spend more money on your source and your amplifiers. One thing i did not like was the length of the supplied cable and the fact that although the headphones are marked left and right, the cables are not and I find them too short. But I would guess that they are the perfect portable length so you don't trip over the cord. Simple enough to remedy as the oxygen free cable are 1/8" mini's all around with a supplied 1/4 adapter for the big amps.There, that is my piece and I hope that I will save someone the money I had spent to get the sound I want because it is here in this headphone and it is portable.
