Here is my initial take on the ES5s.
Firstly, their customer service at EarSonics is just awesome. After talking with them, and then purchasing my set directly from them, it only took 2 days to get from France to my home in the Eastern USA.
Never have I been more pleased with dealing with customer service. They were very inquisitive about why I was needing another pair of headphones, and it almost sounded like they were trying to talk me out of it, but ultimately, all of their questioning was so they could recommend an offering that suited my needs and my assumptions, rather than just trying to sell me an expensive piece of equipment. They learn their customer in order to sell their product. I respect that.
After explaining to them that I loved the Velvets, they asked why. The Velvet's were really 2 separate headphones for me, because I listened to them in 2 modes. The knob all the way to the open/airy side, or dialed a little over halfway to the warmer/bass heavy side - usually if there was a lot of outside noise..... but either way, I enjoyed the 2 modes of the Velvet, where there was an open and airy room, where the higher frequency transients could float about the powerful house-y basslines. But the only problem I found with that setting, was that there was too much air at times, it would feel too loose, and too empty. When you adjusted the knob on the Velvets, it would decrease the size of the room, which in turn made everything feel more full and full of bass. This could produce a muddy atmosphere sometimes depending on sound and genre. I had no problems adjusting the knob though, and enjoyed having the power to adjust the drivers on the fly, and that I could use one headphone for multiple genres, with only changing the dial.
The customer service rep half way laughed and said he was excited that I was such a happy customer, but when I asked him for another pair of Velvets (my previous pair had been stolen) , he responded with a "no" ! He denied me my favorite headphone of all time! He lamented and said he ultimately would send me another pair if he could not convince me that there is a better option out there for what I had described.
What he heard me like about the velvets was
"an open and immersive soundstage with fullness and richness of sound at all frequencies. with depth and texture at all volumes, and a bass experience that was capable of imploding my skull at any moment, but didnt bleed into the other frequency ranges. A mature bass that allowed for other frequencies to be heard and present, but maintained its presence and signature house feel." He said all of this in a french accent I could barely understand, and even his accent sounded sexy and rich, even through my iphone loud speaker.
I was sold.
Upon receiving the ES5s. I was nervous that they wouldn't be as pleasing and as awe inspiring as the Velvet was when I first received it. You see, the Velvet's were my first high dollar purchase in the Earphone market. I had purchased B&W Floor Speakers, and a nice amp/receiver for the room. And I had a good computer setup with a DAC and Headphone amp. When I received the iBasso P5 Falcon amp and the Velvet's, I was BLOWN away at how much better and different my music sounded while on a run or traveling on the train/plane. The change from iphone + $80 earbuds , to a VERY capable amp and $700 IEMs was exactly what I needed.
So was it instantly impactful? YES , but in a much more mature and connoisseur way.... meaning, its all the subtle changes and quality of all the small things that qualify this as being far superior. Moving from iphone earbuds to Earsonic Velvets was huge in that "holy crap the bass, omg, the soundstage, wow i can hear the singers spit in her mouth!" its just amazing at how much more sound there was from before. -- Moving from the Velvets to the ES5s -- is more of "oh wow, the balance of sub ranges to mid range is so much better, I dont notice any large spikes in volume or frequency, the soundstage is so much larger without wasting space, everything feels full and present, without stealing from its neighbors"
I've honestly been searching for a complaint this whole time, and the only thing I can come up with........ I miss having a knob to make me feel like I know what's better and can change it. But yet, I wouldnt change a thing, ever. It's been superior at every volume, and every genre. I just want my knob of ego/power trip/control.
So glad the customer support tech cared enough to sell me an item that I was hoping for, and not the item I thought I wanted.
TL;DR
Setup:
Source: Computer/Iphone
Amp: LYR2/Bifrost (Desktop) ; iBasso P5 Falcon (portable)
Everything about the headphone is awesome, VERY slight V shape to frequency shape. House/Bass Warm/Heavy Feel.... but subtle...... Very mature, very clean, very large soundstage with full presentation, no weird volume or frequency spikes. Very Fluid and consistent all the way through the presentation. Fast quick detail,, no specific flavor outside of the signature Earsonic's house presentation, but again, this is very mature, minimal and clean. Still neutral and clean, but with a fun dynamic presentation.
I'm in love @ day 2. Regretfully happy to replace my Earsonic Velvets. They're just as fun while being more mature, neutral and clean.
and a bass that digs deep and is fast at the same time, the soundstage paired with the sp1000cu is 3D holographic
