[Dailydrive]

I know exactly what you mean.. but the specific two tube compoents I'm playing with happen to have a very specific synergy that works (I tried each with other pres and amps, both SS and tube, and it's just a specific thing with that setup that works well. Sometimes there is a clear reason to the what and why. And sometimes, you just stick the cable in and see what happens and find out..

Oh yes Synergy, that's important, and it can't be acquired just by reading tons of reviews, except thru actual ownership and hardwork of tinkering, trying, testing with what you already have, to get a sound that you like best.
Great opinion that at times I forgets

 

[Benno1988]

Thinking of selling my iESL if anyone is interested. I'm in Australia though, but can post anywhere really.

 

[JayKei]

Thinking of selling my iESL if anyone is interested. I'm in Australia though, but can post anywhere really.

I have an interest in iESL. May I ask what price you think?

 

[Dailydrive]

OK, I have to confess - instead of single-ended pure A, I went for push-pull AB (first 4w A)

following hindsight from Goldwerger of his Taboo at 6w and opinion on rws 2.3w, coupled with the opportunity of a preloved 8w ecl82 tube amp made available, this is my opinion of a lower-than-iESL-specified-input-wattage, after few days of tempering and listening thru my airbow SC-1

Previously I was on same setup except thru SS amp of 200w AB (1st 10w A), iESL bias set betw 500-540v (experienced too much gain at 580v), impedence betw 96-64 ohm. It sound punchy and dynamic, truly bringing out the best of eStats headphone with sonic quality of the amp output.

With the 8w tube, strangely I noticed early onset of distortion to some songs. Setting at "normal" Stax bias of 580v solved this. My PCM63P-Y DAC/Preamp was volumed at 1 clockwise (2pm max), with vol control mostly on the AN izero.

another slight change made was XLR (from DAC) to RCA (into izero), (previously xlr bal into SS amp), although the typical 4v 2v issue is not prevalent in my case (had tested another dac with RCA output and did not notice diff)

1 thing i noticed; with low wattage output amp, when I need to turn up the volume, it may have reached the limit of the amp output sooner (and not nec at full vol) before it sound congested or even distort. But within it's sweet spot, there's just magic sweetness sprinkled into the songs/music.

Having said, with this tube amp, I may just started another journey of transition; from a audiophile back to just loving music as it is, tapping my feet & snapping my fingers along with it , so much so I am now looking at budget sensitive full range speaker to go with this amp.

Oh yes, I also took the opportunity of hooking up short solid cores from iESL speaker output to my sr1a box, which offers a different sound signature to SS. Somehow I managed to up vol higher than the airbow before sound get distort

 

[Miiksu]

@Dailydrive Yes. Tube is the way to go with e-stats What push/pull ab amp is used?

 

[Dailydrive]

An older model of Audio Note izero was used

 

[Miiksu]

An older model of Audio Note izero was used

That is very expensive for only 8W. Not even Class A. You can get with that price 50W single ended class a 805 tube amp. Btw which one u prefer? Single end or push/pull?

 

[Dailydrive]

A blessed Easter to everyone

It's a used set I got that if taken into account of freight charges from US, a decware SET would have cost much more to bring in

A 50w 805 may be had for comparative price, but I'm not into more power more punch more dynamic chase, cause I already had it with my power amp.

It's individual audio journey, and I respect those who choose differing path of pursue.

Until the day I heard better, then I can give my 2 cent of which is the better set.

But it will never be about comparison betw Single-ended or push/pull, or tube vs SS.

 

[elwappo99]

One popped up on ebay for anyone looking

 

[h1f1add1cted]

Now we have a iESL successor! It's basically a fusion of iCAN and iESL - The iFi iCAN Phantom:



In general as iESL owner it's a very nice device, but the only thing I really dislike even if it's just the look - it's the color scheme, a pure silver or pure black device would look so much better, than this silver and black mix.

Source: https://www.whathifi.com/news/ifis-...t-headphone-amp-i-saw-at-high-end-munich-2023

The iFi Audio product page is already present with a placeholder, waiting for official release with all details: https://ifi-audio.com/products/ican-phantom/

 

[goldwerger]

Now we have a iESL successor! It's basically a fusion of iCAN and iESL - The iFi iCAN Phantom:



In general as iESL owner it's a very nice device, but the only thing I really dislike even if it's just the look - it's the color scheme, a pure silver or pure black device would look so much better, than this silver and black mix.

Source: https://www.whathifi.com/news/ifis-...t-headphone-amp-i-saw-at-high-end-munich-2023

The iFi Audio product page is already present with a placeholder, waiting for official release with all details: https://ifi-audio.com/products/ican-phantom/

Is there a bias selector for the electrostatic. can’t tell. That’s my main use case for the iESL (to use with HE60).

 

[Jacksatin]

Still in love with original PRO IESL

 

[elwappo99]

Is there a bias selector for the electrostatic. can’t tell. That’s my main use case for the iESL (to use with HE60).

Looks like you can still swap Bias via a nintendo looking cartridge.

Price is £3700.

It's kind of weird because if you don't have Stats (most people) you don't want to pay extra for those features. If you do have stats I'd imagine you'd want something more like the iESL which allows for the power from a speaker amplifier.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I'm not sure about the target audience for this one.

Especially with the color Mix, it always looks out of place this way...

 

[goldwerger]

Looks like you can still swap Bias via a nintendo looking cartridge.



Price is £3700.

It's kind of weird because if you don't have Stats (most people) you don't want to pay extra for those features. If you do have stats I'd imagine you'd want something more like the iESL which allows for the power from a speaker amplifier. Which reminds me... I should sell my iESL since it's not getting any use.

Thanks for the info!

Weird Ux with those “cartridges”. The current knob makes so much more sense. I don’t get it.

Is this unit not able to connect to power amp?

if so, at this price, I guess $4-5k, makes this a miss - I used the iESL for only two reasons: (1) easy change of bias, (2) driven by power amp. If this is self powered, I’m happy with my current iESL/power amp and Carbon amp as independent unit.

I hope this will be at CanJam Chicago to try out