[scottiebabie]

if u are gonna spend the dosh for woowee, then it maybe worth your while to go straight for stax amp. a srm-1mk2 can be had for $300 or thereabouts or u can go straight to a 323s for $5-7 hundo. ofcos a 323s is the better amp & will also be able to power other stax headphones should wanna continue in your e-stat journey. 
 
a stax extention cable is $20 shipped + a moon audio stax plus is $15 + $9 shipping. soldering arent that hard (i think cos i havent made one yet as still waiting for the plug and cable). pinout schematics are easily available if u ask Unc Google nicely.
 
 
WARNING: further adventures in the stax journey will be extremely damaging to your  bank account. there are many headfiers here who has spent $10k+ on headphone & amp - thats not taking into account a very good DAC + assorted ancillaries.

 

[mshawkin]

  if u are gonna spend the dosh for woowee, then it maybe worth your while to go straight for stax amp. a srm-1mk2 can be had for $300 or thereabouts or u can go straight to a 323s for $5-7 hundo. ofcos a 323s is the better amp & will also be able to power other stax headphones should wanna continue in your e-stat journey. 
 
a stax extention cable is $20 shipped + a moon audio stax plus is $15 + $9 shipping. soldering arent that hard (i think cos i havent made one yet as still waiting for the plug and cable). pinout schematics are easily available if u ask Unc Google nicely.
 
 
WARNING: further adventures in the stax journey will be extremely damaging to your  bank account. there are many headfiers here who has spent $10k+ on headphone & amp - thats not taking into account a very good DAC + assorted ancillaries.

Thanks for all this information. I wanted to keep an open mind in this whole thing...knowing full well how much some of these Stax headphones go into the stratosphere. I will keep looking out for either recabling my headphones or doing it myself, but I don't trust my soldering skills that much. The Woo electrostatic amps sure do look pretty....

 

[HemiSam]

Make sure you look at the pics I posted of the Moon adapter I received.  It's a POS.
 
HS

 

[mshawkin]

  Make sure you look at the pics I posted of the Moon adapter I received.  It's a POS.
 
HS

I just saw that on another forum! I just contacted someone who makes much better looking male adapters, we will see where that gets me. Thanks for all the information everyone. 

 

[HPiper]

Quick question for anyone who owns a 950. How does the sound of this compare to an HD600 or HD650. I am on the fence about getting one and would kind of like to get some idea of what it sounds like.

 

[HemiSam]

Quick question for anyone who owns a 950. How does the sound of this compare to an HD600 or HD650. I am on the fence about getting one and would kind of like to get some idea of what it sounds like.

I'll do my best but it's a tough question and I do not profess to have the golden ears many here seem to have.

I play my HD650s, mostly FLAC files, via a Caiman Beresford MkII DAC to a Woo WA7 amp. At first I was not impressed with the "veiled" sound but after a week or two of burn-in (mental or electronic I havent a clue) they are my favorite cans. I lke the fairly natural reproduction and the ability to get the lows feeling sufficiently impactful. I also like that they are forgiving of lesser quality files.

The ESP-950's are a lot more comfortable even if the plastic is a bit cheesy and the slider for the cans moves a bit too easily. The Koss are also forgiving of lesser source files, but perhaps just a tad less so. The highs and the mids...the mids....wow. Really nice. The bass is there and it was better than I expected after doing a fair amount of reading, but they are a bit light there coming out of the E90. At first I found myself looking for tunes w more bass to compensate, but then I adjusted and I am good with them.

As for all arounder a, I tend to lean towards the 650s a bit more but it's not a fair comparison in that I would argue my HD's are amped more meaningfully with the Woo than the ESP's from the E90s. I have a KGST on order that should arrive this month for the Koss. That should be an interesting experiment.

Good luck.

HS

 

[scottiebabie]

for me, a hd600 is better balanced & just more extended. thats stock cabling & all. i like the hd600 enough to order a set of custom cables for it. i just traded my hd800 off & so far, im not missing it everytime i use its cheaper sibling. however it mite be not be a fair comparo as i do have (IMO) one of the best SS amp for dynamic headphones.
 
for me, the 950 + e90 combo has this leanness in sound tonality (ala akg70x series) that just bothers me to the point that i dont listen to it anymore while i await a better e-stat amp. with stock amp, its just not satisfying. YMMV ofcos
 
that said, the 950 does some things very right. its very smooth (almost analoguish like), quick(er) & has an easy listening quality to it so much so that for me, its worth investing time & money to continue on the e-stat adventure. 
 
so far, to my ears its recabled T1 > stock HD600 >>> stock esp950

 

[crazychile]

  Ok Head-fi, I haven't posted in a while. Not since I was one of the early adapters for the HE-400 and the whole mess that came with it. But yesterday, I came across this. I couldn't help myself and just went for it. I don't know if they work, but boy they sure are in great great shape aesthetically. Doing some research I came up here, but I am stuck as to what to do next. Should I contact Koss for a replacement e90? is the DIY approach fairly easy for just making an adapter? Any input is appreciated!
 
EDIT- I'm going back reading all of the messages that have come before me too, so I'm not totally lazy. I'm getting excited here! I'm seeing Darin Fong's work, and I'm seeing the APuresound website for recabling. I never thought I'd own a pair of headphones like this and be searching for a potential Stax amp! Wow!!!

Side note... I owned HE-400's for about a month and they never sounded right so I sent them back (maybe they were defective). I replaced them with AKG K702s which were much more coherent (albeit not as much bass). Once I got my Koss' I immediately sold  my AKGs. They were that much better to me in the areas that mattered and I really had no desire to listen to the AKGs again.. The Koss may be slightly lean sounding when compared to non-stats, but not nearly as much as the AKGs. And lack of power with the AKGs was definitely not the issue.

 

[m8o]

I wish everyone would stop wanting one so I could get one relatively cheap. ... I kid.

 

[scottiebabie]

  Make sure you look at the pics I posted of the Moon adapter I received.  It's a POS.
 
HS

 
yaa i saw. however, allied is OOS (til who knows when) for the stax compatible plug so i went with the moonaudio for now. will see how it goes

 

[doctorjazz]

for me, a hd600 is better balanced & just more extended. thats stock cabling & all. i like the hd600 enough to order a set of custom cables for it. i just traded my hd800 off & so far, im not missing it everytime i use its cheaper sibling. however it mite be not be a fair comparo as i do have (IMO) one of the best SS amp for dynamic headphones.

for me, the 950 + e90 combo has this leanness in sound tonality (ala akg70x series) that just bothers me to the point that i dont listen to it anymore while i await a better e-stat amp. with stock amp, its just not satisfying. YMMV ofcos

that said, the 950 does some things very right. its very smooth (almost analoguish like), quick(er) & has an easy listening quality to it so much so that for me, its worth investing time & money to continue on the e-stat adventure. 

so far, to my ears its recabled T1 > stock HD600 >>> stock esp950

If you go back a bit, you'll see that some have found the leanness lessened to a great extent with a better power supply to the e90 (myself included). Bass and mids have much more body since changing the power supply and power cord (mostly the power supply). Having said that, I've gotten a Stax 323, came a few days ago, waiting for my Fong adapter cord (too lazy to solder), let you know if and how much better it makes things (already quite good, thank you).

 

[scottiebabie]

If you go back a bit, you'll see that some have found the leanness lessened to a great extent with a better power supply to the e90 (myself included). Bass and mids have much more body since changing the power supply and power cord (mostly the power supply). Having said that, I've gotten a Stax 323, came a few days ago, waiting for my Fong adapter cord (too lazy to solder), let you know if and how much better it makes things (already quite good, thank you).

 
yup read about the experiments using aftermarket psu + power cords. i dont doubt there could be improvements that way but i decided if im gonna go that, then i mites well go all the way. as mentioned i have a kgsshv coming so it would be the way to go for me esp if i want to climb up the e-stat pole. 
 
would definitely appreciate your impressions once your koss2stax adapter cable arrives. im sure there will be gains. im def interested in knowing to what degree & in which areas. looking forward to your posts

 

[doctorjazz]

Sure thing, anxiously awaiting the adapter cable as well...
I'd be interested to hear about the kgsshv as well!

 

[n3rdling]

mshawkin, whatever amp you decide to get just make sure it has a Stax Pro socket on it (580 bias voltage).

 

[mshawkin]

  mshawkin, whatever amp you decide to get just make sure it has a Stax Pro socket on it (580 bias voltage).

Thank you for this. I'm going to think long and hard before I decide what I want for these guys. I still haven't modded the cable yet. As I'm not the original owner, I am not sure if the warranty still applies, but I've already contacted Koss anyway and am waiting for a confirmation. 
 
 

 
Side note... I owned HE-400's for about a month and they never sounded right so I sent them back (maybe they were defective). I replaced them with AKG K702s which were much more coherent (albeit not as much bass). Once I got my Koss' I immediately sold  my AKGs. They were that much better to me in the areas that mattered and I really had no desire to listen to the AKGs again.. The Koss may be slightly lean sounding when compared to non-stats, but not nearly as much as the AKGs. And lack of power with the AKGs was definitely not the issue.

I never minded my HE-400. They are really the first good pair of headphones I've owned. They get a bit heavy after a while, but I still think they are an easy headphone to carry around if I find myself out of town. I really hadn't even thought of buying another pair until these Koss headphones showed up on a local craigslist. Heck, I didn't even know Koss MADE headphones of this caliber. Reading more and more about them though, hearing comparisons to the HD800 and various Stax (something that I always thought was out of my reach), it's only been making me more excited. I'll keep this thread updated with how everything goes.