Given these headphones come with an "energizer," how would I go about using them with my MacBook to stream music? I've been looking for a dedicated classical music headphone, and this looks like a good bet. I considered a STAX, but read somewhere that they offered no warranty outside Japan. So I was simply elated to find this American-made electrostatic headphone with a lifetime warranty.
I'm a bit late jumping in, but...
Re connection to a MacBook by analog, I'd start with the 1/8th out headphone jack, and either go with the split to twin RCA or the 1/8th on the other end to the energizer. It accepts analog either way, and the ESP-950 comes with a workable version of both kinds of cable. Already covered, I know. I've done it with my PCs, my Galaxy phones, no real complaint about the sound that way. The manual is available online, it tells you what comes in the box.
You can probably step up using a decent DAC from the USB out, and pipe analog from it to the energizer, as mentioned also. That is what I do most of the time. My DAC/Amp is a FiiO E18, which has a line level out. Uber DACs beat it, and it has a sub-bass rolloff that pisses me off a bit, but it sounds better than the other analog outs that I have.
FWIW, I use mine with Classical, and everything else I get my hands on. I mean, live rock, ELP, Pink Floyd, Jazz, Windham Hill, whatever. When I added a 'bass exciter' (harmonic exciter as recommended by cskippy) to foobar (in Windows), it gives me all the ridiculous bass I get from the Beyerdynamic Street Custom or Sennheiser HD518, without the flab, and keeps the ethereal mids and highs the Koss have without it. Some bass EQ helps too, but not the same. Really, the frequency response of the ESP-950 is pretty damn flat, all things considered. It is just fun to make them sound more like dynamic headphones. The MacBook guys say they have equivalent setups - check Allanmarcus' signature for reference.
Comfort? I love mine loose. I added aftermarket earpads from Vesper Audio after reading the recommendations in this thread. You can get them from Fong Audio / store too, many here share my opinion they improve comfort lots and the sound at least a little. Even with the few extra ounces they add in weight, these headphones weigh almost nothing. I can, and do, listen to them for hours on end and notice only the glorious sound.
I was going to jump in and share the link I had for a real North America Stax distributor, but on checking I see it is done. I read a (to me...) hilarious comment on Reddit about it - "You can only buy from ebay or
Price Japan as of now. You will have to wait until a US STAX distributor is established again to buy within the country since the guy who ran STAX USA in the past was a dick and pussied out because his toe hurt too much." heh... Someone saying he'll handle warranty work for a year on the STAX is
http://www.smartimports.net. Looks like they don't have the US voltage versions of the energizers, though. The SRS-5100 is probably a step up from the Koss, the SRS-3100 a step down. Complete Lambda kits, though. Some like them better.
Short story, I love my ESP-950, I've even taken them mobile with the calf-skin bag and the c-cell battery pack, my phone and the FiiO. Warranty is good for as long as there is Koss - probably. Some day I'll buy a spare set. Bang for buck is ridiculous. I try other headsets every so often, and I'm trying to convince my buddy to jump and buy those Audeze LCD-3 so we can compare 'notes'. He gets to listen to Infinity RS-1A in his man cave most of the time, headphones not really high on his list, I think a Sony ES UBP-X1000ES is next on his list along with a 4K projector. I'm thinking I'll have to wait a little longer for the high end planar experience...
