[barondla]

"I like them for laid-back listening."

That's one reason I'm keeping them. They're that comfortable. But even more important, the way these headphones reproduce the sound of the human voice once they get warmed up is spectacular. I say "once they get warmed up" because it seems to me that the headphone and/or energizer need about an hour or so to sound their best. That could just be a subjective impression though.

Regarding vocals, I'd never say that headphones are better than real life or even than speakers (overall). But headphones can do something that neither real life or speakers can, which is create a space inside your head. And when you find the right vocal track, the immediacy and clarity with which the 95X inhabits your headspace with a singer's voice, the absolute intimacy of it, is something special.

To be fair to a headphone, I always try to find tracks that sound good on them and judge them based on that. It's unfair to play just any old thing and then render judgment because often it's not the headphone at all but the way the music was recorded that you're actually judging.

Here's a list of relaxing vocal tracks that sound great on these headphones, tracks that let them shine. These are all Master Quality Audio tracks listened to on Tidal. I can't vouch for the quality if you listen to them somewhere else (like YouTube).




Two other things I like about the 95X:

--Partly as a result of driver size, things often sound miniaturized on headphones. On the 95X, they sound lifelike.

--A cliche about headphones is that, if they're good, you hear things you'd never heard before on them. That's already happened several times where I didn't realize something was there in a mix until now.

The 95X come with some quirks (and an energizer). But if vocals and comfort are the top two things on your list, you might want to try them.

Someone, and I believe it was on this thread, said that to honor the warranty Koss requires that the headphones get returned with the stock pads. Anybody know if that's true? If a pad swap voids the warranty, that would be my one dealbreaker. Itchy, noisy, crackling stock pads have to go. Every now and then, I'm getting some low-level hums, staticky noises and faint electrical buzzing. I'm chalking it up to quirks associated with estats.

They do sound better after being on. They really hit their stride after 3-4 hours. My Acoustat full range electrostatic speakers mention the need for the panel to fully charge. Think stats are like a large capacitor.

Believe I remember Michael Koss saying the original pads need to be on the headphones for factory servicing. He said to remove any after market pads and reinstall the originals before sending them in for warranty work. This probably keeps Koss from being liable for damaged or lost pads. They may also have test equipment calibrated for the stock pads.

 

[Brahmsian]

I had not used my ESP-950's for a while, I was off doing other things....

Well, I needed some music at 2 AM, so plugged them in to my Stax SRM-T1 which happened to be set up and... hey! One channel is WAY quieter / distorted!

I had to dial in ~12 dB more level in the right channel than the left to "center" things, and even them the right channel didn't sound "right."

What the -?

So I left the amp on and the ESP-950's plugged in for a good long time, like overnight. No audio playing, just plugged in and "on" so the bias was supplied.

Today, they were fine. No channel imbalance, same audio quality left and right.

Seems that sometimes these can take a while to charge up. Maybe not all of 12 hours were needed, that's what I happened to do.

I recalled that electrostatic transducers have high resistance coatings on their diaphragms to prevent "charge migration-"

This quote from a thread in DIY AUDIO puts it nicely:


"A high resistance diaphragm is used for ESLs to maintain "constant charge" operation. By having a very high resistance, the charge on the diaphragm is prevented from moving toward the center of the diaphragm when the diaphragm is deflected toward one stator or the other by the audio signal.

If the charge were allowed to move (low sheet resistance diaphragm), at extremes of excursion all the charge would move to the center of the diaphragm so only the central area of the diaphragm would be driven and the result would be distortion."

So I guess if you take the really high equivalent series resistance and capacitance of the driver and do your RC time constant math you come up with a fairly long time to reach a full charge. And maybe the 'phones normally store some of that charge so they don't take an hour to charge back up- long charging time means a long bleed-down time - but maybe my headphones were sitting while idle with the connector pins laying on an amplifier chassis and the charge for the right driver got totally bled off.

Probably the phenomenon described above by milosz has something to do with why ESP-95X seems to sound better after about an hour of use and maybe also why they sounded awful when I first plugged them in. They need to charge. Amps I think also sound a little nicer after they warm up.

 

[barondla]

 

[barondla]

Hope you enjoy my earpad mod detailed below.

 

[barondla]

Earpad mod for Koss/Massdrop ESP95X. This only works with the Massdrop Velour pads and is 100% reversible to stock in seconds. $5 mod.

There are many earpads made for the Koss. They all affect the sound in different ways. Some of the custom pads are quite expensive, and there's no way of listening before purchase. I wanted to experiment without investing a fortune and wanted to tune the pads to my tastes.

First, I thought about stats and pads. A better seal increases bass response, up to a point. Totally sealing the earcups can reduces bass, dynamics, and soundstage. Bass is probably reduced because there is too much pressure build up inside the cup and the ultra light weight, low power electrostatic panel can't overcome it. Most electrostaic speakers and headphones aren't closed back or in a box. So, first design point is to allow some leakage.

Second, closed back earphones almost always sound closed in compared to open air phones. The close proximity of the pads may cause reflections that muddy staging cues. Earpad reflections need to be controlled.

Third, the pads need to be tuneable and easily returnable to stock. The exact amount of seal and reflection should be adjustable to suit owner's tastes.


THE MOD

Mod uses 5/8" velcro (the part with hooks). Buy the NON STICKY sew on type ( Do not sew). It naturally clings to the velour pads and stays where it is placed. I used 1 10" piece for each earcup. After months of listening I decided to add another 1.5" to each ear cup. You may decide upon a different length. Velcro allows this to be adjusted instantly. Notice that 11.5" is too short to surround the whole earcup. This allows some air leakage for more dynamic bass. Make sure to locate the Velcro right up against where the pads attach to the earcups.

11.5" won't encircle the complete earcup. It makes a difference where the open gap is placed. I placed the reflection prone velcro behind the ear and left the front open. There aren't any high frequency reflections in front of the ears to reduce sound staging cues. Set up properly, the modded phones sound open like the stock Koss. The 1.5" additional Velcro wraps around the bottom front of the pads. This positioning proved quite important to bass quanity and impact. See photo (I hope it works) to show placement of velcro.

I use a PonoPlayer or sometimes Ayre Codex into the Koss energizer with stock power suppy and an ADC Sound Shaper analog EQ. Without changing EQ settings, the sound has more impact and dynamics in the bass with as good if not better sound staging. The Velcro's width is slightly less than the earpad so it won't touch your face. This mod also fixes one small gripe I have with the Koss. It allows correct L & R channel identification by feel, even in the dark. Velcro gap faces front. Hope some of you will try this mod and do a little experimentation. Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[barondla]

 

[Brahmsian]

Vesper audio make some very nice pads.

I'm leaning toward Vesper. Is there a consensus on what material is best with stats? Barondla just wrote that a total seal is not desirable:

"Totally sealing the earcups can reduce bass, dynamics, and soundstage. Bass is probably reduced because there is too much pressure build up inside the cup and the ultra light weight, low power electrostatic panel can't overcome it."

Is leather then not the best option? Fenestrated? Is there a reason why Massdrop exchanged the original leatherette stock pads for the velour ones? I'm going to search the thread for info but if anybody has anything to add please do so.

 

[adeadcrab]

I have an upcoming order for alcantara, and another for perforated microsuede. They have upgrades like mem foam (I would think that's a must!) and angled pads.

The scritchy-scratchy noise and comfort from the stock earpads are major downsides.

 

[Brahmsian]

I have an upcoming order for alcantara, and another for perforated microsuede. They have upgrades like mem foam (I would think that's a must!) and angled pads.

The scritchy-scratchy noise and comfort from the stock earpads are major downsides.

I usually lean toward leather but this might be an exception. Hope you post some observations.

 

[adeadcrab]

Will be a few weeks - haven't even ordered them yet. Vesper do recabling also and I will be asking if they can help me with a couple pair of dynamic headphones.

I think with some comfortable pads, the 95X are killers for everyday use - YouTube, movies / streaming, laid-back music listening - they are just so light and comfortable.

edit - their most popular pads are leather or perforated leather, I just chose not to order leather. They can do alcantara inside / leather outside, shoot them an email.

 

[robo24]

I got mine in all Alcantara with memory foam. Sounds great and very light and comfortable.

 

[dagothur]

I got these a few weeks ago and I've noticed the left driver starts to lose power after about 30 minutes of use and slowly gets worse. There was light squealing on that side a few days after I got them so I assumed dust got on the driver, but the squealing went away not longer after. Has anybody had a similar issue and fixed it?

 

[Brahmsian]

their most popular pads are leather or perforated leather, I just chose not to order leather. They can do alcantara inside / leather outside, shoot them an email.

I got mine in all Alcantara with memory foam. Sounds great and very light and comfortable.

I think it's the foam over the driver that makes so much noise as your ears brush against it. I'm assuming the Vesper pads use cloth instead.

 

[Brahmsian]

I got these a few weeks ago and I've noticed the left driver starts to lose power after about 30 minutes of use and slowly gets worse. There was light squealing on that side a few days after I got them so I assumed dust got on the driver, but the squealing went away not longer after. Has anybody had a similar issue and fixed it?

I had a faint staticky sound in the left ear cup that gradually turned into a squeal. It went away but if it continues to come back I will definitely have to let these go. It's a shame because I really like them. I haven't been able to find a consistent answer as to what causes it. One person says it's dust, another says that

"the problem turned out to be inside the earcup. The cable from the driver unit doubled back too close to the post where the cable was soldered to the driver unit. Some of the charge traveled down the outside of the cable. You could actually see the little sparks in the dark. I ultimately managed to pull the cable a few mm away and that solved the problem."

 

[Makiah S]

I'll post some pictures after I paint it buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut

That pesky knob on your 95X Energizer... you can Loctite it together. Set the two knobs till their quite even heck measure with a SPL Meter [I've actually got Galaxy Audio CM 140 which I've found to be nice enough] and once you verify the knobs have your 95X at equal volume levels... unplug un power flip the entire amp facing upright with the knob towards the sky and SUPERGLUE the two pieces together where the First Knob Ends and the second "starts", and go nuts, once it dries it's hideous but it's effective. An hour of testing and I can't differentiate between the Super Glue'd 95X Energize and another I've got that's "stock" as I mentioned I'll be painting it in the morning [as I've got some black paint] and I'll post pictures

But yea good ole Loctite to the rescue!