[ToroFiestaSol]

If it is a high quality headphone (SR-009 & SR-007 competitor), an included transformer for use with speaker amps is pointless, is an inferior method compared to a dedicated electrostatic amplifier.

Every person is a different world, I would like red wine and jamón serrano included, that would make me happy (nothing beats red wine and jamón serrano, nothing!).

 

[mrspeakers]

The only one authorized to announce pricing and other information on the electrostatic is me. When we announce, which will be soon, I will provide full information. Until then, I simply encourage people to not comment on this as you have only a partial idea of what you're actually commenting on.

Thanks!

 

[wuwhere]

I briefly listened to this at RMAF 2017 on a BHSE, even compared it side by side with my O2MkI.

 

[AxelCloris]

We've removed some of the more personal posts from the thread. Please keep the discussion focused on MrSpeakers' upcoming electrostat and not one another. Thanks everyone.

 

[Fastnbulbous]

Now it's three grand and then five grand for the Blue Hawaii. This is just the same old same old.

Does this look like chopped liver?

 

[headr]

Are people under the impression that the Blue Hawaii is the only electrostatic amplifier that exists?

Stax produces a wide range of electrostatic amplifiers across the price spectrum. A Woo WEE is also a viable option.

In my personal experience, I have enjoyed electrostatic headphones the most with amplifiers without tubes. Tubes are not necessary for e-stats.

 

[bearwarrior]

Really hope more info can be released.

People are starting to looking at the amp pairing for sure. Carbon / BHSE will definitely be amazing.

 

[Monsterzero]

If they did that they really need to also sell it without one. I think for most interested in a stat at this cost level an included energizer is pointless.

Perhaps most.Not all.

 

[SeaWo|f]

Are people under the impression that the Blue Hawaii is the only electrostatic amplifier that exists?

Stax produces a wide range of electrostatic amplifiers across the price spectrum. A Woo WEE is also a viable option.

In my personal experience, I have enjoyed electrostatic headphones the most with amplifiers without tubes. Tubes are not necessary for e-stats.

It's more that the headamp BHSE has been the only non DIY amp that is readily available for purchase that the majority of the community recognises as able to extract all of the performance out of high-end stax headphones.

More recently Spitzer has kept things in stock very well at mjolnir audio, so there is another route for those who want to avoid DIY.

I think that this type of amp coming up in here is simply a reflection on the level of expectation people have for this stat. Perhaps if MrSpeakers reputation were different then the discussion would be around lesser amps.

And finally based on design details that have be revealed in conjunction with impressions on efficiency from shows it looks like an amp with significant power is needed for 'normal' listening levels.

 

[Muinarc]

Does this look like chopped liver?

Spoiler

I have the iESL on loan right now and it sounds very good. Definitely a great option. Though still not "cheap" at almost 3x a Woo Wee in price, it is worth the asking price imo so far.

Are people under the impression that the Blue Hawaii is the only electrostatic amplifier that exists?

Stax produces a wide range of electrostatic amplifiers across the price spectrum. A Woo WEE is also a viable option.

In my personal experience, I have enjoyed electrostatic headphones the most with amplifiers without tubes. Tubes are not necessary for e-stats.

Yes, according to the "Stax Mafia" there are only 2 electrostatic amplifiers on this earth and the rest are complete garbage. My first recommendation to people wanting to get into electrostats is to stay away from most Stax threads because the mafia enjoys almost complete control of the conversation and can dictate what is good and what isn't through sheer numbers. Hell most people don't even know the Woo WES exists and has been significantly updated recently and costs less than a BHSE, sounds great, and has pretty fantastic fit and finish.

And finally based on design details that have be revealed in conjunction with impressions on efficiency from shows it looks like an amp with significant power is needed for 'normal' listening levels.

Dan was gracious enough to send his electrostatic headphone to a local head fi meet and I can confirm it is a bit more efficient than my 007mk1 and probably pretty close to a 009 now. When I first tried these in July 2016, they were very power hungry, Dan has made a ton of improvements to these, I don't think they'll need excessive power.

 

[Jodet]

If they did that they really need to also sell it without one. I think for most interested in a stat at this cost level an included energizer is pointless.

If they're changing a $2600 headphone into a $3000 headphone by including something with it most people won't use that's a pretty hard to defend decision.

I had a Woo 'Wee' converter ($499) and then switched over to the kilobuck or so Stax amp. I'll never use another 'converter' again, the amp just blew it out of the water.

 

[bearwarrior]

If they're changing a $2600 headphone into a $3000 headphone by including something with it most people won't use that's a pretty hard to defend decision.

I had a Woo 'Wee' converter ($499) and then switched over to the kilobuck or so Stax amp. I'll never use another 'converter' again, the amp just blew it out of the water.

True. Electrostatic system definitely needs a quality amp to make the headphone shine.

 

[headr]

True. Electrostatic system definitely needs a quality amp to make the headphone shine.

I would rather say, in my experience, that an electrostatic system requires clean power to drive the headphones to their fullest potential. Perhaps some of the amplifier experts here who are ragging on the Woo WEE can explain in technical terms what aspect of the design of the Woo WEE fails to deliver clean power to such a headphone system?

Again, in my experience, electrostatics sound the best with solid state clean power. While electrostatics certainly have higher power requirements than other headphones, it isn't exactly entirely new ground that needs to be laid for amplifier technology. It is a known problem to solve and there are known solutions.

 

[mrspeakers]

We have a Woo WEE here and I find it works quite well with a good speaker amp. Is it as good as the Blue Hawaii? Of course not. But it's $5400 less, and if you have a quality speaker amp, especially a nice tube rig, I find it's a great affordable entry solution.

 

[SeaWo|f]

I would rather say, in my experience, that an electrostatic system requires clean power to drive the headphones to their fullest potential. Perhaps some of the amplifier experts here who are ragging on the Woo WEE can explain in technical terms what aspect of the design of the Woo WEE fails to deliver clean power to such a headphone system?

Again, in my experience, electrostatics sound the best with solid state clean power. While electrostatics certainly have higher power requirements than other headphones, it isn't exactly entirely new ground that needs to be laid for amplifier technology. It is a known problem to solve and there are known solutions.

Someone more adept at stat amp design could explain why better, but the reasons given in the past, and this may have been fixed, was that the WEE had bias supply issues and did not have the ballast resistors needed to safely power Stax headphones. There actually are detailed post about this in various places.

There is also a detailed analysis of the iESL circuit out there too.

IDK if its fair to say that stats have higher power requirements but they do require a different kind of power.

If what Muinarc said is true on the production version of the Ether-E then that is great news as many more amp options should extract good performance from the Ether-E