[bearFNF]

I used the Woo Wee with my SR009 and normal bias Lambdas for a while and it worked fine. Like Dan said is it as good as BHSE? nope. But it's not bad. IMO YMMV and all that.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Hey Mr Speakers, is there a confirmed name for the Ether Electrostatic headphone? Usually you come up with neat names like "ether, flow, aeon", I'm looking forward to what you do with this one.

 

[bearwarrior]

Agreed. Woo Wee is a decent solution for entry level. The high-end amps can make the headphones really shine.

 

[Jodet]

Agreed. Woo Wee is a decent solution for entry level. The high-end amps can make the headphones really shine.

Have you owned a Wee? I have and don't recommend it.

 

[bearwarrior]

Have you owned a Wee? I have and don't recommend it.

I had one on loan. It paired with both my SS and tube amp. It has decent sound, but it can never be compared to my Carbon. I think people really need a quality amp, like BHSE or KGSSKH Carbon, for high-end ES system.

 

[Thaudiophile]

How about a regular kgsshv mini or the "cheap" kgsshv?

 

[bearwarrior]

How about a regular kgsshv mini or the "cheap" kgsshv?

I have compared the KGSSHV mini with KGSSHV Carbon before in a meetup. You can easily notice the difference. For example, when you do A/B comparison, you will know which is which only based on the sound.

I know they have a price difference. Well. If you really want something sounds great, I will definitely recommend Carbon. It justifies its price really well. It is a step-up from mini for sure.

 

[Thaudiophile]

Well, carbon is better obviously but for someone on a tight budget, a kgsshv seems like great choice, don't you think?

 

[paradoxper]

A HV can be had for around $2k and is a great choice.

There are alternative energizers out there you'd be better off with.

But what does it matter when simple folk generalize and can't see the forest from the trees.

Headr, with all your hoopla-bologna about solid-state prowess, I sure hope you realize in comparison to the BHSE and most everything out there, the designs are of hybrid nature.

 

[Muinarc]

Well, carbon is better obviously but for someone on a tight budget, a kgsshv seems like great choice, don't you think?

If you ask someone that has money to buy $6,000 amps, they'll tell you it's a huge difference. If you ask someone that is also on a budget they'll tell you they're like 0.5% different. At the high-end you're seriously splitting hairs.

 

[SeaWo|f]

^^^ Ahh the issues with inherently subjective rankings.

But seriously if you are swinging 2-3k on one of these headphones and cant do a top amp I would advocate going as cheap as you can get away with on the amp until such time that you have the ability to purchase one which will draw the maximum performance out of these.

That does assume scaling like other top stats, but who knows maybe the Ether-E has tapped an ability to be amazing even on modest sources. Some dynamic headphones do this surprisingly well.

 

[bearwarrior]

I am just thinking that a top-end amp is necessary when a TOTL electrostatic headphone is bought. Otherwise, I will always wonder if this headphone can sound better when it has a better amp, and the headphone cannot achieve its full potential. That is kind of sad. It is kind of wasting money for its full capability.

A good sign of a good pair of headphones is that it can scale well with quality amps.

IMHO.

 

[headr]

Headr, with all your hoopla-bologna about solid-state prowess, I sure hope you realize in comparison to the BHSE and most everything out there, the designs are of hybrid nature.

First of all, an opinion can not be " hoopla bologna "

Second of all, I would admit that most of the cottage industry amplifiers built on a DIY basis by a couple guys in a garage tend to be hybrid designs (and extremely expensive). That said, I would also point out the myriad of solid state amplifier designs from actual companies, several of whom make electrostatic headphones as well. Stax, Kingsound, Sonoma Acoustics, Shure - all produce solid state amplifiers for their electrostatic headphones.

So I appreciate you calling my opinion that electrostatic headphones sound best with solid state amplifiers " hoopla bologna ", but several large companies seem to agree with me with their own amplifier pairing options, so perhaps I'm not totally " hoopla bologna ".

 

[paradoxper]

First of all, an opinion can not be " hoopla bologna "

Second of all, I would admit that most of the cottage industry amplifiers built on a DIY basis by a couple guys in a garage tend to be hybrid designs (and extremely expensive). That said, I would also point out the myriad of solid state amplifier designs from actual companies, several of whom make electrostatic headphones as well. Stax, Kingsound, Sonoma Acoustics, Shure - all produce solid state amplifiers for their electrostatic headphones.

So I appreciate you calling my opinion that electrostatic headphones sound best with solid state amplifiers " hoopla bologna ", but several large companies seem to agree with me with their own amplifier pairing options, so perhaps I'm not totally " hoopla bologna ".

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.

Rather you misunderstand, bud. The nature of all the solid-state you've heard is complete dog, IMO, of course.

What I am saying is what tube electrostatic amplifier have you heard? Please, yes, provide context to your "opinion".

 

[SeaWo|f]

First of all, an opinion can not be " hoopla bologna "

Second of all, I would admit that most of the cottage industry amplifiers built on a DIY basis by a couple guys in a garage tend to be hybrid designs (and extremely expensive). That said, I would also point out the myriad of solid state amplifier designs from actual companies, several of whom make electrostatic headphones as well. Stax, Kingsound, Sonoma Acoustics, Shure - all produce solid state amplifiers for their electrostatic headphones.

So I appreciate you calling my opinion that electrostatic headphones sound best with solid state amplifiers " hoopla bologna ", but several large companies seem to agree with me with their own amplifier pairing options, so perhaps I'm not totally " hoopla bologna ".

This whole line of discussion really belongs in the Stax thread...

But the massive amount of ignorance here is hard to ignore.

Those guys cobbling things together have had their designs on multiple occasions licensed and sold by Stax, or licensed and shelved by Stax so no one else could sell it.

In many cases Tube designs are actually cheaper than solid state, so long as you don't spec rare NOS tubes in your build. Those guys, last time I asked, preferred JJ BTW

And those guys are quite clearly on record stating that they prefer solid state designs. In fact 3 of their last 4 are SS. The tube one only came in to existence because they were fixing another companies design which they liked the sound of quite a bit just not the compromised build quality and reliability. It took on a life of its own and became a new amp entirely.

If you actually knew anything about the Stax line you would know that half of their amps to this day use tubes; including their past TOTL amp (T2) and current TOTL amp (T8000).

And I am not exactly sure what your thresh hold for a 'large company' is but King Sound and Sonoma Acoustics? Seriously

Company size has nothing to do with the choice to use SS or tubes.