[siruspan]

You see I don't think you can. Not yet. Current BA drivers can't deliver the extended high frequencies that the KSE can. If I'm wrong, I'd love recommendations on any BA headphone that mimicks (or gets close to) the KSE's FR.

As you say, it requires a new type of driver. Maybe one day, there will be much smaller BAs that are equivalently light and fast. Once you have those high-frequencies in the FR, the impulse response will follow.

It is all about the FR

Lime Ears Aether R have kinda similar tuning. Not the same though.

 

[joshnor713]

BA's are good, but the problem is range. That's why high-end makers are stuffing like 16 drivers in one earpiece, which is kind of Lol. Electrostat can do it with one driver.

 

[csglinux]

Lime Ears Aether R have kinda similar tuning.

That is true - good observation! I wouldn't underestimate the importance of a 1-2 dB shift here and there though. In my experience, differences that small can make or break a headphone. BAs tend to be good at dumping lots of energy into the lower treble, but tend to struggle in the 10 kHz+ region:

BA's are good, but the problem is range. That's why high-end makers are stuffing like 16 drivers in one earpiece, which is kind of Lol. Electrostat can do it with one driver.

Very true - and 16+ drivers per earpiece are just making these things too darn big. I suspect the future of non-electrostatic drivers lies in single, very thin and very light dynamic drivers, probably with conductive traces 3D printed directly to the driver surface.

 

[joshnor713]

That is true - good observation! I wouldn't underestimate the importance of a 1-2 dB shift here and there though. In my experience, differences that small can make or break a headphone. BAs tend to be good at dumping lots of energy into the lower treble, but tend to struggle in the 10 kHz+ region:




Very true - and 16+ drivers per earpiece are just making these things too darn big. I suspect the future of non-electrostatic drivers lies in single, very thin and very light dynamic drivers, probably with conductive traces 3D printed directly to the driver surface.

That's what the upcoming beryllium trend is attempting to do, like with the new Final A8000 and Dunu Luna. I can buy into it. IMO, it's a better effort to make a more responsive DD than stuff as many BA's in an earpiece as you can.

 

[siruspan]

That is true - good observation! I wouldn't underestimate the importance of a 1-2 dB shift here and there though. In my experience, differences that small can make or break a headphone. BAs tend to be good at dumping lots of energy into the lower treble, but tend to struggle in the 10 kHz+ region:




Very true - and 16+ drivers per earpiece are just making these things too darn big. I suspect the future of non-electrostatic drivers lies in single, very thin and very light dynamic drivers, probably with conductive traces 3D printed directly to the driver surface.

I've had Aether R universal for review and noticed that they have some similarities with my KSE. They both tend to relay heavily on recordings themselfes to create a soundstage so they can be one time close and intimate and another time very open and stadium like. Both have snappy transient response and both have very good treble especially Aether for a BA based was impressive. Overall they are very good but way below what Shure can do with bass, transparency, resolution, etc, etc

 

[Tybot]

Does anyone on here know what the pin configuration is for the 6-pin connector? I’m trying to build an adapter to a Stax 5-pin but can’t find anything online. Thanks!

 

[Tachikoma]

Don't. The bias voltage for modern Stax headphones is almost 3 times the bias for the KSE1500/1200.

 

[Tybot]

Don't. The bias voltage for modern Stax headphones is almost 3 times the bias for the KSE1500/1200.

The bias voltage will be properly adjusted downward before KSE’s are ever attached.
I would prefer to use a KSE1500 amp/dac but can’t find one.

 

[csglinux]

Don't. The bias voltage for modern Stax headphones is almost 3 times the bias for the KSE1500/1200.

I'm fairly sure there was somebody on this thread who'd tried it and said it worked fine. But please don't anybody quote me on that if someone's KSE ends up as a smoldering lump of molten plastic

 

[Tybot]

There have been two examples I have found. The first re-wired the KSE1500 IEMs, permanently utilizing a Stax 5-pin plug and a Kingsound amp that had been adjusted. It was criticized because an unknowing future owner could plug them into any Stax 5-pin amp and fry the IEMs.

The second and more appealing approach built an adapter but left the IEMs with their original 6-pin connector. Same thing...using a dialed down Kingsound. Seems safer as the usage would only be possible with the pigtal adapter, which would make future accidents much less likely.

At any rate, I'm trying to get creative as I haven't found a KSE1500 amp.

 

[joshnor713]

But why?

 

[Tybot]

But why?

If you're referring to my project...because I have a very nice pair of KSE1500 IEMs and no amp to power them nor have I been able to find a KSE amp available for sale.

 

[dleblanc343]

If anyone wants to play around with eq, I’d be curious what you guys think of this eq profile on KSE1500. I tinkered around for 2 hours and made 3 user defined custom EQ’s and kept the user defined 4 neutral for quick A/B. This here, imo, is the best sounding configuration I can get to have more musicality and the most natural sound delivery possible. Make sure to set your gain to never hit clipping (stay in green)

Very easy to copy the values, just scroll from 1. Mimic on screen, then move to 2., 3., then finally 4.

I don’t like hyperbole, but a stock kse1200/1500 is lacking a bit of versatility. But this eq (and another less aggressive one I’ve done) make any single iem on market completely irrelevant (Own IER-M9 for their great plug and play performance. Owned kaiser encore, solaris. Demo’d u12t, Z1R, Anole VX)

 

[TYATYA]

If anyone wants to play around with eq, I’d be curious what you guys think of this eq profile on KSE1500. I tinkered around for 2 hours and made 3 user defined custom EQ’s and kept the user defined 4 neutral for quick A/B. This here, imo, is the best sounding configuration I can get to have more musicality and the most natural sound delivery possible. Make sure to set your gain to never hit clipping (stay in green)

Very easy to copy the values, just scroll from 1. Mimic on screen, then move to 2., 3., then finally 4.

I don’t like hyperbole, but a stock kse1200/1500 is lacking a bit of versatility. But this eq (and another less aggressive one I’ve done) make any single iem on market completely irrelevant (Own IER-M9 for their great plug and play performance. Owned kaiser encore, solaris. Demo’d u12t, Z1R, Anole VX)

Doing so, you hearing from Kse internal dac.
1. Sharp sound w/o refining
2. Narrow headstage
Unless you need a cleaner and shaper sound (may good for some kind of music), it is not as good as running from external dac - EQ bypass.

P.s I have not found a dac that could bring a sharp sound than internal one in kse.
Completely no echo, no reverb, no warmth, no coloring...
Dry and sharp.
Internal dac in kse makes me somtimes feel AK sp1000 is refine but coloring.

Ps2. If Iam not wrong, Shure's launched an app (android world) called Shure play which exact the one in kse.
I run it on my dap

 

[dleblanc343]

Doing so, you hearing from Kse internal dac.
1. Sharp sound w/o refining
2. Narrow headstage
Unless you need a cleaner and shaper sound (may good for some kind of music), it is not as good as running from external dac - EQ bypass.


Ps2. If Iam not wrong, Shure's launched an app (android world) called Shure play which exact the one in kse.

Interesting I was not aware of the app.

I actually use this EQ while running analog input - so not using the Shure's DAC, just the amp. However, it sounds markedly better than a stock KSE1200 with these configurations.

Dan