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Quote:
I'm glad someone hears and understands exactly what I am talking about with high end custom IEM vs full size electrostatic headphone rig vs speakers.
You also reminded me to include my Sennheiser HE60 in my short list of those full size phones that disappear with a big soundstage, but at the expense of the bass impact and immersion and presence of the instruments. Still, NONE of my full size headphone rigs give me the same complete sense of immersion and presence and weight of the instruments that the ES3X can - since I got the ES3X I hardly listen to anything else if I can avoid it.
| Originally Posted by Deadneddz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Although i've not heard the ES3X, I do own the UE-11s. My impressions of the UE-11s are very similar to HPAs when he describes his experience with the ES3X's. When i listen to the UE-11s the sound is quite captivating. Its headstage is mysterious in that im also unable to localize sound when listening to them. However i do believe its the combination of its transparency and dynamics, along with the fact that it does not incorporate the pinna. However, although its soundstage is so impressively articulate and precise, its not the same feeling i get when listening to highend full size rigs, only as far as soundstage is concerned. There is a caveat though. Most of my impressions left me baffled as to why many fairly expensive full size rigs (headphones and speakers) did not give me the sheer involvment in music as the UE-11s do. Its simply the fact that when introducing the pinna, the transducer now has the task of eliminating the fact that your ear can now better localize the headstage. This is somthing that i've found to be almost impossible to ignore with headphones. I don't get the visceral and emotional feeling of music when i can clearly hear the sound coming from an inch away from each ear, even if its so incredibly slight. Its just not natural. Not until listening to a very small group of highend, mostly electrostatic based rigs, did i find out that headphones can be so dynamic and precise that it can actually incorporate the pinna, but trick you into only hearing the soundstage. At this point the pinna cannot localize the sound anymore, just like the UE-11s(or HPA's description of the ES3X's), but now have more headstage room to fill with sound. Speakers are different in that they are much farther away than any headphone is, which is imo the reason why they can give sound such realistic space, since the headstage they project is literally moving through larger spaces, which our ears can process as actual space that music is travelling in. However like headphones, they still need to trick the pinna into not being able to directly localize the sound. This is of course possible with high quality gear as always. berthoud, i don't think the ESW3's are what your looking for. It seems like you need a high quality speaker rig. 
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I'm glad someone hears and understands exactly what I am talking about with high end custom IEM vs full size electrostatic headphone rig vs speakers.
You also reminded me to include my Sennheiser HE60 in my short list of those full size phones that disappear with a big soundstage, but at the expense of the bass impact and immersion and presence of the instruments. Still, NONE of my full size headphone rigs give me the same complete sense of immersion and presence and weight of the instruments that the ES3X can - since I got the ES3X I hardly listen to anything else if I can avoid it.
