[apmusson]

This is an interesting old thread, not sure if any of the protagonists are still around.

I wonder how you went with your L700/ 009 thoughts. Did you get one or the other?

I am just starting the electrostat route myself. I have a nice old SRM-313 connected to my setup and a couple of headphones on the way - the L700 and the Koss/Drop 95x with a Stax plug. Looking forward to playing around with these two, and I imagine I would ultimately only keep one.

I found some of the DAC discussions here quite interesting too. I tried Yggi only at head-fi meets and didn't really have enough time to form an impression, but there wasn't really an immediately obvious one, apart from its sheer size... At this point in time you can find yesteryear's top DACs for good prices, and despite tech changes, some of these sound every bit as good of anything else that's out there. I am using the Antelope Zodiac Gold at the heart of my system - it is the best DAC I ever had in my system (to my ears) which includes some bit-perfect DACs. The Zodiac's other main plus is the almost unlimited potential as a preamp.

Getting the electrostats components now make it a complete, full-range headphone system - apart from the 313 it outputs to an Auralic Taurus mk2 amp, and is being fed by a dedicated computer with digital library, a Denon CD transport, and a Sony turntable. The L700 will join the LCD-XC and HD-800S as a complete headphone system.

I'm also starting my electrostatic trial. I have an l700 and 006ts kimik2 on the way. It'll be interesting to hear your experiences with the Koss. My current setup is Chord Hugo 2, Chord Mscaler, Innuos Zen all linear powered. Headphones are HD800 (SDR modded), HD650s and LCD 2.2.

I'll update after a couple of weeks settling in for the Stax. I'm expecting delivery late this week or early next week.

Oh. I also purchased three audiophile fuses.. Not expecting much improvement but have been stunned by the use of audiophile power cables...

 

[intlsubband]

I'm also starting my electrostatic trial. I have an l700 and 006ts kimik2 on the way. It'll be interesting to hear your experiences with the Koss. My current setup is Chord Hugo 2, Chord Mscaler, Innuos Zen all linear powered. Headphones are HD800 (SDR modded), HD650s and LCD 2.2.

I'll update after a couple of weeks settling in for the Stax. I'm expecting delivery late this week or early next week.

Oh. I also purchased three audiophile fuses.. Not expecting much improvement but have been stunned by the use of audiophile power cables...

The Koss/Drop arrived a couple of days ago, the Stax plug and the L700 are both still on the way. So far I'm listening to the Koss from the much-maligned E/90x bundled amp.

At the heart of my system is an Antelope Zodiac Gold DAC/preamp, and it outputs in parallel to the Koss amp, as well as my main amp for dynamics/planars, the Auralic Taurus mk 2. So I can have the Koss (and soon, the Stax) running at the same time as my LCD-XC and HD-800S (thus completing a full headphone system with the 3 main driver types).

So far I am really surprised with the Koss - it sounds better than I expected out of the bundled amp. The super fast electrostatic decay is real. Great great mids. The bass is more detailed and present than I thought it would be, but clearly lacks the weight of the XC. The Koss has more neutral mids than the XC, which has a noticable bump in the upper mids (which is not necessarily bad, but gives it a colour/ character). A different beast altogether of course, but very happy to finally add an electrostatic to my setup. Can't wait to get the L700 in the next few days! will post more impressions.