I havenāt broken these out in awhile, but all the activity on this thread inspired me. Iāve been nervous about using them, because I havenāt taken meticulous care of them in the sense that you should keep estats in a dust free environment. I had them on a headphone stand, but no dust cover and they sat unused for at least 6 months.
Happily, no issues to report. Running off the Qutest for the first time, and Iām surprised at the amount of bass Iām hearing. I had upgraded to the perforated dekoni leather pads before I put them down for a spell, and I remember the added bass impact, just not to this degree. Previously I had run them off of the SMSL VMV D1 and they were warmer than neutral, but my memory may be based off of the stock pads.
Iāve been mulling my next purchase, and higher tier electrostatics have been in consideration. Looking at what thatās going to cost me compared to how much I already enjoy the sound from these makes the decision easier to go for something with a little bit broader application. Dropping cash on something like a Blue Hawaii makes less sense to me when I consider Iād likely pick a single pair of estats to use with it regardless of how much I like the DCA Voce or SR-007. For under $400 and an investment in an entry level DAC, its pretty impossible to beat the value for anyone looking to experience electrostatic headphones.
For what itās worth, I enjoy songs on these that Iām not crazy about on other headphones. There are a lot of songs by The Beatles and Beach Boys songs like Donāt Worry Baby where I just prefer them on speakers to headphones, but for whatever reason I feel differently about these. In Donāt Worry Baby Brian Wilsonās vocals are fully in the left channel and the harmonization all takes place in the right. Normally I dislike the presentation despite loving the song, but these work for me. Without specifying genres, I think the strengths of these headphones show best with strings, piano, and most vocals and the better the DAC the better they perform. Canāt recommend enough at the sale price
Itās funny you mention piano, violins, and vocals specifically, because I feel the same way. Granted, these are the best performing headphones I have tried, but the 95X seems to easily seperate real pianos/violins from good synthetics and good synthetics from mediocre ones due to the level of nuance the headphones can do.
I have a couple of electronic pieces with synthetic pianos and violins and subtle details (or lack of) just really pop out. I would used to think āthatās a pretty nice violin soundā but with my 95X, I sometimes think āthe artist has some really convincing violins, but itās still missing the full timbre.ā
And voicesā¦ normally I just listen through without caring much about subtleties, but itās extra rewarding to pay attention to small inflections, breathing, etc with these headphones. Makes me want to try an HD600 for good dynamic-driver mid-centric presentation. I sometimes see people make favorable comparisons between the Sennheiser and the Koss.
I can see that, but I donāt know if I would have come up with that myself. I am a very big fan of the HD600, but if you donāt run it off of a tube amp it loses some of what makes it special.
I know exactly what you mean here. Since I listen to a lot music that is sometimes a bit mhh crappy produced I can totally relate to that. Have noticed these things aswell listening to them these days
Does anyone here use the original Koss 950 & E/90 Energizer, or have used both? Are there substantive differences? Are there any advantages to the oldies, besides case/battery/accessories? Would you rather the new set without the accoutrements for $100 plus more than a minty old set?
Is the old Koss stuff lifetime warranty as well? They seem pretty chill about the warranty. I need to send in my Porta Pros, and they donāt say anything about proof of purchase. They just said send it in with $9 for the return shipping.
I dont know that, but it depends on what lifetime warranty means, i guess. In germany its 10 years if im right. The lifetime of a product or something like this.
But if they just say send it in, it seems to be ok i guess?
someone want to clarify a bit on this, havenāt tried this one and about to get a bit more into checking out electrostatics potentially starting with this. Getting told itās rather bass anemic or very bass recessed, mids raised up, and neutral treble. Sound about right? someone mind giving me info on this one? Would appreciate it, will check back in later.
Not sure if this one would be a good fit for me, I would think by now people have a general idea of what sound I prefer so do let me know.
I think thatās probably an accurate overall assessment. I personally never found the bass lacking on the 95X, but I know a lot of people do. I also know a lot of people EQ the crap out of them and are happy with the results. I know a lot of people pair them with the Schiit EQ thing (Loki I think). Hard to go wrong for $400 if you want to try them out. They are special. I ended up trading mine away, just because I like more portability. If I exclusively listened at my desk, I think Iād still have them and would be quite content.
I for my part donĀ“t find the bass lacking either. Its there, but it doesnt have much quantity, but its displayed a bit different with these huge drivers i would say. They are very open. I think it fits well in the sound. Like said, many people find them bass light. Just subjective preferences i guess.
What gets me the most about these is how effortless the music is displayed. I always feel like its coming out of nowhere. It doesnt feel like something is physicially moving. Cant really describe. They just sound a bit different.
They respond well to EQ.
I think they are definetly worth a try.
I have not tried the 950, but from my own research it seems the only differences between the 950 and 95X are pads, colors, and accessories. iirc someone on some forum has done a teardown of the 95X energizer and stated itās no different from the 950ās.
Take the 95X. If you want the cheap pleather pads, they are only $5 on Kossās website. The velour ones cannot be bought alone afaik. Warranty is technically only for initial owners of Koss products; I think I have heard people successfully claiming warranty on secondhand Koss products, but I wouldnāt take the risk with the 950. If you really want to make it portable like the 950 is, a 9V battery bank and cheap camera bag is all you need for much less than the cost of the ESP950.
IĀ“ve just ordererd a hybrid pad from Vesper audio, angled and with memory foam, all black. 76,6 $ including shipping to germany. Fair price, compared to the fong audio siteā¦
Win, Win all around, it would have been best if there were NO issues but damn boy, both companies took real good care of you. Thankās for posting that! We need to post the good stories w/ the bad. This one is turning out good
I feel bad for all the people who have had bad experiences with Drop customer service, but very thankful I got something good out of it.
And Koss price/customer support is the reason why I donāt feel too bad owning a Porta Pro with a dying right driver, a KTXPRO1 that rattles way too much with bass, and briefly an ESP/95X with noise issues. Stockholm syndrome maybe. :^)
They really could make greater waves by simply improving their products though. Seriously, invest a bit more into durability and bam, itāll be a much more mainstream. Cue, GMR 545 headband
Had my replacement 95X for about 5 days now, and other a little bit of squeal on the first day, itās been perfect. Perfect channel balance (well, afaik since my left ear is weaker than my right from violin playing), no hum, no buzz, no squeal. Decal placement is perfect too, haha. I guess the first unit really was defective. Such is my luck in life.
Just want to comment again on sound - loads of detail and texture but also a relaxed and weightless/effortless sort of sound. Vocals, violins, flutes, and chimes just gives me chills with these cans.
Other than response time from Christmas through new yearās for rma stiff this year, drop has been great with me. No questions asked with my replacement of my thx aaa 789 that just mysteriously died. Took a while but I think people forget that drop isnāt that big of a company handling fuck tons of orders. And give these people some slack around the holidays, they have families too.
