Sarieri

Avoid Hifiman for chirst sake.

The later production 009 (around sz9-4xxx) should be similar to 009s and 009bk in terms of treble. Stax changed something there. Also slightly different earpads, headband, leather headpad(both side made from leather at some point).

Someone from edifier said “it depends on how you think of TOTL”. Idk. Maybe something mid range just to test new stators?

Well I don't have a large sample of es1a. I can only speak for myself. The first one arrived with a tilted right driver and a headband with failing paints. The seller was nice and responsive though. He swapped me with a new set. drivers were fine this time, but the headband was still with failing paints. Sent me a sperate headband. Used for a month or so. Didn't fail this time but I doubt how long it's going to last. The paint of the headband doesn't look sturdy at all. I might be biased because of the back and forth. The earpads also mounted in a stupid way. Base plate under the earpads tilted up if you don't use a glue to fix it. In general, build quality of both side earcups are fine to me, but not the headband. It just feels like a cheap DIY unit instead of a well built product. The point I want to make here is that it might be a better idea to get a 009 or 007 if you only plan to get one single electrostatic earspeaker. The es1a sounds just fine to me, but the build quality is not up to that level. I do think the original Omega design limited them(or him) to design something better built. I personally can't think of a reason why it has to look like an Omega though. If you are making some crap like Hifiman R10 then there might be a reason to steal the fame of sony and bump up the sale. If you can design something sound decent enough just like this one, shouldn't it be a much better idea to just start with a new design instead of borrowing something a few decades old?

Mine arrived broken day one.

Es1a is just a sloppy clone of omega. It sounds okay but the build quality is no where near any of the stax, the headband especially. Seems to be 3D printed with some type of nylon coating, which peels off easily like hail.