Anyone heard these? How do they compare to the Stax? At US$600, I'm almost tempted to try them, but I should save up for the 4070's that I'm going to get...

Once you ditch their amplifier and hook it to something real they sound VERY nice.

Certainly at least he60 nice.

Their amp though... Yikes is it ever bad. Sounds darker than dark.

By the way these headphones with the koss amp play significantly louder

than any other electrostic headphone ever made. Louder in fact than

virtually all dynamics too. 2400 volts peak to peak stator to stator is

almost twice everything else.

I agree that they do sound nice. They offer a slightly darker presentation than the low to mid range stax models.

I wouldn't ditch the amp though; I'd save it for portable use. Takes D batteries.

Certainly at least he60 nice.

!!! Really?!?!? I like the HE60, the interest in this just bumped up a notch.

I wouldn't ditch the amp though; I'd save it for portable use. Takes D batteries.

Where's the spare backpack when you need it?

Once you ditch their amplifier and hook it to something real they sound VERY nice.

Certainly at least he60 nice.

You wouldn't happen to know the bias voltage, would you?

You wouldn't happen to know the bias voltage, would you?

According to the manual on the Koss site, the amp has a bias voltage of 600 vdc. That's within spitting distance of the 580 vdc on Stax amps.

So what do people think about running a pair of these straight off a STAX amp? 20V of bias isn't that significant is it?

It is my humble opinion that 580V isn't that different from 600V.

You might want to consider Peter McAlisters new EA-4 amplifier for ~$1k. It sure looks purdy. I am sure he could put a Koss connector on there.

www.mcalisteraudio.com

PS. I think it is balanced as well, like the Stax amps.

It is my humble opinion that 580V isn't that different from 600V.

It's about the same as the difference between a Senn 580 and Senn 600.

You might want to consider Peter McAlisters new EA-4 amplifier for ~$1k.

Possibly, but not likely. After having heard Justin's KGSS and Blue Hawaii, I'm kind of spoiled. I have a Stax amp that will work for now (need to work out some sort of adapter) until I can save up the dosh. But it's not exactly on the top of my list of things to get, so this is quite a ways off.

I agree it shore does look purdy, though. Wonder how it sounds, you heard it? And whether or not it is truly balanced.

It's about the same as the difference between a Senn 580 and Senn 600.

I don't think so. (folds arms and puts on faux-frowny face)

Possibly, but not likely. After having heard Justin's KGSS and Blue Hawaii, I'm kind of spoiled.

Higher price does not always mean higher performance, but to each their own.

I said I heard them, not compared price tags.

I said I heard them, not compared price tags.

True, but you haven't heard Peter's new amp!

True, but you haven't heard Peter's new amp!

Yeah, sorry if I snapped -- I just resented the implication. I am the last person to be accused of "more expensive == better".

Dusty=+$=+SQ

Alright, maybe second-to-last person.

Expensive does not automatically mean better. The flip side is less expensive does not always mean more bang for the buck, sometimes it just means cheaper.

Dusty=+$=+SQ

Actually, the equation would likely be +$||+SQ (|| indicates correlation, IIRC). Since the relationship is not perfect, and actually rather difficult to calculate in the absence of a quantitative method of measuring SQ, r (correlation coefficient) < 1.

OTOH, for the relationship +$||+price, I'd expect r=1. Normally, expensive gear does cost more

bang for the buck

AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!!!!!!!!!!

Damnit, I fucking hate that.

Yeah, sorry if I snapped -- I just resented the implication. I am the last person to be accused of "more expensive == better".

Cool, sorry if I was insulting with my comment.

You might want to contact Peter about his new electrostatic amp design though... he seems pretty confident that it is the 'best EVAR'.

AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!!!!!!!!!!

Damnit, I fucking hate that. :DCool

Hey Phil, If you?re going to attempt to be the Language Police you should at least get your shit straight. There is enough data indicating that what I said is appropriate. I?m not saying your version is inappropriate, but I?m not the person correcting other peoples use of English idioms on a fucking forum.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bang+for+buck Scroll down

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19971219

Well... both phrases when placed in quotes return 10 pages on Google, so I think it is safe to say that they're both highly used. My primary problem with "bang for the buck" is it makes you sound like an ESL student while "bang for your buck" seems to be a more correct phrasing.

You're both totally right and you're both totally wrong. There, are you both fucking happy now?