It was mostly adjusting the design to different parts and the weird stuff were the PCB caps that Stax decided to use... plus the enlarged the amp chassis for no particular reason. In terms of being better than the 252S... nope.

As it turns out, Moondrop are finally releasing the MoonZero soon:

https://www.hifihub.com.br/en/product-launches/moondrop-moonzero-445-electrostatic-headphone-takes-on-the-stax-sr-x1

This image courtesy of Fujiya Avic:

Looks cool and if they can bring them in for under 500$... that is mighty tempting.

Edited Saturday at 03:03 AM4 days by spritzer

@spritzer are you excited for the ES Labs HE90 clone? Will likely run on 580V but same materials, stator and membrane thickness etc...is it something you look forward to or is HE90 still just okay next to 007 Mk1 etc :)

I will buy a set but if they sound like the originals... I probably won't like them. The HE90 has always left me cold, despite how many I've tried. The HEV90 doesn't fix them either, it just muddies up the sound... seriously the input cap on those is a very nasty electrolytic cap. How that is high end is beyond me...

That being said, I've been slowly working on my own clone of the HE90 for a couple of years now. They will never be sold to anybody, just a very stupid and crazy expensive DIY project to fix the HE90's. I have some NOS headbands for them but I'm currently designing a new headband which has more range (as the stock ones barely fit me) and looks like the original. New drivers too but I've only sent out for the first prototype parts for those.

@spritzer What earpads would you recommend for the Hongshu EH-1 that gives a good seal?

I haven't found ones I really like, I settled on some pads off Aliexpress that arrived incorrectly so I'm not sure what listing would link to them. They are 105mm and perforated on the inside which isn't ideal but seem to work okey.