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Showing 1 of 317 reviews about:
Massdrop x Koss ESP/95X Electrostatic System
joe.b.thornton.jr
12
Jul 4, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Sonically pure.
RME-ADI-2 DAC feeding the Koss E/90X. To my ears, the ESP/95X in most ways out perform my Sennheiser HD650s, HD800s, Audeze LCD 2.2s, and LCD XCs. The ESP/95X is in a class by itself. Bring on the Sennheiser HE60s. I'd love to see how they measure up.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
Mohannad13
94
Sep 15, 2019
joe.b.thornton.jrCan you specify the things that 95x makes it better than lcd2 and 650 ?
Nottagorilla
65
Nov 20, 2019
Mohannad13The MassDrop/Koss is Electrostatic. Your other headphones are "dynamic" types, using fine wire voice coils glued to a small loudspeaker-type cone made of a relatively-thin, somewhat hard plastic material. Magnets provide the "centering" forces that the electromagnetic field generated by power applied to the voice coil works against. The voice coil in most dynamic headphones are mounted perpendicular to the diaphragm "cone", so the forces applied to that diaphragm amounts to a tiny ring in its center. The LCD-2 may be a "planar" (flat construction) dynamic driver, as opposed to the (Sennheiser?) 650 which is a cone like I described. A planar diaphragm has its voice coil mounted in PARALLEL with the cone surface, so more wire contacts the diaphragm. This would APPEAR to distribute the driving force more equally over the diaphragm surface, but in practice the difference is rather small (ratio of amount of wire in contact with total diaphragm surface area). What DOES happen is efficiency goes way down versus cone/round voice coil construction due to the inability to concentrate (focus...) the magnetic field over the entire voice coil with anything like the same intensity for a given magnet weight...
The best planars do manage to overcome these problems well enough to outperform MOST "conventional" cone drivers with circular voice coils. Other problems with dynamic drivers is that at certain frequencies the poor coupling of voice coil force to the diaphragm results in random & unwanted (out of phase) vibration of PART of the diaphragm; usually as frequency rises, only the parts of the diaphragm closest to the voice coil wires moves properly in-sync with it. At a high enough frequency, the difference in the weight of the voice coil wires to the overall weight of the diaphragm itself causes them to start to respond to the music signal differently. Both rolloff of frequency response & distortion occurs.
By contrast, the Electrostatic diaphragm is energised not by a magnet system for its "centering" force, but by high-voltage (static electricity). This force is much weaker than a magnet's force, but this disadvantage is largely compensated for by 2 big advantages. The first is that the diaphragm doesn't have voice coil wire glued to it, it has no voice coil at all!
So the diaphragm is MUCH lighter, but things STILL get even better!
Because the dynamic diaphragm has to hold all the voice coil wire firmly onto it, it has to be much stronger physically than a diaphragm for Electrostatic actuation. The Electrostatic diaphragm DOES have to hold an "analog" to a voice coil for driving purposes, but this is just the finest coating or even "impregnation" of a (barely) conductive coating (paint).
So the diaphragm in an electrostatic driver is a mere fraction of the weight (and thickness) of a dynamic one.
The Electrostatic diaphragm sits in between two perforated (so the sound will pass through it) metal plates. The diaphragm is COMPLETELY driven over its entire area by the Electrostatic field created by the high driving & charging voltages. Despite the holes in the outer plates ("stators"), the high voltage creates a uniformity of force field utterly unmatched by any known conventional magnet technology used in dynamic headphones.
The only problems are:
1) Electrostatic forces are much weaker than magnetic ones in practical ("real world") audio transducer applications.
This requires a larger than normal (dynamic) diaphragm placed very close to the source of Electrostatic force (the stators). Because the Electrostatic diaphragm is much more limited in its "available" movement, it has to be much larger to play at the same volume.
So they mostly don't!
Dynamic headphones are far more rugged & will typically play alot louder.
2) Because Electrostatic forces are created by high voltages, typical audio amplifiers can't create anywhere enough. Electrostatic transducers typically need ONE HUNDRED TIMES more voltage to play at a given volume than dynamic drivers do!
So you need a "special" high-voltage amplifier; or, you need step-up transformers to multiply your typical amplifier voltages up to the required level.
The MassDrop/Koss ESP/95X uses a special amplifier, supplied.
As a result, the sound of the special amplifier cannot be separated from the sound of the headphones. Also, Koss uses their own proprietary connectors, despite ELECTRICAL interchangeability with Stax "Pro"-generation headphones. The Stax connector has become, over many years, the "de facto" standard for Electrostatic headphones. Problem is, the MassDrop/Koss is a 25 year-old design, so it predates this evolution in the connector standard. But you can purchase an aftermarket adapter for $150 to make the 95X work with a Stax special amplifier.
Not that you'd be advised to, as the Stax amps are both very expensive & rather shitty sounding compared to the supplied E90 amplifier!
At the end of the day, the reason you would ever want to put up with a fussier, far less rugged technology that doesn't play as loud & needs it's own special amplifier is very simple:
THE SOUND.
Electrostatic transducers typically produce ONE HUNDREDTH the distortion of typical dynamic headphones, and STILL produce only ONE-TENTH the distortion of THE very best dynamic headphones (Focal Utopia, HiFiMan 1000).
Frequency response is also FAR & AWAY much, much smoother & flatter than ANY dynamic type headphones (but they have to be "open back" types to achieve this, but this is true of open-back vs. closed-back design IN GENERAL). But because the best headphones need to be "open-back" for flat frequency response, studio headphones are mostly ALOT SHITTIER & don't include Electrostatic types!
Compared to the other INFERIOR TECHNOLOGY dynamic types, Electrostatic headphones have MUCH clearer & more detailed sound, a MUCH more natural tone due to the flat frequency response, & a much "faster" yet also much "sweeter/liquid" tone than other headphone types.
Mohannad13
94
Nov 21, 2019
NottagorillaYou reply is fantastic many thanks for that but i think you forgot one downside for the electrostatic and it's the vulnerability for humidity and dust .
I have read some comments on reddit says that e stat is very weak against dust.
Do you agree with that ?
And they say that the 95x got shouty mids more than the 650 which makes me thank about it more
Nottagorilla
65
Nov 26, 2019
Mohannad13Electrostatic transducers act like negative-ion generators; high voltages do attract opposite charged dust & dirt particles. But all commercial Electrostatics have a "workaround". They either insulate the metal stator surfaces on either side of the diaphragm (all high quality Electrostatic transducers use a push-pull configuration, so this "sandwich" construction is typical), or they enclose the entire works in a sealed "envelope".
Stax & Koss headphones, & QUAD loudspeakers, are enclosed in sealed dust-proof enclosures. As long as that seal is not physically damaged with a sharp object penetrating it, dust never gets in. I have a 45 yr. old pair of Stax SRX-III & a 50 yr. old pair of Koss ESP/6 headphones that both still work PERFECTLY! And I have QUAD Electrostatic loudspeakers that are older than that in similar condition!!
Electrostatic technology is very reliable IF it is designed & built properly. Problem is, many companies have fucked up spectacularly, including QUAD on their post-1980 speaker models. But for headphones, Koss & Stax are trustworthy. Other brands like HiFiMan & Mr. Speakers, we'll see...
As for the 95x having a "shouty" midrange, this is hilarious! The 95x has THE BEST midrange (& bass) of ANY transducer EVER MADE, every bit the equal of Stax 009's. There is NOTHING with lower distortion, more resolution, or with a flatter frequency response/truest tone & timbre. Sennheiser 650's? This is GARBAGE by comparison, even if they sound okay in isolation. Frequency response is a total mess by comparison, distortion is 10-100 times higher at any given frequency at any SPL under 100db. HiFiMan & Audeze make better headphones than Sennheiser. I think the person who made that comment needs to upgrade their 128 (or less) kb/s MP3 player, or get a new flip phone...
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