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Mr.M2
8
Mar 6, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
These headphones are ones with great potential.
My first impression of these headphones was lackluster to say the least, They are lacking some serious tuning, which the headphones could greatly benefit from. The sound signature is mostly flat, with some mild lower bass roll-off, but quite serious mid to upper treble roll-off. Even though i'm not a treble head, and am quite sensitive to treble, the lack of treble really put me off these headphones. I can't listen to them without using an EQ to boost the treble response. But I must say, when you do, do some personal fine tweaking of the sound, these headphones really open up. Make no mistake, these are electrostats, but ones with an obvious lack of pre-tuning of the sound. The overall signature is dry and flat, almost somewhat muffled even, but with the right tuning these could even sound favorably against the Sennheiser he 1. And yes, I've listened to those headphones, ironic that I didn't really favor the sound signature of those either. When compared to the Sennheiser he 1, those have more speed, authority in the bass with a overly warm sound, coupled with a shimmering sparkling top end. These though are dry, flat, and pretty much boring. But once you EQ them they come to life. If you don't want to EQ a headphone out of the box or are a treble head, or basshead, don't bother. But if you're willing to take the time to fix the sound on these, then by all means. I do regret buying these, but they are my first pair of electrostats. It helps that the midrange is pretty much flat, so these will aid me in checking my mixes. Build quality is fine, it won't impress you, but they are as light as a feather and seem relatively durable. Comfort is excellent. My only complaint is the fact that the headband mechanisms don't have any detents, which can get really frustrating when they slip a little while adjusting. How do these compare to my beloved oppo pm 3s? They are both pretty flat, pm3s are boosted in the upper mids a bit, which makes for a more organic and fun sound. The only flaw with the pm3s sound is the highs and the fact that they are closed back. Other than that the pm3s are possibly one of the best headphones on the market. But when EQ'd the esp95x become their own monster. Honestly Koss needs to update these headphones. With a new more modern design, a tweaking of the sound signature, these headphones could easily rival a Sennheiser he 1. In terms of value at least. The he 1 is 50,000$, this headphone costs 500$. But I don't feel that the potential is all that far apart. The sound is just really unrefined. Also the pads are horrible!, I'm going to have to spend 90$ on the custom leather pads to close the gap between the back of my head and the earpads. The leather pads should even out the bass response and further refine the sound signature. That's all I really have to say. If you're not gonna EQ these stay away. Or if you're fine with a dry and muffled sound by all means go ahead. One more thing, I remember listening to the audeze lcd4, and it having the same exact problem with the highs as these headphones. The highs on that headphone were essentially missing, the soundstage was also unnaturally wide and a bit too narrow. These esp95x headphones have about the same soundstage as the Sennheiser he 1. I really think the custom leather pads will dramatically improve the sound of these headphones. We will see soon. So I'll say it again, these headphones have a lot of potential, but you're going to have to go the extra mile to get them there. Update I'm noticing an overall improvement in the balance of the sound with time, it's not huge, but it's there. I think these headphones really need time to settle into themselves. The sound seems to be evening out ever so slightly with frequent use. Perhaps this is an electrostat thing, and the transducers just need time to adjust to being used so the response can even out and become more responsive. The highs definitely anyway. I'm also noticing more slam and impact from the bass, it's becoming more responsive to songs that require more oomph like electronic music. This is all with the EQ I made turned off. We'll see how much more these will improve with frequent use. Update It would appear the earcups suffer from internal resonances. This is probably a result of the earcups plastic not being thick enough, the result being a muffled sounding upper mid to high response. Another reason why these headphones need an updated design. I wonder if someone could 3D print new, more sturdier earcups that wont resonate. If you place your hand or finger on the earcups when you play music, you can feel the internal resonances playing out. On my oppo pm3s, which are heavily dampened internally, this is absolutely non existent. Still though, the sound seems to improve with use, these are starting to live up to their price tag sound quality-wise. I no longer feel the need to boost the highs, as doing so at this point will invite sibilance and ear pain. The highs have opened up enough for me to be satisfied with them. Soundstage width and depth has improved as well. Almost every listen incites goosebumps and makes me stop whatever I'm doing to listen and become immersed in the music. Still though the build quality leaves much to be desired, resonating earcups should be a no-no at this price, nethertheless I will try to be satisfied with my purchase and get the most out of it. If there are any 3D printer peeps out there, just know this is a top grade sounding headphone, that could really use a nice non resonating-new set of earcup enclosures. Update I am adding a star, as the sound quality has improved with further burn in, now I can safely say these are headphones befitting even a 1,000$ price tag. I will leave off one star for the awful build quality and horrid stock pads which should be angled leather pads. It would be nice if Massdrop would release angled leather pads for these headphones, as paying 90$ for the custom leather pads from fang audio does not please me in the slightest. But for these it will be worth it. After all I want to get the best out of my investment. Final Update So I ordered the vesper audio custom leather earpads from Darin Fong audio, and have swapped them with the default pads that these came with, first impressions so far are very good. The sound has overall more definition, is more delicate, and controlled. The bass, while still somewhat low in level, is now more controlled and punchy, and I can hear the subbass better. Treble is about the same, maybe it's a bit more defined, but it's not a huge difference, it's minimal at best. Comfort is now up there with the best, it's a 10/10. I must say though the stock pads that these shipped with were absolutely god awful, like so bad that I got anxiety when they touched my face, they just didn't do these headphones justice. So despite the price of the new pads, I think this purchase was a no brainer, it just had to be done. I will probably order a new amp for these in the near future, maybe a used stax amp or something, but for now I am very satisfied with these headphones.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? No
adeadcrab
258
Mar 7, 2020
Mr.M2Allegedly these headphones were first used for portable live concert monitoring, which could explain the default sound signature.
Khronus
79
Mar 13, 2020
Mr.M2Heard the amp is pretty crap too. Maybe an amp from Mjolnir Audio/Stax can give these babies the chance to open up.
Mr.M2
8
Mar 14, 2020
KhronusMaybe, I can't afford such an amp as of now, but I also see a plastic film under the earcups foam mesh. I wonder if that's what might be causing the muffled highs. It's probably a dust protector, so I'll leave it alone for now. I would imagine an amp upgrade would do these headphones well, but is it worth the cost when you could buy a decent pair of planars? Planar magnetic headphones seem to ever so slightly be catching up with estats. I don't think they'll ever have the same speed or transient response capabilities as any estat, but the price to performance ratio cannot be ignored. Unless you have deep pockets of course :). The amp itself works for me, it has more than enough power, and yes the knob is annoying. But it is also useful at times. I think this headphones biggest issue right now is the pads. They make my skin itchy and my ears get hot and stingy. I'll never understand why these didn't get fitted with leather pads...Both planars and estats should always have leather pads to make a good seal. I can even hear air escaping from the gap behind my head from between the two earcups. It's causing me ear fatigue...
CBlanch
6
Mar 26, 2020
Mr.M2Koss sells the original earpads for $5 on their site, might be something you would be interested in.
Mr.M2
8
Mar 30, 2020
CBlanchYou mean the earpads that look like they're made of trash plastic? Those are probably worse then the ones these shipped with.
Mr.M2
8
Apr 14, 2020
KhronusI have read that the amp these come with doesn't supply much power to them, in part due to the size, thus limiting what electronics can be put in. After switching the earpads to the custom leather, I can definitely tell that these headphones are under-powered, as raising the volume almost does nothing to fill in the sound. So I think a new amp or energizer for these is a right step in the direction. However with that said, I am a person with a very low budget, so finding an amp for these that I can afford won't be easy. I don't know what your budget is, but if I were to purchase these headphones, replacing the pads and buying a better amp would be paramount. I'll most likely shop around ebay for a decent stax amp or just purchase staxes cheapest offering. I would really love for some company, somewhere to come out with a cost effective electrostatic amplifier, maybe around the 500$ or so mark.
TofuTak
18
Apr 17, 2020
Mr.M2I completely agree with the recessed treble. It’s there, but just feels veiled behind the mids. There’s a lot of folks out there with some good EQs that help bring them more forward and correct the treble roll off and mid-bass (which are pretty obvious looking at frequency response charts). One of my favourite cans is the Grado 325i, one that many find too bright. This seemed more like the sound signature of an old Yamaha orthodynamic headphone without the great bass response. My hat still goes to the AKG K1000 for my favourite set of flagship headphones, once these are EQd they’re a pretty good second.
Mr.M2
8
Apr 18, 2020
TofuTakMy first thought was that these sounded like typical older generation headphones, before proper tuning became a thing, almost any vintage headphone will have a similar dryish sound. Earfields do look interesting, the raal requisite are only about 3k in price, people are saying its the best overall headphone for what it can accomplish. I think at this point though, I'm pretty much done with any type of headphone. I just want to try to be satisfied. With that said, I am upgrading my budget jbl lsr305s speaker to presnous r65s, as these headphones have shown me just how awful my speakers sound with regards to resolution and detail retrieval. I think anyone who doesn't mind a flat sound will be satisfied with these, the resolution is certainly satisfying enough. Anything beyond this will make music sound WAY too unenjoyable. I feel like headphones are starting to reach a point where they're becoming more than is actually needed. Lastly, in the case of the veiled sound, it seems to have mostly been the result of some much needed burn-in, as these headphones absolutely need it. Had they still sounded the way they did when they first arrived, you can be sure they would have gone back by now. Honestly, sometimes I wish I wasn't spoiled by high end headphones hehe, otherwise a pair of hd650s would have easily been my bread and butter. After all, I went from a pair of 2$ earbuds, to beats by dre, to a pair of skull candies, to radioshack headphones, to Samson semi open studio headphones, to beyerdynamics. And finally, trying some high end headphones at shows and select stores like B&H and listening to the HE1 at soho, to my beloved oppo pm3s and now these. I would have liked to just have stopped at something cheaper...But at least these headphones are more then a decent compromise between neutrality, detail resolution, and musical enjoyment. I still feel like the AKG k812 win in the PRaT department, love those headphones. If I had to choose between those and these, well you'd sure guess which one I'd go for. Headphones are suppose to be for musical enjoyment after all.
(Edited)
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