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Showing 1 of 317 reviews about:
Massdrop x Koss ESP/95X Electrostatic System
Lawn-Mower
28
Jul 2, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Love em
My first pair of relatively high-end cans. I know, I know, these are entry-level mid/high-end, but quite frankly, given how detailed they are, and how wide the soundstage is, I can't see myself needing to up the stakes any time soon.
Only had 1 day, still burning in. They're a little touchy, as I suspect all estats probably are. Lifetime warranty was a big selling point for me. Like em so much I'll be spending more than their cost on other goodies to keep them company, like pads, stand, dust cover etc.
A little low in bass department (as all other reviews note), but with a bit of EQ it comes up to being perfectly suitable for my tastes.
Bought them for studio monitoring, but I can't part with them from personal use for work purposes... Might have to get another set!
EDIT:
After 2 or 3 days the squeal others describe started in the left can. Tap tap, sometimes it rattles the bonus in-built dust enough to stop for a while, but it always comes back. It's not even an even squeal - so you can't quite 'get used to it'. And it is definitely a result of dust that came shipped inside the unit. For the whole time they've been out of the packaging box they've either been on my head or a in a dust protector bag, as I read other's negative reviews before they arrived.
Being in Australia I'm not keen to fork out another nearly $100 in shipping and several months waiting in the hopes I get a non-faulty unit back, especially given that new units are clearly being shipped with sealed in bonus dust. I'll contact Drop and in the meantime keep using and hoping that the particulate(s) eventually rattle(s) out, but have already been using for multiple hours every day with that hope. For now I have to downgrade the review as these have become worse than cheapos due to the annoyance and irritation factor the squeal produces. The squeal is quite soft and doesn't change volume as you crank the amplitude, but it's still perceptible even with loud and busy music due to the high detail.
International customers BEWARE.
2nd EDIT: (moments after the above)
Having read comments from @Nottagorilla I'll try to be patient and wait it out a few more weeks. However, the review rating stands until/unless the issue is resolved.
3rd EDIT: (24hrs later)
So, as soon as I spit the dummy and emailed a whinge to Drop, the squeal disappeared and hasn't returned yet - roughly 10hrs of sonic bliss. The right can now splutters from time to time, but it's almost imperceptible in volume, and is far less frequent than the Left was. I think they're sounding even better now after some burn in than when I wrote the above review - seriously impressed (assuming the squeal stays away).
4th EDIT: (couple months after above)
The occasional low-volume splutter cleared up within a few days. Still loving em.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
NeoTheLizard
108
Jul 3, 2020
Lawn-MowerDefinitely try and keep them bagged up, under a dust cover, or otherwise somewhere where they'll be protected from dust.
I've gone to some effort trying to protect them, but even then, the notorious dust squeels come and goes occationally.
The more time you can avoid dust getting in them, the less you'll have to spend tapping at them or waiting for the squeeling to go away so you can enjoy them fully again!
Lawn-Mower
28
Jul 3, 2020
NeoTheLizardThanks for the advice. I've been keeping them in a dust free bag when not on my head and will eventually have a more permanent solution like a glass dome display cloche. My area gets really dusty at the best of times, and dust storms roll through every few days at the worst of times, so keeping the phones protected is a high priority.
Nottagorilla
65
Nov 1, 2020
Lawn-MowerSo...after a few months now, has the hissing/squealing finally stopped? It's not going to unless you leave them charging 24/7. Since the problem is *likely* to be from residual dust INSIDE the otherwise SEALED driver elements, you shouldn't be worried about EXTERNAL dust. I would also hypothesize another possibility for the initial hissing & spitting: the possibility that the plastic film needs some sort of "conditioning", that it needs 200+hrs. or so to get the charge distributed evenly across its surface & stop randomly "leaking" charge (which results in the background hissing & spluttering you hear). Whatever it is, time is of the essence. Give them 10 days to 2 weeks to shut up; if they don't, or the noise is loud, THEN return them. Unimpressively, feedback from Koss (or Drop...) on this subject is conspicuous by its absence! I fail to see why I, a mere owner like you, NOT an employee of Koss or otherwise a paid shill, should be the sole source of any insight/whiz-dumb about the quirky behavior in what seems to be a hardly insignificant issue with a rather significant number of purchasers! All I have seen Koss or Drop say about this is: "Just send 'em back". For service that they probably don't even need?
The upside of Koss' corporate stupidity (& in my case, shoddy customer service in that EVERY attempt I've made to call their 800 number to have a live conversation has resulted in NOBODY EVER ANSWERING THE DAMN PHONE!). So I hope e-mail works a whole better for this apparent *ROUGH OUTFIT* to take proper care of anxious/curious/unsatisfied/unhappy customers. But it probably is just as bad, which is why you buy them from Drop & not from a Koss dealer! The upside of all this is that you get a $3000+ headphone for as little as $400. I have heard the other "pretenders" to the Headphone state-of-the-art; Stax SR-007's (yeah, it's a teensy-weensy bit better: better high frequency extension, but NO BETTER in quality, & MUCH lousier & wimpy bass. The bass problem is likely mostly in Stax's SHITTY energizer/amplifiers. Even the SRM-8000 is a veiled & compressed-sounding piece of LO-FI.)
And as for the best Dynamic phones, I've listened to the Abyss 1266's/Phi & HiFiMan's HE1000's with Woo Audio Valve amps & they STILL sound SLIGHTLY duller, slower, dirtier, & lacking in treble extension IN COMPARISON.
I also don't understand folks complaining about ANY lack of bass. It must be from being weaned on the turgid & opaque sound of dynamic headphones; they sound like s****, so they exaggerate the bass response to try to distract you from the dead midranges (98% of them also sound like they have a head cold!), & spitty, ground-glass highs. If they have any. Alot of 'em don't!
So if you think Beats sound pretty neutral or only a teensy bit bass heavy, THEN I understand your concerns! Maybe after you acclimate to the sound of TRUTH, after a few weeks you will turn your EQ off...
These are NOT "econobox" headphones. The amp might look & feel like a joke, but it still sonically SMOKES any Stax POS that I've heard, EVER. Maybe if you give Jack Woo $3000+ he can set you up with a *slightly* better EL34 valve amp for your Staxes! Unfortunately, Woo Audio's amps (& everyone else's...) don't have the proprietary (GRRRRR!) receptacle to take the Koss/Drop's proprietary plug, so unless you are handy enough to solder a Stax plug onto the headphones (thus voiding the fantastic warranty), or to otherwise *sacrifice* the extension cable supplied with your unit instead, you're stuck with the stock energizer/amp. Too bad, because it appears to me that the polarising voltage (600V) is IDENTICAL for both the ESP/950-ESP/95x & any of the modern Stax "Pro" series phones! As a result, I'll go out on a limb & say that the drive requirements for all these particular electrostats are ALSO IDENTICAL.
No surprise, since you can clearly see that Koss *benchmarked* Stax's Lambda Pro headphones when they developed the 950's back in very early 90's!
So that's another thing, getting back to the issue at hand: these aren't exactly *new* headphones. They've been in production, & I assume continuously as well, since 1992/3!
So why can't Koss figure out how to either fix the issue, or come out with some clear pronouncements about coping with potential break-in issues???
Lawn-Mower
28
Nov 2, 2020
NottagorillaYes, it's more or less gone. An occassional low-volume splutter that disappears with a gentle tap.
Completely agree with with your other comments. Why on earth they recommend return, just to get different set back with the same issues, rather than stating 'give over 100hrs to break in then come back to us', is beyond me.. And how they're still failing to sort this out after nearly 30 years!
I still have my EQ running, but it's very subtle, just to bump up the troughs you see in the graph a little.
I can solder fine, but I see no point in playing around further with them. The cost far exceeds any potential perceived benefit. I read forums of folks going the Stax energizer route, spending thousands of $, in some cases hours tinkering, and claiming they hear an improvement - but I remain skeptical that much can be improved on what I consider to be just about sonic perfection for cans.
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