Great sound, strange execution, little quirks

Lets start off with the meat. They sound great. They pull out minute details into the sound unlike I have heard in other headphones despite having some nice mid and upper mid end audio equip (senn 650s, grado ps500, etc). There really seems to be something to the electrostatic sound.



To compare to one of the industry standards, Hd650, the electrostats have a solid 15% more detail, especially in the high end where it just shimmers. The electrostats don't have the low end that the 650s are capable of, maybe "feels" about 20% less quantity to the low end, but they execute with better control and detail than the senns. The lowest lows / rumble frequencies are essentially gone on the electrostats, audible only if you are searching for it in the sound. I personally don't mind this sound balance as I find bass to be fatiguing just as much as piercing highs, and they still create an engaging and immersive sound. These I can listen for hours.



Comfort is meh, the plasticy leather makes a decent seal but gets sweaty, feels awful overall. The plastic everything housing is laughably cheap and creaks, but is apparently industry standard for electrostats (see stax reviews). And it comes with a "portable amp" which is really only the energizer. Lets talk about that.



The portable amp... useless as portable. First of all, since its an energizer and not a true amp, there is no volume control on it and it doesnt "amplify" the sound. The headphones need a fair amount of power (and I listen at soft conversational levels) so you basically need a Dac/amp to power these. When music gets intense the battery powered "amp" peters out, you end up with a dull halfhearted end to an otherwise beautiful crescendo, even more disappointing with the headphones otherwise great dynamics. Plug it in to the charger and this does not occur. In other words, its a "portable amp" that's just an energizer and only really works if you leave them plugged into a charger and downstream from a dac/amp. At this rate, I would have rather seen a half decent desktop energizer and called it a day, but here we are with a half baked portable amp that serves its purpose at my desk.



Monoprice, nice work on the headphones, now how about a desktop "energizer" / "electrostatic amp" that is actually worthy of these things?