In a surprise (to me) move, MrSpeakers has deviated yuuuugely from expectation and showcased a prototype electrostatic headphone at CanJam this year.
Wait. Whaaa –?
Yes! An electrostat. As in, Stax. As in, the new HiFiMAN. As in, Sennheiser. As in … wow. Where did this come from?
The new speaker carries the rather prosaic working name of “ETHER Electrostat”, which wasn’t all that surprising as it’s housed in an ETHER shell. That is, at least at this stage right now, it looks exactly like a standard ETHER (which is a planar magnetic headphone), excepting that Stax-like five-wire headphone cable dribbling out the bottom.
It was wired up to a Cavalli Audio Liquid Lightning 2T headphone amp and sounded quite good, with real presence and weight that was immediately reminiscent of Stax’ very top offerings. I’m still at a loss as to the why’s and wherefore’s behind this effort, the naming convention, and the aesthetic, but prototypes are whatever they are. As always, the proof in the pudding is in the eating — and here, it was damn tasty.
Nice work, MrSpeakers. Way to keep us guessing.
Price. And compatibility with Stax amps. And availability. And did I mention Price? And what amps do they recommend for it? AND PRICE?
Prototype. All of that extra stuff is TBD.
Dan’s a pretty sharp cookie. I’ll bet he has a ballpark in mind. I’d love to know if it’s closer to two grand than five. Or ten, or whatever.
This is the most interesting high-end headphone I’ve seen coming down the pike….. EVER.
Price. You see: audiophile reports are not supposed to name price. That’s the unwritten rule.
Laurence Alter