headphone suggestions

[Brown Bottle]

Electrostatics have their own specific cable requirements.
Focals are just ordinary dynamic headphones, any standard headphone cable extension would work, from £2 to £140 and beyond.

A 04.10 reply, that’s dedication Jerry. I’m in the shower at that time on work days, best part of the day in the summer.

Cheers BB

 

[jandl100]

A 04.10 reply, that’s dedication Jerry. I’m in the shower at that time on work days, best part of the day in the summer.

Cheers BB

Ha.
I'm retired.
With me it's a kind of insomnia.
Whatever time I go to bed I tend to wake up around 3am.
But I'm well organised with a bedside 'Headphone station'. A lot of quality listening happens between 3 and 7.

 

[boon]

Well, I've spent 1.5hrs this morning in Sevenoaks HiFi listening to Sennheiser 660s, Focal Elegia and Focal Celestee headphones. I came away with a pair of Focal Elegia's. They fitted my head well and sounded very good with my hearing. The price was fair I think as well at £349.00. My only criticism on getting them home is the length of the lead. It's 1.2m which for home listening is useless. Time they are plugged in and you lean back to listen the phones are very uncomfortable. I rang the store and they enquired from Focal, I was quoted well over £100 (I think he said £140!!!) for a replacement 2m cable! Now on the hunt for a longer cable if anyone can advise? I've found an old 1mm extension cable in my workshop and am using that but would prefer the proper thing.

I don’t think you are being fair really, all the documentation and advertising I have seen for these particular cans state the lead is 1.2M long, as you made a saving of £500.00 on the rrp I’m sure there must be some movement on your behalf to afford an extension lead of some quality.
I had the same issue with my Beyerdynamic T5 G3’s when I purchased them, along with a Hugo 2 dac/hp amp as my linn dsm hadn’t got a h/phone socket, I went in eyes wide open and got the cans, Hugo 2, digi interconnect, and h/phone extension cable all for £2100.00 new.
I didn’t like the focals, they looked better but the beyers beat them on sound quality, specially through the Hugo.

 

[Brett]

Electrostatics have their own specific cable requirements.
Focals are just ordinary dynamic headphones, any standard headphone cable extension would work, from £2 to £140 and beyond.

I was just commenting on the general absurdity of headphones extension leads in general. However thanks for educating me on the difference between my Stax and the Focals. I had absolutely no idea. Much appreciated.

 

[jandl100]

I was just commenting on the general absurdity of headphones extension leads in general. However thanks for educating me on the difference between my Stax and the Focals. I had absolutely no idea. Much appreciated.

Yes, in addition to the audio signal, electrostatics require a high voltage to energise the stator panels which form part of the driver system that make the sound.
That high voltage has to come into the headphones via the cable from the Stax energiser box. So the cable has to have additional wires to carry the voltage.

Here is quite a good article explaining the different headphone driver types...

Headphone driver types: Which one's just right?

We’re here to give you a breakdown of four different driver types: dynamic, planar magnetic, electrostatic, and balanced armature drivers.

www.soundguys.com

"Electrostatics operate on a completely different principle than the conventional dynamic technologies discussed. They work by applying a static electrical charge to a thin film that floats between two perforated metal plates; when audio signals are applied across the plates, the entire film membrane moves back and forth due to electrical attraction and repulsion. It’s the same principle as condenser microphones use to capture sounds but in reverse.

Wikipedia Commons With electrostatic drivers, the diaphragm is propelled to and from a pair of surrounding metal plates.

 

[Paul L]

My Audeze LCD-X only came with a short cable too but a I knew that and factored in buying a longer cable, in my case one from Custom Cans here https://customcans.co.uk/shop/

 

[Brett]

Yes, in addition to the audio signal, electrostatics require a high voltage to energise the stator panels which form part of the driver system that make the sound.
That high voltage has to come into the headphones via the cable from the Stax energiser box. So the cable has to have additional wires to carry the voltage.

Here is quite a good article explaining the different headphone driver types...

Headphone driver types: Which one's just right?

We’re here to give you a breakdown of four different driver types: dynamic, planar magnetic, electrostatic, and balanced armature drivers.

www.soundguys.com

"Electrostatics operate on a completely different principle than the conventional dynamic technologies discussed. They work by applying a static electrical charge to a thin film that floats between two perforated metal plates; when audio signals are applied across the plates, the entire film membrane moves back and forth due to electrical attraction and repulsion. It’s the same principle as condenser microphones use to capture sounds but in reverse.

Wikipedia Commons With electrostatic drivers, the diaphragm is propelled to and from a pair of surrounding metal plates.

You don't get irony do you?

 

[jandl100]

You don't get irony do you?

Haha, fair enough!
I have no idea what you do or don't know.
Maybe you just liked the sound without caring how it is achieved.
I am sometimes amazed at other people's knowledge or the lack of it. Both extremes can be awe inspiring in their very different ways.

 

[Jakob]

I recently had to shell out ( due to house move and furniture realignment) 95 quid for an extension lead for my Stax headphones. There is no cheap fix.

MarkGrantCables headphone extension lead. Any length. Heavy as it contains a copper core sufficient to supply Coventry.
i have never found any sound quality lessening whilst using it with Focal clear/ Meze empyreans not Stax.

 

[Linnovice]

I don’t think you are being fair really, all the documentation and advertising I have seen for these particular cans state the lead is 1.2M long, as you made a saving of £500.00 on the rrp I’m sure there must be some movement on your behalf to afford an extension lead of some quality.
I had the same issue with my Beyerdynamic T5 G3’s when I purchased them, along with a Hugo 2 dac/hp amp as my linn dsm hadn’t got a h/phone socket, I went in eyes wide open and got the cans, Hugo 2, digi interconnect, and h/phone extension cable all for £2100.00 new.
I didn’t like the focals, they looked better but the beyers beat them on sound quality, specially through the Hugo.

Sorry, I beg to differ. I have been completely fair to Sevenoaks. My gripes were with Focal and I never levelled any criticism at Sevenoaks. Plus, the point made regarding a £500 saving is not correct. When I was in the store sound testing the headphones I was not aware of any reduction in the pricing. I was purely going on a recommendation made on here. I didn’t know the make and just tested against the Sennheisers on offer and chose the Focals blind. I was told that it was a discontinued model and the company (Sevenoaks) had made a bulk purchase of stock. If I had paid £900 and only got 1.2m of cable they would have gone back. For all the reasons I’ve already quoted, that is a penny pinching accountants policy. In the end all has been resolved by purchasing a 2.5m cable (which is of a much better quality) from Focal/Sevenoaks for £80.00.