[2bigears]

 .  Hello good peeps,,,, I've been thinking on upgrading my head gear and was wondering just what and where to go !  I like the looks and rep of the big 5grand electrostat headphone but to give that thing the drive it deserves is another crazy amount of money and all for that last 10% of goodness ?  I was the thinking on the T1 as an alternative. Way nicer price .. Way !  But to be fair to this set ,, just what will I need for an amp . Thanks for any help as where I live ,, there is nothing to touch and hear ,, so I'm counting on you guys to set a poor boy straight as always..  Thks

[milford3]

What is the 5grand electrostat headphone?  I'm not getting your post at all.

[steve in jersey]

More than likely a pair of Stax headphones ! There really are'nt that many Companies making ES cans these days.

If you are talking about the Beyerdynamics T1s I would look at a getting a tube headphone amp from either
Red Wine Audio or Decware.

[milford3]

And I would add Schiit Audio.

http://schiit.com/products/

[2bigears]

    Yes,, the Stax .. Crazy good stuff for the rich boys. And yes, again. The T1's that run about 1500 or so. They look and have the rep of most bang for the buck.  But ,, what is the amps that would do them justice and no more. Sorry for the confusing post. Was in a rush.... 

[steve in jersey]

Hmm... Seeing as how you were considering ES headphones ,I don't know if the Schiit amps are going to
"do that much" for you .  I did'nt care for the Lyr that much.

1500 appears to be a bit high for the T1, I've seen them listed under 1k pretty regularly these days

[parr3n1]

I have the T1's and a Glenn OTL amp. I have no desire to upgrade, not even to the Stax.
I have previously used the Decware and the Woo

Much more can be found on the Glenn amp thread on Headfi.
Worth a look.

[steve in jersey]

You have me interested !!  (Go on Head-fi huh ? I don't really know if I care for most of the "commentary"
(Other than Jude) over there !!! Although maybe someone can explain to me why my HE-6s don't appear nearly as difficult to drive as everyone keeps saying. Could it have something to do with the almost $3k worth
of power filtration in front of my system ?) (Sorry for the semi- hijack of your thread 2bigears)

[2bigears]

    Yes,, now we are talking.  I will look into the Glenn.  Thank you for that.   

[2bigears]

 . The T1's are 1300 bucks. Way better than 5 grand. Now where do you reign in on for t amp ? To get the most from the T1 is of course critical. But, diminished return must be kept in check. 

[dB Cooper]

.  Hello good peeps,,,, I've been thinking on upgrading my head gear and was wondering just what and where to go !  I like the looks and rep of the big 5grand electrostat headphone but to give that thing the drive it deserves is another crazy amount of money and all for that last 10% of goodness ?  I was the thinking on the T1 as an alternative. Way nicer price .. Way !  But to be fair to this set ,, just what will I need for an amp . Thanks for any help as where I live ,, there is nothing to touch and hear ,, so I'm counting on you guys to set a poor boy straight as always..  Thks

As it happens, I was finally able to give the Beyer T1 -and- the $5K Stax's, along with a bunch of Audeze and Hifiman planars within a short timespan at Capital (should be "Capitol") Audiofest this past weekend.

The Stax's sounded fantastic out of the Blue Hawaii amp but the combo is close to $10K AFAIK (didn't even ask the price of the amp, but you don't need to spend anywhere near that much, Stax themselves make an amp that is around $1200 IIRC.)

The T1 sounded very nice, neutral and detailed at the Woo Audio table. (Have heard the T90 too but thought it sounded somewhat bright and hard. The T1 was being discounted to 880 USD on Amazon when I looked recently. It can be driven by any reasonable headphone amp, including C&C types like the O2 (which I have) or the Schiit Magni.

Is the Stax worth the extra $$$$? If cost is no object, maybe. It can be had for a piddling $4200 from amazon. It had a 'liquidity' to it that I can't recall hearing to that degree before. It was better than any of the planar magnetics at the show and very comfortable; the big, heavy Audeze's- meh, not so much. The Hifiman cans were pretty comfy. But I agree with 2bigears that you are waaay into 'diminishing returns' territory with the Stax's.

I am not convinced that the beneficial properties of a planar driver- low mass/quick transient response and even drive across its surface- matter as much at the small driver sizes used in headphones as at the large driver sizes used in speakers. And they require specialized (read:expensive) amps that drive up the price even further. Further, the heavy, stiff cabling seems like it might become annoying and/or limiting in time. So unless  I hit the powerball, it's likely that the Stax is out of the picture. YMMV on all of the above obviously.

[2bigears]

 .  Thanks good people.  So it's off to the store to scoop the T1's.  but I must amp up also.  Not sure here or what there.  This Glenn Amp ,, sounds good but I can't even find where to go to buy it ? Hummmm
     Anyway, any help on a good amp and DAC combo would be greatly appreciated .. True-Dat ! 

[parr3n1]

You can contact Glenn by going to Headfi and looking for the Glenn
thread UNder 2359Glenn and writing him a private message. He is a great
guy to deal with, never ask for $$ until something is delivered. His amps
are something special in that they are built to your desires. The thread has
developed something of a cult feeling on headfi, lots of exchanges with tube
info. The amp truly transforms the t1's into a very special headphone. You
won't be disappointed, and the cost for the amp is very competitive.
Good Luck with you journey.

[joessportster]

I use the HifiMan HE500 and I have 2 amps that are very reasonable that sound amazing, First and best dedicated amp is the ampsandsound Kenzie Headphone amp, Next is the Centrance Dacmini which has a very respectable onboard amp

I could honestly live with the centrance if I did not already have the Kenzie

I have never heard the T-1