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I have a nice pair of Stax electrostatic headphones and Stax tube amp that I was enjoying up until recently, until the left channel volume became a faint whisper. The phones were about 1 year old, and I bought the amp used. Total cost about $2500 for both. I tried all the usual troubleshooting techniques. Eliminated the possibility of the input source being the cause. Then switched tubes right to left, then tried a new set of tubes. I concluded it's either the amp or the headphones that are faulty. A few months ago, I sadly put the Stax system away, and bought a set of Sundara planar headphones and an Arcam headphone amp to keep my music playing. I will upgrade the amp soon. While definitely not ES quality, it is still very good sounding. I use it in my exercise room with a Denon DP-57M table/Grado Gold3 cartridge, cloned Grado PH1 phono stage, and a Nad DAC/Audiolab CDT6000 transport.
My question is; Does anyone know of a set of planar magnetic headphones, that come close to the sound quality of an electrostatic set? I am looking for better reliability, and electrostatic like sound quality for a budget under $2000. Or is this just a "pipe dream"?
Thanks,
mg16
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