Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
The ESP950 does have good clarity, speed, and detail, but not to the level of the L300. Subbass and midbass are noticeably less than the L300, will never have the midbass punch of an L300 nor the low end presence - even with EQ. It's really good for vocals.... Jazz and classical are lacking without EQ for the bass to get it more natural sounding. Standup acoustic bass and drums just sound lacking until you add quite a bit low end EQ. Took Schiit loki 20Hz knob at ~3:00 position for them to sound proper. Without EQ they were unacceptable to me. L300 without EQ is fine.
I will say the comfort of the ESP950 is undeniably better than the L300 and it's EXTREMELY lightweight, noticeably lighter than an L300. Quality is their main issue... they will squeal sometimes and drive you crazy.... just not the same level of quality as STAX. Once I got my STAX L300 had zero interest in listening to the ESP950 anymore and sold them off. I was content with the ESP950 until the STAX arrived and I heard the difference - both being driven off a STAX SRM-323S driver for direct comparison. Normal rig used for the ESP950 was a Mjolnir Audio SRD-7 powered from NAD C275BEE stereo amp and Gustard X20U DAC to drive them... which is well beyond the level of STAX SS drivers in regards to bass and fullness of sound.
Right now, as in having spent this afternoon listening to them, I'm actually shifting my opinion on the Modhouse Argon Mark 3's I recently got in. Was nearly a 12 week wait for them and expectations were high - wasn't feeling them at all during first listen and was fairly dissapointed. Left for a headphone meet last weekend with them and was still dissapointed. Today, with my spare Gustard H10 amp at work, I experimented with pre-gain changes and now they are showing their true colors... stupendous bass both in extension and punch, with great speed and nice detail, and good sense of space to the sound. Thinking their bass is beyond the TH-X00PHs level now where previously it was not even up to it and their detail has come out. With the Dragonfly Red DAC/amp connected to the Gustard H10, and the H10 pregain switches set to +12dB it really has come alive. The longer I listen to the Argon MK3s, the more I really, REALLY like them... they are pretty much in line with most of my sound preferences.
If you get a Japanese STAX system, don't forget will also need to get a power step -down transformer to safely run at proper voltage without over-driving the unit (100V for Japan)... running it at over voltage will damage it over time.
The drop I am speaking about is the: Massdrop x MrSpeakers Ether CX
They look like they will be very comfortable, and the $899 price tag is one I can live with.
Note: The Massdrop x MrSpeakers Ether CX Closed Headphones will launch September 25 at 6 a.m. PT for $899.99
My rock bottom price with no haggling, etc would be $900 shipped in the USA.
You would not believe the price of some OLD Russian and German tubes, it's crazy. My father in law had SO many old tubes, as he was an engineer, but repaired radios and tv's on the side. After he passed, they were thrown all away, I wish I would have known then what I know now. It was a goldmine.
I would like to get a Bottlehead Crack, with the Speedball Mod, but since I got hurt at work my hands do not work as well as they used to for soldering. Also I know Woo Audio makes some great tube amps that start in the $800 range I believe. Hope that helps at least a little bit.