I went to CanJam knowing that E stats are where the end game stuff are and always out them on a pedastal. I was quite dissapointed with the cables that comes with the Electrostatic headphones.

Let's ignore that each system has different voltages and non standardized pins/ connectors. What bothers me is how ugly the cable looks. I don't think it's intentional design given how expensive these headphones do get.

Can anyone chip in if this is a norm?

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o7_brother t1_iyelbk1 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 8:36 PM

#825,038

We Stax fans love our 3 meter ribbon cables from the 1990's and there's nothing you can do to stop us!

covertash t1_iyelwmf wrote on November 30, 2022 at 8:39 PM

#825,269

If you think the cables are ugly, you should see the headphones themselves. :P

PassiveAgressiveCan t1_iyen94w wrote on November 30, 2022 at 8:48 PM

#825,814

I love my ribbon cable and will never give it up. Also I have no alternatives. It’s a forced love, but a good love.

The_D0lph1n t1_iyep7ab wrote on November 30, 2022 at 9:01 PM

#826,511

Are you talking about those flat ribbon cables? Those are designed like that for a reason: the shape keeps the distance between the wires constant, which reduces variability in the capacitance of the cables. Capacitance is one of the variables that's important in estats (high capacitance makes it difficult for the amp to drive the high frequencies) and keeping capacitance low in the cables is more important in estats than on regular headphones.

Not all estats use those flat cables. IIRC, the DCA Voce uses a cylindrical cable that's more similar to regular headphone cables. The Hifiman estats use a thinner nylon mesh cable, though it's still roughly flat. The Warwick ones also use a round cable. I think the Audeze CRBN also doesn't use a flat ribbon cable either. It's mainly Stax that does it, but for good reason IMO. Personally, I don't like the handling of those ribbons either, but there's a valid reason for it.

And regarding voltages, most modern estats have standardized on the Stax Pro bias voltage (580V DC). Only a few estats use other voltages (Warwick and Sennheiser), and Koss uses a weird connector, but their estat is decades-old.