CES 2013: Headphones & Headphone-related Electronics—Part 2 (Hi-Fi+)

Posted by: Chris Martens at 11:11 am, February 8th, 2013

But, in the oldie-but-decidedly-goodie department, Koss also had something very special to show high-end listeners; namely, its venerable ESP950 full-range electrostatic headphone with energizer (that is, amplifier/bias voltage module). In truth, the ESP950 was one of the very first commercially viable full-range electrostatic headphones and it is almost certainly the one that has been in continuous production for the longest period of time. Even so, I thought the ESP-950 sounded as if it still had plenty of modern era, top-tier-grade performance on offer. Accordingly, expect to see an upcoming Hi-Fi+ review of this very special Koss model, if only so that we can get a better handle on a product that helped get the whole electrostatic headphone movement rolling in the first place.

MartinLogan

Key Products:

• Mikros 70 earphones ($149)
  Mikros 90 on-ear headphones ($299)

An ever-growing number of loudspeaker manufacturers have taken the plunge to become headphone manufacturers and MartinLogan is no exception. Last Fall the firm announced its Mikros 70 in-ear ‘phones and for CES debuted its beautifully made Mikros 90 on-ear headphones. The MartinLogan demo room was geared primarily to show loudspeakers and subwoofers so that I really didn’t get a chance to hear the Mikros models in action. But never fear: both Hi-Fi+ Editor Alan Sircom and I have samples of the Mikros 70 in hand so that between the two of us a full-length review will appear in Hi-Fi+ before too long. Stay tuned…