The new ultra-fi

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

-  HERB REICHERT

At noon on a cloudless, ridiculously bright 97° day, John Atkinson and I audi-tioned Audeze’s new-but-not-yet-released CRBN electrostatic headphones. The audition took place at a sneak preview hosted by Audeze’s principal, Sankar Thiagasamudram, in a sleeping room at New York’s hipster-chic Ace Hotel on 29th Street and Broadway. Décor in this unusual sleeping room included a bathtub with feet, an antique wood ironing board, a vintage Gibson guitar, and a working stereo system with a Music Hall turntable and an assortment of vintage LPs.

On my way there, I was remembering some of my life-time experiences with electrostatic transducers. People who know me know that I’ve always been partial to electrostatic loudspeakers and headphones, but I’ve never found any that engage me fulltime, long-term. Over the years, my two pairs of Quad ESL loudspeakers taught me to enjoy the pleasures of a scintillating, perfectly detailed midrange. The original MartinLogan CLS (not the II or IIA) and the Stax ELS F-81 electrostatics took that learning to a higher level: Both speakers thrilled me with their raw, succulent, ultradetailed presentation. Unfortunately, both tended toward odd or gone-missing bottom octaves. Worst of all, they were beamy. And compressed. And staticky. But I loved them anyway.

Likewise, I’ve been drawn to Stax’s SR-009 headphones. I’ve always wanted to love them, but I found the original 009 unsatisfying for daily use. I regard the current SR-009S, which makes proper bass, as one of the most revealing, exciting-to-use headphones of all time.