Article: HiFiMan Jade II Electrostatic Headphone System Full Review

[The Computer Audiophile]

Nice review Sonis. This makes me want to get a pair of these or at least consider some other electrostatics. I've been looking for new speakers for several months. Recently I've been digging into electrostatic speakers and as of today I'm researching esl headphones. Perhaps going the esl headphone route will work best for me rather than the esl loudspeaker route. Not sure, but I'm looking forward to Axpona and Munich to listen to some of both hopefully. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

14 minutes ago, gmgraves said:

Not with electrostatic Headphones it's not. The cable carries ~600 volts of polarizing voltage and you don't want a detachable cable with that kind of voltage. It could come loose while one is listening and give the listener a nasty shock. The Koss ESP925s don't have detachable cables, neither do any of the Stax ES offerings including their flagship headset, the SR-009S at more than $4000 for the headset alone!. The Sonoma ES 'phones do have a detachable cable as do the Mr. Speakers ES phones, both of which are much more expensive than the Jade IIs, but I wouldn't want either due to to the possibility of shock. BTW, neither of HiFiMan's Shangra-la models, the $50,000 set nor the $8000 set have detachable cords. Believe me, it's not an economic issue with HiFiMan (after all, their cheapest planar magnetic offerings come with detachable cords), it's a safety and liability issue that does not exist with dynamic phones. 

Well stated.