A Semi-Exhaustive Quest For Understanding

Being a certifiable idiot, my first thought upon reading the word “electrostatic” was that it sounds like a painful yet effective procedure to remove back hair. But don’t worry, that’s not actually what it is. “Electrostatic” refers to a type of advanced sound-related technology that I will, over the course of the next few paragraphs, attempt (and likely fail) to properly explain.

So, to start, what makes this stuff so advanced? To answer to that, I visited this Reddit thread, where user Obokan gives a fairly concise technical breakdown:

The fact that the drivers use static charge to vibrate a piece of electrically conductive sheet makes them extremely resolving, clear. They don’t have the problem other transducers typically have with moving their heavy and stiff masses around.

Of course, this is cool and all, but more helpful to the layman is Obokan’s description of the sound quality:

They sound very clean, too clean in fact, that it sort of invokes an uncanney [sic] valley like response to some people. To me however, and others too, it is heaven. It is the pinnacle of audio reproduction. Like having a microphone surgically wired into your brain. Just that good.

Elsewhere on the same thread, user tamagoboro expresses similar feelings:

Hearing electrostats was the first time I felt like any audiophile vetted heaphones were worth it. […] With electrostats, the sound is just…there. It’s both quick and clean while giving your ears space to breathe. Really hard to qualify other than saying it sounds natural.

So, while opinions vary, many believe electrostatic drivers produce the cleanest, best sound.

Now, let’s make things more complicated! These Verisonix headphones we’re selling? They’re are not exactly electrostatic. They use “Hybrid Electrostatz Technology.” Bowei Zhao explains what this means in his review for Headphone.Guru. Basically, each side has a pair of drivers: one ESL (electrostatic loudspeaker) and one dynamic. Why? As Zhoa breaks it down, it’s a price issue:

As Verisonix aptly puts it, ESL’s are the “Ferrari of all speakers”. The downside is that there are barriers of entry that deters consumers from purchasing or even hearing them for a demo and are priced higher than their dynamic counterparts. Verisonix in introducing their new N501 hybrid headphone is playing both sides of the fence using this innovative dynamic and ELS hybrid design.

I.e., you get that electrostatic sound without having to pay that full electrostatic price. But is the sound what he hoped? Overall, yes:

The vocals in the N501 are clear with an energetic response. Listening to “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele gave me her unclouded talent through the sheer clarity of her voice from the headphones. The N501 did great work in latching onto the raw performance and intensity present from Adele.

Elsewhere, he says there’s a certain brightness to the audio that can be fatiguing if one listens to something for a long time. But as the Redditors made clear above, a lot of this is taste.

As for what I think, being, once again, a veritable moron when it comes to this stuff? It’s simple: these might retail for, like, $500 or more; we’re selling them for just under $50.

Also, they look like they’re wooden which is cool.

So buy them, please.