1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:06,720 Portable audio solutions have gotten generally more compact over time, and 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:10,320 that's a good thing. Who wants to carry a bunch of crap around with them just to 3 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:16,960 listen to music? Well, sure thinks you might. And if you 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:21,840 got a chance to listen to their KSE 1200 electrostatic earphones, yes, you heard 5 00:00:19,359 --> 00:00:27,599 me right. Electrostatic earphones for did I mention that they're 6 00:00:25,199 --> 00:00:34,279 $2,000? You might actually agree with them. 7 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:34,279 This is going to be interesting. 8 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:45,440 The Sure KSC 1200's are not your 9 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:50,079 run-of-the-mill in-ear monitors. For starters, they've got this thick Kevlar 10 00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:56,559 reinforced cable that's designed to isolate each of the two conductors. And 11 00:00:53,039 --> 00:01:00,000 then that plugs into a matched amplifier 12 00:00:56,559 --> 00:01:02,640 that you must use through this obscure 13 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:08,000 pushpull limbo headphone connector that you'd be more likely to find on aviation 14 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:12,000 or medical equipment than on a smartphone. 15 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:15,439 But why? What is it about these earphones that makes all of this 16 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:22,400 necessary? The answer is in the drivers inside each 17 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:27,040 earbud. The actual mechanism that transduces electrical energy from your 18 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:32,079 source into sound energy on your eard drum uses a technology that is rarely 19 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:40,079 used in speakers. Seldom used in headphones and almost never used in IM. 20 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:42,400 These have electrostatic drivers. Now, 21 00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:47,280 the vast majority of speakers out there use dynamic drivers where electricity 22 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:52,320 flowing through the cable interacts with a permanent magnet to move the diaphragm 23 00:01:49,759 --> 00:01:59,040 back and forth. The goal is for the diaphragm to only move along one plane, 24 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:01,520 back and forth, like a piston. But 25 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:06,159 dynamic drivers struggle to do this because the cable is only fixed to the 26 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:10,479 diaphragm around its dome, allowing other parts of the flexier to warp in 27 00:02:08,479 --> 00:02:16,319 other directions. This introduces distortion, which hurts sound quality. 28 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:18,720 But this doesn't happen nearly at all 29 00:02:16,319 --> 00:02:24,879 with electrostatic drivers because the diaphragm is not physically connected to 30 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:30,800 the voice coil. Instead, it's actually suspended between two sters like a 31 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:36,160 sandwich. The diaphragm itself is made of an ultra low mass plastic film, which 32 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:40,160 in some cases is actually even lighter than the air that it's displacing. And 33 00:02:38,319 --> 00:02:45,440 it's impregnated with an electrically conductive material and then held in 34 00:02:42,239 --> 00:02:48,959 place by a strong electrostatic field 35 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:51,360 created by a high voltage power supply. 36 00:02:48,959 --> 00:02:58,000 Ah, that right there. Now, we're getting to the bottom of this. That is why the 37 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:59,680 KSC 1200's need this amp. So, as the 38 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:04,959 current carrying the music flows through, the stators work together to 39 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:10,560 push and pull the diaphragm back and forth thousands of times per second. And 40 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:15,599 it's really, really fast because the diaphragm weighs so little. So, that's 41 00:03:12,959 --> 00:03:19,760 awesome for creating clear tones even when there are lots of instruments 42 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:25,680 playing at once. It also lets the driver produce frequencies across the spectrum. 43 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:27,920 So, the KSC1200's use only one full 44 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:33,840 range driver per earphone with a frequency response of 10 hertz to 50,000 45 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:38,560 hertz, well beyond the range of human hearing. This is in stark contrast to 46 00:03:36,159 --> 00:03:43,840 most high-end IM which deploy anywhere from one or two to eight drivers per 47 00:03:41,599 --> 00:03:49,840 earphone so that each one of them can focus on a more narrow frequency range. 48 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,080 So, that's some cool tech. But most 49 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:57,840 people don't pay two grand just to have cool tech in their pocket. They have to 50 00:03:54,480 --> 00:04:01,280 actually sound good. And subjectively, 51 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:03,840 these don't sound good because they 52 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:08,720 sound fantastic. Do you guys see what I did there? Honestly, it's kind of like 53 00:04:05,599 --> 00:04:12,080 having a tiny band playing a show for 54 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:14,640 one inside your head. And and that's not 55 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:18,239 just because they're electrostats. The fact that they're in-ear monitors 56 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:25,360 basically means that you're you're kind of wearing earplugs with the KSC1200's 57 00:04:21,359 --> 00:04:27,759 purporting to block out up to 37 dB of 58 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:32,000 ambient noise provided that you choose a sleeve that makes a good seal in your 59 00:04:29,759 --> 00:04:36,720 special snowflake ear canal. So I prefer the really really small ones. There are 60 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:40,800 four different sleeve types in the box and these IM should be compatible with 61 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:45,680 the same sleeves that fit any other modern Sure SE style earphones. They 62 00:04:43,919 --> 00:04:49,360 also come with a cable clip, two different lengths of ox cable for 63 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:56,560 connecting to your source, and two Livstrong style bands for repping. Sure, 64 00:04:54,639 --> 00:05:01,440 actually, no, it's not for that. It It's It's for holding everything together. 65 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:08,560 But on that subject, what what what even is this setup? Like, couldn't I just 66 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:12,320 connect the amp to my phone? 67 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:14,800 The answer is yes. Yes, you can. But it 68 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:19,680 might feel like a bit of a waste because the song or podcast that you're 69 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:24,639 listening to is a digital signal that has to get converted to an analog signal 70 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:30,639 by the time it hits the headphones. Now, your phone does have a digital to analog 71 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:34,880 converter or a DAC built in, but the audio file argument would be that it's 72 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:39,280 probably of such low quality that it kind of defeats the purpose of your 73 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:44,320 $2,000 headphones. So, while yes, it is possible on many 74 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:49,520 iOS and Android devices to output the pure digital signal, bypassing the 75 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:51,520 onboard DACK, again, you'd need to add a 76 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:57,759 DAC into the chain because the KSC 1200's do not have a DAC built in. In 77 00:05:54,479 --> 00:06:01,360 fact, that's what differentiates the KSC 78 00:05:57,759 --> 00:06:05,440 1200's from the KSC 1500s that launched 79 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:08,080 back in 2016 for $1,000 more. Both the 80 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:13,759 amp and the headphones themselves are the exact same, but the system included 81 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:17,280 an integrated DAC and equalizer, which you could tune with the help of an OLED 82 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:22,560 screen. Now, those functions are still available to KSC 1200 owners, but only 83 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:25,039 through a companion app. So, depending 84 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:30,080 on your setup, you could have a source like a phone plugged into a dedicated 85 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:34,880 DAC plugged into the KSC amp with the headphones then plugged into your head. 86 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:39,600 or you can use a combination source and DAC like the M9 that our friends over at 87 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:43,520 FIO graciously sent us. So with something like this, you can stream from 88 00:06:41,919 --> 00:06:47,280 supported apps that runs Android, but it's actually still quite locked down. 89 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:52,160 Uh or you can load your lossless audio tracks via micro SD, so you've got high 90 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:57,600 quality links across the entire chain all the way to your ears. But the 91 00:06:55,120 --> 00:07:03,120 question is, if you need two or three devices, you know, zip tied together in 92 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:08,240 your pocket, is this solution really portable? 93 00:07:04,639 --> 00:07:10,080 Now, I mean, for old folks like me, this 94 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:13,599 really doesn't seem that cumbersome. I mean, I used to carry a Discman around 95 00:07:11,599 --> 00:07:18,720 at school every day. And by carry, I mean delicately caress so that it 96 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:22,240 wouldn't skip. But compared to the generation that grew up just using their 97 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:28,639 phone for this stuff, which we all have to carry around anyway, it is quite an 98 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:31,680 adjustment. With that said, relative to 99 00:07:28,639 --> 00:07:34,560 other hi-fi solutions, this is downright 100 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:39,120 minuscule, and having them on a plane is an absolute godsend. Unfortunately, 101 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:43,680 there's more to portability than just size. You don't normally have to worry 102 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:49,120 about battery life with wired headphones, but with these, you do 103 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:54,319 because they don't operate without the amp. And while the 2200 mAh battery 104 00:07:52,000 --> 00:08:00,080 provides more playback on these than the KSC 1500's, 12 hours up from 10, that's 105 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:05,199 still a lot lower than many Bluetooth headphones that can push 25 hours or 106 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:09,759 more. Plus, you got to manage the source and DAC batteries, which is just more 107 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:15,440 hassle, more things to recharge every night. What really irks me is that this 108 00:08:12,879 --> 00:08:21,199 $2,000 device doesn't even have fast charging over USB type-C. No, it's got 109 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:25,120 this stone age microB connector and takes 3 hours to fully charge the 110 00:08:23,199 --> 00:08:28,960 device. I mean, come on, you guys. So, bottom line, should you buy these 111 00:08:26,479 --> 00:08:35,279 headphones? Their sound quality to size ratio can't be beat. And I might even 112 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:37,120 choose them over audio file like overear 113 00:08:35,279 --> 00:08:40,959 headphones just for the added sound isolation that in-ears offer. I'm a bit 114 00:08:38,959 --> 00:08:44,000 of an in- ears guy. Not to mention that they're easier to wear to bed than over 115 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:47,839 ears which is something you could realistically do. Like these were very 116 00:08:45,839 --> 00:08:51,760 comfortable for me over long periods. The wire here is formable so you can get 117 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:55,279 a nice snug fit around your ear. There's a light to tell you if your input signal 118 00:08:53,519 --> 00:09:00,720 is going to clip and they absolutely nailed the sensitivity and feel of the 119 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:02,480 tactile volume knob. But 120 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:06,399 I'm stopping short of a recommendation here for the same reason that I've never 121 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:10,880 recommended that anyone buy a Titan graphics card or an Extreme Edition 122 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:16,640 processor. I mean, sure, they're the best, but they're an enthusiast product 123 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:21,360 in the truest sense of the word. A product that not only has a low price 124 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:25,360 toerformance ratio, but also one that asks the user to make affordances that 125 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:31,200 would be complete deal breakers for a lot of people, 126 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:32,480 including little old me. 127 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:36,480 So, thanks for watching, guys. If you disliked this video, you know where that button is. But if you liked it, hit 128 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:40,480 like, get subscribed, or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video 129 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:44,959 description. To be clear, I'm not saying don't buy it. I'm just not saying to buy 130 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:48,640 it. I mean, if you got two grand to blow, like, I can certainly think of 131 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:53,519 dumber things to spend that kind of I was at I was at the airport on my way 132 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:58,160 back here from a recent trip, and like they have purses for like $4,000. 133 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:02,399 They don't even have electrostatic drivers in them. They're just dead cow.