i listened to bit of my ipod with them for a bit and while it seem to have good enough volume for casual listening and performed better than expected since i never tested my sextetts on an ipod before, i did not notice a grainy sound in the treble region since both the low-bass to bass area and the top-end to air sounded completely cut off compared to the midrange. midrange seem stand out the most while the rest of the frequency range took bit,just a bit of dive  and went to a frown curve best i can describe it, so it was kinda bit hard to tell cause even Skrillex junk didn't pierce my ears like usual cause his stuff sounds so bad(don't ask why i have him on my ipod. i completely forgot why i put it on) with lack of sub-bass and piercing highs with his stuff.

they did though do much better out the simple op-amp based headphone out of my echo audiofire interface with much more gain and clarity, but still did not hear no graininess with few tracks i tested. though most electronic music the treble still sounded bad with the annoying ''ssss-ssss-ssss-ssss-ssss'' cause that's all you hear from electronically done cymbals. is that the grain?

the bass and air though improved greatly when i used headphone jack straight from my 1985 Yamaha R-9 receiver,especially the bass. bass slammed hard and the top-end came out of hiding while sound bit bright as usual with more modern day stuff.  i did notice i guess you can call grain with more electronic type music but something like Dire Straits just as an example i heard no grain or any type artificial ''sizzle'' i call it.

i did learn though these are output impedance dependent though. even though i can push crazy volume and kill the headphone straight from the headphone jack(which is 270ohm output impedance btw if curious) it seem going directly to speaker outputs via 4-pin xlr to bare wire the bass was first thing to tighten up nicely(guess cause speaker outputs are close to 0ohm output impedance? only thing i can guess) but still bright sounding top-end of course.

overall i didn't really hear grain with most acoustic music and stuff with nicely done dynamics but they do sound piercing with most modern made electronic music(mainly trance,DnB,hardstyle,Gabber/hardcore,and of course dubstep) where it was hard to tell if that is the grain your talking about. maybe i just can't hear it or where to look for it. if you ever have time i can send my pair to you on a loan sometime in the near future if you want and you can let me know if you hear grain with my pair or not. i don't mind since i haven't been using them much since i like my 240DF bit more and that gets more head time then any other pair of headphones in my collection.

sorry again for wall of text.

I think the main reason I prefer electrostats is the grain issue actually.  I didn't hear it before, but when I listen to electrostats exclusively, it's really evident to me anytime I listen to a dynamic.  I hear grain in the mids as well and I have no idea what causes it.  It can't be FR related because it's there regardless of FR.  I actually think it has to do with transient response, as the faster headphones have less grain to my ears.  For example, the HD800 and Qualia have the least amount of grain of any dynamic I've heard, and the orthos are also pretty good in this regard.  The worst was probably the Ed9 or DT48.

I think I know what you are talking about - not necessarily "treble grain" - but continuity of the notes going through time. Rather than little discrete steps making up the musical information.

Quote from: n3rdling on March 24, 2012, 10:14:19 PM

I think the main reason I prefer electrostats is the grain issue actually.  I didn't hear it before, but when I listen to electrostats exclusively, it's really evident to me anytime I listen to a dynamic.  I hear grain in the mids as well and I have no idea what causes it.  It can't be FR related because it's there regardless of FR.  I actually think it has to do with transient response, as the faster headphones have less grain to my ears.  For example, the HD800 and Qualia have the least amount of grain of any dynamic I've heard, and the orthos are also pretty good in this regard.  The worst was probably the Ed9 or DT48.

I think I know what you are talking about - not necessarily "treble grain" - but continuity of the notes going through time. Rather than little discrete steps making up the musical information.

same here. first i thought i knew but in reality i never did know what grain was or got it. i always thought grain was just type of roughness in the top-end with cymbals or something that causes that annoying artificial sizzle but i think i get what it means now in better terms.

i think i finally found out what speed meant when i got pair of nice loaner stax 2020 basic II system with the sr-202 using lambda pro pads and handband frame cause he recommended me trying the sr-202 first  cause he loved the midrange tonality a lot compared to his other stax and his lambda pros. i never heard the lambdas(want to though) but i agree that the midrange tonality is where it's at with these and their speed. i actually like them bit more over my DF's so far when it comes to midrange and is noticeable difference right away between switching back and forth.

But the Sextett isn't harsh at all, and has a liquid smooth midrange, one of the best of any headphone including stax.  Yet the treble has a lot of grain, or as you said, texture that shouldn't be there.  Grainy treble is soft and textured as opposed to smooth and sharp (of course then there's overly sharp as well, but I'm talking about the right amount of sharpness that a metal cymbal should have, not harshness)

i actually have to agree with you on that. i haven't used my sextetts for couple months and past couple months i gotten better more accurate power amps that i had my local tech check for me and bring up to spec and it's like listening to my sextetts again for the first time. thing is i remember them them as slightly bright and bit warmer then the DF's but now listening to them they sound crystal clear with very clean midrange. there is no glaring/smearing or whatever you call it in the midrange. everything sound separated very clearly. i was thinking bout giving these away but i think i don't see myself doing so anymore since i put so much work into these and so forth.