The Nectar Hive
Introduction:
The Nectar Hives has taken a new step into the DIY Headphone market and has made a good impression in the estat(electrostatic headphone) world. To top it with a cherry on top, a fantastic entry-level price to hook anybody who has not tried estats.
Nectar started as a DIY STAX Headphone Amplifier and has morphed into a Headphone DIY/Maker.
The maker behind The Nectar Hive is Sajeev Ranasinghe who has a fantastic background in Electrical Engineering and an excellent reputation for his DIY ESTAT AMP’s, REF: https://forum.bottlehead.com/index.php?topic=12157.0
The first version of the Nectar Headphones began as The Pollinator. Through community feedback, we have a new revision in improving comfort.
These updates have given us the Hive.
The focus of the Hive has been purely on community feedback, and the improvements he made to these headphones are truly remarkable.
Specs:
Style - Open Back
Driver - ESTAT
Bias Voltage - 580v
Price - $599.99
Source:
Schiit Bifrost 2 -> iFi iCan Pro -> iFi iESL.
Main Stack driving this:
Music container: FLAC
Music Player: Roon
Playlist:
Yosi Horikawa - Vapor (Whole Album)
Yosi Horikawa - Letter (Awesome Imaging and Dynamics/Stage)
Yosi Horikawa - Bubbles (Awesome Imaging and Dynamics/Stage)
Atomos I
Atomos VII
Sorrow - Carpe Noctem (Whole Album)
Sorrow - Homesick (Fun display of soundstage vocals and bass. Wait for it 1:08)
Reference headphones:
Massdrop X Koss ESP/95X Headphones
Massdrop X Koss ESP/95X Energizer
Build Quality and Comfort:
The build feels solid and well made. The texture on the stators is on point. The Hive headphones are made from SLA 3D printed “ABS-like’’ material. The only downside is that they do feel fragile to an extent.
Closer look of the ear cups:
The headband material is comfortable and feels well built; the stator color gives a fantastic definition and accent to the headphones. The plug and cable feel well made, the plug itself is a Moon-Audio “Stax” plug.
I am a person that puts comfort high on the list as I believe that if you don’t feel comfortable, you won’t enjoy your experience. With that said, they are lightweight and comfortable for extended use. I listened for several hours with minimal discomfort, no hot spots, nor fatigue.
Compared to the Koss ESP/95X, the Hive headphones have more clamp, so the Koss clamp wise is better is also liter; Koss gets the upper hand here.
Bass:
By nature, electrostatic headphones do not give you a propulsive bass or impact in the lower regions; this is natural for this technology. This is where I got impressed with the Nectar Hives because they pack forward and natural bass with a touch of impact, enough to enjoy what you are listening too. If I was to guess an FR(frequency response) where they excel in the lower regions, around the mid-bass (In between 60Hz-200Hz) to the higher side of the bass FR.
Listening to songs like “Homesick” by Sorrow, the hives provide an exciting fun experience as the synergy flows very well, making the headphones come alive.
During the comparison, the Koss ESP/95X held their own but lack impact and forward bass to create an impact.
Annotation: While they do not produce bass like a Dynamic or Planar Magnetic headphone, they do hold their own in the estat category. Well done Nectar, Well done.
Mids, Highs, and Speed:
No disappointment here, Mids and highs are pronounced and present throughout your experience, giving you a great sense of speed.
Listening to “Memorial” by Russian Circle can show you the capability of the speed, though I have to say that at times the highs did peak a bit too much for my liking; this was only present on metal/rock type of songs like the one listed above and another example was “Tunnel Blanket” from This Will Destroy You.
Soundstage and Imaging:
For the most part, this is where electrostatic headphones excel above and beyond most other headphone technologies. The soundstage was very well displayed, showing me where each instrument needed to be with great separation songs like “Letter” by Yosi Horikawa is an excellent example of this. An awesome song that also displays the image very well is “Bubbles” by Yosi Horikawa. The tonality was where it needed to be to display the image you are looking for in your songs. The image was in front of me. I felt near the stage but not as though everything was stacked on top of each other. It was the experience I wanted to see in my songs.
Compared to the Koss ESP/95X The Hive had the upper hand on the depth of soundstage and image layering. The Koss had a wider soundstage due to the nature of the cups.
Conclusion:
The Nectar Hive has won a place on my line up; these headphones are full of fun, giving you enjoyment at every level of your musical experience. At the same time, they can sting a little in the highs with certain songs. However, it’s not enough to say these are bright, which is a description that often gets misused. Detail, separation, and imaging are part of how well the highs/mids and even lows play with each other. Detailed headphones can come off as forward, but Nectar seems to have found the right level.
