Steven Slate VSX Headphone

[legendCNCD]

Yes the new batch is coming up soon I read from gearsl.. gear.. gear what .. place.

[RSL369]

I'm still puzzled as to what's going on with their European distribution. Thomann is listed as the main EU distributor (for my area), yet nothing comes up when I search for "Slate VSX" in Thomann app. It's been like this for a while now, no VSX in sight!
In other words, I still don't get where to buy this if I'm in Europe.
Anyone got any ideas?

Everywhere is waiting on stock for the version 2 headphones I guess ?

V1 was also unavailable for quite some time, not even listed in the Thomann's catalog, even though they are listed as official distributors for EU.
I have no idea what's going on there.

[legendCNCD]

I tested 2.0 Stevens room. Really like the Far-Fields, Mid-Fields are a bit too .. klanky for my taste but reveals mistakes there easily. Next: Sonoma studio test.

New HD Linear 2 is superb.

[bmanic]

I'm still puzzled as to what's going on with their European distribution. Thomann is listed as the main EU distributor (for my area), yet nothing comes up when I search for "Slate VSX" in Thomann app. It's been like this for a while now, no VSX in sight!
In other words, I still don't get where to buy this if I'm in Europe.
Anyone got any ideas?

Everywhere is waiting on stock for the version 2 headphones I guess ?

V1 was also unavailable for quite some time, not even listed in the Thomann's catalog, even though they are listed as official distributors for EU.
I have no idea what's going on there.

The first batch was simply sold out within a week or so. Slate severely underestimated the demand.

The next batch should be out any day now and hopefully wont sell out immediately (though that may very well happen due to the continued COVID situation).

[RSL369]

I'm still puzzled as to what's going on with their European distribution. Thomann is listed as the main EU distributor (for my area), yet nothing comes up when I search for "Slate VSX" in Thomann app. It's been like this for a while now, no VSX in sight!
In other words, I still don't get where to buy this if I'm in Europe.
Anyone got any ideas?

Everywhere is waiting on stock for the version 2 headphones I guess ?

V1 was also unavailable for quite some time, not even listed in the Thomann's catalog, even though they are listed as official distributors for EU.
I have no idea what's going on there.

The first batch was simply sold out within a week or so. Slate severely underestimated the demand.

The next batch should be out any day now and hopefully wont sell out immediately (though that may very well happen due to the continued COVID situation).

Perfect, thank you! That makes sense.

[andymcbain]

Loving HD Linear 2 - the previous version was a little veiled but I can hear the top end a lot more clearly now.

Slate's Mid / Farfields sound very big and impressive but I'm finding the Sonoma Midfields a lot more balanced and useful. Might be my new go-to!

The mono cube certainly doesn't have the grotty texture of my Avantone (and that level of emulation can't really be expected) but it serves it's purpose frequency and balance wise so it's a winner. If something is poking out of the mix, the cube with tell you

All in all very pleased with the update.

[legendCNCD]

Avantone was one of those "oh my god it sounds bad but yeah I understand now better why"

I havent gone yet to Sonoma, but the Slate Farfields are... very pleasing. Barefoots are very revealing in the klang area and have quite wide stage. Just have done some quick listenings as I composed whole last weekend with the VSX's on, 99% at Archon Mids. For a while something was strange, I had accidentally clicked Archon Farfields on while I left the machine, when I came back I was really puzzled

Howies engineer place is even better now.

[Btncm]

I'm still puzzled as to what's going on with their European distribution. Thomann is listed as the main EU distributor (for my area), yet nothing comes up when I search for "Slate VSX" in Thomann app. It's been like this for a while now, no VSX in sight!
In other words, I still don't get where to buy this if I'm in Europe.
Anyone got any ideas?

Everywhere is waiting on stock for the version 2 headphones I guess ?

V1 was also unavailable for quite some time, not even listed in the Thomann's catalog, even though they are listed as official distributors for EU.
I have no idea what's going on there.

The first batch was simply sold out within a week or so. Slate severely underestimated the demand.

The next batch should be out any day now and hopefully wont sell out immediately (though that may very well happen due to the continued COVID situation).

I signed up for the next batch. I can’t wait, heard so many positive things about it

[Digivolt]

SXPro had them marked in March to be coming out April, throughout April it was "coming April", now in May it's "coming May" I wonder what's the holdup with supply ?

[bmanic]

It's bad.. like any other company. World wide shipping and customs are completely overworked. Here's a quote from the VSX thread at Gearspace from somebody who contacted support about the supply:

Hope you are well and thanks for getting in touch. Unfortunately the VSX Headphone production has been at the mercy of Covid. As I'm sure you are aware, Covid has had a massive impact on global supply chains to the point that many companies are having a hard time keeping products in stock because we simply cannot build them fast enough due to part shortages, shipping delays, and factory closures. I actually just went to IKEA this weekend and I'd estimate nearly all of their furniture was unavailable and backordered. It was very surreal. Everything I walked up to said it was unavailable on the tag. Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Apple are some other examples of companies having issues with their stock supply which you can read about in the news.

At this point we've run into some new delays which is why the date was pushed back. We are hoping to have them sooner than late June, but it all depends on some other delays we are anticipating. For instance, normally international shipping would take 2-5 days to put something on a plane and have it go through customs. Now it is taking 2-4 weeks just to get a shipment on a plane or vessel because shipping is so backlogged and companies are competing for places on ships and planes. In addition to that, the ports of entry into the US in particular as so backed up they have ships waiting for weeks at a time in the ocean to be unloaded because the docks can't handle them. This is leading to increased costs in shipping, which in turn is driving up product costs and inflation, which I'm sure you've seen in your own grocery bills.

At this point, just know we are doing everything we can to get the VSX Headphones into the hands of customers waiting for them, but again, we are at the mercy of the virus and its global impact.

Thanks for your understanding and let me know if you have any more questions.

Link to the post at Gearspace.

https://gearspace.com/board/showpost.ph ... tcount=493


.. so yeah, things are looking bad. It's very unfortunate that Slate Digital didn't estimate how popular the headphones would be. I mean, the first batch was many thousands of units but they pretty much immediately sold out, probably due to the world wide Covid-19 situation. They could easily have sold 20k units or more.

[legendCNCD]

It seems new batch is coming up soon!
I dont think I could live without VSX anymore - well I could but it would be much more agonizing now daymn if it hasnt changed to wayyyyy better how I mix and master.

[legendCNCD]

"We have another container leaving the factory at the end of next week, and then another bigger container coming just two weeks after that. We should be caught up by mid August... I hope!"

[Digivolt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlL7xMYvm2o

Is it crazy bad luck for Dan to suffer 5 broken pairs ? That's a pretty crazy statistic though to go through 5 different pairs and for them to all break, can't blame him for not wanting to go through a 6th pair either

[godamngood]

I prefer Sienna.

[bmanic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlL7xMYvm2o

Is it crazy bad luck for Dan to suffer 5 broken pairs ? That's a pretty crazy statistic though to go through 5 different pairs and for them to all break, can't blame him for not wanting to go through a 6th pair either

If they all came from the same broken batch (a whole batch had a manufacturing error) then it's not at all unlikely for this to happen. I have two pairs and neither has had any problems whatsoever (and one pair I have been traveling with and it's been used and abused a lot).

EDIT: Yeah, looks like he has had headphone models all from the 21xx series. Those are the ones that had the bad batch. Unlucky for him and I totally understand his frustration. Luckily Slate is a company that actually does hold their word and give refunds if asked.

We'll see how durable the much advertised "unbreakable" 23xx series is once they arrive. Probably going to get a pair just for backup as I can not work without these any more.