Stellia is so smooth, it makes Elegia sound like sandpaper... There's a serious driver issue with Elegia that EQ cannot fix. The treble shrillness is so bad. I did love Elegia when it was my best headphone. But Stellia has me spoiled - it's such an experience. Best closed-back I've ever used...

4.4 to XLR adapters are cheap enough. I'm not sure how Erco Gen2 compares to Wandla, but I own Erco 1 - Wandla is a major upgrade from it. I'd say get Wandla and an XLR to 4.4 adapter, unless you can get Erco 2 much cheaper!

Wandla vs Erco (gen 1)... I am blown away. Testing with LCD-5, Hypsos and Erco as the amp section. No more treble glare. I didn't realise how much glare Erco suffered from. Wandla is clean and natural, with the smoothest timbre I've ever heard. Whilst being very punchy and detailed. Treble is...

It's the nice thing about Stellia, it's a real leather product that ages gracefully. Apart from the few half-stained ones with lines going down them haha. You can protect them if you prefer brand new. Or enjoy the leather maturing over time.

Mine too. I got my cable about 9 days after ordering (to the UK) which was really fast!

Do you know if GS edition will reach UK distribution? Or is it Headphones.com exclusive? The list of improvements and features has me hooked!

I feel like LCD-5 is slept on heavily by most, without EQ. It makes a huge difference having EQ with these. They respond so well to it. Technical performance is the best I've heard in any planar, so far. It trades blows with Susvara, where both headphones offer a different style but similar...

Nice to hear it's a huge improvement. Do you have any more thoughts? I use an Erco (gen 1) which I could pay to upgrade to gen 2. But I'm also really curious about upgrading to Wandla instead. Mostly curious about how the stage, separation and smoothness/timbre compare.

Very nice impressions! Interesting you mentioned the treble "hash" - It's something I especially notice with Focal Utopia or Stellia (less so with LCD-5). This slightly grainy, dry effect in the upper mids and treble. It's smooth, but with a weird grainy texture that shouldn't be there. Glad...

I'm fairly sure the best method is the leather cleaner + protection cream I mentioned. Stellia uses unprotected, full-grain/aniline leather, which many other products also use. For this type of aniline it's really the best you can get. It can remove stains, the cream prevents them also, but...

The cleaner should help some discoloration, I haven't needed it on mine yet, but it's made for sensitive aniline leather! I've seen good reviews for the stain removal part. Using the cream afterwards will help restore and protect the finish too.

I've been using Leather Master - leather protection cream from Amazon (comes with a cleaner too). Furniture Clinic also makes a similar one. It's kept the leather brand new and hydrated. The cream stops your skin/hair oils from staining it. Just apply every 2 months or so, with a white cloth. I...

Got the Forza Noir Mk2 for Focal Stellia - No microphonics anymore! Sound quality is a huge improvement. It's airy, clean and natural up top, none of the rigid sharpness I heard before in the treble. Bass is tighter and less bloated/fatiguing. Stage feels more fluid, and extends out into the...

Got the Forza Noir Mk2 cable - No microphonics! Basically none. This cable is like a light rope, that's flexible like string. Can't hear it anymore. Sound quality is a huge improvement. It's airy, clean and natural up top, none of the rigid sharpness I heard before in the treble. Bass is...

Glad it sounds good. That's definitely a concern though. We have to trust whichever distributor to upgrade it correctly, and it's hard to know until long-term... I'm sure they're trained first, but it's still a little worrying.