The Headcase Stax thread

[deepak]

Originally Posted by troymadison

Yeah I do hear an upper mid peak, but the highs are still laidback though.

Have you considered getting a hearing test with an audiologist? If you have insurance they might cover it.

Originally Posted by deepak

Have you considered getting a hearing test with an audiologist? If you have insurance they might cover it.

Well, the quarts I like so much sound similar to the DT880. Is the DT880 a "horribly bright headphone"? I don't think it is but I couldn't stand the sibilance on the DT880.

Maybe I'm not putting this into words correctly, the SR-303 doesn't seem to do rock music/folk music well at all. A Grado headphone does a half-decent job at this.

[grawk]

Sounds like your taste is more towards those quarts. Just be glad, and sell off the stax and koss.

[faust3d]

Originally Posted by troymadison

Maybe I'm not putting this into words correctly, the SR-303 doesn't seem to do rock music/folk music well at all. A Grado headphone does a half-decent job at this.

I think you will just love QP85 or PMB500.

Originally Posted by faust3d

I think you will just love QP85 or PMB500.

How expensive are they

[faust3d]

Originally Posted by troymadison

How expensive are they

Not very, just hard to find.

[Asr]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

Are you going to do the ear-pad spring mod for the mids, or wait for your BHSE first?

I don't plan to do any mods to my SR-007 MKII. If I end up not fully liking it with the BHSE in my system, I'm going to either swap it for an MKI or go with something else.

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by Asr

I temporarily traded my SRM-1 MKII for an SRM-T1 with another Head-Fier at RMAF. So far I definitely prefer the SRM-T1, it seems to push the somewhat forward presentation of the SR-007 MKII back out a bit. There's also a greater ease & smoothness to the sound.

I'd offer to sell it to you, but what's the point? Your BHSE will run circles around it, and I kinda like having it around.

Your SRM1-mk2 would probably tide me over forever had I not heard the SRM-T1, though.

[DoomzDayz]

is there a consolidated post anywhere that compares all the vintage options for headphones and energizers? there are so many options...

SR-#
SR-X
SR-Sigma, Lambda, Gamma, etc
SR-## (I understand electrets are not as good?

SRD-#
Any sonic differences between all these adapters? newer better?

[luvdunhill]

Originally Posted by DoomzDayz

is there a consolidated post anywhere that compares all the vintage options for headphones and energizers? there are so many options...

SR-#
SR-X
SR-Sigma, Lambda, Gamma, etc
SR-## (I understand electrets are not as good?

SRD-#
Any sonic differences between all these adapters? newer better?

why don't you ask at a third forum, three's a charm.

[GPH]

I've been listening to the Cambridge 840A / SRD-7 Mk2 combo on the last two days and I have to say it does a very fine job driving the SR-007. There are no obvious faults in this setup, the only shortcomings appear if I compare it to the KGSS that I used to own. This is all based on memory so it might not be perfectly accurate though.

I remember that when I had my SRM-T1S, I was not entirely satisfied by the bass presentation, it was too syrupy, not punchy enough and in too small quantity. The KGSS corrected that and then some. With the transformer, I'd say the bass is closer to the KGSS, very punchy and well defined, though there is slightly less in quantity than on the KGSS. Also, I think the bass on the SRD-7 doesn't extend as deep, but I'd have to do a direct comparison to be totally sure about that.

For the midrange and vocals presentation, the SRD-7/Cambridge seems more lively and upfront than the KGSS which was slighly more laid back and perhaps more "neutral". This is good for some genres like rock and metal, but the KGSS is still king on classical and jazz. With that said, the SRD-7 did well with all the genres that I've tried and is certainly better than the T1S amp I had which was too smooth and gentle for testosterone-driven music like Iron Maiden and Metallica. For the treble extension, I have to concur with some reports that I've read saying it's slightly rolled off on the very top. This is apparent if you've heard better amps, but it's not something that really bothers me in this case. The percussions are rendered nicely with good punch and attack.

The biggest difference between this setup and the KGSS would be the retrieval of small details and the instruments placement. The KGSS put weight on every instrument and everything was focused and well defined. The separation between the different melodies and musicians was great and something that I haven't heard from any other headphone/amp combo. With the SRD-7, everything is slightly more diffuse and "light", and it doesn't retrieve micro-details like the KGSS used to. It was apparent when I listened to a familiar track and expected to hear some crackling at the beginning due to bad recording. It was there, but much less audible and annoying than on the KGSS. It makes for a very fun listen, but it's not the last word in terms of resolution.

Overall, I'm really enjoying this setup and I like the convenience (and $ saving) of using the Cambridge both as a speaker and headphone amp.

[spritzer]

Great impressions and we really need to come up with a better transformer based solution...

[grawk]

I'd love a nice transformer I could integrate with my icepower modules to make a speaker/koss amp

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by DoomzDayz

is there a consolidated post anywhere that compares all the vintage options for headphones and energizers? there are so many options...

SR-#
SR-X
SR-Sigma, Lambda, Gamma, etc
SR-## (I understand electrets are not as good?

SRD-#
Any sonic differences between all these adapters? newer better?

The answer to your question is no, there is no consolidated post. There is also no consolidated opinion.

Use the links others have given you, and click the little "<< First" on the top of this thread.

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by grawk

I'd love a nice transformer I could integrate with my icepower modules to make a speaker/koss amp

The problem, at least one I can foresee, is that the Icepower modules are specifically designed to drive low impedance loads and typically trafo primaries have rather large impedances so they might not play nicely together. I sent a message to B&O about this very project and they were evidently unimpressed with my proposal.

[spritzer]

I'd much rather go for a low wattage ClassA amp then the ICEpower stuff in a dedicated setup. Slew rate is king here and the primary impedance of the transformers can be managed with resistor in series/paralell. That's how Koss always did it but using an output transformer in reverse would give you an 8ohm primary.

[faust3d]

Originally Posted by GPH

I remember that when I had my SRM-T1S, I was not entirely satisfied by the bass presentation, it was too syrupy, not punchy enough and in too small quantity. The KGSS corrected that and then some. With the transformer, I'd say the bass is closer to the KGSS, very punchy and well defined, though there is slightly less in quantity than on the KGSS. Also, I think the bass on the SRD-7 doesn't extend as deep, but I'd have to do a direct comparison to be totally sure about that.

Did you try to tuberoll with your SRM-T1S? I tried nice RCA cleartop tubes and got much better bass with them. I am going to look for some Toshibas to maybe even further improove it.

[GPH]

Originally Posted by faust3d

Did you try to tuberoll with your SRM-T1S? I tried nice RCA cleartop tubes and got much better bass with them. I am going to look for some Toshibas to maybe even further improove it.

Good point. I remember reading somewhere that rolling tubes doesn't make a big difference in Stax amps, but I didn't try it myself. I only changed the tubes once, and it was to replace the stock ones that were dying by the GE that you got, so I couldn't really tell if there was an improvement or not.

[Sherwood]

I've tried the Cleartops and the Toshiba, and I definitely preferred the Toshiba. I can't speak to extension, as it seemed decent with both tubes on my (your) Lambdas, but the clarity was much increased with the Toshiba. The amp got out of the way better.

The necessary 45-minute warm up made A/B comparisons difficult, but I had a blind preference for the Toshiba.