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The new Stax just arrived. Sorry for posting in CRNB thread.

Totally messed it up being a Fusion360 noob but I present Chop V 0.5. I’ll redo it in the near future, also not super happy with the aesthetics.

even the mistakes are outrageous.

Like I need any excuse to listen to Kid A and Amnesiac again.

https://www.livescience.com/immortal-crab-entombed-in-amber

I would have voodoo dolls made in my likeness.

I've been following this young lady for some time, this video is pretty damn good Then went to a recording of a radio broadcast by the great Pat Martino, RIP:

No, that's helpful. For now I'll carry on with my existing Baratza which to my (likely uncultured) taste buds does just fine for both espresso and French press. And while I appreciate the offer of a manual grinder, I'm clogging the kitchen with stuff as-is and would be unlikely to put it to good use. I'm slowly bringing myself around to the thinking that keeping things that I don't use is useless.

Finally, I’ve had some time to sit down and dot down my final thoughts on the CRBN. They’ve been here for a couple of months, but I really wanted to have a Carbon CC up and running to try them on before I wrote anything final. I rustled up some pretty ghetto front and back panels this week, so I finally have one for my own system. Feeding it is a Denafrips Terminator DAC but I’ve tried it with a number of other sources plus whatever amps I’ve up and running at any given point, KGSSHV, KGST, CCS modified Stax amps etc. Now I want to start with how it’s been living with them for the past two months, in a word flawless. No issues at all with this second set, no imbalance, noises from the drivers… nothing like that. They are also supremely comfortable, and I’ve worn them for hours on end with no discomfort. Now this is Iceland so not exactly warm and the all-leather earpads might be an issue in warmer climates. Audeze might make hybrid pads like the Sennheiser HE60/90 but here I just open a window to cool down... 😉 Also, a word on driving them. They are inefficient and do need a lot of power. Anybody claiming otherwise is just full of it and thinks gain and position of the volume knob has anything to do with power levels. They are not quite 007 bad in this regard but they do reward a more powerful amp when pushing them. Baseline for excellent performance would be the KGST/KGSSHV line but even with the CCS modified Stax amps they work well at moderate volume levels. Push them though and yeah… you need power behind them. So how do they sound… well TLDR, how I’ve always wished the Sennheiser HE90 should have sounded but never did. These were my first impressions, slightly oversized soundstage and not as precise as others but far from the mess that is the HE90. Plenty of deep, well controlled bass too but not quite up to the 007 level. They can get bright when the source calls for it, slightly excessively so at times, but far from the forward nature of the 009’s. The soundstage is a bit larger than life, but it makes for plenty of presence and separation so while not pinpoint accurate, they are very close to it. Overall, they are just so balanced and pleasant to listen to regardless of what you feed them. Now for the only real issue, the damping is something which has annoyed me more and more. Now as some might know… I’m a bit picky… just a tiny bit… 😛 and while it is not always apparent, some songs or parts of them just sound off to me. This generally true for every headphones I use so I remove all damping when I can. Also, a large part of why I like the 007’s so much due to their innovative air damping. Now on the CRBN the damping is damn good, but I can still tell it is there. This is not like the Sennheiser HE-1 for instance, where that bloody amp with its mosfet based output stage and joke of a front end just spreads its dirty fingerprints on everything. This is far more subtle and only affects some tracks so for instance, it is too closed in when it shouldn’t be, bass has a twang to it that shouldn’t be there… something like that. This is a very minor gripe, and this is me being super picky so take it as you wish. Still, I’d love to try these drivers with less damping… 🙂 So, this aside, there is so much to recommend here. They are certainly not cheap but just holding them you can see where the money has gone. Plug them into a good amp yeah, they will impress. The only issue for me it they have rekindled an old project, take some LCD-2’s and fit them with custom electrostatic drivers. Anybody know of a cheap set I can buy? 😉 Now I’ve not received my SR-X9000000000000 yet so I can’t compare them but on its own the CRBN is a great product. They are not perfect (what is?) but as a first stab at making electrostatics, they are damn impressive. I’m adding this set to my collection, and they are certainly in my top 5 all-time greats. I really must say they are a breath of fresh air as the releases over the last few years have been such a disappointment. It really has been a 10-year slump now so here’s hoping we get something excellent over the next 10 years.

Listening to the new Emma Ruth Rundle, Engine of Hell -- unlike anything she's ever done before. Beautiful acoustic slowcore, very minimalist, raw production.

The bad behavior was Stax using the serial numbers, nothing to do with the sound.

If you can, inspect the solder joints at the tube sockets. I had a power amp develop a cold joint at one and it cause enough of a problem that it cooked a trace on the PCB and pretty much rendered the unit a total loss.

It took about half an hour. It is not difficult, but you have to make sure you have the fixed burr TIGHT. That is where I was getting drift, I think. Given the lack of adjustment you have to have baseline setting absolutely set. Having said alI of that: it will not work for French press, Nate: the SSP burrs go finer. This grinder will no longer grind for French Press. The burrs are a couple hundred bucks. It will grind amazing French with the stock burrs, but it doesn’t go very fine with those, even with the 1.1 set. This grinder can do espresso or it can do French press, but not both, and it can’t *really* do espresso, regardless of the burr set. I mean it can, and does, but it also can’t and won’t. I honestly don’t know what electric grinder to suggest that isn’t ridiculously expensive. I’ll happily send you a hand grinder that will do both; I have spares. But it would be a hand grinder. I really don’t know. The new Vario+ by Baratza maybe? For $500-ish that might he the sweet spot if you do espresso or French, but nothing in between. I know you have a Bambino, which is a better electric machine than what I’m using. Sorry I’m not helpful here, but short story long this isn’t the grinder you should have in mind. I like it VERY much, but my use case isn’t the same as yours as I mostly do pour over, and this is amazing for that and frustrating for anything else. 😕

I would have a riot if it was any other way.

What age is that? Stax used the SZ2 for the initial release in Japan and they are using SZ2 for sets shipping now. Special type of bad behavior there.... I didn't like the RME at all. For me most dynamics are just a disappointment so I tend to just leave them alone. The few that stand out over the years are the HD800 (once properly driven), Audeze LCD 2 and 3... can't remember any more off the top of my head. I've tried plenty over the years but none worked for me, Abyss, the hifiman crap, Mr. Speakers etc.

I’ve got blood flow. Hawt indeed