Leaderboard

Oh no! My social security services have been put a stop to! I better soon be touch because the notice was sent with strictness!

Saw is home. And ping ponged some hickory.

No

Sorry to hear that, Bedemst@gmail. I called the number and gave them your info, so they decided to reinstate your SS. Glad I could help.

I cannot get Disturbed - Down with the Sickness (strictness) out of my head.

I am drowned with the strictness. (replace with colloquialism)

Yaya Kim, a.k.a Yaya -- where K-pop meets prog Black Nail Cabaret, Pseudopop -- where electrogoth meets prog -- really immaculate, her voice reminds me of that girl who sang with Tricky...uh...Martina Topley-Bird! Yeah, that's it...

My ex boyfriend's safeword was "harder". It made for a lot of confusion.

If I were you, I would look for an on line contest and register with the telephone number they supplied you.

Thank god you don't live in the United_States_of_America. It sounds rough.

Laser surgery left eye to reduce pressure. This is my third time for my glaucoma but it has been almost 6 years since the last one. Right eye to be done middle of May.

Threw together a little quartersawn tea box today with box joints and dado for the bottom all done with the Shaper.

Stacking is vertically for proper heat dissipation, bolted directly to the heat sinks (so boards are long and narrow). * vertically in terms the boards are parallel to the sinks.

The Lofi Magic of VHS Audio

For Lee Friedlander and/or Coen Brothers fans, a couple shows (SF & NYC) and corresponding book coming out. https://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibitions/lee-friedlander-framed-by-joel-coen

Put some walnuts (Texas Walnut aka juglans microcarpa) into simulated winter … aka in my refrigerator. i think it’s pretty cool that walnut trees give off a poison that prevents other plants from growing nearby and competing with it ☠️

The reception of Paltauf and myself here in this forum is not of the kind, thats brings you in the mood to share anything. Why feeding so called experts and their half funny followers? The atmosphere here is rather aggressiv, narrowminded and arrogant. If you are really interested in information, I can only give you this link in German: https://musicalhead.de/2021/03/02/test-paltauf-khv-esd/ Sorry my technical knowledge and my English is not good enough to spend more energy to you. Keeper enjoying the devices you are used to and have fun with the bad jokes !

all electrostatic headphones are balanced loads. much better and lower distortion to have a balanced input. otherwise you need a phase splitter which is not guaranteed to maintain a gain of -1 as the mu of the tube changes with time. much better to use a differential input amplifier. and once you do that you already have the balanced input. its certainly cheaper to do an unbalanced input amp. if for no other reason a 2 gang vs 4 gang pot. unless you are eddie current and use a 2 gang pot for balanced input. (similar to bryston)

For the record, I was in contact with Eddie Current staff yesterday. But they definitely didn't impress... They didn't seem aware of an x9000s. (Is it a dumb question to ask) why does one want a balanced versus imbalanced amp? I swear I read somewhere that imbalanced is objectively preferable in subjective moments... Or something like that.* *Two months in, and I'm THIS close to being able to impress people in a bar with my sourced audio knowledge!

the paltauf is not exactly poorly made. certainly not in the same junk class as eddie current and singlepower. both of which are now out of business. But the chassis is a standard hifi2000 with wood panels bolted to it. the wires attached to the metal panels for circuit board support are not really what i would consider acceptable. an unbalanced amplifier where one more tube would have made it balanced input would seem much more practical. and since we are comparing companies to companies, the woo audio es8 is basically the same thing at 1/3 the price. And built better.

What I find truly mind-blowing at this point of the...debate(?) between Spritzer, KG, and Dynavit (and others) is that both sides are pretty convinced that they're in the right. The invective is less useful, but the technical commentary remains helpful. This debate wouldn't be mind-blowing if Dynavit were a Paltauf employee. I hope I'm right when I say I don't think that's the case, though--I made an account at open-air-music to find out for myself, and there are swarms of people with the exact same opinion as Dynavit, who is an active, consistent, respected member of the forum. Are they talking specs on the same level as Spritzer and KG? No. But I'm kind of wondering how the Paltauf can manage to get universal praise from seasoned, non-idiot audiophiles in the German language, while it's a poorly made, poorly conceived money grab in English. I'm not sure why anyone is using the resale market for a point of reference, though--Austria and to a lesser extent Germany has a very different culture and economy than the rest of the Western world. Quality is saved for, bought--and kept forever.

aeras is a fully dc coupled design similar to blue hawaii with no caps in the signal path and no output iron. for those people that want a smaller single box design. beautifully built with custom chassis and quality parts. does anyone really want an inductor based design? take a megatron, remove 4 of the output tubes and add lundahl center tapped inductors and output capacitors. or if you want something physically smaller, pick your favorite 5 watt pentode and do the same thing point to point. i can certainly whip up a circuit board, people just have to decide which is their favorite tubes. maybe $800 in parts total of which $200 is the inductors.

Thank you Kevin and Spritzer for these detailed responses. Definitely a red thread through the amps that you're pointing out, and which I wouldn't have noticed until well after purchase, if ever. Incidentally, I've been in touch with Eddie Current, Malvalve, and Paltauf builders in the last week. No, we didn't discuss inductors or capacitators, but I wish we had! I'm also in touch with folks who specifically build Kevin Gilmore designs...and basically every builder who uses KG designs and who has been recommended on Head-Case...sounds like that's the only direction to go...

the lta unit is something different entirely. and has 1% distortion and switching noise due to the square wave oscillator, diodes and high frequency transformer. The eddie current electra is a center tapped inductor with capacitors on the output. No distortion specs ever published. The original woo audio wes is a pair of inductors with capacitors on the output. No distortion specs ever published. The malvalve has an output transformer and in electrostatic mode the headphones are run off the transformer primary. The new es8 finally has a center tapped inductor and output capacitors. Low power output tubes. The palatauf is highly similar to the es8 with lundahl center tapped inductors ($100 each) and output capacitors. None of these amps have enough voltage gain to have enough feedback to reduce the distortion to reasonable levels. None of these amplifiers have inductors or transformers specifically designed to drive electrostatic headphones which result in various phase and frequency response issues. if i knew of a company that would be willing to correctly wind me some transformers i might be willing to make an amp like this. Even if i wanted to wind my own transformers, availability of the cores i want and the rest of the parts are impossible to find. And there would be 1 more tube gain stage. re: birgir's baked goods. seriously you people have no idea.

It has all the same issues as the Woo Audio WES, their absurdly expensive unit, probably the new ES8 (based on the tube choice) and the LTA unit. The biggest issue is how the tubes are being driven, i.e. a center tapped inductor. With a normal loudspeaker, this isn't an issue but with electrostatic loads, it creates a lot odd issues and they can be clearly heard, if you know what you are looking for. It is not linear and neutral as it moves through the frequency range so to be simple, a high quality CCS, is pretty much utterly inert to what the amp is doing, a resistor far less so but here you add an inductor to the mix and a lot of weird stuff happens. Now why use inductors, well they are cheap all told. Palatauf are using nice Lundahl units but compared to the cost of CCS's and cooling it, it is a cheap option. Second reason, lot of voltage swing but that is problematic on its own. I've been hearing through the grapevine that Stax are not happy about these amps and why they've come so hard down on warranty repairs for headphones. A brief burst from one of these amps will kill the drivers at high volume levels

...just for the record, I have no opinion--I'm happy to learn. The exchange here is helpful and instructive. Spritzer, I'm really curious because I'm planning a trip to try out the Paltauf in person--and I've read very, very little about Paltauf, while German sites say essentially what Dynavit says. Can you spell out (for me, an audio idiot) why a speaker amp with the electrostatic signal taken off the plates through capacitors is (for lack of a better term) "bad"? I get that this forum is specifically for people who know what they're talking about. So, I don't want to annoy anybody. I just want to make smart decisions. Commentary, however detailed or blunt (I see both above!), is welcome.

I'm almost motivated enough to travel to England in order to test and purchase that amp! But I have four kids and a wife who is quickly losing patience with my new "hobby." So I need something shipped to the Netherlands. Likely I will need to contact a builder...I have searched online for ways to contact many of the builders recommended here, such as Soren, Kerry, Dukei, and a few others, but apparently I can only contact them via PM on this forum? Recommended builders aside from Spritzer (who I have already been in contact with), and their contact information, would be warmly appreciated.

You could consider a modified SRM-717 or similar from Mjolnir Audio. Spritzer sometimes has these on his website and could be a suitable alternative to the more expensive and/or harder to source BHSE/Carbons.

Soren Brix in Denmark and Dukei (Miroslav) are also reputable builders, you can either get a Carbon or a Grounded Grid, they are more or less similar, one is all-solid state, the latter is a hybrid, mostly solid-state with 6CA7 tube output. I would also ditch the X9000 for a 007, as in my experience, the X9000 still sounded anemic on the KGSSHV. The amp makes a big difference, but it's not going to fundamentally change the character you are hearing from the headphones. You can also read more and see, that it's not a universally-loved headphone just because it's the most expensive. I've gone back to listening to the modded 727 with the 007 Mk1. Yes, I really miss the control, precision and dynamics of the KGSSHV so I will intend to sell the 727 at some point, but I would not really call this combination unenjoyable, especially for the price. And the more prominent upper mid, more subdued treble, more diffused staging of the Stax amp seems to have a decent synergy with the headphones. I definitely don't fancy the softness, lack of dynamics and bass control (this is the most annoying) but I think it is partly due to headphone itself (as I read it as still a little loose on the Carbon), but it's still the same character that is full, unoffensive and quite enjoyable. Bending the arc assembly and fixing the headpad made just as much difference as the amp.

Question for seasoned experts: in what ways can an underpowered amp paired with power-hungry earspeakers affect listening experience? Context for my question: I have no idea what I'm doing, and it's best to be honest about that. I'm in a unique situation where I could get "best" headphones, but I'm neither an audio engineer nor someone with unlimited funds. I recently got a pair of x9000s and, after much trial and error and trading in purchases in order to upgrade, I made a plan: start with the x9000s as the strongest link in my chain, and build a setup from there. Current setup: Node 2i, RME ADI-2 DAC, SRM-353x, x9000s I think I need the Node, for now at least--I get different sound out of my PC when connecting via USB, all my music is streaming, I don't need a Roon for mobility etc., and I don't know enough about streamers to make a different decision. I know I need the RME--it solves so many potential problems that go beyond just being a good DAC. The 353x is an affordable placeholder while I try out various amps and make a more long-term decision. What I want to better understand is what happens to a pair of 'highest end' earspeakers when they're used with lesser-grade amps. I have no frame of reference to answer this question. I hear a lot of distortion at high volumes with the current setup, and not as much clarity or separation as I hoped for, but I have no idea whether this is a result of the 353x. I will personally test out several 'top' amps over the coming months, but it would help a lot to know what I should be listening for, besides 'more power.' I've been on Head-Fi.org a lot over the past 2 months, and while I've gotten plenty of good advice, I've often enough been advised to buy stuff by thinly veiled salespersons to understand that Head-case.org might be a better fit for my question. And, I've emailed Spritzer enough over the past month that I want to avoid annoying someone I genuinely don't want to annoy. So I posit my question to the community-at-large :)

@spritzer I'm getting a new SR-007A. I already have SR-007 MK1 but the ribbon cable seems dead and every things tearing apart and old(earpads, headband) Not sure how to make it sound like the best version. Scenario 1 1. Move the spring from mk-1 to 007A 2. Blutak mod with 007A Scenario 2 (but 007 Mk1 is old) 1. Move every things from 007A to MK1, earpads, headband, cable ribbon(soldering) Thank you.

Besides the different colour, it's interchangeable. Or if it is still in one piece, you can just shorten it, this was done on mine recently, worked just fine.

For actual 220VAC line voltage, feel free to move the white wire back to its former position. The rest of Europe is pushing well above 240V so that's what I always set the amps to.

I've never seen that exact setup but it is basically the same as others. See those two gray links, they are the adjustment but you also need to move the white wire as seen here:

trimming the elastic worked great thanks, is there anything I can apply to the leather to keep it in good condition?

Some of the parts suppliers have the Mk2 headpad for sale and it should be direct replacement. Now if the old elastic has streched then I'd just cut a bit off it. Works a charm

Well the review is live...

I've had them for a week now so a review is incoming.

Mmmmm pie...... Port modded I'd always pick the 007's as that unleashes their full potential but stock... well that puts the CRBN's on a more equal footing. The 007's are more honest over al but that can also be a detriment for some users and the CRBN would be a better fit with many music styles. They are more forgiving and warmer where the 007's will always be brutally honest. Also the CRBN's does things the 007's just don't do well, ease of fitment for one...

I dunno, I find the 007 Mk 3.14159265359 has a more... well-rounded presentation.

The best is the 007 Mk 2.718281828459045.. or 007 Mk e for short. It’s the most natural.

I hope to get a set of the SR-X's soon as I've lined up pretty much everything that competes with it, including some oddballs like a SR-Omega with 007 drivers (probably my favorite headphones for just sitting down and listening) so it will be fun to compare. I even bought a second hand 009S, now that they are really coming down in price, and this thing is such a disappointment. How could Stax fuck this up so badly, I mean the drivers are a bloody work of art but the sound... ohhh the sound. Oddly thin and bright sounding with so little body to it as this was supposed to be the one that fixes the 009's issues. It's a combination which works for the Sennheiser HE60 but here it just falls flat, robbing music of vitality and life so you end up with a likeness which is not real at all. With the HE60's one adjusts to their sound signature quickly but this just makes me furious... Seriously, somebody at Stax should sit down with these and a 007Mk2 on any random track and honestly say which is better. Randomly Elvis Costello - Veronica came up while I'm typing this and it is just bright, lifeless and boring. I replayed with the CRBN's off the same amp and this is far, far better.

Thanks for the impressions. Since you mentioned the new Lambdas - I would very much agree and reiterate that the new Lambdas have issues with design, build quality, and frequency response. They needs mods to achieve a good seal and they need EQ. Without it they're a mess, but a technically interesting mess that does a number of things quite well. The midrange resolution with these new drivers is really impressive. With mods and EQ you can fix at least some of the issues and make them a much more compelling.

I doubt the X9000 will be on that list but we'll see: SR-007Mk1 SR-007Mk2 (latest version) SR-Omega HE-60 SR-Lambda Nova Signature (which the CRBN replaces) Congrats!! I was slow to order them as I really had to talk myself into getting a high end Stax again... ECC99's sound bad in that circuit so I'd stick with the 6CG7's.

Stax serial numbers are meaningless so they offer no guide at all. There was never anything wrong with the 007A/Mk2 treble so it's just as it should be. The Mk2.5 had rather nasty treble but that was a decade ago.

I have a very recent 007A and they are very nice, just straight out of the box. Stax have changed the earpads a bit but otherwise they are the same.

A modded 007A is pretty close to the mk1 especially if you EQ it, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. The mk1 is perhaps a tad more resolving in the mids and smoother in the highs, but the mk2/A is more dynamic and impactful. So there are tradeoffs either way. Good mk1s are getting harder to find in great condition so getting a 007A or mk2 and modding it is generally a safer bet. Oh yeah, Edifier has a new headphone out, don't they. Wow grandma, what fat wallets you have!

Yes. Birgir is a great guy to deal with. No overselling and his recommendations are always appropriate to your use case. And so patient. I discussed with him on and off for about a year before I picked up the Carbon.