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OMD "Organisation" vinyl album I am using it like a "test" while doing some changes to my SRX-P

Celebrating the Donner Party rescue in 1847, we are having BBQ tri tip and Chianti.

Sometimes my day seems to go like this- an58Y5n_460sv.mp4

^^ The Misunderstanding is one of my favorite OMD tracks! Love that album! EDIT: I have set up a temp little system with the DAC I got from Jim, and have been playing album after album from Throbbing Gristle. Started, and just can't stop. Mmmmmm.....Slug Bait, Maggot Death, Hamburger Lady.....so much awesome noise!

a85QbV1_460sv.mp4

Hehe... that is the exact reaction when I brought one of the SS Mini's into work with my Fostex's. When I plugged the headphones in and then had to plug a cable from my phone in, my boss said "Oh, no Bluetooth?". Then he listened to it and said it sounded really good. But in a sort of non-understanding way...

She's like a Norwegian Jenny Lewis crossed with Neko Case and how can that be bad? (Yes, it is pronounced "Slutface".)

I posted a Chinese version of this article several months ago and now I translated it and put it here. I guess some people here will be interested. I hope you like it. Actually I have some more articles like this pending but I just don't have the time to write it up. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It all started about a year ago that a second hand sr-omega popped up in the local community. From time to time omegas show up on markets around the world but this one is different: an omega with 007 drivers installed. When the drivers are replaced, such omega drops its value to a fraction of its original. The seller listed it for 48888 RMB initially and sold it for like 20000 + at the end. When I first saw the listing, the first thing that caught my attention are neither the price nor the 007 drivers but one accessory laying aside, which is a pair of dead drivers I have never seen before. At first sight I know that it’s a prototype, a true unicorn that probably only one pair exists in the world. I am so curious on how it sounds and how it compares to 007 or 009 or the original omega. I messaged the seller right away and after some persuasion and explanation that I can give this driver a next life, I got it at a reasonable price. And it has become one of my biggest regret that I didn’t also purchase the omega itself that time, otherwise I can put it back into the place where the drivers belong to. Here is the driver itself. From this driver you can see several innovations made by Stax that has never been seen in other Stax models before it. The diaphragm is identical to a normal omega but the electrode is totally a different creature: copper plate similar to lambda sig etc. but much more refined. Over different regions of the electrode the thickness is different. The thicker copper comprises of the # pattern skeleton to give the rigidity while the thinner copper is perforated. You can see the same topology on 009 and 009s where they claim to have the MLER welding technology employed on the electrode. But this omega prototype electrode is in one piece and just as thick as a credit card. Furthermore, they rounded the edge of the perforation like what Stax does on 009S. Stax even make a sectional view illustration graph on their 009S promotion leaflet. Such treatment helps sound to radiate. To me it’s really impressive to see some characteristics of a flagship model today on a 30-year-old design. I wonder what the R&D department has been doing in these years But afterall it’s a prototype. It does have some problems: this electrode is too thin to give enough rigidity and prevent bending. They are curved to 5 o at most. Moreover, the area of attachment between the frame and the electrode is too small. It just peels due to aging. I see such defects in some modern designs too. Although its reasonable to have these issues because its 20+ years old, it does reveal that the one who designed it is not thoughtful enough. Perhaps that’s why it was never released to the market except the one on my desk. Besides the defects the design has, the driver itself is at a very bad condition. The drivers have been exposed to the external environment, so dust gets onto everywhere. The one who does not properly seal the package probably has never imagined that this driver will be repaired. It’s a pain in the ass to make the driver dust free again, especially when they are on the very fragile diaphragm. Normally I don’t accept requests to repair an exposed driver and I will give a new quote to clients who send me an exposed e-stat without telling me in advance . But I own this driver and I can bear the risk so that’s OK. The four electrodes are bent in different direction and magnitude as well as having detachment and failure of epoxy. Taking it apart and bent it manually is the only way out. It takes a lot of skill to bend a bent copper plate. Like you have to apply a certain amount of force on the copper and then you check how you have bent it by eye balling or a ruler, and you repeat this process a dozen times on one plate. You make it worse if you don’t know how. The most challenging part of it is that how much you bend an electrode actually affects the sound pressure on one side of the driver so at this point you just have to guess. I have neither the tool nor the file of the design, its all hiding in somewhere inside Stax’s archive library. At most of the time repairing a e-stat is more challenging and troublesome than making a new one. Aging will just make everything a mess and sometime you have to wipe the ass of someone who does not make the design good enough to withstand usage. Solvent removes dust and grease on the driver. It gets much trickier when it comes to cleaning the diaphragm. Effectiveness of a method to clean the diaphragm is an issue when there is just too much dust, not to mention the risk that you will break a diaphragm by puncture or sketch. At the end I decided to clean the diaphragm with solution. Although it will damage the coating, it means nothing to me as I can recoat it anyway to replace the old one which is probably damaged anyway. Cleaning done. They took away the dust screens so I have to prepare these as well. Last Step: assembly, the most important part of all steps. This several hours of work determines how long a driver can last before imbalance or noise occurs. Its my duty to make sure every edge and surface inside the driver is dust free. If not, dust will eventually get onto the diaphragm at some point in its service life and short the electrode and the diaphragm. Practically if the pollutant is much smaller than DS gap 0.5mm then its fine. All these procedures are done in a dust free environment. Soldering work Omega adopted a spring mechanism to connect the bias supply to the diaphragm. It is shaped like a tuning fork and it is odd (photo credits to audiohobby .pl ). I tried to make one but it just can’t grip firmly. After some days of having this troubling me I figured out a way, using HD600’s spring and I glad that it worked, at least for now. I used 007 cable, lambda sig headband, cnc machined and anodized aluminum casing and tailor made earpad. I am a proud Omega owner and I shipped the earpad for a clone. The result is satisfactory. I took away the back grill for inspection but I am kind of regret because I cannot put it back. The general sound signature of this omega prototype is somewhat identical to the original: natural, airy, transparent and clean. Its free of unnaturalness which can be found on 009 (please forgive me if you find this statement irritating, afterall the perception of sound is subjective). It has a larger soundstage than 009 for sure but I think 009 has more details than this one slightly. To me this prototype takes a midway approach between early-SN omega and Late-SN omega. It has a bit of the sweet coloration of an early omega while having much of the naturalness of a late omega. I found that early omega has a huge, diffused soundstage while a late omega has some in head effect which is unpleasant to me. Luckily this prototype is more on the early side. But still this prototype is different from the two regrading the proportion of width and depth of soundstage. I can’t explain more because I haven’t AB compare yet. What amaze me the most is how the prototype omega differs from the typical omega in the dynamic and bass region. The normal omega gives me an image of mellow, soft and relaxing in the bass region. Although 009 and 007 has better bass and impact I like the stress-free presentation of the original omega. The only thing omega put stress on me while I am wearing it is its price. In the prototype omega, I feel an enhancement on the impact, the speed and the amount of bass. Perhaps it’s the reason why they create this prototype, to improve on what the original is lacking. The density of imaging of sound also improves by a bit. Be caution that I cannot remove the effect of the different earpad and casing on the overall sound comparing to the original so the effect I mentioned above might be due to them. Despite all these merits, there is something lacking in this prototype: The openness of soundstage and the super-revealing details on the original omega. If omega scores 100 and 009 scores 85 in the aspect, I will give a 95 to this prototype. The transition from mesh electrode to plate electrode seems to be a double-sided sword. I remember in one of the Stax staff interviews they explained on Pros and Cons between mesh and plate electrodes. You give up something to exchange for another. Nothing is perfect unless you pay a double.

Well...these arrived this week via the Gilmore express and to make it easier for anybody looking for info on them, a new thread it is. As Kevin documented before, the amplifier is a dinky little thing and a direct clone of the Stax SRM-001. The amp is pretty much useless though as it doesn't have any volume control and you can't use it from a portable device as it needs a full 2Vrms input signal to reach usable volume levels. Here is a picture of the entire system plus what Kevin Posted: Opamp feeding a quad of fet's and into the output transistors. All AC coupled... Yet again another clone of older Stax stuff but onto the headphones. The build quality from the outside is pretty mediocre, flimsy plastic everywhere and the creek and rattle like a 50$ set of headphones. The earpads are actually leather on the important parts so that is nice. The cable is rather nice though, a bit stiff and microphonic but a far cry better than what Hifiman and Mr. Speakers include with their sets. I was first a bit puzzled as to how the phones were put together as nothing came loose with minimal force. I stated by removing the back of the drivers which just popped off: That revealed this very minimal damping foam: Now that got me to the back of the drivers but nothing budged. Then I go medieval on it and the earpads do pull off... there is just a lot of adhesive holding them on. I did take the pics afterwards which is why the pads are there in the previous pics. The adhesive is nice though as the pads are securely fastened and can be put back as the adhesive doesn't fall apart. Now we are onto the baffle and this is after I removed the first dust cover stuck to the front there. I'm rather impressed with the build quality and the attention to detail. The drivers are on the small side but that does mean there is room to raise the baffle and get away with flat earpads, Audio-Techica style. Now the money shot, the back of the drivers. Now, when I opened it first up it didn't look like that as there is custom cut, black tape covering all the connections and around the perimeter of the drivers as well. Really impressed by the attention to detail here. Now I did open up the drivers but the angle was really awkward so I couldn't take any good pics. The stators are PCB though and this was a well thought out design. I first though King Sound might have a hand in this design but this is leagues ahead of their crappy drivers. Now some notes, there are only woven dust covers here, two on the front and one on the back (plus the foam) so dust will be an issue. Both drivers on this set have started to squeal though that is at Pro bias levels. More on that later... On the whole though I just don't get this package, the cable on the headphones is too short so are they supposed to be portable? Sure but no normal DAP can drive them properly so it kinda doesn't work... The sound with the stock amp is pretty bad too, no bass to speak of and it is all compressed to hell. I fed it with a preamp to help with the silly low input impedance but it doesn't really help. Now the specs for the headphones are close enough to Stax (well...they use a Stax amp after all) so it is adapter time. The headphones use a bog standard 5-pin DIN plug (nowhere near to be rated fort the voltages involved though) so a quick trip to the local parts store and 2$ later I had a socket in hand. 10 minutes later I had an adapter and off the Carbon CC...well these are quite good. The 50mm drivers will not produce any meaningful bass output compared to larger units but over all, yeah their sins are of omission rather than adding something that shouldn't be there. To me these remind me of Stax SR-X Mk3 Pro's in some ways and what I've been doing with those drivers converted to Pro bias in different shells. The imaging is nice and tight with a solid sound stage, nice midrange presence and a nice neutral sound signature. The bass doesn't go deep but it's tuneful and fun and the treble is nice and extended without ever being bright. The lack of bass depth and bloom does make them a tad thin sounding at times but that is rare. Feed them well and these are very fun headphones to listen to. Bottom line is that the amp is crap and there are issues but there is also a lot to like here. The Massdrop Koss ESP950 setup is probably a better deal at 500$ but these are fun to play with.

HEDD-ADAM ATM we are beyond thrilled to announce HEDDphone® - the first full-range headphone design based on HEDD / ADAM founder and speaker veteran Klaus Heinz’ world-known Air Motion Transformer driver!! The Air Motion Transformer (AMT) is an electrodynamic transducer that allows to move air significantly faster than common voice coil, magnetostatic (planar) or electrostatic systems. Their traditional piston-like movement is overcome by a folded diaphragm that squeezes out air four times faster: A breakthrough for capturing more details in any audio recording. In order to reproduce the complete audible frequency band (and beyond), HEDDphone® introduces VVT® technology (pat. pending), a new variable diaphragm geometry that replaces the fixed geometric structure of conventional AMT tweeters. Aiming at both, the audiophile and professional markets, the HEDDphone® brings the enormous dynamic capabilities and the superior sonic resolution of the AMT principle to the world of top-end headphones. It excels where it really matters: in accurate, untamed, and touching music reproduction. We will show the first handmade units at this week's MUNICH HIGH END SHOW, May 9–12. Meet us in Hall 4 / P03, take listen, and help us spread the word on this unique new Made in Germany headphone design. HEDDphone ONE will be available in Q3 2019. The price will be well below 2000€.

^ IMO they were pioneers with kraftwerk

Paul's Boutique – Beastie Boys

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I agree with Pars - that's the real emerging market. I don't see audiophile-oriented headphone products being embraced by average people. Most people I know and work with look at me strange when I told them I use a headphone amp when I listen to my headphone. Most of the time, the next sentence is "what the hell is a headphone amp?".

I posted a repair diary of Omega as a new post under Headphone section : I think its relevant so I will leave a link here.😄

Unrelated—I love it when people see or hear something weird, and it makes them think of me:

re: ^ https://splinternews.com/lets-remember-the-time-donald-trump-cashed-a-13-check-1793849388

Just filed my 2019 taxes and had to send a $4,500 check payable to Donald J. Trump. Ouch. Give me back my SALT deductions you orange bastard!