Deadneddz

Happy Birthday Milos! Hope you have a great one.

Happy Birthday KG! Cannot wait to hear your T2 in Chicago!

Craig commented back in an email reply I received today. Heres what he said: "Regarding the group buy on MK2 earpads -- so far nothing promising as we have not yet found an avenue to amass a large order like that without arousing STAX's suspicion/wrath. I'll keep seeing if there's any other way to do it, but as things stand now it's even hard for us to get normal orders for just a few parts at a time in with them."

Alison Krauss - Forget About It

Kuboten This looks like an interesting diy amp. But it seems that the owner has both a Stax headphone and a random Sony dynamic headphone attached to it. He also has what looks like T2 schematics or something in a catalog.

^try telling that to Stretch. BTW nice catch Al!

Hmm, thats an interesting thought. Come to think of it, Sennheiser has almost all the parts needed to assemble the entire phone from scratch. I wonder if Sennheier stocks spare headband assemblies and baffles/grills...

I believe this recent comparison/interest has mainly been one of comfort differences, not sonics. Sonic differences regarding the pads are largely dependent on not just the pad, but the way it interacts with the users head via the spring mechanism(diameter) and angle of the headband arc. How far your ears are from the drivers is where the preceived difference in sound comes from. I personally don't care about any possible quality increase in the sonics of the O2 when it comes to the pads as I love the way the MKI sounds, but rather the comfort due to the heat and sweat buildup the MKI pads cause. Edit: I assume that you're talking about sonics/materials(real leather vs fake leather), as although comfort is also subjective, I would be hard pressed to find anyone who finds heat buildup and sweat to be the superior comfort choice. The MK2 pads were clearly more comfortable for me when I tried them myself. The material differences i'll leave for others to interpret.

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

I was just going to suggest the Lambda Signature, but I agree with the HE60 being quite unique. The HE60 overall sounds more controlled w/ less etch in the midrange. Its certainly a fun sounding headphone and i'd recommend you try and find an HE60 if thats what you're looking for instead of a Stax substitute. I still have not received any word from Craig about the group buy, but he last told me that hes still working on getting a discount from Stax. It doesn't look to likely because of the strict policies, but i'll update on this issue as soon as I receive any new information.

Happy Birthday Zach! Don't work too hard today!

LMAO at the iem cocktail picture at the end of that review.

Blue Chamber Quartet - First Impressions

I think that this statement has a very good point. Drawing these distinctions is something I have learned through passionate investment of my time and money in this hobby. There are some members that I have trust in being objective about sound characterisitics that lie beyond our subjective sound preferences(the qualities you listed that overlaps regardless of preference for instance). And to me its these members who are the ones who have put time and effort to really understand their perceptions. As far as anyone out there that meets exactly my sonic preferences, which is very subjective and personal, I haven't found an exact match and I don't think I ever will. Thats like finding someone out there with the same fingerprints as you imo. Unfortunately there will always be newbs that won't be spending the effort neccessary to draw these distinctions for themselves, but that will always be the case regardless of how many expereinced/great member there really are. That is not something we should worry about, because how far we take our own hobbies are up to us. I think that some people who have found their preferences take it the wrong way and have the exact opposite reaction to what you described when you talked about you and Filberts preferences. Instead of seeing that another member simply has different sonic preferences, they feel insecure about their own preferences and even though the other member may have enough expereince and time invested to understand what they are hearing objectively, the difference in what they like better is enough to cause doubts to them. Now that might cause them to become fanatical about their own gears because they simply do not have enough expereince or are just insecure. This is the unfortunate side of the hobby where those who are not expereince enough may not be able to separate what they read is good to what they think is good for them deep down. This is not what a community is for imo. Thanks for posting your expereinces as it really mirrors my own trials, errors and joy that have gotten me to where I am today, both gear wise and in mental state.

I'm using a T1S that Milos let me borrow. But Justin is making a BH for me. The T1(S) amps are definately not ideal and listening to his 717 makes that pretty clear. But from my memory the BHSE was quite a jump from the 717, but i'll have to wait until mine is finished to confirm that.

Congrats on the O2, glad they are in great shape. Interesting impressions Deepak. I thought the HE60 was much more diffuse compared to the O2, so the Jade would probably be a train wreck in my book. But then again I didn't listen to it on the BH. Thats one reason why I wanted to keep my set, but in the end it had to go. Hmm...then how do you explain the custom title? Surely the site enforcement would not grant a once "revolting baby elephant" such a stark change in title... Congrats on your O2 purchase as well. Now its time to put your system to the test.

Amoeba music is awesome. Went there a couple days ago and theres not a damn artist you can't find.

Happy Birthday Doug, have a great one!

Craig notified me that he is still working on getting a large order discount on MK2 pads from Stax. This is proving to be a bit difficult, but he remains hopeful for the possibility.

Mmmm.....more snap. But hey, I thought it was the job of the current to keep that bass from becoming a loose mess.

Hmm, if you're thinking about getting an MK2 just for the comfort, i'd suggest just getting some MK2 pads and putting them on your MKI. That is unless your current MKI headband is also too loose or something. But if its just from a cosmetic stand point or for the sound difference, then SR-007 MK2 all the way! I don't know any MKI owner that has MK2 pads on it except for Spritzer, so that might be why you haven't gotten an answer. As you have probably read from this thread as of lately, there is some interest in trying this out, so many of us MKI owners do not have any experience.....yet.

The SR-007A has a silver housing with black pads. The SR-007BL has a champagne housing with black pads, which is what Al seeks.

Its pretty simple: 1. In short, the pads will simply pull right off. The lips of the pads are tucked in between a black plate and the champagne housing. The spring mechanism(it looks like a rod from the outside) is held in place by simply being inserted into a small grommet in the center of that black plate. I would suggest gripping the center portion of the spring first, and pulling it out of the center grommet. Then just pull the pads away from the housing. 2. Then remove the spring from the pads, which is just basically a circular spacer. Now take your new MKI pads and look at the inside of it from the back. You'll see that there are two flaps, one on the outside, and one on the inside. You'll want to take the spring and position them so that the inside flap completely envelopes the spring. The spring will now be resting between the inner most flap and the plastic ring of the mesh. 3. Now position the spring in the general direction you want, it seems that most position it so that it looks like a rod pointing away from the user. Then simply push the center of the spring back into the small rubber grommet on the black plate. Now this next part is a little tricky. 4. You'll want the outermost flap to go in between the black plate and the champagne housing. Its that tiny space you'll see. I personally find that the easiest way to do this is to pull the outer flap past the gap so that you have extra slack to hold it down with your fingers as you go around the cups. Pull portions of the flap over the housing and hold it down with your finger, and rotate the housing. Wash, rinse and repeat. Once most of the outer flap is over the housing, you'll find that it will simply slide into the gap between the black plate and the champagne housing. Once its all the way in give it a couple rotations and you'll be set. It absolutely sucks the first time through. I still sort of dread doing it, but it will become easy once you practice. I can probably do it in about 5-10mins. now.

Ya if only Sennheiser could hear it......Sennheiser USA that is. I'd be suprised if some of the employees there even know what an electrostat headphone is based on my experience with dealing with their staff. Congrats on the HE60 Deepak. I'm sure the BH takes the HE60 to a whole other level of musicality compared to the Stax amp I have in house.