spritzer

I think it has a lot to do with lack of experience and the common error that paying more will get you something better. Add that to the fact that active cables must be better then passive. Mikhail can also spin some crazy shit to sell his amps and make people believe all kinds of things. Btw. Did anybody else notice that the top cap of the tube on the right isn't connected or am I missing something... Good to bring up the Indra and Stealth cables in general. Very expensive they are but the Indra brings something new to the table, custom made connectors and amorphous wire. It's the best IC I've ever used and I will probably pick up a set to use on the BHSE.

Stuff like this is why I hate audiophiles. VD cables with their "big ass magnets" and other stupid shit, then there is Transparent with their carbon fiber boxes full of 1cent parts, Tara Labs with the "vacuum" cables and Siltech, Jena, Nordost and the list goes on and on. Epic facepalm indeed.

Tube PSU for your cables...

Here are some pics of the SR-1. It appears that the SR-1 didn't have a white shell like the SR-3 and later phones but this slightly brownish color as it was also on the inside. The baffle was white though. The drivers are very similar to the SR-3 but the stators are smaller and there was some refinement in the later model such as how they are held together.

For 200$ you are much better off building your own cables. Four silver bullet plugs, thin silver wire and some teflon tubing and start soldering. Btw. Don't get me started on the DBS crap or what Singlepower is pushing.

Thanks Next project are some Lambda Signatures in need of some major TLC... Now that I have the SR-1, my interest in the Sony is dwindling fast...

Oooohhhhh Stax SR-1 in the house, cleaned, all glue replaced and fitted with new earpads!!! Amazingly there is no imbalance and they sound great for something made in the 60's. This set appears to be S/N: 293 but it's of the later variant though not many of these were made and mostly sold in Japan. I paid a fucking fortune for them but having all this history sitting on my head I don't care... First impressions are that they are very midrange centric and with surprisingly good HF response but small details and bass depth are lacking compared to the later models, even the SR-3. Certainly better then the "first ESP" Koss ESP6. A lot of elbow grease, strong cleaners and metal polish made them look like that. The electret cable works like a charm and the stock strain relief isn't fixed to the cable so it was very easy to make it look good. Well yeah but I just want to use the massive Sony housing. You are also just saying that so I keep my crazy hands off the 600...

If I do chicken out on fucking up the very rare ECR-600 then I have some ECR-400 drivers which are essentially the same.

The original adapter is included and I have a nice 70's powerhouse to push them. I still don't get any volume to speak off so I have the urge to do some diaphragm work... Here is some porn for you. You know that you are first in line for them if I do sell them. The connector had to go to the scrap bin so I'm using a ECR-400 cable with a Stax socket on the other end.

I just opened up the ECR-600 drivers and Sony were indeed nuts. The spacers used to hold the diaphragm are 1.2mm thick!!! The stators are slightly recessed so shave 0.3mm off that number but a D/S gap of 0.9mm is unheard off in headphones save for the Jecklin Floats. Stax normal bias uses a 0.3mm gap and Stax Pro bias is 0.5mm so just imagine what it takes to get any volume out of these drivers with an electret film. Looking at the drivers I just had a crazy idea, how about replacing the electret film with some nice mylar and using an external bias. It is easy to access the diaphragm with an extra wire to feed it bias and with a D/S gap like that it can easily handle a 1000v bias or even well above that while being driven from a Stax amp.

The SRM-T1 has jacks like that so just unscrew the plate and replace all of the RCA's with some better ones along with the wiring. The WBT newxtgen jacks ft perfectly...

You really have to stop eating that stuff

I start off re soldering all the connections on the offending RCA jack but Deoxit does work very well. Try Brasso for very oxidized connectors.

He's selling some 0.9um film on Headwize and that would make for excellent headphone drivers.

It seems to me that longevity wasn't one thing that they thought about. It had simply decomposed everywhere and turned into liquid form, even inside the phones and the connector. The phones were in horrible condition, every metal bit has a thick layer of oxidation and they were covered in filth so the cable breakdown could be caused by some external source but it had to be airborne to reach the inside of the earcup and the wires inside the molded plug. Testing them off a SRM-1 I get only a very soft sound at full volume but it isn't much better from the damn adapter box with all of the 3 amps I've tried. Pushing 75w into the damn thing and it won't play so I may have to get drastic and find some 1:100 transformers to play these things. Btw. I just saw that my Stax SR-1 should be delivered this evening. :dance:Time to see just how good the original is.

...and you think it isn't on my list? I have let one system slip past me and one solo energizer but I will find a set eventually. Btw. I just realized that the ECR-600 is identical to the 800 but only with a 4 core cable. They are pretty comfortable for a supra and the Stax SR-X earpads are a near perfect replacement. Yay Stax for saving yet another planar.

You know full well that the sound is directly linked to how much we paid for the gear!!

I just finished repairing and restoring the most disgusting headphone I've ever had the unfortunate pleasure of coming across, a Sony ECR-600. They have that "special" cable Sony invented for the ECR-800 and the insulation had literally turned to goo with 4 copper conductors sticking through. Just to add to my pleasure the "goo" stuck to everything. The headpiece had a thick layer of dirt on them but after a good scrub and a Stax electret re-cable they are good as new. My problem is that I can't get any volume out of them either with the BH at full volume or with the adapter box driven by the B22. My old ECR-400 box is long gone so I can't use that for testing but this isn't normal. All the connections are fine as there is no imbalance at all, just not enough volume. Btw. It's probably the best built supra-aural 'stat I've ever seen and what limited impressions I have they sound stunning. Milled metal cups and an ingenious headband which puts just enough force on the ears. I will post some pics when I get off work tomorrow for the Sony ECR nut cases out there.

The main difference between the two units is the slightly more forward sound of the Mk2 which also has a major (in Stax terms) midbass hump and less bass extension.

It's a bit on the high side but it is the final price including fees and shipping so it wouldn't be much more then a 500$ sticker price and could even be less.

One of us (again)... one of us (again)... Around 7000Yen in Japan so be prepared to pay 100$+ for a set.

This the complete opposite to my experience with two different HE90's with a lot of different amps. They do "boom, boom" bass pretty well i.e. can be like a dynamic headphone but any deep and complicated bass and they simply flat out refuse to play it. Add the SR-Omega to the mix (a reputed bass headphone) and the SR-007 goes deeper and is more controlled at high volume but otherwise they are pretty similar. Now that I've bought a SR-Omega/SR-007 hybrid it will be interesting to see how it sounds in comparison to the other models.

If the He90 even came close in bass, treble extension and coherence then the phones were off their game. That being said the SR-007 is not a meet friendly headphone and you need to spend time with them to fully realize their potential.

My SR-007's have only once needed to be charged but this is certainly tied to the humidity level and Iceland is very dry. If this was Justin's set and just came off a plane then there might have been some "electret effect" i.e. a negative charge sitting on the diaphragm impeding its movement. That would make them sound congested and shut in when they are obviously not supposed to be. Did you try any other phones with the amp such as the Lambda Signature?

Ok, thanks.