catscratch

O2 MkII on the way, ETA: Thursday. SRD-7 Pro already here, and making the SR-003 sound better than it ever did on anything ever, together with a Dared VP-20 giving it some muscle. Updated source coming sometime next week. Man, sometimes this hobby can be very good!

Update: I don't think I'll be using this system much longer, or at least on a constant basis. Not because I'm not happy with it sonically, but because the VP-20 can't handle the load without clipping occasionally. Now, this clipping is very rare and happens only during very dynamic passages - and even then isn't major - but given how much of a perfectionist I am, even that isn't good. Besides, I'm sure I can't be doing the amp any good in the long term. So, I think I'm moving to an O2 MkII based system, with the Dared driving an SRD-7 Pro transformer. I've had some talks with some hf members and it seems that the problem stems from the design of the Dared, where the input/gain stage lacks the voltage and current to drive the 6L6 output stage properly specifically when tasked with driving a sensitive 300ohm load. At least, that's how I understood it. So, it's not a fault with the idea of driving a headphone with a speaker amp - but a fault with the VP-20 specifically used for the purpose. And even then, not a very major one. I'll still probably whip the rig out every once in a while, since other than the occasional clipping issue, it does sound very good. Just thought I'd post a heads up in case anyone was considering the VP-20 for the purpose.

Bah that ain't cool. I'm buying mine today or tomorrow, but at least I'll have a 30 day refund and warranty, so I'll have time to change my mind. How much of an effect does burn-in and charge-up have on them so far? I would imagine that you'll be bending them out of proportion as well to get them fitted right. The extra bass is worrying since the Dared/SRD-7 MkII combo I expect to be quite bassy. I don't know about the 840c, and I have silver cables in there, but it might still be a bit too much. I like a slightly bigger bass, but substantially bigger-than-life is a no-no. What about the headstage and treble presence differences Elephas noted on head-fi? Also, if looser pads are the culprit vis-a-vis the bass, a) can't you fit O2 Mk1 pads, and won't eventual pad compression with use reign the bass back in?

4 nights and 5 days with no sleep, probably 100-110 hours total. No drugs involved other than caffeine. It was during a laser tag tournament (yes I'm a dork) and the only people who could conceivably have set up the equipment and made sure it all works were me and my friend. He's a marine and I'm, well, a freak as far as not sleeping goes so we both were fine. But, I would never do it again unless I had to. Pulling all-nighters and working hard the next day is a pretty common thing for me, so I have a lot of experience in functioning while under a lot of sleep deprivation. At the same time, I seem to need more sleep than the norm - 9 to 10 hours a day is what I usually try to get when I have the luxury of keeping a stable sleeping schedule. I tend to stay away from stimulants (except caffeine) or sedatives of any kind, so I don't really force artificial changes in sleeping schedule.

I would like the sound of my amp a lot, except that it arrived damaged (I think) or is simply not properly designed. It clips during loud, dynamic passages like whoa, in both channels. It's immediate with the SR-404 and less immediate but still noticeable with the SR-003. I have been too lazy to negotiate with Peter for it to get fixed. Peter doesn't seem to know the meaning of punctuality, and while he seems like a nice guy, talking to him has been a hassle. On top of that, the original amp he sent me was lost by Canada Post, so he sent another. I can only imagine the financial loss he took. This one was based on a slightly different circuit, which is why I'm more prone to thinking that there is something wrong with the design itself - but if you saw the build quality, you would easily imagine that something, somewhere, could have fallen off. The amp really is built down to a price. Which is all a shame since it shows a lot of sonic potential. It's from a very different school sonically than the Stax amps; it doesn't try to be as neutral and transparent as possible, rather, it tries to be as vivid and engaging as possible. It's slightly bright, very dynamic, very focused, and has a massive, open soundstage. It gives up points in transparency to the SRM-007t but on the whole it would sound one heck of a lot better - if it worked. Fixing it is definitely a possibility as far as driving the SR-007 goes, and I'll probably take up this route if transformer boxes fail, at least initially, before moving onto something else. I'm beginning to think that building a KGBH might be the best option. I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to DIY, but I could afford the components, and I certainly not that dumb that I can't learn this stuff in the process. Maybe there's a DIY'er that could build one at the original Headamp price? I value the midrange more than anything else in my systems, and anything with an offensively colored midrange is right out. Every headphone I've ever liked has shared one quality - a somewhat forward, lush, fluid, but very clear midrange (i.e. SR-003, K340, ES2, HD650 balanced, HE90). I like a warmish midrange coloration that comes from a slightly boosted lower midrange, but I can't stand a thin, brittle coloration that comes from a boosted upper midrange or a recessed lower midrange. That's why the SR-404 doesn't cut it for me. P.S. hope this is all coherent. I'm smashed off my face.

I have to side with Deepak on this. I think the SR-404 is crap in most systems. Heck, I've lived with one for over a year. I don't think that it's crap universally, and it did sound pretty good off the McAlister amp (much more punchy and focused), but that midrange coloration simply destroys their tone, and the somewhat diffuse and unfocused imaging doesn't help either. It has some very strong points (detail, nice deep bass and a very airy, articulate treble, wide-open soundstage with a great sense of air, and of course electrostatic speed), but they don't offset the whole sonic picture. Ultimately, the K340 off a cheap old tube amp sounded better, very similar in most respects but much more focused with a much better midrange, and that's a $400 in total system. Compared to an SR-404 off a SRM-007t or a McAlister... you draw your own conclusions. I miss the planar sound quite a bit, and I'm hoping the SR-007 will be one heck of a lot better (or whatever 'stat I decide to go with). I never had any comfort issues though. I think it's one of the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. The only comfort issues are that it gets hot after a long listening session, and that the inner foam tends to make your ears itch. Still, it's better than the vice-like grip of the HD650, which somehow still doesn't prevent the headphones from sliding around and needing adjustment every few minutes. I'm tempted to get an SR-Lambda to play around with. I already have the Dareds to drive it.

Bad Brains - S/T Where the fuck has this band been my whole life. I always knew on hearsay that they were good, but I didn't expect THIS good. Punk has always seemed anti-intellectual and anti-technical but these guys blow the doors off everything that punk supposedly stands for, and are absolute virtuoso musicians in their own right. It's just flat-out awesome music, no matter what genre it belongs to. The production, of course, is some of the worst I've ever heard, but go figure. It kinda adds to the whole thing actually, instead of detracting from it.

Makes me glad I came to my senses just in time. I'm sure these are just growing pains, and it is more or less inevitable in a one-man-show company trying to create a SOTA product. You don't have time to debug every possible scenario, so your customers end up doing a lot of the debugging for you. But, it sure isn't fun to be one of the first few customers to have to shell out a serious batch for a beta-testing product (*cough*H2*cough*). I hope they stick with it though, and get all the issues worked out. We really do need more 'stats on the market, and we do need something to get Stax off their "if it sells don't fix it" perch and motivate them to do something about that outdated Lambda housing, or about their new line of overpriced shitty amps. I think I'll mess around with the O2 as soon as it's financially viable, but who knows... team 'stats in 08 here we come.

Seeing how you have a balanced HD650... I think the SR-404 would be a definite step down. Yes, it's better in some respects just by virtue of being an electrostat (faster impulse response, better resolution in the bass) but at least in my rig, the HD650 kills it. Fuller, richer, more natural tone, much more impact and dynamic range, very focused and holographic imaging (the SR-404 tends to be a bit diffuse), and a very nice midrange, which is IMO the SR-404's biggest fault. I'd be willing to forgive the SR-404 nearly all of its faults if it didn't have an enormous spike in the upper mids that completely ruins its tone (everything sounds brittle and electric), but in the end, the mids are what killed it for me. Every headphone I've ever really liked - balanced HD650, K340, ES2, and on audition HE90, has shared one trait - a somewhat forward and generally excellent midrange. I liked the SR-001/003 too specifically because of the mids, though lately I've cooled somewhat on them, so to speak. I really don't know what the sweet spot in Stax is since there are so many problems with the current generation of Stax products (O2 excluded, which I have yet to experiment with). The SR-001/003 are great for the money but not that great overall, with some serious comfort issues. The 303/404 have great drivers but the housing was obsolete 20 years ago, and they share a midrange coloration that is very much not enjoyable. I also really miss the planar sound, but I don't see any cheap way of getting seriously good planar sound at all when it comes to what's currently available. No comments on anything vintage since I've got no experience with it. Maybe the Koss? Maybe the SR-202? It's the only new Stax, other than the O2, that I've never heard.

Disgusting Wawa sandwich, with disgusting potato chips, disgusting donut-like thing, and some somewhat less disgusting green tea (it's quite alright, actually). Late nights at the office suck.

I was thinking along similar lines, not in that I have any kind of DIY skill whatsoever or know my ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to amps, but what if I could find some DIYer to simply build an upgraded transformer box for the SR-007 the sole purpose of which would be to give it the juice it needs, and then use a speaker amp? I doubt that would be any more expensive that any of the other less-than-ideal options in my price range. If this setup is a bit less transparent than a BH or any seriously solid 'stat amp, then so be it; I'm more worried about waking up the SR-007 than maximizing its resolving power.

"Relaxed sound" is exactly why I didn't pick up the SR-007 yet. I really do need to hear it on a variety of amps, but since a) I can't stand solid state, I like an aggressive but full sound, and c) I don't have bottomless pockets, I don't think I can drive the O2 properly. Just about the only thing I can do for it is get a transformer box and use my 18WPC Dareds, and hope it will be enough. It's a bloody shame, since I do miss the planar sound, but I just don't see any options that can outperform my current rig - save maybe for the EH-1.2B, but I think I'll wait until the FOTM dies down on these. My rig trashes the SR-404 on so many fronts that whatever I get will have to be in a different universe sonically, and it's one hell of a leap of faith to shell out on an unknown quantity which may not be better... or a known quantity which I probably can't drive to the proper level.

2 years later the ES2 is still going strong, though my weight hasn't really changed. The fit in my left ear is a bit harder to get, but it was never perfect to begin with. I expect in another 2 years I'd probably need another pair, but I doubt I'll keep them that long anyway. The headphones have been all around the world with me and were abused in pretty much any way I could think of (no, not like that you pervs), and are still fine.

An excessively mellow sound is not a characteristic of electrostatic headphones in general. The SR-404 is anything but mellow, and neither is the SR-001. There may be a lack of tactile slam and "bite," whatever that is, but the SR-404's main strength was to take extremely complex music and dissect it all into its constituent parts no matter how fast or hectic things got. I listen to a lot of death metal, some of it pretty insane (Nile, Cryptopsy, and the like) and the SR-404 was fantastic with it. Even with blast beats going at full speed you could still hear the texture of every drum thwack and every cymbal stroke on Nile's "Black Seeds of Vengeance" with the SR-404 and it was anything but mellow. In fact, this ability to resolve even very fast, dense, and complex music into its component sounds is the one 'stat quality that I miss the most.

My only experience so far was with the ubiquitous MF X10 V3 tube buffer, and for even the lower mid-fi sources I've got lying around it does nothing but degrade the signal. The midrange is brought out a bit, and there's more added tube bloom, but everything else suffers, especially the imaging. When I'm trying to run a semi-decent rig off an mp3 player shoving the X10 in there can act as a grain/noise/general nastiness filter but you have to be working with some really shitty sources in order for this to be an improvement. My advice is to stay away from this particular unit. I don't have any experience with other units though.

Just saw TMNT (the 2007 animated movie). I'm surprised. It didn't suck. I'm not a fan of the whole franchise but I did like it back in the day, and this one more than holds its own. The storyline is completely lame but it's really irrelevant to the movie; the drama between Leo and Raph takes center stage here, and "that scene on the rooftop," to not give away any spoilers here, was just epic. Overall, decent animation, great and very adult characterization, pretty good and memorable dialogue, lame and forgettable story, but one seriously awesome scene that I'll remember for a long time. **1/2 out of ****.

I've heard the SR-404 with many different amps (313, 007t, McAlister) and it always had its upper midrange coloration. It also always had a somewhat strident lower treble and a somewhat diffuse character to its sound, which hurts its layering abilities quite a bit. Off the McAlister it had very good bass impact that wasn't there with the 313 and 007, and it had a more forward, rather Grado-like quality to its sound, but it was also far too bright. I really liked it with about 25% of my music and thought it was ok with another 50% of my music, but when my K340 spanked it for $200, off a $200 amp, it was time for it to go. In terms of electrostatic vs. dynamic sound - 'stats are much much faster, so any kind of grain or minute distortion present with dynamic cans just isn't there, unless it's caused by the rest of your system. 'Stat detail extends throughout the frequency spectrum, and everything, be it treble, midrange, or bass is resolved into its component parts, as opposed to dynamics, which tend to be detailed up top but get progressively less resolving as you go down the frequency range. Electrostatic bass is especially much more detailed than dynamic bass. At the same time, 'stats don't have the tactile impact of good dynamics, though they can have some impact, and this is evident not just in the bass but everywhere else as well. They just don't displace as much air as dynamics period. In most applications, dynamics do sound more lively. I've left stats but I'm going to be coming back to them, despite having a dynamic rig that has many of the virtues of the electrostatic sound. I doubt I'll be giving up this rig any time soon, but we'll see how it gets on in the face of quality electrostatic rivals (O2, EH1.2B, 4070). Dynamics just sound like a system playing back the music, while with 'stats, the system is often left behind and you have nothing but the music. In a dynamic, you can feel the drivers moving, you can visualize the thrum of the voice coils and almost feel the signal moving through the wires (ok cat, put down the pipe...) but in a 'stat music just seems to appear ethereally out of thin air with no sound signature or evidence of a system to hold it back, and it takes you a while to lock on to what the system is doing, sonically speaking. But at the same time, listening to a 'stat seems to be more of a cerebral exercise, while dynamics do tend to get you more emotionally involved - though I'd wager that a properly set up electrostatic system that can put out some actual impact will reverse that trend somewhat.

Welcome to two years ago. Head-fi has become commercial. The price for that is attracting the mainstream public. So we have discussions like this, while anything technical, philosophical, abstract, or remotely interesting gets pushed to page 3 in the span of 12 hours and dies unnoticed. It's still one heck of a marketplace though, and is pretty invaluable for putting people in touch with vendors, and finding out about new gear. That's mainly why I hang around (and the few interesting threads every once in a while). That and helping out newbies every once in a while. The search function is still broken

Going from memory... About as different as headphones get. Now, K340s are also different from each other, esp. in tonal balance, but some things about them are universal. The A250 is tilted up in the upper mids and is recessed in the lower mids, giving the midrange a thin and distant quality. The K340 is bumped up in the lower midrange, with some pairs also being recessed in the upper midrange (though not my pair). That gives its midrange a very full and lush sound. Instrument tone is warmer than it should be but it is still a bit more realistic than the A250 and a lot more pleasing. The A250's highs have a peak in the lower treble that makes them sound metallic and steely with certain instruments. The K340's treble is either very recessed with bass-heavy pairs, or very upfront and very good with bass-light pairs - and it can be anything in between. In any case, it's a lot more linear, and thanks to the electret tweeter, it's much faster as well. Cymbal texture tends to be better portrayed on the K340. I should note that electrets, and to a lesser degree electrostats, have a certain glassy quality to their highs, and the K340 definitely suffers from this. Throw in its echoey resonance, and you get highs that aren't quite realistic, but still manage to dig up a lot of detail from the recording. The 250's bass is very linear and reaches very deep. It's easily the best feature of the headphone. It is a bit recessed and needs a bassy amp to bring it out, but when you do so, it shines. The K340 on the other hand is very lacking in deep bass. Bass-heavy pairs can have a bit of a midbass bloom, while my bass-light pair has a very good, tight and snappy bass, very linear through the mid and upper bass, but rolled-off in the deep bass. A250 tends to have a very wide soundstage, but so does the K340. It's up to the system really as to which one wins. Imaging is a bit crisper on the K340, but the A250 is no slouch. Both headphones are very dynamic. Bass-light K340s tend to appear even more dynamic due to the more present highs. The K340 needs a lot of volume in order to shine, though, while the A250 is more comfortable at lower volumes (and can get pretty nasty at high volumes with some recordings due to the lower treble peak). I prefer the K340 by miles. The A250's steely treble and midrange coloration are two of my biggest sonic turn-offs. I do like its bass though. I've got an A250 a K340 lying around though, so I can do some real listening and give more detailed comparisons. The above, as I said, is purely from memory so it may not be valid.

Ditto. That, together with the expense of driving the O2 properly, is what has so far prevented me from taking the plunge. I prefer an upfront sound and I don't like a dark sound signature (though I mind it less than an overly bright sound signature). I also like larger-than-life soundstages, inaccurate though they may be, for a very simple reason: 50% of my music listening is electronica, and there, it's the size of the headstage rather than the size of the soundstage that matters. O2 sounds like it will be too compressed for that. On the upside, the midrange of the O2 sounds like exactly what I want. I've heard "bumped-up upper mids" tossed around in conjunction with the EH1.2, and that's one of my biggest sonic turn-offs. So, I may end up with the O2 eventually, but I'll probably end up trying everything else first. Everything else meaning just the EH1.2B (and maybe 4070).

The K340 isn't really all that closed, it's more of a semi-open design. It isolates a little bit but it leaks sound everywhere. I also have never been able to get a pair to fit properly without having to hold the damn thing in place, making it useless for anything other than sitting and listening. Sonically, K340s tend to vary a lot from pair to pair. I prefer bass-light pairs, matched up with warm(er) tube amps. What about the Stax 4070? Never heard one but heard good things about it. Seems to be a candidate for future FOTM on That Other Forum.

That review should be mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in reviewing or discussing audio components. It's a terrific example of clear and organized articulation of a very abstract and difficult topic. But, it's going to go way over the heads of the average public, especially because of the length. It's a case of the review being much better than the audience. People don't want an organized discussion filled with novel concepts - they want a short largely monosyllabic blurb with simple numerical ratings and lots of "lawlz" and "roflcopter" thrown in.

Well, I'll still buy it, whatever they do. Considering that it's the dollar vote that counts, I'm still voting for the series. Though to be honest, if SC4 ends up going in the same direction that SC3 was going, I doubt I'll be holding my breath for SC5. There's only so much I can take before I admit that the series is flawed, and move onto greener pastures. Yeah, Setsuka's combos can be a bitch, as well as her just frames. I can't count how much time I spent trying to get her 1A:A:A down and I still can't get it right every time. Still, the playstyle reminds me a lot of my favorite character from Samurai Showdown (Ukyo Tachibana) - speed, range, damage, and punishment. It puts a lot of psychological pressure on your opponent and forces them to turtle, which lets you really control the match. Though I'm still a Mitsurugi player first and foremost and will probably always be. He's just so versatile and has so much potential for mind games, whereas Setsuka is more mechanical and is more about control and punishment.

I've had something similar with the H2. Granted I was really smashed at the time and could have hallucinated things (I certainly was hallucinating other things) but it was sharp and painful enough to make me rip off the cans faster than I thought was possible at the time. It definitely wasn't pleasant, and my hairdo might have come out of Dragonball Z when I looked in the mirror. But, that's just the thing, I do have long hair and it tends to get into headphones, and exposed wires and charged diaphragms really don't like bodily protuberances intruding into their personal space. **** Man, ever since I've left team planar so to speak, I've been getting planar craves, and the H2 definitely doesn't satisfy enough. The HD650/Dared rig is wonderful, except in that it can't stop being a dynamic headphone, even driven by a massively overpowered push-pull speaker amp. There is still this slight grain to the sound, and it still isn't fast enough to keep up with the more insane selections among my music. I may be the only one that prefers electrostats for death metal, but when you've grown up in the audio world listening to Nile's Black Seeds of Vengeance on 'stats, dynamics just won't do. They just can't take layers of distorted guitars on top of 20 blast beats per second and resolve it all into finely detailed and perfectly separated instruments. To make matters worse, my friend has an SRD-7 Pro that he's willing to let me borrow. I'm so tempted by the Omega II right now I could burst. I get the O2 urge every 3 months like clockwork. I've been able to resist so far, but who knows what will happen this time. Though to be honest, I am a bit hesitant to just get the SR-007 Mk II due to the several supposedly broken pairs that head-fiers have bought in the last few months. I'm slowly starting to come around to the idea that what I want is not so much a dynamic that has the virtues of planars, but a planar that has the virtues of a dynamic. Something that sounds very close to a seriously good balanced 650 rig especially in the weight and heft of the sound, but with the speed and microdetail of a 'stat.

Vader? Yoda? What the fuck are they thinking? How about actually balancing the fucking game for once and making sure that shit like variable cancel doesn't make it into the fourth installment. I loved SC3 but it was one of the most broken high-profile fighting games I've ever seen. And most of the new content was a joke (Setsuka's fun though). First, fix what's there, don't just introduce new bullshit that nobody wants. Or maybe people really do want Yoda and Vader? How about Kirk and Picard in SC5? I bet that would answer another age-old question.