Shiki

I'm in the same boat... I finally gave in and ordered from TTVJ a few weeks ago, thinking I could replace all my other headphones if I liked it. But due to Sennheiser's policy I now have to cancel my order or find someone in the US to ship it to. Maybe I'll just wait till they get released here so that I can actually audition it first.

Damn, all the reviews are really enticing me to get one but I just can't get over the fact that it costs 3 times what I paid for my ESW9...

I had an Opera for a while and the K701 did sound a bit thin with it. I wouldn't say that it sounded bad though. I didn't really use the DAC much as I liked the sound of my E-MU 1212m sound card better at that time. You probably want to try auditioning it first. Currently I'm using the K701 balanced out of a B22 and it does have much more weight and warmth to it.

I had this problem too initially, but it hardly creaks now after I bent the metal bands to get a tighter fit.

Oops, looks like I'm wrong on some of what I said earlier. 1. The Sonata doesn't have any recording feature, so there isn't any need to turn off duplex mode like the Transit. 2. I just played some of my 24/96 files and they are 4608Kbps (4.6Mbps).

Which is why I said "usually", not "always". I'm faily sure that the Transit that I mentioned as an exception is also USB 1.1. I guess full speed (12Mbps) is there for devices that don't actually need to use 480Mbps. Those are the theoretical speeds but USB actually has a very high overhead, which is why Firewire (IEEE 1394) that is rated at 400Mbps is usually faster than USB 2.0. Maybe that's why devices like the Sonica or Transit only support 24-bit/96KHz when turning off duplex mode, even though a 24-bit/96KHz file takes up roughly 2.5Mbps. Anyway, I'm not an expert on these things so if someone with more knowledge on these can enlighten us, please do.

I think USB 1.1 devices usually only support up to 48KHz playback whereas USB 2.0 devices usually support up to 96KHz (and perhaps more). However, the Transit (which I use) lets you switch to 96KHz if you set it to playback-only mode. In fact, I'm using it out of my laptop to a 840C too. Haven't tried it with any 96KHz files yet though.

Do you need XLR outputs? Not sure about those you listed (apart from the Opera, which is really primarily an amp), but the Northstar that was recommended only has RCA outputs.

Wow, didn't realise that this thread has been dug up. When I had the Opera, K701 and 1212m, low gain was plenty loud for me.

Hmm, I'm thinking of getting the RS-1 but Grado's are really expensive to get here. MS-Pro is much cheaper for me as I can order directly from Alessandro. If it's very similar to the RS-1, that sounds like the way to go for me.

Hmm, how about the the SR-Lambda Pro that you are (were?) selling? Would that be a good introduction to the electrostatic world, or would the SR-X be better? Btw, would a speaker amp be good enough to power something like the SR-007A?

I'm thinking of trying this to find out what the electrostatic sound is like: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f10/fs-stax-sr-sigma-srd-7sb-australia-292519/ How good (or bad) does it sound if I use a speaker amp instead of say, Stax's own amps or a KGSS? I can use an old Denon PMA-860 amp lying around or the B22 I'm getting soon.

Are you moving on to speakers?

Whoa... That'll teach me for not browing Head-Case more often at work.

Got it. Less sensitive, not more impedance. Anyway, looks like one of them might be going on sale soon...

So I got my W11JPN a few days ago. I haven't been listening to anything for over a week now and have had the W5000 stored in its box. I just got everything out today for a brief listening session. My impressions of the W11JPN compared to the W5000 using the HA5000: - The first thing that's immediately noticeable is that vocals sound different from the W5000. I remember that the W5000 sounded a bit off when I compared it to the K701, but gradually got used to it. I've heard people explain that it's the midrange. Perhaps the W11JPN's midrange is more accurate. - Bass is thumpier. - Treble seems rolled off, cymbals seem muted. Seems a bit more laid back. - It seems to have a higher impedance and needs more power to run at the same volume as the W5000. - It leaks much less sound. - The clamping is very tight, but not uncomfortable. Will probably do more listening over the weekend. Now, the weird thing is that the W5000 seems to have a lot more bass than I remember it. Maybe storing it in the case has done something to it.

What about this? http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-1EX/ It has 3.5mm to Toslink optical outs.

You might also want to get a fan controller so that you can control the voltage of the fans. I have 2 Nexus 120mm fans in my P180 running at 7V and it's pretty quiet. What's your power supply and hard disk? Seasonics are Corsairs (the HX series, which are Seasonic OEMs) are very quiet. I also turn on AAM to full on my hard disk to reduce the seek noise.

So I noticed that the single-ended one has 3 channels (one extra for active grounding) but the balanced one has 4-channels and runs single-endedly using only 2 channels. Does it actually make a difference when running single-endedly?

If you thought the W5000's $700 was too much, wait till you see the price of the L3000.

I think EdipisReks was just being sarcastic? I tried generating a 25Hz tone and it's clearly audible. At 20Hz it's barely audible and at 15Hz I don't hear anything. I agree that generally the W5000's bass is rather quiet though. It's a toss up between the K701 on which one has less bass.

Hmm, actually, now that I think of it - could it be because I'm using a 230V to 110V voltage regulator that it's running hot(ter)? The amp is rated for 100V...

You can get Stax headphones from www.pricejapan.com.

Wow, sounds like I need to get one for a (semi) portable rig. Just need to find a cheap, tiny laptop and some headphones. Wonder how it sounds with a HD650...

I'm already starting to plan for what I'm getting for this Christmas (need to save up and budget accordingly). One of my considerations is an electrostatic set-up based on the Stax SR-007A. I currently have a Stello DA100 as my source, but it only has single-ended outputs. My question is, do electrostatic amps require balanced inputs? I see that the KGSS has both balanced and single-ended inputs. Will it be much worse if I use the single-ended one?