Kabeer

https://staxaudio.com/earspeaker/srs-x1 Maybe im wrong on the colour thing, this site shows a blue lined cable at the bottom. but that could just be an error. My X1 also had the bronze painted cable. But the strange thing is the sound....Unfortunately i sold my X1 so i cant compare to the 007S now. If you have both, are you able to switch the cables and try? I am going by the following: 1) I swapped X1 and L500mk2 cables and it was 100% sure , the L500 cable brought out a bit more in the upper trebles, and was a hint less bright 2) X1 is not present. but swapped 007S and L500mk2 cables onto the 007S, and the L500 cable was significantly less bright up top. Anecdotally there was an 007S X9000 owner in USA who swapped their cables and found they sounded the same.

So, after doing some experiments with a friend. I don't believe the 007S cable is the same OFC cable that the X1 has... It has different colour paint lines on it now. And it sounds BRIGHTER than the L500 HiFC cable. Whereas the X1 OFC cable sounded a little warmer than the L500 cable. With some other anecdotes: it is likely a SPC cable either the same or similar to the L700 cable. It is also contributing to the 007S brightness up top. The L500 cable makes the 007S better.

Great video for all you Stax fans. Very rare insight which actually shows proper parts of the factory

Are most of the modern failures (X9000 etc) attributed to the driver coating too? RE X1: interesting it's wired out of phrase from the factory! i did feel my X1, whilst sounding good, had a strange soundstage - it was like two walls of sound - and quite different than the other Stax I had. Did you try swapping these connections and did you notice the headphone sounded better?

Thanks. I'm going to guess the larger inner diameter opening vs the 007mk1/A is contributing to the increase in brightness. If it fits, i have a sneaky feeling that putting the 007A earpads on this may get you back a lot closer to the tuning you usually love...worth a shot

thanks for the early impressions. Are the earpads angled like the 007mk1/A? and is the inner opening circular (unlike the D shaped usual 007 pads openings)?

It is a strange decision. Would have been much better to use the HiFC cable. The X1 cable sounded very slightly duller vs the L500 cable. At first I thought the 007S uses a different connector, but upon inspection, the connector is the same. So I would suspect upgrading to the L500 cable would be worthwhile.

Very best of luck Gary! If you need a review section, then apart from the ones from headfi, if you need any quotes of appreciation from people who have owned your TPs before id be happy to. and im sure a lot of others would be too.

Which Fostex are you reffering to?

Thats a very odd hole pattern on the drivers? :S seems random Beautiful phones though

How about the sound of it?

its about double the price of USA

K3cT, are you going to but THAT particular NAD? (I think I used to own the pair your reffering to). Anyway unless its that specific pair, I think youlll have a near impossible time finding another Mylar NAD again. Most of the pairs you will find will be the standard Kapton ones (super bassy). Even if it IS the mylar one, the LCD2 IS superior. But how much it is worth it to you? That is only answerable if you hear a LCD2 and make that judgement.

Well, ok it will probably be a bit like the v1 you heard. Even if you felt that wasnt extended enough for you, you have to admit its a whole different sound to the kapton NAD.

You two are both refferering to the NORMAL RP18 which is a dark bass monster Ghurubhai and K3cT are reffering to a rare variant of the NAD RP18 (mylar NAD) that is bass light and has treble stock (ie Fostexish)

I agree, its just personal taste. I preffered the LCD2 to the O2 (although i had a really weak setup). Also someone who came to my house and heard my LCD2 preffered it to his prior O2 rig as well (o2+717). Thats not to say that some may prefer it the opposite way around. Its just a taste thing. The important point here is there is a headphone with TRS termination that can compete in the league of the O2, that in itself is rather cool. Personally, my favourite headphone is actually still 30+ years old (yet i recognise its tehcnically inferior to both the lcd2 and o2)

Yup the LCD-2 drivers are very well made , and professional looking. Nothing at all to put down about them

A tramp! the Fostex/Sansui diaphragm is its still a beauty! . Audeze has done a marvelous job on their driver though. I am running it air damped as we speak...(i dont reccomend other users try it so...remember I am nuts, and certain mods might invalidate your warranty), and its still in more control than any stock ortho I know.

Veryyy strange. The LCD2 has the most 3D soundstage iv heard, giving me an impression of a "whole" sound compared to most headphones iv heard :S. Maybe im used to a MUCH more L/R seperated kinda sound then hmm...but doesnt seem likely. Somethings off. As for comfort, Im thinking maybe that varies person to person? The headband is THE most comfortable headband iv ever felt on a headphone due to the foam. The weight is fairly weighty, but it doesnt mother me due to the way it is spread out evenly. The clamp did annoy me a bit when I got it, but after a little stretching, and softening the pads with a bit of massaging, I have zero gripe with the comfort. And all 3 people who tried it at my house also felt the comfort complaints on HF were way ott. So because of this I think the confort issue is fixable. The sound issue on the other hand, if your ears hear another LCD2 like that too, then its unfixable for your tastes, and rightly so it's not the can for you.

How about something like this: Image:Pioneer SE-30 side.jpg - Wikiphonia Slightly bend the forks to be circular instead of oblong, id guess theyd probably become like a NAD headband then? And loads of these kind of headphones pop up on auctions. Then you can donate the leftover drivers to one of the big manufacturers to put in their high end dynamics . Well this is the best idea I have so far...looking for alternatives.

It's ok , looking for a cheap drill+bits now. Also looking for a headband to accomodate this, my ideas of bending metal and drilling it, making my own custom design are out of the window now, way out of my league, I tried bending some metal and it came out a way ugly. Ideally Id want something like the HE5 or LCD2 headband, but I dont picture them selling it to me...(especially at a low price)

Errhem, just to note, these were old cups that were lying around from an old project . So i am putting them to good use. And nope this is the original Commando LeakyPants. Gary himself doesn't have great hopes for the LeakyPants project, but I have good hopes. Problem is actually getting everything else done.... Does anyone have a headband/fork harness I can use? It needs to accomodate cups that are about 100mm diameter (even if the forks can be stretched to do so) Btw Gary they are exquisite looking.

Monkey I love the smoooth shiny finish on yours!! These used to be mine (Kingwood cups, featured in the TP Loaner thread on HF) :

Iv fought this twice. Malwarebytes is the software to remove it with. The hard part is managing to install malwarebyes and letting it run, because sometimes this virues blocks malwarebytes.

My guess is they slightly increased trace density (but its still evidently thick) to increase ohmage, but still used the overall HE5/HE5LE methods. Plated the traces with gold (for some unknown reason.......), and slightly played with the thickness of the diaphragm/traces.