So I impulse purchased an X1000 set

After experiencing it for a few hours it really felt as if it was missing that weightless / effortless / delicate sound that the 007 / 009 presented (ignoring FR differences). At the same time, I can't find information about the thickness of the driver, nor do I have the other amps.

I'm wondering if this is more a limitation of the headphones or if it's a limitation of the 270S that comes with it?

That being said, the stock tuning is quite enjoyable.

Cheers

The 270S is a large part of that as it is kinda shit. 

Now on the X1 topic, I just put mine on and the right driver is failing.  Substantial channel imbalance and nothing has happened to these... so time for an investigation. 

4 minutes ago, spritzer said:

Now on the X1 topic, I just put mine on and the right driver is failing.  Substantial channel imbalance and nothing has happened to these... so time for an investigation. 

That sucks. I have a used one inbound that I’m hoping withstands the teething phase and proves reliable. I think yours may be the first fault I have heard of with this new line. Good luck. 

I just opened them up (pics incoming) but I could see nothing amiss inside the driver.  They are still as imbalanced so I'll have to get another set now.  Stax and driver failure is certainly becoming a big problem these days... 

Well I took them apart so some pics:

The earpads just pull off and are much better made than the 009 pads. 

Remove 5 screws and the back just falls off.  Notice the hole next to the top screw... yeah that's a port.  Stax did miss a trick here as they could have sealed the back and front completely with a rubber gasket similar to the HE60. 

Here is the other side and the drivers is just held in place by those 4 screws.  The plate holding the driver together appears to be made from metal and it does exert a bit of force down on it. 

I don't love the soldering on this though... 

Screws are out and I did look inside the drivers and it's standard Stax fair from the x07 series.  Metal stators and metal retaining rings for the diaphragm and dust covers. 

Here is a port block idea but I can't really test it as this set is borked...

4 hours ago, spritzer said:

The 270S is a large part of that as it is kinda shit. 

Thanks, kinda figured.

I feel like I saw another one of your comments somewhere about the 270S but can't find it at the moment.

Are there any mods that would make it more bearable? My ideal would eventually be to get a KGSSHV but getting one of those to Canada is a pain.

I saw one of those JR Audio ones listed here and then found that thread about how they scammed their customers lol.

It's the same design as the 252S and at 4W total power... you can't expect too much from it. 

It's confirmed... my SR-X1 right hand driver is dead.  Down to almost no output and it is not the cable. 

It's strange that the electrostatic headphone driver is difficult to break unless the conductive coating completely fails.😱

That's what I fear is going on as it got worse and worse.  I tried to discharge the diaphragm and no change.  I can't see anything from a visual inspection and it's not a connection problem so yeah... this is not good. 

Mine actually developed a channel imbalance too. The right channel started getting weak. I discharged it and let it sit for two weeks, and now listening to it for the first time since then the imbalance seems to have gone away. But I've been reading quite a few reports of channel balance issues in these things.

Seems like Stax did botch the launch and I hope mine holds out, cause I actually like the sound of this thing a lot. It does need a bit of eq to tame 1-2khz and the bass is definitely seal dependent but otherwise this little thing punches way above its pricepoint in sound quality... when it works.

This does indeed sound like a coating issue.  Quite a few sets are experiencing issues I've been told so something is clearly going on here. 

Scary to hear about the channel imbalance.

Hopefully it doesn't happen to my set. I wonder if there will be some sort of trade in / expedited RMA for this.

 

An update on the SR-X1 issue.  I left them unplugged for two weeks and when plugged back in they were back to normal.  About an hour in and the right hand side is dying again... slowly fading in volume as I listen. 

Does that confirm your suspicion that it's a coating problem?

On a separate note, after some more critical listening to my X1, and with different sources + a carbon KGSSHV / the included 270s, I can't get the violins to be present. Even with EQ, they're always soft and positioned far behind other instruments (piano / wind), despite the violin being the centerpiece of the track.

Otherwise I generally like them for the price.

Only two possibilities here, a bad connection (which it isn't) or a coating issue as the charge slowly fades away.  I just bought another set so if that fails too... I'll be pretty ticked off. 

Mine's been working fine since I discharged it. Fingers crossed.

They definitely screwed up the launch and I hope they're aware of the issues and can fix them. This would be a great headphone at a good price and a real disruptor in the market... if only I could safely recommend it.

Edited July 27, 20241 yr by catscratch

That's how I feel as well, I bought another one as they are that good but it's hard to recommend them at this point. 

Any news on the imbalance of the X1 Stax?

Same really, the swing back and forth from working and then the channel imbalance sets in again.  I bought another set that I've been using so I'll likely scrap this for parts. 

FWIW mine's been working just fine with daily use. But the question is, are the issues limited to the initial batch or are they still happening with new ones. I haven't heard too many new reports of it lately but all I've got to go on is stuff from the internet, I'm not in touch with vendors or anything.

I hope they got this shit sorted out as I'd quite like to recommend these.

I was doing some cleaning and found 2x forgotten early Stax SR-1 959-1960 that was acquired in the last decade. Anyone know which energizer Sax produce that has a 150V bias to pair up with them?

Pretty sure just the SRA-4S, SRA-6S, SRD-1, SRD-2.
 

Stax later made the SRA-7S and SRD-3 but based on when they were released they were probably geared more towards the higher bias SR-1. 

Unless it is a set with the handmade markings and the slightly smaller housing, they are all 200V bias so any normal bias would work just fine.  I'd remove the cap after the ballast resistor just to be sure but that's about it. 

I don't think Warwick are doing so hot these days... 

I snapped this in Selfridges on Oxfordstreet yesterday and I might have been tempted as an insane collector if I didn't already own one of those piece of shit amps.  Well that and it sounds like shit... there is that issue too. 

Edited November 29, 20241 yr by spritzer