The Headcase Stax thread

[LostHisMarbles]

Only this hobby?

 

I'm at about 32% of my buying power, even though my income has actually increased; on top of a steady pension, i do work for select customers again, complimenting it. And i'm still at 32% of where i was 15 years ago (this in EU).

Inflation may be steady in Japan, but prices have skyrocketed everywhere, in everything and impact them too.

Was seriously doubting high quality given the MRSP, so this is the one thing i personally won't judge them on. Don't forget it's 2-3 grand in our local currencies, VAT in. In their local currency it's 275 grand. You think folks rush to buy it over there?

Brands like Zanden, Kondo, Airtight, Ikeda, they're only for rich Westerners by now.. i'd rather STAX did not follow (no offense to anyone here, most really are high rollers, but the 9000's pricing was an insult to me; nice big middle finger for me to sit on).

[catscratch]

The hobby is fucked, but it also opens up the opportunity for others to come in and sell stuff that isn't bullshit. That's kinda where we see stuff like ES Labs come in (though here in the US the tariffs make it harder, but that's another brand of bullshit). Basically, the old guard can go ahead and price themselves into the stratosphere, but smart people will take advantage of it and outcompete them.

Or so I hope. Maybe it's just the booze talking. I'm usually not optimistic.

[robm321]

That's why they call them spirits...I think. 

 

[spritzer]

I for one don't mind prices going up, might be the Icelander in me as having one of the smallest currencies in the world means we are in for a wild ride.  Inflation targets here are usually around 3.5% but seldomly reached so loosing 50% of value in 10 years is perfectly normal.  That being said, something has to come along with that price increase.  The SR-Omega build quality is terrible so when moving to simpler drivers and housing with the 007, we got nicer parts.  Actual leather earpads and they were not terribly expensive either.    

The fact that the SR-Omega was 180K Yen in 1993, the SR-007 again 180K Yen in 1998 and finally rising to 192k Yen in 2007... that is not good in terms of the economic health of the company.  That was indeed always the issue with Stax, not enough capital to work with.  I'd even call the price increase to the 009 justifiable.  I may not be a fan of the sound signature but they did bring some impressive improvements, fused stators, nice housings, back to wooden boxes, new arc design (even if it is a bit crap) and a new cable design.  

Then we come to the earpads... nice leather but the nastiest pleather possible on anything not touching the head so the pads degrade quickly.  We were back to the crap foam used in the 007Mk1 pads so they don't last either but now you can't just replace the foam.  How much would it have cost to make them entirely out of leather?  My favorite part though is the "made in japan" piece next to the cable entry as it's just a flat piece of plastic that is bent and glued into shape to cover up the hole.  Yeah....  

The 007A ended at 200K Yen and now we are up to 250K Yen (plus tax) and aside from any voicing issues, worse cable and cheaper earpads/headpad for a large premium.  It's not exactly progress is it...  

On another note, I recently got a NOS L500mk1 and the earpads on those are such utter shit it isn't even funny.  The L700 pads aren't much better as again, same cheap material used where they don't touch and it just falls apart.  

[LostHisMarbles]

10 hours ago, catscratch said:

That's kinda where we see stuff like ES Labs come in

...

the old guard

 

Re: The 'old guard', that's the theory.. in practice, well, it's never quite been implemented (lest we factor in certain companies that literally took what came before them but wasn't patented and re-made it with cheaper mats [and a worse audible outcome!]). I can only give younger generations kudos and salutations in 3 sectors and 3 sectors alone:

- Speaker/headphone drivers, cartridges and tonearms. And all 3 came with direct consequences. Not the thread to expand on that though.

 

As to ES labs specifically?

- I'm still waiting for the "new" electrostatic that has the magic the old STAXes did; think Hayashi's time. Thinner diaphragms and unicorn dust fused diaphragms aside, the magic was lost after 1995. Slight, occasional, strictly technical improvements aside, they were also noticeably dryer, up to a lot, downright clinical in recent all out efforts; and noticeably forward/direct, all of them. Compare the original Lambda nrm/pro to anything releasing after '95.

Folks don't seem to get it the way i do maybe, but part of what made STAX what it was? Was that magical character. Never since, other makers like ES labs included. If you've heard a decent pair of OG Lambdas or Sigmas (non-arced, non-imbalanced, driven well but not obscenely well), you know what i'm talking about. It was never about the outmost fidelity; never. It was about the character. Which's been lacking ever since. ES didn't tick that mark either. Was lucky to "get" one from the usual channels, would have regretted paying for it personally.

- And at 2K a pop? With Chinese manufacturing costs? You're kidding me? Do forgive me for not crowning the man as a "savior", of anyone's. Yes?

*2K for the cans+shipping mind. Customs fees on top, lest we neglect. Say 2.5K a pop?

 

So no, i don't do see where ES Labs "comes in" to save the day. Unless of course we yet again go back to "i -personally- can". An ever-decreasing niche of individuals. And again, it lacks the magic the old STAXes did. Not even close, sorry.

[catscratch]

9 hours ago, LostHisMarbles said:

- I'm still waiting for the "new" electrostatic that has the magic the old STAXes did; think Hayashi's time. Thinner diaphragms and unicorn dust fused diaphragms aside, the magic was lost after 1995. Slight, occasional, strictly technical improvements aside, they were also noticeably dryer, up to a lot, downright clinical in recent all out efforts; and noticeably forward/direct, all of them. Compare the original Lambda nrm/pro to anything releasing after '95.

Have you ever heard the 003 / 001 mk2?

I kinda agree with this, but you can make some of the new Stax stuff sing with some EQ and a few mods. I had a L700 mk1 that was pretty magical after some fettling, and same goes for the new X1. But the old stuff did do it out of the box, and modern day Stax are certainly way past their prime and tuning seems to be a lost art for them. Or making headphones that properly fit human heads.

[spritzer]

I felt a bit hopeful after the X1 release as it was a large step up from the L300 but the first one failing like that did sour it for me bit.  Still they are nice enough for the price even if the ES-1x does the same idea much better.  Granted at twice the price but more comfortable and far better build quality.  

As an update on the 007S, I've used them a lot over the last couple of days and they are not "gelling" for me at all.  On some material they are just fine but not so much on other songs.  I always have this feeling it is a superficial look into the music, it lacks the depth of the older units and the SR-Omega.  Voices have this 2D feeling to them and not 3D as they should be.  It is subtle thing but apparent after a few hours.  Detail is also simply not there that is readily apparent on a Mk1 or 007A.  Transients have an edge to them that is just annoying with some material, loud crescendos bite way too hard for no reason. 

I'm still on the Kennerton pads as the stock pads still smell awful after letting them sit with air blowing over them.  I might try some refurbished 007Mk1 pads or have something custom made....