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The Headcase Stax thread


thrice

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I'm always ruthless as I don't like compromises. They do have their moments though and I have to see what I can do to help them along. One things for sure, those dust covers will have to go as the holes are much larger then the ones used by Stax. You can stay tuned for some exploratory pictures in the next few days...

Well they do sound like precise, fast, very detailed and refined upper echelon stat They are real hi-end headphones in many ways better then SR-Lambda series, but some things that are bad are even more annoying because of this. Soundstage and tone was their weak point if you ask me. I was listening to ECR500 and TK33 last night and these 30 year old trets destroy something like Jade when it comes to soundstage. Hell ECR500 can even compete with O2, Lambda and Sigma when it comes to soundstage, details are lucking but imaging and tone are exceptional.

Not necessarily - this has not been my experience at all. I will buy 950 (and amp them at 620v) long before I'd consider an HE product, and that has nada to do with the reliebility issues.

I might have gotten in on the "good batch", as brief listening while it burns in has not been disappointing yet, but I've had very little ear-time with them so far. I have not spent near enough time getting to know these - but when I first put them on my head I liked them.

I have a lot of listening to do, and a lot of comparing to do, so I will withhold impressions for a while so I can get that done.

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I might have gotten in on the "good batch", as brief listening while it burns in has not been disappointing yet, but I've had very little ear-time with them so far. I have not spent near enough time getting to know these - but when I first put them on my head I liked them.

I have a lot of listening to do, and a lot of comparing to do, so I will withhold impressions for a while so I can get that done.

These phones are supposed to be from the same batch but I don't believe the difference is contributed to anything but the crap build quality. I have tried many different types of diaphragm coating and while there are changes they don't manifest as a static sound and mostly affect long term stability of the drivers. What will contribute to the sound is just how badly the earpads are mounted to the housing and the total lack of anything to seal around the drivers. I'm going to open them up today so I'll know better what I'm working with.

Spritzer, I have done the O2 Mk2 ear-pad spring mod with improvements. How important is the blu-tak to the bass-port portion of the mods?

Removing the port from the equation removes the midbass hump and restores the much more natural bass response of the Mk1. You can use what ever you like to plug the port or even use felt so that it will be partially open if you prefer it like that. My version of the mods is to restore the phones to the Mk1 sound but you can go some other way as well.

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Simply dropping them into my computer rig instead of the SR-Omega/007 is quite a cultural shock.

Haha, I thought that would happen. The shock of a non-Stax electrostat. :D

Wow, if that isn't a glowing review of a headphone, I don't know what is.;D

We can always count on Spritzer to hold nothing back. I think that's his most endearing quality.

I'm sort of glad to hear that spritzer doesn't think Jade is great. That means I still have a ways to go until perfection :D

Your source, man... :P

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Hehe, yeah, I think "seriously fucked up" is a bit of an exaggeration for the O2Mk2. :)

But that's just Spritzer being Spritzer. If you know where he's coming from, the things he says makes its own kind of sense and can be of some value. :P

I think of something like this, on a scale from 1 to 100, 100 being most preferred:

100...O2Mk1

9.......O2Mk2

7.......SR-Omega

5.......4070, SR-SC1, Lambda Sig, other Stax, HE90, maybe Jade is here

4.......Lambda Pro, HE60

3.......SR-003

2.......R10, Qualia, L3000, K1000, HP-2, other "top" dynamics (HD800 probably here too)

1.......Most dynamics

0.1....Most Ultrasone (which I kinda agree, but wouldn't rank so low)

0.004...Bose TriPort

If you multiply that by 1 million it begins to look like Patrick82's amount of improvement a tweak gives ranking system.

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tacit approval of Spritzer's review I assume? =)

More like, he was going to argue and then decided that it's not worth his time. Some days there's a little too much universal agreement between folks who haven't heard the headphones in question. I don't doubt spritzer feels the way he does about them but he's also been known to take a pretty hard line about things like this. I mean doesn't he hate the O2 MKII as well?

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More like, he was going to argue and then decided that it's not worth his time. Some days there's a little too much universal agreement between folks who haven't heard the headphones in question. I don't doubt spritzer feels the way he does about them but he's also been known to take a pretty hard line about things like this. I mean doesn't he hate the O2 MKII as well?

In a general sense there is nothing wrong with the SR-007 Mk2 but as a successor the the Mk1 they are seriously fucked up.

Btw. Jade recable is done so stay tuned for all the gory details in a few hours. :D

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Hehe, yeah, I think "seriously fucked up" is a bit of an exaggeration for the O2Mk2. :)

But that's just Spritzer being Spritzer. If you know where he's coming from, the things he says makes its own kind of sense and can be of some value. :P

I think of something like this, on a scale from 1 to 100, 100 being most preferred:

100...O2Mk1

9.......O2Mk2

7.......SR-Omega

5.......4070, SR-SC1, Lambda Sig, other Stax, HE90, maybe Jade is here

4.......Lambda Pro, HE60

3.......SR-003

2.......R10, Qualia, L3000, K1000, HP-2, other "top" dynamics (HD800 probably here too)

1.......Most dynamics

0.1....Most Ultrasone (which I kinda agree, but wouldn't rank so low)

0.004...Bose TriPort

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Very, very nice Justin. Kinda reminds me of a Pass amp (which is a good thing) with tubes, looking at that heatsink profile.

Tracking says the Lambdas are in my county and expected to arrive at my house tomorrow.

So, have people seen the SR-Lambda -=she=- posted F/S? :palm: I cant imagine what that recable did to the treble, though I guess it probably isnt quite as bad on a normal bias, as the plate spacing is closer, so impedance should be a good bit lower.

Edited by cetoole
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What did -=she=- recable it with?

Braided SPC. :palm:

The SR-Lambda Earspeakers have been recabled. I used 600V, 19 strand Silver Plated Copper coated in Teflon wire done in a flat braid. The cable is covered in the woven expandable sleeving, so it is opaque black. The leads are done in a woven nylon cloth sleeving for extremely low microphonics and feel. The cables leads are secured with molded plastic for security. The Stax connector is internally secured with molded plastic to provide an easy, sure grip. The cable leads are in fact the same length on the heatshrink - it just looks uneven because of the angles.

I always wonder how the heck he (NP) gets the C/W numbers he does out of that profile.. just defies all common sense.

No idea, as it wouldnt get nearly the chimney effect of the more traditional vertical profiles. Sure looks purdy though, from all the pictures I have seen, though I have never been near an actual Pass amp. Not sure how hot they run.

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Braided SPC. :palm:

Holy capacitance, -=batman=-!

I've known some folks to techflex the flat cable, just for the look, but if I was investing money in a recable I'd just buy a 404 cable or something to that effect. Of course, I don't run a cable company, so the hell do I know.

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