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The Headcase Stax thread


thrice

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Of course I meant Stax... :-\ My brain is really not functioning all that well today

SP is best if you buy into the hype that endless tuberolling will solve anything

You should really give the ES-1 a try. The tuberolling is a pain no doubt but I did manage to make even a lambda pro sound amazing. Have you listen to the ES-1 or build an ES-1 yourself?

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Maybe you're wrapped in teflon and it's causing time smearing?

Could very well be. Teflon and metal-film resistors are best marketing success stories in hi-fi that are not caused by idiot reviewers. You should really try cables without any teflon and some good wire.

You should really give the ES-1 a try. The tuberolling is a pain no doubt but I did manage to make even a lambda pro sound amazing. Have you listen to the ES-1 or build an ES-1 yourself?

The Lambda Pro's are amazing headphones and show people just how bad most dynamics are but they are still a black mark on the Stax lineup. The SR-Lambda is a true successor to the SR-X Mk3 fame and the SR-Signature carries on that legacy. I'd love to listen to an ES-1 and tuberolling isn't an issue for me but using tubes like the 12XX7's and tetrodes isn't the way forward. Stats need more power and I really do hope that Eddie Current does design and build a 845 based amp as he's a very good designer and will hopefully come up with something that is better while expensive.

I was thinking about building one but I'd much rather not spend the money on something that is possibly worse then the Blue Hawaii and certainly very close. DHT's are only way forward but the cost of something like that is prohibitive for a no compromise design. Designing the case alone is a huge headache due to the extreme heat a thing like that will throw off. Right now I'm more focused on a cheap tube amp for the Stax community that would also power speakers such as the Japanese Masters amp but with DHT's for output all under 1k$.

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Could very well be. Teflon and metal-film resistors are best marketing success stories in hi-fi that are not caused by idiot reviewers. You should really try cables without any teflon and some good wire.

While I appreciate your perspective I think that you and I probably listen to music in very different ways. I highly doubt that if someone came and changed the cables on my rig from silver in teflon to silver in cotton I'd notice a difference.

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While I appreciate your perspective I think that you and I probably listen to music in very different ways. I highly doubt that if someone came and changed the cables on my rig from silver in teflon to silver in cotton I'd notice a difference.

I do have to admit that I'm a very picky SOB. Extremely picky even as a small change can drive me nuts

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I hear a lot of talk about the WooAudio GES, but not a lot of reviews from those in the know:

http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wastax.html

Any thoughts on this amp, specifically how it measures up to the other O2 amp in its price range, the HAKGSS?

It has less power then the KGSS, the parts quality is not as good because of the more complex design and it doesn't have a balanced input stage for those that still care about that. OTOH it should be more rounded, with more bloom and I'm sure it would make a great amp for the HE90's with about 1.5k$ in upgrades. I'm dying to buy one and mod it myself but there is always something else that is getting in the way.

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It has less power then the KGSS, the parts quality is not as good because of the more complex design and it doesn't have a balanced input stage for those that still care about that.

Any rough guesses on how much the base parts cost is?

Depending on how my stats fare out, I might decide to acquire one.

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The case work costs quite a bit and all the manual work that goes into a GES. PCB's were invented for a reason... A good manufacturer often sets the retail price at 3-5 times the parts cost to cover all expenses and labor so that would be a good guesstimate. It could be lower though as there is no stock and they are built to order and the tubes are fairly cheap unless you start going down the NOS ECC83 rabbit hole...

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They can be a bit bright in the wrong system but the HEV70 isn't worth the Sennheiser badge and as we all know except for the HE range the Senn stuff isn't worth much... ;)

It's very easy to recable them and all you need is a 3$ connector, some heatshrink, something to act as a strain relief and one hours work.

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They can be a bit bright in the wrong system but the HEV70 isn't worth the Sennheiser badge and as we all know except for the HE range the Senn stuff isn't worth much... ;)

How much of an improvement do you think the SRM-1/MKII provides over the HEV70? :D

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If I had an HE60 I'd pay that 70 quid to be able to use my stax amp. If you don't have a better amp than the HEV70 though, then the motivation is lessened, but from the other side, would you put down for a better amp that you couldnt actually plug the headphones into? Bit of a catch-22. If you have a stax amp waiting though, then sell off a rare LP, a piece of furniture or a child and have alex work his magic.

Or you could do it yourself of course... ;D

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Alex ([AK]Zip) wants $130+shipping for having the HE60 reterminated with a 5 pin plug. Hmm.

Worth it - he uses a really nice Amphenol (?) silver contact plug - it is a committment, but he also puts the other side as well so the stinking HEV70 _can_ still be used. Not sure why you would ever go back, but, just in case.

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Alex ([AK]Zip) wants $130+shipping for having the HE60 reterminated with a 5 pin plug. Hmm.

Frankly, I would do it myself. From Dr. Gilmore:

The Stax plug wiring scheme is as follows:

left front: pin 2

left rear: pin 5

bias: pin 1

right front: pin 3

right rear: pin 4

bias: pin 6

The Sennheiser HV60 uses a 6-pin inline plug. Here's the Sennheiser plug wiring scheme:

pin 1 (the corner notch): left front

pin 2: left diaphragm (bias)

pin 3: left back

pin 4: right back

pin 5: right diaphragm (bias)

pin 6: right front

*For 5-pin Stax plug, the L and R bias are combined.

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