The Headcase Stax thread

[catscratch]

As the Dude said, that's a bummer, man, but I hope it's not the end and they update it with something. All it really needs is a proper swivel/articulation mechanism for the earcups and a better earpad mounting mechanism, the rest can stay what it is. A bit more linearity in tuning would be good too - the current one sounds a bit honky and nasal in the mids to me with resonances at 950hz and 1.5khz, and is a bit bright past 10k too, but the driver performs and the resolution is there.

I'm sure with a light touch and a few smart tweaks they could turn it into something contemporary and even better, but on the other hand, this is Stax.

[Oneguy]

16 hours ago, Oneguy said:

Not Stax but random estat find 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135043673309?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=LZnLr4yOQj2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QllYj8wxQKG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

never seen those before. 

Finally found more info on them:

http://statex.pro

[spritzer]

On 5/4/2024 at 10:19 AM, Oneguy said:

Finally found more info on them:

http://statex.pro

I dropped them a line to see if I can order a pair of the headphones.   

Also... it was never going to be just the 007A they would cut.  I'm guessing any replacement will be double the price with worse performance. 

[Oneguy]

31 minutes ago, spritzer said:

I dropped them a line to see if I can order a pair of the headphones.   

I was investigating buying a set but the lack of warranty support to the U.S. has made me think otherwise. I have a 50/50 track record with estat headphones from smaller companies arriving without issue the first time. 

[TammerDown]

On 5/6/2024 at 9:23 AM, spritzer said:

I dropped them a line to see if I can order a pair of the headphones.   

Also... it was never going to be just the 007A they would cut.  I'm guessing any replacement will be double the price with worse performance. 

Doesn't it seem more logical they just drop a mk3 with detachable cables?

[jamesmking]

9 hours ago, TammerDown said:

Doesn't it seem more logical they just drop a mk3 with detachable cables?

Thats whats needed but, stax logic is simple: why make a better product when you can sell something worse for much more and the hifi magazine reviewers are guaranteed to say its the best thing since non-sliced, small batch, organic artisan, seeded, whole meal,  bread...

*sigh*

between on semi and Stax we just can't have nice things.

 

[spritzer]

Well the SRS-X1000 just showed up unexpectedly and with all of my cameras out of juice the phone had to do.

It really doesn't like the halogen lights in the kitchen...    First off, this made me laugh out loud... here is how they came out of the box:

Now for anybody familiar with the vintage SR-1/2/3/5 and SR-X series... this is usually how they arrived too with one or both earcups loose from the headband.    Packaging is also very reminiscent of the SR-X boxes:

I must say though that I fucking despise these new Stax boxes from a graphics design point of view.  It looks like any cheap, tacky crap out of China... the older ones were unique and had their own thing going on but this just fucking blows. 

Now for the headphones it was a quick trip into the office for a listen so no more pics.  Usual rig of Denarips Terminator and Carbon CC.  They do feel nice in the hand though, very light and the cable actually has copper colored lines/dashes on it, not gold ones as they often looked from the pics.  Gone is the blue cable... why they made that I have no idea.  The headband has a lot of extension to it so even melon heads can use these.  There is no padding on the headband at all but the material is firm here, not loose like on the original SR-X units.  Earpads are nice and snug and seem to be nice quality, leagues ahead of the garbage on the L300/L500's. 

Now for sound... these sound pretty good which is a fun thing to say about a Stax set for a change.    They are nice and neutral, not much forward slant here but they are quite extended on top.  The bottom end is a bit lacking (smaller drivers and all that) but it is very mid-bass happy so quite fun to listen to.  Midrange is a tiny bit closed in at times and the soundstage is quite closed in but it doesn't really bother me.  Just that odd moment where something sounds a tad bit off but yeah... these are so much better than the L300...  it's not even fucking funny.  Might even be able to finally retire my aging fleet of SR-207 test headphones good... we'll see. 

I'll update more in the coming days but after an hour, yeah get a set. 

Now for the amp, first thing you notice is that it's a good inch deeper than the 252S and all of the other desktop Stax amps before it. 

I haven't done any circuit analysis yet but this is clearly just a version of the last 252S circuit and yup... it's still all through hole in 2024.  Utterly bizarre...  The extra length in the chassis is just there for the fuse and a breakout board for the RCA's.  There are clearly spots on the PCB for - inputs so they might make a balanced version of it at some point?  Been there, done that and while fun... it adds very little to the performance. 

Input Jfets are K81's so 2SK2881's and those riser boards seem to be PCB capacitors.  I need to take a look at them in more detail but yeah, quite odd as they are numbered from 1 and up to 4. 

Edited 21 hours ago by spritzer

[justin]

Birgir "It's not complete trash"

for those not familiar this is high praise

[spritzer]

So true!!!