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The Headcase Stax thread


thrice

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Sound is very consistent...I used to have cable problem on some other Stax (strain relief on my Lambda NB) but no problem so far on my SR-5/NB.

I assume DefQon speaks about durability of rinse aid as coating. Time will tell whether my fix is durable or not.

 

Ali

Edited by Ali-Pacha
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Yep was talking about rinse aid specifically. Durability also depends on the place you live and store the headphones, here in Oz the weather is sometimes humid after a random hot to rainy weather change as its Autumn now.

Edited by DefQon
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Finally getting around to repairing my stax SRX Mk3 6-pin plug. I carved up the original damaged male 6-pin plug (what a piece of crap). Unfortunately, I did a poor job of keeping track of what color wire goes to each pin. Just want to make sure I have the pinouts correct. The wire colors are Red(2), Black(6), Brown(3), Green(4), White(5), Blue(1), pin numbers in parenthesis. Can any body confirm if I got it right!

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First World Stax problem. I'd like to get my BHSE off my desk and into a rack, but then it's out of easy reach for volume adjustment. If I were to instead go DAC -> integrated amp with remote -> preout -> BHSE, would I make the beautiful, beautiful music significantly less beautiful, beautiful? And where should I set the BHSE pot to take it out of the loop? 

 

Ah thenk yew.

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Ewww, I can almost hear all the grunge you will be introducing all the way over here.   >:D

 

I am going to do something similar with a remote controlled DAC passing through the BHSE on the way to the powered speakers.  I am hoping it does not amount to a pain in the ass.

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I guess the other option, as Jeff alludes to, is digital level control in the DAC -> BHSE -> BHSE loop out -> power amp -> speakers. Have been thinking about getting either a Bricasti M1 or a dCS Debussy, which could both manage that. Job 1 is treating the BHSE right though, the desktop monitors are just a nice-to-have for me.

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Seriously though, this is the classic gain staging issue, where you want a global optima wrt. to sound quality / what you end up listening to.

 

As birgir states, turning the BHSE to max takes it out the loop, but makes it a fixed gain device. At very low pot settings you may have channel imbalance / tracking issues, so you should avoid that range if it is an issue.

 

If you have a digital system with a volume remote that operates in the digital domain, the induced (LSB) quantization  error, is normally below the noise floor / effective resolution of the dac, so although digital volumes may introduce theoretical errors, in practice, real world issues dominate, so it may be ignored (or reasoned away if you suffer from audiophilia nervosa)

 

Ideally you'd want the minimum number of components in the chain (that makes sense), operating at their best.

 

This situation  is similar to when the squeezebox / transporter owners wanted to directly drive power amps using the digital volume control with no pre amp.

 

short answer, yes, but due to potential software failure modes / user error, you'd want some fixed attenuation in the chain, to limit output when volume was (inadvertently) set to max.

(or as they state *If you remove the preamp and fail to ensure line level is properly matched to amplifier input sensitivity, you may harm your speakers, or ears, or you may get poor performance from your system.*)

 

This wiki link collects the wisdom / recommendations.  http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Connecting_directly_to_a_power_amplifier

 

Think of the BHSE as the power amp in your set up

 

I had issues with preamp /gain staging issues with the PC / Headphones / Quad Actives set up, but all my knobs are within reach

Edited by Grahame
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With the audio rack I have now, I'm able to get to my BHSE's volume knob without a problem, but when I was using my previous audio rack which I've had turned into a coffee table, and if I decided to put my BHSE on the far side to where my chair was, the volume knob would be out of arms length.

When I did that I just turned the BHSE's volume to full and used my sources attenuator showing in the photo's.

 

In doing that I was able to alter the volume using my sources remote control.

 

post-3092-0-19652400-1427061457_thumb.jp post-3092-0-60988700-1427061481_thumb.jp

 

Although I haven't used my sources ATT with my BHSE for sometime, when I did I can't say I heard any difference in SQ between using the BHSE's volume knob, and my sources ATT.

 

 

 

 

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So as it stands now, a great Mk1 is smoother but this one is more alive.  I need to dig out the 009 for a direct comparison but I fear it won't go well for the 009.  Imaging and bass really aren't their strong suit which the 007 excels at plus the detail they are digging out is just insane. 

 

Color me impressed....  :-[

Hi Birgir, any late development or further impression with the 007 Mk3? Have you had the chance to compare it with the 009?

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One of the reasons I like my source:

" In addition to the 8200CD, the 8200CDQ adds full preamp functionality whilst maintaining the same chassis size as the 8200CD. The existing digital inputs are joined by three line-level analogue inputs, providing source selection and volume control in the analogue domain. The preamplifier section is fully balanced and all analogue input signals are converted to balanced form, helping to reduce distortion and noise. Class A gain structures are present throughout, and users may choose between preamplification in the analogue or digital domain in respect of the digital inputs. In addition, the 8200CDQ adds a direct-coupled, discrete, Class A headphone amplifier, accessible via a socket on the front panel."

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Hi Birgir, any late development or further impression with the 007 Mk3? Have you had the chance to compare it with the 009?

 

Nothing new to report, they continue to be great and I honestly have no desire to break out the 009 to compare.  Too much shit going on and all that... 

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Finally getting around to repairing my stax SRX Mk3 6-pin plug. I carved up the original damaged male 6-pin plug (what a piece of crap). Unfortunately, I did a poor job of keeping track of what color wire goes to each pin. Just want to make sure I have the pinouts correct. The wire colors are Red(2), Black(6), Brown(3), Green(4), White(5), Blue(1), pin numbers in parenthesis. Can any body confirm if I got it right!

 

Go back a few pages and look at the SR-3 drivers I posted. Same wire to same pin connection.

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Nothing new to report, they continue to be great and I honestly have no desire to break out the 009 to compare.  Too much shit going on and all that... 

 

Interesting, I have a new 009, with a new 007 (mk 3 I guess it's getting called) and 007 mk1 Carbon Box coming in. Will report what I hear. 

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