The Stax thread (New)

[JecklinStax]

Originally Posted by John Buchanan

Hmmmm my experience of the Jecklins vs the Stax Lambda Nova Signature:
The Jecklins had a huge dynamic range, but they were too bright and had no bottom end. Listening to deep bass on the Jecklins was equivalent to 1 minutes silence.

They sure are dynamic and go very loud. Because they are very open and have large drivers, everyone in the same room 'enjoys' what you a listening to. Once I rocked out in such an uninhibited fashion that I even got complaints from my wife from the room next door (and the door was closed too!).

I just compared their bass to the SR-X's, and the Jecklins go right down to 40Hz too; like the SR-X a bit rolled off, but like the SR-X they can handle some EQ very well.

BUT THEN I received my Omega II earpads from Audiocubes! They could easily slip over the lip of my (newish) standard SR-X pads; no need at all for any destructive activities. The circumaural fit is excellent and extremely comfortable, AND THE SOUND IS TRANSFORMED! BASS, MORE BASS and IMPACT! I'm still bowled over by my impressions of the first few minutes. Possibly because the original SR-X pads stay in place, there's no resonant cavity and so no coloration. Highly recommended!

I'm gonna play some more music. See ya!

[krmathis]

Originally Posted by J Harris

Stax tube headphone amp comparison. Much ink has been spilled on the shortcomings of the 006t and 007t (not to mention the earlier models).

Now that there are so many fine tubed amps for electrostatics, it would be good to hear feedback from those who have heard all of them. I realize that this is likely to be a pretty small group since 2 of these models have only been out for a short time...

Singlepower ES-1
Headamp Aristaeus
Headamp Gilmore / Blue Hawaii

and what other amps am I missing here?

Patrick

There are a few more tubed electrostatic amplifiers:
Rudistor Egmont
Rudistor Egmont Signature
McAlister Audio EA-4
McAlister Audio EA-1
WooAudio GES
Sennheiser HEV90
and last but not least...
Stax SRM-T2

[spritzer]

Originally Posted by audiod

wualta,

I have a question for everyone. Has anybody connected the ESP-9’s to a Stax amp or SRD?

I will most probably be doing this tomorrow when I pick my set up from the customs office. I don't know the bias so I'm not sure they will get the full Stax transformation as my ESP-6's or if I will make an adapter plug so they can get their bias from the E/9 and be driven by any amp with the Stax standard.

[Andre Jute]

Originally Posted by John Buchanan

Listening to deep bass on the Jecklins was equivalent to 1 minutes silence.

Do you perhaps mean 4m33s?

Andre Jute
Habit is the nursery of errors. -- Victor Hugo

[Andre Jute]

Originally Posted by John Buchanan

Listening to deep bass on the Jecklins was equivalent to 1 minutes silence.

Do you perhaps mean 4m33s?

Andre Jute
Habit is the nursery of errors. -- Victor Hugo

[mikeg]

Woo audio electrostat amp.
McAlister EA-1/4
McAlister EA-6

Originally Posted by J Harris

Stax tube headphone amp comparison. Much ink has been spilled on the shortcomings of the 006t and 007t (not to mention the earlier models).

Now that there are so many fine tubed amps for electrostatics, it would be good to hear feedback from those who have heard all of them. I realize that this is likely to be a pretty small group since 2 of these models have only been out for a short time...

Singlepower ES-1
Headamp Aristaeus
Headamp Gilmore / Blue Hawaii

and what other amps am I missing here?

Patrick

[cosmopragma]

Originally Posted by mikeg

Woo audio electrostat amp.
McAlister EA-1/4
McAlister EA-6

Plus Rudistor Egmont, several varieties.

[patrickamory]

And yet another question. How are the Stax extension cables? Are Stax cables "balanced"? If this is the case, then they can be much longer than single-ended cables without less degradation of sound quality, correct?

For the old 6-pin headphones, is there a particular cable that is recommended (or not)?

Patrick

[JecklinStax]

Originally Posted by Azure

How are the Jecklin Floats compared to the SR-404s (or other headphones)?

I bought the Jecklins in 1990 after comparing them carefully against the Lambda (don't know which version was in the shops then), driven by some sort of solid state Stax amp. I chose the Jecklin because of the large sound and sound stage, and for its potential to go loud without stress. I found the Lambda's thin and bloodless, with a narrow, sort of cramped sound stage. I've been happy with the Jecklins ever since. Three ýears or so back I compared them again against a Lambda (don't remember which one) via a Stax 303. Same result. Can't say the Lambda bass was any better. I do remember listening to a SR-X in 1977 or so. I coveted those, but couldn't afford them then, and in 1990 they were nowhere to be seen any more.

[Downrange]

UPS came this afternoon. Barely warmed up yet, but these are already amazing me. First, I just plugged the OIIs in the little Stax 212, just to get a baseline against the 202s. Not a huge difference, but better soundstage and more space between things in the front third of the stage. Vocals better, bass very prominent. But maybe the 202s are 85 per cent as good from this little, admittedly overmatched, amp.
Then the 7tII finally warmed close to room temperature and I hastily cleared a spot for it. No time for much of a tube warm-up, the built-in 18 second timer for the filaments will do for today. I fed it some material I've been listening to a lot lately from the Turbo'ed 5.5g Ipod, in comparing the 2020 and the babystax, and my jaw just dropped.
If this is what they mean by matching a 'phone to an amp, I'm a believer. Just magic. The midrange is pure liquid bliss, everything is in its rightful place, bass has impact and sustain - I'm hearing things in the material I only glimpsed before.
Time to let these run a while and re-visit later, but, count me as pretty blown away.
I can only imagine what something like a Blue Hawaii or ES-1 might sound like.

(Incidentally, I was surprised to see the power cord Stax sent was a non-polarized two blade unit, even though the unit has a standard three-blade socket. This seemed odd to me, as I don't normally "float" tube chassis with respect to AC mains. Anyone know what the deal is? I'm thinking of replacing with a three-blade grounded plug, but must admit there's no hum, and sounds fine.)

[patrickamory]

Originally Posted by Downrange

(Incidentally, I was surprised to see the power cord Stax sent was a non-polarized two blade unit, even though the unit has a standard three-blade socket. This seemed odd to me, as I don't normally "float" tube chassis with respect to AC mains. Anyone know what the deal is? I'm thinking of replacing with a three-blade grounded plug, but must admit there's no hum, and sounds fine.)

In Japan, outlets have holes for only 2 blades - like an American socket without the ground pin hole.

Patrick

[Downrange]

Originally Posted by J Harris

In Japan, outlets have holes for only 2 blades - like an American socket without the ground pin hole.

Patrick

Yes, that's what I'm saying. These are the U.S. model, and the chassis jack is three-conductor, but the plug is wired for two plug- non polarized. That means the chassis must be floating, afaik, and that's unusual these days.

In the "old days," I used to get a nasty shock from such two-blade plugs in old table radios - just complete the ground path through a water pipe, or whatever!

[patrickamory]

I know that Shindo amps always use ungrounded power cords, including in the ones manufactured for the US market.

Since you can't ground an amp via a Japanese outlet, this may be part of the design philosophy - floating grounds.

Patrick

[Downrange]

Originally Posted by J Harris

I know that Shindo amps always use ungrounded power cords, including in the ones manufactured for the US market.

Since you can't ground an amp via a Japanese outlet, this may be part of the design philosophy - floating grounds.

Patrick

Good point. It's possible the whole circuit board is floated off of chassis ground, too. Anyway, it sounds great, and no shocks! I was so excited to hear these, I forgot to remove the EQ from the SR-001 session last night. Now, I've gotta relisten to about an hours worth of stuff. So far, very nice sound, although I'd like a little more control of the low bass. Mids are sweet. Need to break out some vinyl.

[Andre Jute]

Originally Posted by Downrange

If this is what they mean by matching a 'phone to an amp, I'm a believer. Just magic. The midrange is pure liquid bliss, everything is in its rightful place, bass has impact and sustain - I'm hearing things in the material I only glimpsed before.

Congratulations. I like your enthusiasm!

Originally Posted by Downrange

I can only imagine what something like a Blue Hawaii or ES-1 might sound like.

Hmm. A smaller step up than between the 2020 kit and the Omega2/007t.

It's called marginality and in plain English means that the more money you have already spent, the smaller the incremental (additional) improvement for the next equal-sized hit in the wallet.

What does the 202 sounds like with the 007t?

Andre Jute
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