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The Stax thread - Page 23  

post #331 of 2675
8/17/06 at 8:36pm
Carl care to post some impressions of your new electrets vs your established electrostats?

Gear mentioned in this thread:

Koss ESP-950 Electrostatic Stereophone
$632.45 at
See it »
post #332 of 2675
8/17/06 at 9:13pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggeh
Carl care to post some impressions of your new electrets vs your established electrostats?
The difference is smaller than you might image.

They are definately of the same school of design as the SR-X and SR-5; little, supraaural, direct sounding, small soundstage. Not like Lambdas/HE60s/Omega IIs, and the like. Terribly uncomfortable (the SR-X feels like a pillow in comparison, and that's no great achievement in comfort, either). The earbads glue themselves to your ear, and make cellotape like sounds when you remove them. Build quality is crap; the thing is sort of loosely wedged together, but there's no active parts keeping the thing in one piece.

There's suprisingly little sound degradation caused by the closed design, so big plus there.

Timbre is incredible for the price. Pianos sound like pianos, not synthesizers.

They have much much higher sensitivity than my SR-X's do. With volume at 8 o'clock it's loud, and I'm too frightened to even take it to 9 o'clock.

Given the fact that I can run these out of my superior Illusion transformer, and not just the SRD-7, they've been seeing a lot of time on my ears of late.



As soon as I find time to track down a camera, I'm going to sell my W5000s and use these instead.
post #333 of 2675
8/17/06 at 9:15pm
What kind of power cable do I have to use after the unit has been switched to 110v? Can I use the included cable or do I have to use something like a monitor/power supply cable? Please reply quickly as everything is ready to go to try out my STAX rig except for this little issue
post #334 of 2675
8/17/06 at 9:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
What kind of power cable do I have to use after the unit has been switched to 110v? Can I use the included cable or do I have to use something like a monitor/power supply cable? Please reply quickly as everything is ready to go to try out my STAX rig except for this little issue
Power cables just carry electricity, they don't transform it. As long as the included plug will fit into your socket, it'll be fine.
post #335 of 2675
8/17/06 at 10:23pm
Yikes.

Mixed impressions so far. My first impression was a fat veil over the highs. Bass can go REALLY DEEP and TIGHT. But with a bass heavy song it's SUICIDE. Sounds almost as bad as my DT770 experience. I'm heavily disappointed with how vulnerable they are to bass heavy songs. With some songs the 404's are wonderful though (Particularly with songs that have deep but not bloated bass; then the 404's really shine and show how accurate and tight the bass can get). Other songs, however, seem to reveal their flaws with bass notes (I'm hearing a crackle noise with bass notes; could this be a hair, damaged 404's, or weak source material?). The highs aren't as coherent as I remember (!) my SA5k's to be (The 404's sound like the highs are glossed/glazed over a tad bit). The 404's definetly aren't anywhere near as fatiguing as the SA5k's. Judging impact between the 404's and SA5k's is a bit confusing (ESPECIALLY since I haven't heard my SA5k's in over a weeK!). However, there seems to be MORE impact, but not the kind that's fatiguing. It's kind of hard to describe, but it seems like there's a lot of impact, but my ears don't feel any of the kind of fatigue that sometimes comes from the SA5k impact.

I believe the system should be fully charged by now, but I'm sure that they are far away from being fully burned-in if that even really changes the sound. Still doing some extensive listening and the above are just my impressions in the first 30 minutes (So I need more time with the system).

If I upload one of the bass heavy songs tonight does anybody think they could test it out with their STAX rig?

(Please note that I mentioned that these were my first impressions and I realize that I need to spend EXTENSIVE time with this rig before reaching any worthwhile conclusions. So please no flames )
post #336 of 2675
8/17/06 at 10:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl
The difference is smaller than you might image.

They are definately of the same school of design as the SR-X and SR-5; little, supraaural, direct sounding, small soundstage.
The SR-5 is circumaural, and it does have some semblance of a soundstage at least
post #337 of 2675
8/18/06 at 1:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Yikes.

Mixed impressions so far. My first impression was a fat veil over the highs. Bass can go REALLY DEEP and TIGHT. But with a bass heavy song it's SUICIDE. Sounds almost as bad as my DT770 experience. I'm heavily disappointed with how vulnerable they are to bass heavy songs. With some songs the 404's are wonderful though (Particularly with songs that have deep but not bloated bass; then the 404's really shine and show how accurate and tight the bass can get). Other songs, however, seem to reveal their flaws with bass notes (I'm hearing a crackle noise with bass notes; could this be a hair, damaged 404's, or weak source material?). The highs aren't as coherent as I remember (!) my SA5k's to be (The 404's sound like the highs are glossed/glazed over a tad bit). The 404's definetly aren't anywhere near as fatiguing as the SA5k's. Judging impact between the 404's and SA5k's is a bit confusing (ESPECIALLY since I haven't heard my SA5k's in over a weeK!). However, there seems to be MORE impact, but not the kind that's fatiguing. It's kind of hard to describe, but it seems like there's a lot of impact, but my ears don't feel any of the kind of fatigue that sometimes comes from the SA5k impact.

I believe the system should be fully charged by now, but I'm sure that they are far away from being fully burned-in if that even really changes the sound. Still doing some extensive listening and the above are just my impressions in the first 30 minutes (So I need more time with the system).

If I upload one of the bass heavy songs tonight does anybody think they could test it out with their STAX rig?

(Please note that I mentioned that these were my first impressions and I realize that I need to spend EXTENSIVE time with this rig before reaching any worthwhile conclusions. So please no flames )
Well you've just found out what electrostatics sound like before you charge the diaphrams up.

Leave it on overnight, and try again.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Tachikoma
The SR-5 is circumaural, and it does have some semblance of a soundstage at least
It is? It must be bigger than it looks in the pictures then. It looks about the same size as the SR-X in pictures.
post #338 of 2675
8/18/06 at 1:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl
Well you've just found out what electrostatics sound like before you charge the diaphrams up.

Leave it on overnight, and try again.
Really, it takes that much time to charge them up? I remember reading that it should only take 15-30 minutes, or 1 hour tops (Mine have been going non-stop for nearly 3 hours now and all of the issues I was talking about remain)?
post #339 of 2675
8/18/06 at 1:22am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Really, it takes that much time to charge them up? I remember reading that it should only take 15-30 minutes, or 1 hour tops (Mine have been going non-stop for nearly 3 hours now and all of the issues I was talking about remain)?
The first charge up takes a bit longer, but three hours should be sufficient.

Go ahead an upload a WAV if you've got the means to do so.
post #340 of 2675
8/18/06 at 1:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl
The first charge up takes a bit longer, but three hours should be sufficient.

Go ahead an upload a WAV if you've got the means to do so.
A WAV would be rather large and take a while to upload. Would FLAC be okay?

EDIT: Oh, pictures:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...xsidestax2.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...oxsidestax.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...UL/STAXBOX.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14.../STAXINBOX.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...TAXFUSE110.jpg
Took me a good while to finally get the unit set for 110v. It's really crowded in there!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14.../404MANUAL.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14.../404INSIDE.jpg



The amp came COD, which SUCKED. Fortunately my parents were in the middle of a fight when the UPS guy came and asked for a check, so I don't think he really cared that much.
post #341 of 2675
8/18/06 at 2:19am
The 404's to my ears sound best after being plugged in and left on .... are you ready for this .... for about a week. For some people stat's can be a bit of an aquired taste.(so to speak ..you know what I mean). Give it some time.
post #342 of 2675
8/18/06 at 2:29am
I have some questions:

1. Is the connector supposed to be heavy? I believe in J-Pak's review he mentioned it being "nice and heavy," but it's INCREDIBLY light.

2. How long does it take for the "charge" to die down? I mean, if it takes a few hours for them to be fully charged, would you "lose" the charge if you stop the music for a few minutes or something?

3. How do you guys handle the whole charge thing? I mean, I don't want to have my amp and cd player on 24/7 with music on the whole time.

4. Is there supposed to be a "line" down the middle of the top of the headphone (Where the writing is; it's vertically going down and I fear that I might just have cracked my headband)?
post #343 of 2675
8/18/06 at 2:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
I have some questions:

1. Is the connector supposed to be heavy? I believe in J-Pak's review he mentioned it being "nice and heavy," but it's INCREDIBLY light.

2. How long does it take for the "charge" to die down? I mean, if it takes a few hours for them to be fully charged, would you "lose" the charge if you stop the music for a few minutes or something?

3. How do you guys handle the whole charge thing? I mean, I don't want to have my amp and cd player on 24/7 with music on the whole time.
1. Mine's not that heavy. 2. Just keep them plugged into the amp . 3. I keep my amp on all the time (and no you dont have to have music playing). 4 . Yea they do.You didnt crack it.
post #344 of 2675
8/18/06 at 2:45am
Okay, I'm a bit confused as to how all of this charging stuff works. The earspeakers are charged whenever they are plugged into a STAX amp that is ON? Do I have to have my source on?

Oh, and here's a picture of the "line" just in case it's different (I was holding onto the headphones by that band with one hand for a second while I had to do something, and I think I heard a crack, so that's why I'm worried):



Oh, my SRM-313 also has a Normal-biased output, so that's cool
post #345 of 2675
8/18/06 at 2:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Okay, I'm a bit confused as to how all of this charging stuff works. The earspeakers are charged whenever they are plugged into a STAX amp that is ON? Do I have to have my source on?

Oh, and here's a picture of the "line" just in case it's different (I was holding onto the headphones by that band with one hand for a second while I had to do something, and I think I heard a crack, so that's why I'm worried):
Just keep them plugged in with the amp on for a few day's and all will be good. The "line" is completely normal and look's just like mine. NOW RELAX !!!
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Koss ESP-950 Electrostatic Stereophone
$632.45 at
See it »
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