TO TWEAK OR NOT TO TWEAK THE STAX 007A? THAT IS THE QUESTION - Page 3

How could you sell somebody something as awful as Ultrasones? This would be much more appropriate...

The pads are rather different, both the materials used (including the foam) and the construction. The new pads are a much looser fit so if you thought installing them was hard, you have to try the Mk1 pads... They are also stiffer and slightly larger on the inside, more similar to the shape of the SR-Ω pads. I tried to get Mk1 black pads to test on the Mk2/A but Stax in Japan didn't want to sell them to me. Damn distributor BS...

I can tell you exactly why I don't like the Mk2 and like the Mk1. It's the midrange coloration. There are a few things for me which are outright unacceptable in a headphone, and the main one is a certain midrange coloration which I've found on a lot of headphones - some Audio-Technicas, the SR-404, and the A250, just to name a few. There, the upper midrange is peaky, which gives instruments a colder, thinner, more nasal tonality and makes things sound brittle and dry, or electric and artificial. It was a shame to see that coloration transplanted into the O2, albeit to a lesser degree, because the Mk1's ultra-realistic midrange tone was its main attraction. The only midrange coloration I tolerate is an emphasis in the lower mids, like the HE90 or K340, which, when coupled with a slight emphasis in the upper highs, creates a sparkly yet warm sound. That's a very popular and very euphonic coloration, very tube-like, but the O2 Mk1 doesn't have it either, and people looking for it specifically will be disappointed.

That, together with a relative lack of deep bass, which a lot of my music has, makes the O2 Mk2 unusable for me.

If that doesn't bother you, then by all means go ahead.

Also, I hate to see what I recognize as a definite step backwards in sound quality from a company that has no excuse for such sloppy design standards. There are a lot of cheaper headphones that I'd prefer over the O2 Mk2 starting with a balanced HD650, and Stax really has no right IMO to charge that kind of a price tag for nothing short of the original O2 Mk1's level of performance. I was going to say "perfection" but of course nothing, not even the O2 Mk1 or the HE90, is perfect. When you couple that with amps that are thoroughly not worth their money (new) you can see why I'm pretty much down on the entire current Stax lineup (the little 003 excluded).

Here's to hoping that the Jade will motivate them, but HEaudio will have to sell a lot more than 10 pairs a month for that to happen. We're not even a drop in the bucket when you compare what we buy to Stax's global sales.

[Edit: and before people even start - I owned both of these headphones at the same time and have done extensive comparisons side by side. From what I've read, the vast majority of people that have owned both and have done similar comparisons have preferred the Mk1.]

Thank you for this post - I've just been made aware that I installed the replacement pads on my MK1 incorrectly.

It's from the cardboard box that SR-007A replacement pads come in - looks like Stax, true to their tradition, are discontinuing the SR-007 version.

The Mk2's midrange doesn't bother me. It is more forward than the Mk1's, but I don't think the difference is large. I use other headphones which are more different from the Mk1, and their midranges don't bother me either. I'm adaptable.

Comparing the Mk2 and Mk1 with some tracks such as Massive Attack - Angel and the deep organ in Mattias Wager - Air (Opus3 30th Anniv.), both have roughly equivalent deep bass. The Mk2 has more mid-bass impact. Using the RealTraps test tones, the Mk1 has slightly more bass quantity at 20-29 Hz but the difference isn't large.

Lack of deep bass in any headphone would bother me, but I'm not experiencing it with the Mk2.

I spent quite a while with the Accuphase DP800/DC801 - SRM-727A - Omega 2 MkI combo, so I have an opinion. If your mod reverts the MkII to MkI then it's... OK. There is one "feature" of the Omega II MkI sound signature that I not necessarily would like to be regained in the MkII. It's hard to decribe, kind of artificial sound continuity, like silky fabric being the surface. I didn't notice it on the MkII's but I know that it's something that lots of people particularily care for, i.e. the Accuphase system owner. So, if somebody is a neutrality geek, he should consider what is more important. If it would be me, well... I choose the MkI's.

The website state "brown":
Audio Cubes II - Stax Replacement Leather Pads for SR-007 Omega II Earspeakers

I ordered from them last year, when their website stated "black" and received brown ones. After I complained and got a partial refund they corrected the website.

What I really like about the SR-007 Mk1 isn't the quantity of bass or the depth (which it has plenty of) but how it is always proportional to the music in the right system. While I'm typing this Foobar is on shuffle and pulling up songs from many genres and all ages which clearly highlights the bass capabilities. It's easy to make a headphone with massive bass but controlling all that bass is a very tough proposition and that's where the Mk2/A failed. The same can be said about the He90 but in a very different way since it's bass is very dynamic like and omnipresent. The Mk2/A can go deep but that damn bump is always in the way, adding a texture to everything. The Mk1 cam have virtually no bass at all if that is called for or rumble like a badly setup subwoofer if that's what's in the cards. A lot of this is dependent on the amp driving the phones since the bass sucks up a lot of power but a 717 more then hints at what the BH can do and which later, more advanced versions of the BH are sure to add onto.

When I ordered from them a few years ago they were brown and that makes sense since Stax only sells the brown pads in Japan.

Makes sense since the Mk1 pads are probably more expensive to make but it still pisses me off. There are a few thousand Mk1's out there and the wast majority are brown. I wonder if I should stock up again... do you think 4 sets of Mk1 pads are enough?

The mod makes the Mk2 sound like the Mk1 but doesn't clone the sound. There is only so much that one can do without tackling the drivers directly since Stax changed them in some way. My goal was to eliminate the midrange issues and bring back the relaxed bass of the Mk1 and that was successful. I've also managed to retain most of the same strengths in my SR-Ω/007 hybrid phone (uses SR-007 Mk1 drivers) which sounded very poor when I bought them since Stax didn't think the conversion through. That being said the mod will never suit everybody as the prefer a different presentation. You should definitely try the Mk1 on something besides a 727 since it is a rather poor compared to the 717 or a behemoth like the Blue Hawaii.

A-ha! Gotcha!

So the Mk2 does go deep. So it has deep bass, but you think the greater mid-bass impact gets in the way.

I could agree, the Mk2's mid-bass does seem a bit over-emphasized and can be too dominant. Especially when using the ES-1, which has better dynamics and a brighter and more open sound than the Aristaeus.

I removed one earpad from the Mk2 today to see how difficult it was to install, and I regretted doing it. It took me more than a half hour of struggling to reinstall the earpad. I used some plastic twist ties to push in and hold in the material that wraps into the housing.

It helps to use a piece of tape to hold the starting point of the pad skirt where it is pushed into the groove in the housing, then just work your way around. When you get to the part that it under the headband, you have to remove the tape to rotate the pad 1-2" and finish the job.