The Stax SR-507 Appreciation Thread - Page 4

From any dealer in your country.

Mine just did the same thing and these have been pretty lightly used. Definitely a weak spot.

 

catsratch, perhaps it's your source material, not the headphone. bright, no! neutral, yes. i've owned sr lambda pros and currently sr507s. the stax gear is not bright. you have other demons in your system. EarHead1

Well first post says its bright. How bright is it compared to HD800?

I'm not really sure how to respond to this. I was using the 404, not the 507 or Lambda Pro. My source at the time was the Rega Planet 2000 and the amps were SRM-313 and SRM-007t. None of those are what I'd call bright.

Stax doesn't really have a house sound as such. The 404 and 007 sound quite different, as do the 003 or SR-X Mk3 Pro. I don't think you can generalize about all Stax headphones from having heard a few. They all share certain electrostatic characteristics, but tonal balance can vary quite a bit.

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catscratch, Perhaps I wasn't clear in my expression. Stax gear is detailed, open and very clean. Depending on which headphone you are using and with which driver as they like to call them, the headphones will either sound more or less extended in the high frequencies. Bright is not a characteristic I associate with their headphones or with their driver units. You are correct as to there being differences in the qualities of each of their headphones given which driver unit you are using. The size of the diaphragm will effect it's tonal quality and the 404's is smaller than the 507's. This could be as simple as a cable change needed or DAC or the source device or even a bad recording technique. I wouldn't go blaming my headphones until I looked at the rest of the music chain first. It's your call and your gear. If you shoulld have any questions feel free to ask. I don't make any claims of having all the answers. I've been in audio professionally since 1984. EarHead1

I don't find the 507 bright but on the other hand I just sold an HD800 for that reason.

Most Stax headphones are on the brighter side of neutral and have been for decades.  Just tried a 507 yesterday and yeah, still way too bright even off a rather warm amp/dac. 

 

Hi All,

 

Just jumped on an SR-507 which was reduced by a shop here in Oz. Couldn't resist trying a stat HP.

Can't afford the 007 or 009.

 

Ordered it with a Woo Wee to get up and running. Will use the power amp section of my NAD 317 integrated (about 100w/ch).

DAC = Meier Audio StageDAC. Pre is variable output of StageDAC straight into NAD power section, bypassing its preamp section.

 

Re Jodet's comment above - is the 323s really the way to go with this HP ? Or maybe a Woo GES ?

Can't afford more than these models' price range. Not interested in refurbishing old Stax amps.

 

Or has anyone had success with Wee and a particular speaker amp ? Not a stratospherically priced one.

 

Any thoughts / opinions by people who have heard this HP most appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

R

Raksasa,

 

+1 for GES. I have upgraded one though, so don't really know how good is a stock one sound... but I liked 507 with my GES much more than with HeadAmp KGSS, I guess it means something 

BTW change stock tubes on GES is my strong recommendation, good tubes put sound of GES on a different level (at least with my upgraded GES)....

 

P.S. Probably will get my new "toy" - WES (MAXXED) in a few days... I wonder how well my current amp (upgraded GES) will sound in comparission with my new amp 

 

Thanks for the feedback DO.

 

What tubes did you put in your GES ?

 

Did you get all the upgrades - premium parts, attenuator & teflon sockets ?

 

The price of upgrades for GES in Oz from a dealer is quite a lot extra. Even direct from Woo.

Don't know if I could afford U/Gs AND replacement tubes.

 

Hmmmm, much to ponder . . . .

 

Cheers,

 

R

 

- 6S4A GE USA as power tubes (stock was some no name 6S4A);

- 12AX7A Raytheon [marked CMI] USA as driver tubes (stock was 12BZ7 Servicemaster International (probably Raytheon as woo site says)).

Used 5751 GE USA as driver tubes for about half-year (sounded great, much better than stock), but after some trip to listening session one of tubes begin to give hum, so I have to search for a replacement... got 12AX7A Raytheon just yesterday and they sound much better than stock (I lived with stock tubes for about two weeks waiting for 12AX7A Raytheon to arrive).

 

Only prem. parts and DACT. A friend of mine, which quite knowlegeable about tubes, said that teflon sockets don't quite affect the sound much, at least the changes not worth the $300... that is what my friend said and I trust his judgment on tubes (the tubes I bought for GES is according to his advices).

 

I bought GES keeping in mind that I want to buy 009 in future, that is why I ordered upgrades... if I didn't have plans to get 009 in future (I bought GES and 507 on that time) I probably bought the stock one (maybe still ordered DACT... DACT is cool! )

@DragonOwen
 

Thanks again for the info. Much appreciated.

Sorry, I just realised a lot of that info is in your sig . Doh !!! Stupid me. 

 

My thoughts were the same re the sockets.

 

Good to know 5751s worked OK (lower gain than 12AX7s).

 

Cheers,

 

R