The Stax Thread III
Feb 24, 2019 at 1:51 AM Post #17,266 of 26,473
Honestly, as good as it sound, it is a wishful thinking to have all the analog recording done without any digital in this modern age.....hence I said the 70-80 original analogs are gold.

Still, her albums quality is much better than others, except the floor noises lol

Woa, I just found out that Taylor Swift did indeed recorded her stuff in analog master tape. No wonder why her vinyl “reputation” sounded good....except that horrible floor noise. We can’t get all authentic analog, but at least it is good start
https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/soul-analog

It seems that the recording industry is going back to visiting analog mastering and recording. I wonder if we have a sub thread for which artist and albums are recorded this way ?
 
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Feb 24, 2019 at 10:35 AM Post #17,268 of 26,473
Hello,

As I promised in the last post I will describe the mod that drastically increased the sound flowing from my new Stax SRS-3100 system.

* First of all, almost everything is solid plastic so between the part with pad and rest of headphone there is a space that always will have some sound leakages (this ellipsoid place), it will never be perfectly close together because of its plastic nature.
You can avoid it by placing there 1-2mm thich ductile tape.

After that we have low-bass frequency corrected a bit.

* Next SUPER-IMPORTANT thing that works probably only with electrostatic headphones (doesn't work with dynamic and planar headphones - yes I checked on my own) - we can easily do something that hugely improves low and low-mid ranges, have more mass in sound, bass line is fuller and more present, more dense and lasts longer. In addition we have much wider sound-stage and this is all without any negative changes in the rest of frequencies (higher mid and highs).
OK then what needs to be done to achieve it? (I don't know if what I have done in the first point has any meaning here because I tried this after that). Having headphones on head, catch them by fingers and pull off the head very little, few millimters, try few distances.


Good test is listening to this playlist from 30 to 60hz and checking what distant from head makes bigger difference for you:


How to sustain this distance from the head is not hard to discover I suppose :p


The final result:


Now the question is, why it works that way? I have some suspicions. Maybe because of the very construction of electrostatic headphones and the big size of surface that produces the sound-wave. Making a little bit of space between the head and pad let the sound waves flow around the head and some parts of frequency (especially low and low-mid) interfering with eachother making certain range fuller.

Ps. I warn you, if you have thought that Stax headphones have no isolation - try it now : P
 
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Feb 24, 2019 at 10:55 AM Post #17,269 of 26,473
Hello,

As I promised in the last post I will describe the mod that drastically increased the sound flowing from my new Stax SRS-3100 system.

* First of all, almost everything is solid plastic so between the part with pad and rest of headphone there is a space that always will have some sound leakages (this ellipsoid place), it will never be perfectly close together because of its plastic nature.
You can avoid it by placing there 1-2mm thich ductile tape.

After that we have low-bass frequency corrected a bit.

* Next SUPER-IMPORTANT thing that works probably only with electrostatic headphones (doesn't work with dynamic and planar headphones - yes I checked on my own) - we can easily do something that hugely improves low and low-mid ranges, have more mass in sound, bass line is fuller and more present, more dense and lasts longer. In addition we have much wider sound-stage and this is all without any negative changes in the rest of frequencies (higher mid and highs).
OK then what needs to be done to achieve it? (I don't know if what I have done in the first point has any meaning here because I tried this after that). Having headphones on head, catch them by fingers and pull off the head very little, few millimters, try few distances.


Good test is listening to this playlist from 30 to 60hz and checking what distant from head makes bigger difference for you:


How to sustain this distance from the head is not hard to discover I suppose :p


The final result:


Now the question is, why it works that way? I have some suspicions. Maybe because of the very construction of electrostatic headphones and the big size of surface that produces the sound-wave. Making a little bit of space between the head and pad let the sound waves flow around the head and some parts of frequency (especially low and low-mid) interfering with eachother making certain range fuller.

Ps. I warn you, if you have thought that Stax headphones have no isolation - try it now : P



Very interesting, I have noticed this but didn’t pay attention to it much. So, you are using some kind of felt tapes to create a spaces between the earpads and your ears ? Instead of doing the vent mod ?

Bass would be affected, but how about the rest of the spectrum ?
 
Feb 24, 2019 at 11:00 AM Post #17,270 of 26,473
Very interesting, I have noticed this but didn’t pay attention to it much. So, you are using some kind of felt tapes to create a spaces between the earpads and your ears ? Instead of doing the vent mod ?

Bass would be affected, but how about the rest of the spectrum ?

I use leg chair pads :wink: and no I haven't noticed any negative change in the rest of spectrum (and that's beautiful! because I love crystal clear highs)
 
Feb 24, 2019 at 12:18 PM Post #17,273 of 26,473
Hello,

As I promised in the last post I will describe the mod that drastically increased the sound flowing from my new Stax SRS-3100 system.

* First of all, almost everything is solid plastic so between the part with pad and rest of headphone there is a space that always will have some sound leakages (this ellipsoid place), it will never be perfectly close together because of its plastic nature.
You can avoid it by placing there 1-2mm thich ductile tape.

After that we have low-bass frequency corrected a bit.

* Next SUPER-IMPORTANT thing that works probably only with electrostatic headphones (doesn't work with dynamic and planar headphones - yes I checked on my own) - we can easily do something that hugely improves low and low-mid ranges, have more mass in sound, bass line is fuller and more present, more dense and lasts longer. In addition we have much wider sound-stage and this is all without any negative changes in the rest of frequencies (higher mid and highs).
OK then what needs to be done to achieve it? (I don't know if what I have done in the first point has any meaning here because I tried this after that). Having headphones on head, catch them by fingers and pull off the head very little, few millimters, try few distances.


Good test is listening to this playlist from 30 to 60hz and checking what distant from head makes bigger difference for you:


How to sustain this distance from the head is not hard to discover I suppose :p


The final result:


Now the question is, why it works that way? I have some suspicions. Maybe because of the very construction of electrostatic headphones and the big size of surface that produces the sound-wave. Making a little bit of space between the head and pad let the sound waves flow around the head and some parts of frequency (especially low and low-mid) interfering with eachother making certain range fuller.

Ps. I warn you, if you have thought that Stax headphones have no isolation - try it now : P


I'm getting the opposite result with spacing the pads away from my head. Maybe it's because I'm not using stock pads, or because I haven't yet done the first mod. I'm getting less bass impact. I've read that this mod works really well for the sr-207, though. Your first mod is something I've been wanting to do for a while now, but haven't decided on what material to use.
 
Feb 24, 2019 at 12:23 PM Post #17,274 of 26,473
I'm getting the opposite result with spacing the pads away from my head. Maybe it's because I'm not using stock pads, or because I haven't yet done the first mod. I'm getting less bass impact. I've read that this mod works really well for the sr-207, though. Your first mod is something I've been wanting to do for a while now, but haven't decided on what material to use.
Might be because you are using other pads (probably much more deeper). Too much space between inside pads edges and driver kills the timber of bass. It is all very delicate and very small changes can cause big differences. You should try different mini-distances to check the result - best with this bass playlist because its all the time same frequency playing so you can move headphones during listening and immediately catch the change.

Also its good to do the first mod because of the nature of solid plastic parts (always will leak somewhere). Also solid plalstic can change due to different temperatures so everyone having Stax headphones may here them a bit different without such mod.
 
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Feb 24, 2019 at 10:07 PM Post #17,276 of 26,473
Yep without those air vents. The bass cuts off way way too soon. I wonder how your mod compares with the SR-207 with the 3D printed adapter with the ZMF lambskin earpads.
I've got the latter and they are so comfy.

Here some electrostatic p0®n large photo.. you've been warned

Stax SR-507 with 3D printed Adaptor & ZMF Angled Oval Lambskin Earpads
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ZIK4iyy.jpg

ROUgtEL.jpg


My Stax Transportable Setup
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Stax Omega II MK1 Rare Early Brown Version & Black version
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Feb 25, 2019 at 2:49 PM Post #17,278 of 26,473
This my final rev. 1/2 inch rise with
Armacell CXS12043 Armacell sheet Armaflex 1/2" foam,it took my SR-207 to another level ,very happy with this mod


Hey, now.....I like that a LOT! I've done the "Straw mod" to my 207's, but gotta admit it looks kinda fuggly like that. This method is MUCH more visually appealing.

Only question....does it increase the headband clamp? The SR207's are already quite tight on my skull to begin with, and take some getting used to when I switch back to them.
 
Feb 25, 2019 at 3:56 PM Post #17,279 of 26,473
Hey, now.....I like that a LOT! I've done the "Straw mod" to my 207's, but gotta admit it looks kinda fuggly like that. This method is MUCH more visually appealing.

Only question....does it increase the headband clamp? The SR207's are already quite tight on my skull to begin with, and take some getting used to when I switch back to them.
I have "alien" head myself ,matter of a fact is I couldn't fit SR L300 LE at all ! :triportsad: , 207 headband is way better and you can adjust it just like Sennheiser headband ,if you going to do this mod ,please use X-ACTO hobby knife and double-side Scotch clear mounting squares (removable )
I'm pretty sure I will do the same on L700's,if you need more air ,permanent squares are a bit thicker
Cheers
BTW,this mod shouldn't take more then half an hour
 

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