Any non dorky looking Stax?
Sep 9, 2002 at 11:14 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 20

fyleow

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I might be going to Japan soon and would like to pick up a Stax for a cheaper price. One problem though, they all look really really bad to me. And they look HUGE. Well that's what I thought about the 580s too but they weren't so bad. How is the size compared to the 580s?

I like the look of the Baby Orpheus a lot but it's not like I can find one anywhere....
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 12:04 AM Post #2 of 20
About going to japan: lucky dawg. I hope to go live/work there for a year in a few months, but too much in it just does not depend on me. Time will tell.

Anyhow, just so you know, all full-size headphones look dorky on the heads of most males on earth except for the ones with spectacularly round heads. True, some are worse than the others, but (I think that) Staxes are alright. Lambdas in a classy kind of way, while Omega II in a rather modernish.

And by the way, Lambda line is extremely comfortable if your ears do not stick out too much. If they do, the phones themselves are still comfortable, but when you move your head you hear a lot of cracking noises... I suspect it has something to do with the whole 580V-on-the-membrane thingy but I'm not too sure.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 12:06 AM Post #3 of 20
There's a Stax Gamma system on Ebay right now. Might want to consider that.

For the record though, I think the Omega IIs are as far from dorky as you can get. Out of all headphones I've seen I think the Omega I and Omega II are the best looking ones of all. But I'm a bit of a techie guy myself and like the sophisticated look. The Omega II is also much smaller in reality then I imagined it to be from pics. The cups are about as wide as the Beyerdynamic 831/931, maybe even smaller. You would not think such a small little thing could possibly cost $6k, but there it is.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 12:10 AM Post #4 of 20
Quote:

Originally posted by Vertigo-1
You would not think such a small little thing could possibly cost $6k, but there it is.


Well, it doesn't
wink.gif
.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 12:24 AM Post #5 of 20
Yeah, guess it doesn't. It's actually $4030 by U.S. retail prices to be exact. $6k is the system price.

http://www.yamasinc.com/srs-007.htm

tongue.gif


(Yes, we all know you can get it for less in Japan...)
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 1:07 AM Post #6 of 20
I agree the Omega 2's look very nice but it is way out of my price range. i was thinking of about the range of 600ish (without amplifier) from Japan so i think my only option are the in ear ones or the 2020s
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 1:36 AM Post #7 of 20
Personally I would not recommend the in-the-ear ones. And from what I've heard from other people about 202 and 303 (admittedly never hearing either myself) the difference between these two is worth the additional $40 you'd have to pay for 303.

By the way, 2020 system would still cost you around 450+ USD which is more than twice the price of ampless 600.

And just in case you find 100k yen on the ground while you're there: it seems that sometimes a Stax system (phones + amp) may be priced higher than phones + amp bought separately. Beware
wink.gif
.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 1:59 AM Post #8 of 20
What prices are you talking about? The US and European prices are extremely high, I suspect that importers have kept the prices after the substantial drop of the Yen many years ago.
You can get the Omega II for less than $2000 from www.audiocubes.com (assume that also EFL in Japan has similar prices). The Omega II is $1825 and SR-202 earspeaker is $279.
fyleow, did you realize that it's not enough with the headphone, you also MUST have a Stax amplifier?
Street prices in Japan could be even lower and you can audition it.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 2:08 AM Post #9 of 20
Quote:

Originally posted by Anders
What prices are you talking about?


mostly audiocubes and efl. efl apparently has lower prices on omega II, audiocubes have lower prices on some other stuff.

Quote:

Originally posted by Anders
The Omega II is $1825 and SR-202 earspeaker is $279.
fyleow, did you realize that it's not enough with the headphone, you also MUST have a Stax amplifier?


mmm... that's exactly why 2020 which is an srm-212 + sr-202 system was brought up. and it does cost around 450-500 usd in japan.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 2:33 AM Post #10 of 20
Quote:

Originally posted by fyleow
I agree the Omega 2's look very nice but it is way out of my price range. i was thinking of about the range of 600ish (without amplifier) from Japan so i think my only option are the in ear ones or the 2020s


Classic II retails in Japan for $557 (by today's exchange rate) and is a much better product than the Basic II. Shop Akihabara and you should be able to get it for $500 or less.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 4:39 AM Post #11 of 20
Yes I realize I need an amplifier with it and I was planning to just build one of Kevin Gilmore's Stax amps. I'll have a look at the prices and options when I get to Japan.
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 4:42 AM Post #12 of 20
Quote:

Originally posted by fyleow
Yes I realize I need an amplifier with it and I was planning to just build one of Kevin Gilmore's Stax amps. I'll have a look at the prices and options when I get to Japan.


If you don't need to buy an amp, the 404 headphone is only $310 in Japan or at worst case $400 at AudioCubes. The Classic II (3030) system I mentioned above was headphone and amp (303 and 313).
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 9:54 AM Post #13 of 20
I would agree the stax phones may not be the height of elegance
but they sure compensate with their sound.
Anyway I doubt the intention is a puplic display eh?

On the subject of the 001 in ear phones,they sound great but
are not a real alternative to the lamda style phone the latter
sounding far better.[than the 001 + its portable amp combo at
least,not heard them driven by any other.]

Setmenu
 
Sep 10, 2002 at 11:17 AM Post #14 of 20
«Any non dorky looking Stax?»

How about this highly elegant species?

Sigma.jpg
 
Sep 12, 2002 at 3:34 AM Post #15 of 20
Hmmm. I had the 3030 system at work for about a year (fed by cheap Denon changer=>Genesis dig lens=>PS SL-3), and the responses to the visual were more along the lines of "...wow, what is that?". If anybody thought dorky, they kept it to themselves...but it was not a reserved, PC group of engineers...so I doubt it.
They *were* blown away by the sound.

Maybe you could think of the analogy of the, er, homely spouse, with a great personality, who can cook and screw something fierce...you could learn to love them?

cheerio...

WMS
 

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