[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjcha Is the Pro different/better? I mean other than being able to use it with modern energizers (dunno why one would want to do that...), does it sound better?

It's exactly the same as the normal SR-X mk3, except the transducers are tweaked slightly (thicker spacers mainly) to allow it to run on a 580 volt bias. You can quite happily use a low bias phone off a pro bias amp, you just lose some dynamics and volume. Otherwise, sound should be more or less the same.

A number of people in recent years have begin to rediscover the SR-Xs as one of the most neutral, transparent headphones ever made. Mainly outside of Japan at this stage, but that'll change eventually, I would think. It's one of those rare gems that doesn't aspire to either the "monitoring" sound or the "audiophile" sound, and just tells it like it is. In terms of technical achievement, I'd hardly call it SR-Omega or HE90 grade, but in terms of an achievement as a design goal, it's something special.

Of course, while the pro version is super rare, the 230v bias version is actually rather common if you keep you eyes open, so I'm suprised more people don't give them a go. The rare item hunter in me wants the 580v version only, though.

Quote:

I'm wondering where the high price for the SR-X Pro is coming from. Or is it just rarity?

The price, in Japan at least, isn't usually that high, we've just had someone come along and drive it northwards.

But yes, the pro bias version is exceedingly rare, about three times more so than even the SR-Omega is based on my (back of a napkin style) calculations.

 

[smeggy]

One day I'll get one but not until they stop getting bid through the roof. They may well be good but they are still getting on 30 years old, and to me, not really worth the prices they're getting. Adjusted for inflation, they are probably costing almost as much now as when new.

 

[jjcha]

Well, it went for JPY35,500. Man sniped by 3 people (sorry, tough luck Ron).

Looks like a bit of a collector too - I see a few more vintage Stax in his feedback.

Best,

-Jason

 

[rontokyo]

Just to tie up one [possibly] loose end re using high-bias Stax models with low-bias transformers: What exactly is the sonic downside? and Is there any risk of damage to the headphones?

 

[wualta]

This is from the owner's manual for the Lambda Pro:

 

[rontokyo]

Hmmm. You seem to have answered both questions with one excerpt from the manual. Good work! [and thanks]

 

[Lloyd297]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy One day I'll get one but not until they stop getting bid through the roof. They may well be good but they are still getting on 30 years old, and to me, not really worth the prices they're getting. Adjusted for inflation, they are probably costing almost as much now as when new.

Yeah, but they're worth it! If you can manage to get a late-production unit they sound as good as new. Mine are from around 1987 but I can't say if 1976-vintage X-III's are pristine.

I just wish Stax would start making them again.......wistful...........

 

[Lloyd297]

Next step in my SRX Odyssey is running my CD player direct into my power amp(s) through the variable output. Yesterday, after fiddling for hours with various preamps and power amps through my Apogee Stage's trying to get the Holy Grail of correct (i.e. non-metallic) classical guitar reproduction I decided to bypass my Bel Canto DAC and Electrocompaniet 4.5 Pre and go straight into My Krell KSA100S. Umm, I'm trying not to use the word "revelation"..........let's just say that the tonality and spaciousness improved more than appreciably and that the orchestra sounded more like an orchestra than I've heard outside a symphony hall. And the sound was almost completely non-aggressive; the Stage's have a tendency to go wiry, thin, and silvery but they sounded utterly gorgeous in this configuration. Horowitz at the Met was breathtaking.......

I was so infatuated with the sound that I didn't try with the phones but will report on my experiments in due course.

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy One day I'll get one but not until they stop getting bid through the roof. They may well be good but they are still getting on 30 years old, and to me, not really worth the prices they're getting. Adjusted for inflation, they are probably costing almost as much now as when new.

It went for 35000ish, and they cost 29000ish new, so once you factor in 20 years of inflation it works out to more or less the same (of course, those are in a well-used second hand state, not new with a warrenty). Old Stax stuff holds its value quite well, because Staxophiles such as myself drive the prices up.

I wouldn't necessarily say not to a SR-X Pro for 35,000 yen, but I think one in better condition will pop up eventually. Besides, I should be saving for those 4070s...

 

[Lloyd297]

Finally tried the X-III/SRD7/Golden Tube SE40 driven directly from the variable output of my Sony CD player and therefore bypassing my DAC and preamp. Interconnect used was a Transparent Audio Ultra.

Conclusions:

1. This takes it a step further. Everything was improved to some degree but the major improvements were in bass weight and punch, holographic soundstaging, overall "bigness" of sound, reduction of grain and "electronic" sound, and overall sense of relaxation.

2. The resulting sound is - and I kid you not - closer to perfection than anything I've ever heard. I've heard the Orpheus briefly and it was good but the earth did not move for me. I regularly hear speakers using some of the most expensive drivers in the world - ribbons from Raven, midrange drivers by Accuton, and bass units from Focal - and if they sounded remotely as good as this I'd think it was money well spent. When I hear ultra-expensive stuff I'm constantly wondering "where did all the money go?" it's so rare that I think it lives up to its billing. I'll just say if I was listening to these phones in this particular system and somebody told me they cost $5000 I wouldn't cavil.

3. First thing you notice is the sheer gorgeousness of sound. And this is not some gauze-ridden illusion but simply the real sound of the instruments coming through. As I've remarked before, musicians go to great trouble and expense to get hold of the most beautiful-sounding instruments they can, only for most of this beauty to vanish somewhere in the reproduction chain. But not here. The X-III in this configuration is consistently breathtaking in the colour (in its good sense), the melting, floating timbres of the instruments and voices, and the overall lushness and silkiness of the presentation. Even so, it will snarl when called upon - in the loveliest possible way.

4. The X-III's have weak bass?!!!!!!!! I have a pair of big JBL's and the X-III's match them in this system for punch, weight, and gutsiness while easily outstripping them in definition and timbre. Below 50 Hz they roll off but with bass guitars and acoustic basses they thump through my skull like the JBL's do through my gut. Listen to the X-III through the 006t and all this disappears.

5. Stats don't kick ass?!!!!!! Drums through these phones sound as visceral and powerful as I've ever heard. Any well-recorded snare will cut through your head with startling punch and snap. One of my audio dreams is getting a system that approaches the startling liveness of real drums. These phones come closer than anything I've heard to doing just that.

5. If I'm ultra-critical I'd say the X-III is slightly soft in the top octave. It just shaves off upper harmonics and slightly mutes cymbals, triangles, etc.

6. There is still the mildest edginess in the upper midrange but compared to pretty well everything else it's very low in level.

7. You may not like the X-III if you love to wallow and luxuriate in distant, polite sound. It is very present and alive, perhaps slightly more than neutral. Some of you may find it "in your face". The balance is like a nearfield control-room feed. The Lambda may be more your style or - for the exaggeratedly audiophile sound - the Sigma may be the desideratum par excellence.

8. I find it hard to see how they can be appreciably improved on but maybe this just shows the poverty of my audio imagination. Suffice it to say that I'm rarely impressed by hi-fi II'm a bit of a curmudgeon) but these (in this system) just leave me gasping.......

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lloyd297 I find it hard to see how they can be appreciably improved on .......

Just one thing: Open the back completely.

Of course, if Stax had done this, you wouldn't be going into ecstasies about they way they sound. In an ES loudpeaker, the diaphragm is large enough so that the air load has at least a chance of damping its motion. In a diaphragm the size of the SR-X Mk3... well.. which is why they resorted to mechanical damping. And that's what I enjoy most about the SR-X series-- they're the best-damped, ie most nonresonant, speaker or headphone I've ever heard. This is the secret behind their ability to reveal tiny details in the recording.

Your next step will be to get hold of, or better yet make, some binaural recordings.

 

[Carl]

A diaphram half as thick, mesh stators, and a lower capacitance cable would improve the sound of them.

Sounds like a DIY project...

 

[Snake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl A diaphram half as thick, mesh stators, and a lower capacitance cable would improve the sound of them. Sounds like a DIY project...

Actually, altering the diaphragm is probably the last thing you want to do, judging from the remarks. Thinner diaphragm = less warmth, all thing being equal it seems with Stax.

 

[Paul L]

May I ask two or three questions all related on-topic I hope:

1. Lloyd makes the SRX-III Pro sound mighty appealing but I thought they were 20+ years old now and I also thought that Stax had a change of ownership around 1996 with support of older products not necessarily being their main priority? If you buy a pair of these and they go wrong (and leaving aside arguments about reliability) are they basically dead i.e. no longer repairable?

2. Assuming it's all green lights on question 1, assuming you want to silently wait for a week or year or three for the right SRX to come along and in the meantime, you still want to start your Stax journey is it worth getting the SR-404 over the SR-303 or is there little in it?

3. I borrowed an SR-404 (but have not heard the SR-303) with the SRM-313 and intensely disliked the brightness but it calmed down after a couple of days and during the 10-day stay seemed to get better and better. I then borrowed the SRM-006T but only had 3 days as I would be away and I could not get into the amp enough. Too soft and details masked, it seemed to lack the speed, bite and dynamics of the SRM-313 and I am a tube afficianado so it's not an inherent inability on my part to enjoy tube gear when it's done well (IMHO of course). Given the price differential I was really surprised but it has now been suggested to me that I will not have heard the 006T properly as it also takes 7 to 10 days to really come alive. Is this true?

So, now I'm confused as to:
- whether to take the best value package of SRS-3030 to get me going, whether to hold out for SR-404 speakers and whether to take advantage of the discontinued SR-4040 with MK-I 006T amps dealers are now offering at deal prices
- whether I basically came to the right conclusions already
- whether to bypass it all and wait only a little time for an SRX set-up of suitable condition/vintage

I called an infamous UK dealer to try to discuss it who will remain nameless but I found them to be pompous and before I could start to tell them what I had confusingly found so far they killed the conversation saying that perhaps Stax earspeakers were not for me.

Apologies if this is hijacking but it seems to be the key Stax thread around and covers a lot of ground so hopefully it can encompass mine in the process without causing offence.

(edited for typos)

 

[Tachikoma]

Quote:

1. Lloyd makes the SRX-III Pro sound mighty appealing but I thought they were 20+ years old now and I also thought that Stax had a change of ownership around 1996 with support of older products not necessarily being their main priority? If you buy a pair of these and they go wrong (and leaving aside arguments about reliability) are they basically dead i.e. no longer repairable?

Yeup, they're basically dead if you get the wrong pair.

By the way, the SRX-mk3 isn't the only vintage stax out there worth getting