[bangraman]

I've been wondering this for a while now, and perhaps you can shed some light on why it happens and how it happens.


I've been A-B'ing between the HD650/W2002 and the O2 for quite a long time now for testing reasons, and of course I'm listening to them on a regular basis. However I am encountering a situation that causes me concern.


The problem I have is that some days, I just completely lose the 'sweet spot' of the Omega II's. While playing the same music and out of the same equipment, the O2's can be dragged down into being practically an equal of the HD650 and W2002. The HD650 has a livelier tonal character which encourages introspection less than the O2, but my taste of the day seems to be irrelevant as sometimes on these off days I notice that the overall capability of the O2 has degenerated to being practically an equal of the HD650. Most days when I do such a comparison, I can go straight from the HD650/W2002 to the O2 and grin widely. On those inexplicable days, I frown.


I realise fit is an issue, and I'm about to start fixing the position of the rotating collar on the headphones on a 'good day'. What else could be an issue?

 

[toaster]

i've noticed sometimes if i am congested or for whatever the reason there is just more pressure in my ears one day than another, things will just not sound the same.

sometimes yawning will release the pressure and "open" my ears up more. i think since our bodies are always doing strange things, and sometimes these processes affect what we hear when we listen to headphones.

 

[kwkarth]

I suppose it's also a possibility that the O2's may be somewhat sensitive to relative humidity? Particularly if any dust has accumulated on the drivers. The dust would pick up moisture and then become conductive, thus draining off some of the electrostatic bias. This would also increase the mass of the diaphragm. Net effect would be to degrade the transient response and dynamic range of the O2's. Just a thought...

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by toaster22 i've noticed sometimes if i am congested or for whatever the reason there is just more pressure in my ears one day than another, things will just not sound the same. sometimes yawning will release the pressure and "open" my ears up more. i think since our bodies are always doing strange things, and sometimes these processes affect what we hear when we listen to headphones.

Surely that would uniformly screw up my hearing, and not specifically regarding the O2?


kwkarth, it's a good point, but usually if I just put it to one side and pick it up a day or two after, I'm back in the 'sweet spot' again.

 

[toaster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman Surely that would uniformly screw up my hearing, and not specifically regarding the O2?

true. yeah, my mistake. since you are making that direct comparison to the 650's, what i am saying is kind of invalidated.

although it is true that day-to-day bodily processes could in fact affect overall sound impressions.

 

[KenW]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman The problem I have is that some days, I just completely lose the 'sweet spot' of the Omega II's. While playing the same music and out of the same equipment, the O2's can be dragged down into being practically an equal of the HD650 and W2002.

Is it possible that the 650's are that close to the O2's? Maybe? Possibly? Hopefully?

 

[pcyeh]

Just wondering if the amp of O2 is on all the time?

 

[pspivak]

I know exactly what you mean. Some days my speaker system sounds great other day is it doesn't sound so good. I'm not sure if it's the weather or how much stress I am under. I had a friend with stacked wants. They were driven by a pair of Conrad Johnson amplifiers. He was using an audio Research S P four teen at the time. Some days it sounded perfect, at other times it just didn't sound that good. I recall going home one evening after listening at his house and his speakers not sounding so good, thinking that mine would not sound good either. Much to my surprise mind sounded great that night. Other times just the opposite was true.

Maybe it is something like person with two watches. A person with one watch knows what time is. A person with two watches is never sure. So, an audiophile with one first class system knows what good music sounds like. A guy (my wife thinks that MOST women would not get caught up in such a dilemma, one or two might) with two first-class system is destined to bang his head against a wall and say why me? Time to stop listening to equipment and start listening to music.

 

[eric343]

Denis/zzz once observed that the Omega2s are quite weather sensitive.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pspivak I know exactly what you mean. Some days my speaker system sounds great other day is it doesn't sound so good. I'm not sure if it's the weather or how much stress I am under. I had a friend with stacked wants. They were driven by a pair of Conrad Johnson amplifiers. He was using an audio Research S P four teen at the time. Some days it sounded perfect, at other times it just didn't sound that good. I recall going home one evening after listening at his house and his speakers not sounding so good, thinking that mine would not sound good either. Much to my surprise mind sounded great that night. Other times just the opposite was true. Maybe it is something like person with two watches. A person with one watch knows what time is. A person with two watches is never sure. So, an audiophile with one first class system knows what good music sounds like. A guy (my wife thinks that MOST women would not get caught up in such a dilemma, one or two might) with two first-class system is destined to bang his head against a wall and say why me? Time to stop listening to equipment and start listening to music.

As much as I'd like to agree with this, I have one other control... the W2002. My technical opinions between it and the HD650 have never changed, despite a rotating temperament/randomly?-driven personal preference of one over the other. The O2 alone seems to vary.


I'm doing evaluations of an amp right now so I do keep jumping between multiple set-ups as a matter of course. Maybe it's fit & temperature/humidity as some of you say. Although it seems very odd that a pair of phones made in near Tokyo would suffer from this. Temperature and humidity variations would be considerably more than over here.


The weather has been pretty variable lately. I guess my next project is a silent living room PC after all... I can just keep it permanently displaying www.bbc.co.uk/weather

 

[Nik]

I always had this doubt about the performance of the Omega II (or electrostatics cans in general). I have noticed a lot of times differents level of performance and I have found some differents reasons:

1) humidity of the airy and temperature of the room
2) position of the headphones in the head
3) variability of the electricity voltage (not so costant)
4) bias
5) external noise (NF)

I had a very long discussion with Rudi about this argument, he has a "theory" about, I hope he will say something.

Best!
Nicola

 

[rudi]

I have owned more then 20 Stax electrostatics ( gamma, lambda, omega )and of course some OmegaII. I have also repaired or upgraded many of those for myself or my customer, so I have enough data to make statistics.

1) all the electrostatics are humidity and temperature sensitives. The microclima created between listener hear and headphone diafragm is a critical factor. Temperature can modify the surface of diafragm ang humidity the density of air and can make heavier the diafragm.
2) The electrostatic headphon attract dust ( as any electrostatic device ). The diafragm is a very thin foil of plastic ( kind of mylar ) energized at 580 V, this is enogh to attract dust and any other element on the air. To leave the headphone connected to amp for hours, (just to warm-up) is the best way to damage the headphone and make his life short. Even when disonnected the headphone ratain his electrostatics charge ( since it acts as a capacitor ) and for this is mandatory place the headphone in his box after listening session.

If not used properly the diafragm become heavier and heavier since it attract dust ( there is no way to clean it ) and the headphone become poor in mid -high range.


Reccomandations:
1) Connect the headphone to amp just few minutes before listening session.
2)Never perform long warm-up It is unusefull and dangerous
3) Never leave the headphoine connected to amp switched on
4) Disconnect the headphone after session.
5) After disconnecting take on your hand the plug and touch with fingers the golden pins ( if headphone is on your head you willl hear a smoth bump ), this discharge the headphone.
3) When not used place headphone in the box
4) If you are smokers don't smoke when listening, cigaret smoke is the worst kind of dust

If used properly the headphone don't miss anything during years and you will get the best headphone for ever.

Rudi

 

[grinch]

people are cheap and don't like transparency.

 

[kevin gilmore]

Wow, what a surprise i disagree with at least half of what rudi says.

The diaphram is charged positive with respect to the stators. Any
dust that acumulates does so on the stators, not the diaphram.
Just like an electrostatic air filter. One person out there tried to
charge the diaphram negative and the headphones lasted less than
a week. The ionic headphones also charge the center pin negative
which is why they crap up so quickly.

The space charge takes quite a while to build up. The headphones
should remain connected to the amplifier and not discharged. The
amplifier should be on at least one hour per day to keep the phones
charged.

Cigarette smoke is absolutely the worst thing you can do to every
single part of your system. Especially the optical stuff in your cd
player.

The humidity and temperature are definitely factors that effect these
headphones.

 

[Zanth]

I don't know much about electrostats so my input is futile though

Quote:

Cigarette smoke is absolutely the worst thing you can do to every single part of your system. Especially the optical stuff in your cd player.

is a law in my house. No one smokes anywhere close to me, my family or my gear. I know some folks smoke but I would never ever buy gear from a smoker. Especially optical based.