I think so also but a Super Interface Box is a good idea for fellows owning high class amplifiers pairing well with those SR1a. So looking at this piece of device with interest.
Haven’t had that experience. And without knowing the full signal chain and settings (DAC voltage, volume setting, preamp, etc.), I’m not sure what the pot setting will tell you.
I have been using SR1A for about half a year. Comparing with my previos STAX 009s, I am no regret to make the change. Ppl talk about headphone's sound stage. Is it the width over the head rather than the speakers' system sound stage? Does any headphone reproduce speakers' system sound stage?
The answer to your last question is probably “no,” but with all due respect, I think it’s the wrong question. Soundstage doesn’t mean to me “speaker soundstage.” It means the depiction of the “performance venue,” and includes elements such as instrument location, a sense of depth, air around notes and instruments, etc. All these spatial cues contribute to an illusion of some presentation of reality. To me, closed back cans present almost no sense of soundstage, in part because of the constant sense of physical enclosure. But that may just be me. Meanwhile open back cans present more of a sense of openness, and thus the spatial cues have an opportunity to present the soundstage illusion. Good cans, such as the Stax and Susvara can present a sense of L-R soundstage where the listener perceives they are in the middle of the soundstage. This is still a headphone soundstage. But the special ones, including the SR1a, can present a sense of depth if it is there to be recovered from the recording and the source component has recovered it. The MySphere is also quite good at soundstage, including depth. A really well done binaural recording can present an eerily realistic soundstage that rivals some very good speaker systems. In my experience, the SR1a can do this as well as any, so well that one can almost forget one is wearing headphones—and part of that experience is enhanced by the way the ribbons sit on your head. I have never forgotten I was wearing headphones with any of my other cans, including the MS (and part of the reason for that is the fitment of the headband).
I run all my Stax off either a custom T2 or a Carbon CC. I have a Z10E arriving Monday, and I do not expect it to change any assessments around bass. Yes, I think the SR1a and the 009/S are “comparable” in the sense that many listeners will want more bass. I find both more than capable for my tastes, and I listen to a broad range of music from classical to EDM. There is plenty of strong bass energy in music from Dead Can Dance, Cowboy Junkies, and both the RAAL and the Stax reproduce it well. Both can reproduce the 24Hz note at 00:26 in Boz Scaggs’ Thanks to You. Not the way it sounds in my speakers—let’s not kid ourselves—but it’s there. Both sound very good with organ music. Try the Cantate Domino. Listen to any good recording of a double bass. Neither will disappoint. But it doesn’t slam the way a bass head might want.
This is a good thing and much better than what I’m doing now.
