[acs236]

Regarding the soundstage of the SA5000 --

To use Zanth's terminology, the only thing I like better about the CD3000 (regarding soundstage) is their headstage. The CD3000 does a very good job of making the music seem as if it's coming from in front of you. It's soundstange is very wide, the instruments are spaced out well in front of you. However, the depth of the soundstage is nothing special. In contrast, with the SA5000, you can tell how the close instruments are to you and relative to each other.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike33 Anyone try it with higher output impedance? I'm using 120ohm adapter with sa1k and it gives it more bass impact and tames the brightness.

That would make sense...shifts the pole on the frequency response of the headphone drivers...

<breaks out resistors and soldering iron>

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acs236 Regarding the soundstage of the SA5000 -- To use Zanth's terminology, the only thing I like better about the CD3000 (regarding soundstage) is their headstage. The CD3000 does a very good job of making the music seem as if it's coming from in front of you. It's soundstange is very wide, the instruments are spaced out well in front of you. However, the depth of the soundstage is nothing special. In contrast, with the SA5000, you can tell how the close instruments are to you and relative to each other.

Well said, except we must give credit for terminology to Darth Nut. The SA5000 has excellent depth of soundstage.

 

[mrsl]

I would like to know, how the SA-5000 compare to Stax phones.

Can anyone comment on this ?

 

[doobooloo]

Despite my efforts at leaving headphones, I just received them yesterday.

Been listening to them for quite a while, they sounded quite nice (midrange was the weakest point) out of the box but it's improving steadily. Even now the sound is very enjoyable, very close to the ER-4s that I enjoyed so much. The midrange characteristic pleasantly reminds me of the dear CD3Ks I had for a while two years back, I'm hoping it will smooth out a bit and become less colored but even as it is now I am tremendously enjoying the speed and transparency of the sound.

I'm using them with the headband maxed out at position 10 on each side but I feel that it would have been just right if it was a tad larger.

Not that it's uncomfortable, but for it to sit just right on my ears I need to pull the headphones down a bit. I wish I could just lightly let it rest on my head. Oh well. After a while they are comfortable as hell anyway so I don't really care.

Granted, there is a lot of marketing gibberish that's painted all over the packaging and info packet, but having the phones in my hands and listening to them I can't help but be impressed by how much high quality R&D has gone into these phones. Just amazing...

Just makes me wonder how wonderful the Qualias would be. Whoops, did I just say that?

 

[spike33]

doobooloo, do you find it to be too bright? lets say compared to grado

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike33 doobooloo, do you find it to be too bright? lets say compared to grado

It's less bright than ANY Grado I've heard, save the HP1000.

 

[dougbrad81]

I find it less bright than the allesandro ms-2 and sonk 3k.

 

[doobooloo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike33 doobooloo, do you find it to be too bright? lets say compared to grado

No. That's what's so amazing about these cans. All the details are there but I don't find it bright at all. It's all "just right" - a la ER-4S.

 

[EdipisReks]

must...not...sell CD3000's...and buy SA5000's...sight...unseen.... this thread is killing me

 

[doobooloo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks must...not...sell CD3000's...and buy SA5000's...sight...unseen.... this thread is killing me

We're in Head-Fi. We're all already dead. This thread can't kill you.

Now think about it for a second. Why go through the pain when you just know you'll give in later anyway? Better now than later.

 

[Bill Ward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsl I would like to know, how the SA-5000 compare to Stax phones. Can anyone comment on this ?

I'm not sure the SA5K compare with the Stax so much as they contrast them.

The Sony's are tactile. There's a distinct sense of air in motion. Bass has a physical component--a measure of slam. The sound is felt as vibration/energy being absorbed.

Stax have a more abstract quality. Sound seems to appear rather than to be delivered via drivers in motion. Bass for the Stax is both present and enjoyable, but it's a spectator sport, not a contact sport as it is with the Sonys.

Both are very fast. Sounds start and stop with immediacy and definition. One can hear, in GS words, the space between the notes. There's no blurring.

Both are comparatively bright, characterized by a transparent clarity and phenomenal detail, but the Sonys are less smooth, having a slightly etched quality with some instruments.

The smoothness of the Stax extends into the mids, which I find more forward than those of the Sonys. Neither is deficient in this area, but they do differ.

The soundstage of the Sonys is clearly delineated, precisely placed and dimensional. It's also small in comparison to the Stax, which seems to extend over a larger physical area and to attenuate toward the fringe of that area.

Finally, I would describe the Sonys as exciting and the Stax as involving. The SA5K exhibits a level of palpable energy that grabs the attention. Stax are much more polite, but the Stax sound is intriguing and even addictive in its presentation.

Not sure this will convey anything useful, but you did ask.

Regards,

BW

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer It's less bright than ANY Grado I've heard, save the HP1000.

LOL, I guess it's all relative.

I don't find my MS-2's bright at all. In fact they are quite laid back.

Of course, this is comparing them to the K1000's. One of the most aggressive headphones I've ever heard.

-Ed

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I believe SA5000 + complimentary amp = good.

That is a much better approach, no doubts of that....

Quote:

You system is optimized for CD3000. Of course CD3000 has advantage.

Not sure of that, Ian, the PPA is a general purpose amp, and I tried different opamps and the variable bass boost add more versatility, and I tried also other high current solid states amps, not sure if my system could be considered as so optimized for the CD3000, I wish though.....LOL....

Quote:

I don't believe so. If you said it's grainy, it's still early on. I have a SA3000 from jjcha who says had some hours on it but it reminded me of SA5000 in the beginning. I couldn't even listen to it as I'm not used to grainy/etchy sound from my system.

Ian grainy was a term I used becasue it was the first that crossed my mind, but definitelly maybe it was not the proper one, and it was detailed in a different way, maybe microdetails, who knows, thinking again, grainy was not the proper term....

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari Funny how you state your opinion as FACTS and tell everyone else that their opinion is just their own CD3000 is sibilant to me - end of story

That is why we differ and period....Again the CD3000 with the proper amp and system is not sibilant at all, I'm also very sesitive to sibilance, you are not the only one....

Quote:

It sure is a mess! I make no claims that what I have is the best - unlike you. We all know what a huge cd3000 fanboy you are...not healthy Sure...we know the CD3000s are the best...that is why everyone has one and nobody ever sells them Good stuff :cool

I never had stated that my system is the best, of course not, this another of your idiotic statements, and misunderstandings, but maybe it is the best I can afford...thinking again, I think I will get one of your amps to try it out.....

It is true, I'm a huge CD3000 fanboy, if you like to call it that way, so what!!!! Just prove me wrong, if you can, and give something better on that price range, definitelly not the SA5000 to my ears, and I was open minded enough to pay for it to try it, following your suggestion, unfortunatelly it was not my cup of tea....

Quote:

You lie. His is about as brand new as brand new gets. Didnt you also sell it for more money than you paid for it? All within a few days...dont think the guy who sold it to you didnt notice

Oh boy, a few other idiotic statments??? Man, you have no clue which the final price was, as the agreement was between me, and the buyer, and I shipped it to Canada, that cost me a lot of money......

Now, how the hell you know how long it was used, if you are not the owner, do not know how long the other person used it (please, do yourself a favor, don't do the same you did in that thread when you began to talk of the Rudistor amps, while you have no clue at all, of what was inside them, OK?)
The guy I got them from asured me that they were used for 150 hours, and I used it for maybe 150 hours more, no changes were observed during that period though....is it not time enough to burn in the SA5000??? How many more hours do they need 1000???

Quote:

Thank god indeed! Imagine!! you couldnt have made any money off of it had you kept it a little longer

First that was not my intention, thanks God, I don't need to make profits at the expense of other fellow headfiers, and you know better than anybody else that my real intention was to hear them, and try to find a better headphone than the one I have, as I'm fully aware that there should be other choices, I'm not that closed minded, and I gave them the same chance as I have done with others, or better a better chance, as I got them...(BTW you never send me the pair you offered me for audition, remember? I still have the PM, and even though you keep on offering them here to other members...LOL...poor guys)

Second the prices will go down, of course, just wait and you will see, right now another store carries them, and pretty soon the market will be floded of this headphone, just wait and see, so why keep it longer, to loose money, if at the end I did not prefer them over the ones I have, that is absurd...


Quote:

Maybe your amp is a wuss?

Maybe, but the difference between us, is that it is not the one I'm selling...mine was a PPA...and it is the best I could afford for it right now, when things go better for me finacially, I may think in other options, but not for now....

Quote:

...you barely had the SA5000 for a week and you are questioning everyone else about how long they spent with these headphones? Wow! I didn't realize people could be so full of it

Guru, I asked you how long you have them both at the same time, together to compare both and determine which the differences in the sounstage are, not for how long you have them, I don't know if you are aware of how short the span memory for audio is....

Quote:

Which shows how little you know about a good classical/orchetral recording. nice!

That is true, my brother was a classical guitarist, and maybe in your country the ochestras play in three floor stages???...

Because here they do not...OTOH mostly the music we hear is recorded over the same floor with a few exceptions of some effects....why you need the vertical dimension then.....???

Quote:

[size=xx-small]Sweet! Your opinion as an unbiased headphone critic is indeed valuable to us. At least you dont have to spend any more money since you have the best of everything already Thank for your time sov...just when I thought you werent too bad after all yeesh! Bingo! And the winner is.....!! Classic fanboyism Do you still drive a Ford model T sov? heh! And you accuse me of trying to be the "expert"....riiiight Now everyone knows what to buy thanks for the superb review guvnor [/size]

This is so idiotic and childish, that will not spend time even answering these...

 

[EdipisReks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doobooloo We're in Head-Fi. We're all already dead. This thread can't kill you. Now think about it for a second. Why go through the pain when you just know you'll give in later anyway? Better now than later.

yeah, yeah, yeah, but i really like my CD3000

it just seems that the SA5000's improve on the couple things i don't like so much about the CD3000's while retaining the virtues. i may have a couple chances to hear the SA5000's in the near future, as alluded to in this very thread

, but i would hate to be in a situation where i sell my CD3000's and end up not liking the SA5000's.