I didn't know that, shame as they won't be at CanJam London, i could have asked some questions and check the progress status of A16.
Smyth Research Realiser A16
Exactly my thought.
dude5OO
AKA hennyo
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2014
- Posts
- 28
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- 19
I am SOOooOO looking forward to taking advantage of what the A16 has to offer. Shocked they won't make the London show. Really Hope they make Rocky Mountain Audio Fest though!
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2006
- Posts
- 1,850
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They didn't go to CANJAM NYC either but did go to LA. I think they're only going to places they didnt demo at before, and not to places with a lot of [unfulfilled] orders in the region. (Which would call for the same schpeel explaining the delays 1001+ times)
Last edited:
Citizen Zombie
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2015
- Posts
- 38
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- 53
They don't attend any show for now. dsperber asked them at their last appearance why they won't show up in Munich at the High End and they told him they want to concentrate on finishing the product. Which is understandable knowing how much man power such a fair needs in preparation, attendance and afterwards analysing the event.
sander99
Headphoneus Supremus
Yes, I don't expect the Smyth brothers themselves on any shows for now. But now they have others to do that for them (from the last update):
HairyHook
Head-Fier
Finally heard back from James Smyth:
"Apologies about the late reply.
We our working tirelessly to have the A16 full functionally and working at all fronts. At this moment we are still on course to start shipping the first batch of A16's September 2018.
Regarding your final balance payment. I will send a PayPal money request now."
Glad it all worked out for you in the end.
Not long now, congratulations for the purchase and welcome on board.
sander99
Headphoneus Supremus
Please, please let it be true this time...
Must be, is about the time plus that they mentioned September for delivery few times, and don't think they can afford to let us down again.
Sanctuary
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2011
- Posts
- 505
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- 141
That would be nice, but it's most likely just like every other overly optimistic guesstimate they would espouse. They've always "been on track, excluding any unforseen setbacks that ALWAYS happen". I also don't know what they are considering their "first batch". Initially it was supposed to be Kickstarter first, then pre-orders up to a specific pre-order date, then it was changed to Kickstarter + pre-order will ship at the same time, then it was changed back to Kickstarter. I'm totally fine with the Kickstarter backers getting priority since they've been waiting the longest, but many of us have also now been waiting almost a year, and it would be really annoying if they get the first batch shipped, then end up with yet another problem that delays the next batches by another six months.
Last edited:
cukis350
100+ Head-Fier
Hi guys, i am in the same both as most of you all, but my deal here is that i have not heard any update from Smyth for almost a year (August 21 2017). I wonder if they have a list of people that preordered and paid for so that they can send out their product once it's ready to go. I mean with all the hassle of delays and such, plus they're small company so they might misses stuffs here and there. I guess what i am getting at is that will i get my A16 once they're ready to be shipped.
dsperber
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2005
- Posts
- 789
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- 303
On a semi-related matter (yes, I too have been waiting a long time for actual shipment of the A16 I have now long ago paid for in full... but so far it is still less than the 5 years I waited for the original A8, so I remain patient), I share the following story regarding my Stax SR-009 headphones.
In mid-May I was horrified to one day discover that suddenly I had improper sound levels coming from my L and R ear drivers. Physical examination of the headphones didn't reveal anything like a broken cable or connection that had pulled out of the sound elements, or any other obvious physical damage that might explain what seemed like it had just happened spontaneously. The item seemed physically fine, so I thought.
And it didn't just sound like some kind of a level imbalance when listening, but rather sounded like a destroyed right sound element compounded by something also not right in the left sound element. I tested things using both my SRM-007tII and SRM-T1S amps, and things were horrible from the SR-009 in both cases. I also re-tested both my amps using my SR-Omega headphones, and indeed both amps were perfect. So clearly I now had what was clearly some genuine internal damage to these very expensive SR-009 headphone I had purchased in mid-2012.
I also tested using a source other than the optical output of the A8 running through my external DAC and then through XLR cables to the Stax amps. I tried analog RCA inputs to the Stax amps, and I also tried ordinary CD audio 2-channel stereo digital coax input to the DAC and then XLR to the Stax amps, and there was no avoiding the plain fact that the problem was with the SR-009 itself and not with any other component in the system.
After a bit of hysteria that these VERY expensive headphones might now be in need of repair or, in worst case, replacement, I explored my options. And with Yama's Stax USA (aka Accutech repair) no longer around I started my research. Turns out Woo Audio now handles sales within the USA so that you can buy retail through them. But nobody in the US does repairs. I did find somebody in Germany through the Head-Fi Forum who purports to be able to repair Stax headphones, and I did find a business entity in Toronto Canada who also in theory offers service options for Stax. I actually pursued both of those repair possibilities, but neither really gave me any feeling of comfort or security that they really had the wherewithal or skill (or possibly needed parts) that would make me trust that in the end the results would be completely successful.
I also looked into purchasing a replacement SR-009, which of course I could do for current "full retail" of $3800 officially through Woo. I also was able to find a Japanese source for $3200 (I believe it's an American ex-pat who now lives in Japan and has this "exporter" business, buying items in Japan at domestic prices and obtaining a Japanese warranty, and then shipping them to buyers in the US). The warranty in this case would be Japanese, and any subsequent warranty repair would need to be returned to him who would then in turn get the repair done through his Japanese warranty, and then he would ship it back to the US. All seemed a bit iffy, to save $600.
I then researched the current status of Stax USA further, and discovered that the actual officially licensed US importer/warehouser/distributor of Stax is a company named:
RPD Limited
428 Hemphill St.
Ft. Worth TX
817-665-2160
They are the ones who actually have a warehouse full of Stax products that they have officially imported from Stax Japan, which they in turn distribute to retailers like Woo. I phoned them and asked about where and how I might possibly be able to actually get my damaged SR-009 somehow repaired, either domestically in the US or through return to Stax Japan. Surely it would have to be less expensive to repair the SR-009 than just to go out and buy a new one at retail prices, and my faith in 100% perfect repair really was with the Stax factory in Japan... if that was possible. I was put in contact with the head of RPD Limited who was very helpful.
The history of Stax is as follows (from Wikipedia): Stax Ltd. was founded in 1938. Twenty-two years later, in 1960, Stax released their first electrostatic earspeaker, the Stax SR-1. Over the following thirty-six years Stax produced a variety of amplification, earspeaker, tonearm, CD player, DAC, phono cartridge and loudspeaker products. In 1995, fifty-seven years after the company’s foundation, it became insolvent. The company was revived in 1996 as the new STAX company. In December 2011, Chinese loudspeaker manufacturer Edifier announced the acquisition of 100% equity in Stax... for the unbelievably ridiculous price of ¥120M which is approximately $1.5 million!!!. But at least Edifier is a real company, that is currently in business, and that now continues making and selling the Stax products (including the new flagship SR-009s headphones as well as the new flagship SRM-T8000 amp which is a hybrid tube/solid-state driver.
So the man from RDP gave me the email address of the man at Edifier (named Douglas Ip) who is responsible for dealing with worldwide customer service and support issues, including factory repair service requests such as mine which generally result in shipping the damaged headphones to Stax Japan for repair at the factory. After sending an email describing my situation and requesting a factory repair if possible by Stax Japan, I was responded to by an English-speaking customer service representative (a woman named Kay Ho) of the Edifier worldwide service manager I had written to originally. She was very nice and explained that they DO provide Stax factory repair service, and that it starts with shipping the item to the factory and agreeing to pay a $70 diagnostic fee (which of course would then be applied to the total repair cost bill, if repairs are performed).
And through this English-speaking representative, over the course of several weeks of back-and-forth email correspondence I was able to learn that typical SR-009 factory repairs (for parts and labor) have an estimated repair cost of $1300, and take about two weeks. Of course it could be higher if more damage is discovered or more parts are needed. They would notify me of what they find after the initial diagnosis and what the estimated repair cost might be, and we would the proceed from there. I decided this all sounded fine, and proceeded to ship my SR-009 to the Stax Japan factory address I was provided. By the way, shipping an expensive item to another country today involves all kinds of exporter license, pro forma invoice and US Customs paperwork, as well as a "10-digit product code" for the forms that is dispensed by the US Census Bureau. I eventually worked through Fedex International support desk and managed to get it shipped from California on Monday June 4. It passed through Japanese customs and was delivered to the Stax Japan factory the morning of Thursday June 7 (Japan time), the whole process less than 3 days elapsed time. Go with Fedex if you ever need to do this yourself.
Anyway, on June 12 I received an email from Kay advising me of the results of the initial Stax examination and diagnosis of my SR-009. The inspection report stated "an imbalance problem from both sound elements, and that the right channel slide pad plate is broken. Also ear pads and head pad are degraded and recommend for replacement. Total cost: USD 2,600 including all the parts, technical service charge and postage." WOW!
?Stax reported us that SR-009(SZ9-1627) shows imbalance problem that the right channel.
In general, the imbalance is due to:
1. Cable disconnection;
2. Natural deterioration of Sound Element (especially membrane); or
3. Tear (damage) of the membrane itself due to excessive input
When we decomposing Sound Element which was returned from overseas market (especially USA), we often see that the membrane was damaged (split) by inter-electrode discharge by excessive input.
Sound Element is necessary to replace for both channels.
?The slide pad plate is broken. Please see the diagram shown on the attachment.
? + ? = USD 1,300.-
?Ear pad - it's recommendation from STAX to replace but optional.
?Head Pad - please refer to the diagram attached and optional.
? + ? = USD 1,300.-
I hadn't noticed any physical damage when examining them myself, but obviously I was wrong. Of course I was stunned at the cost, which was now only $600 less than I could get a brand new SR-009 through the Japanese/American "exporter", but still $1200 less than it would cost for a new SR-009 from Woo. For the next two weeks I continued to correspond with Kay and the factory to get clarification as to exactly what had been found by the diagnosis, and exactly what needed replacement with new parts, and how that high cost came to be, and was it all mandatory (to get my sound back to normal) or was any of it optional?
Kay and the factory engineer were very helpful and cooperative, including sending me photos of the actual physical damage to the "right channel slide pad plate" along with the nearly torn headband, as well as the degraded (by use over the past six years) ear pads. I was actually quite surprised, as I guess I just didn't look close enough for physical damage. Yes, the L/R ear sound elements needed replacement in order to restore perfect sound. But the other headband and earpad items were "optional".
Please see the reply from STAX as follows.
? Sound Elements
Yes, Sound Elements are paired by Stax by checking the electrical characteristics of each element, it has to replace both L&R channels at same time, not only one channel.
? Slide pad plates
Please refer to attached photo.(image1) and it shows obviously broken so it has to be replaced. Slide pad plate is to just fixed the Head pad.
? Ear Pads
Please refer to attached photo.(image2, 3)
The surface of Head-pad and Ear-Pad becomes hard due to adhesion of hairdressing oil you can see the deterioration.
STAX thinks that the hardened pad brings you bad feeling when you put on the headphone. Did you feel that before?
? Head pad
Please refer to attached photo.(image4)
Both side head pad is almost cut off. And it shows that it is close to actually breaking away anytime soon and therefore it is recommended to replace it.
Anyway, after getting all of my questions about mandatory vs. optional answered, as well as at least venting my surprise about the $1300 optional additional cost for two new earpads and a new headband, I finally decided to just give in and let them "recondition back to effectively brand new factory condition" my SR-009, for the $2600 price. So on Thursday June 21 I emailed my authorization to Kay, to go ahead with the complete repair (both mandatory and optional parts) as their engineer proposed. Estimated repair time was around two weeks.
Last week, on Monday July 16, I received an email from Kay stating that all repairs were complete, with an invoice for the $2600 repair and return shipping charge attached. On that same day I put through my payment through PayPal, and on Tuesday July 17 I received notice from Fedex of their international shipment to me. And just a few hours ago, on Thursday July 19, the Fedex guy delivered my SR-009 back to me at my door. It was once again sealed in the same original carton I'd sent them (with Yama's tag and original Stax serial number still on it) and beautiful original wood shipping box. Inside everything was freshly factory sealed in taped new plastic and molded foam padding and packaging materials, same as it all looked when I first bought it back in mid-2012. Just beautiful handling.
And, the really good news is that my SR-009 once again sounds beautiful! This story had a happy ending.
So, now, after about two months having elapsed since this entire saga began, I am once again back in business... albeit a fair amount lighter in the wallet. But even in the absence of Yama's, I was still actually able to accomplish a genuine Stax factory repair (with 3 month warranty) with genuine factory parts and genuine factory engineers performing the work.
I think it was worth it, and I have no regrets. But I will now be far more careful about handling my SR-009 (with its brand new earpads and headband, which I must admit definitely do feel snugger and even more comfortable now than they did as best I remember from a few months ago).
I now await the A16.
In mid-May I was horrified to one day discover that suddenly I had improper sound levels coming from my L and R ear drivers. Physical examination of the headphones didn't reveal anything like a broken cable or connection that had pulled out of the sound elements, or any other obvious physical damage that might explain what seemed like it had just happened spontaneously. The item seemed physically fine, so I thought.
And it didn't just sound like some kind of a level imbalance when listening, but rather sounded like a destroyed right sound element compounded by something also not right in the left sound element. I tested things using both my SRM-007tII and SRM-T1S amps, and things were horrible from the SR-009 in both cases. I also re-tested both my amps using my SR-Omega headphones, and indeed both amps were perfect. So clearly I now had what was clearly some genuine internal damage to these very expensive SR-009 headphone I had purchased in mid-2012.
I also tested using a source other than the optical output of the A8 running through my external DAC and then through XLR cables to the Stax amps. I tried analog RCA inputs to the Stax amps, and I also tried ordinary CD audio 2-channel stereo digital coax input to the DAC and then XLR to the Stax amps, and there was no avoiding the plain fact that the problem was with the SR-009 itself and not with any other component in the system.
After a bit of hysteria that these VERY expensive headphones might now be in need of repair or, in worst case, replacement, I explored my options. And with Yama's Stax USA (aka Accutech repair) no longer around I started my research. Turns out Woo Audio now handles sales within the USA so that you can buy retail through them. But nobody in the US does repairs. I did find somebody in Germany through the Head-Fi Forum who purports to be able to repair Stax headphones, and I did find a business entity in Toronto Canada who also in theory offers service options for Stax. I actually pursued both of those repair possibilities, but neither really gave me any feeling of comfort or security that they really had the wherewithal or skill (or possibly needed parts) that would make me trust that in the end the results would be completely successful.
I also looked into purchasing a replacement SR-009, which of course I could do for current "full retail" of $3800 officially through Woo. I also was able to find a Japanese source for $3200 (I believe it's an American ex-pat who now lives in Japan and has this "exporter" business, buying items in Japan at domestic prices and obtaining a Japanese warranty, and then shipping them to buyers in the US). The warranty in this case would be Japanese, and any subsequent warranty repair would need to be returned to him who would then in turn get the repair done through his Japanese warranty, and then he would ship it back to the US. All seemed a bit iffy, to save $600.
I then researched the current status of Stax USA further, and discovered that the actual officially licensed US importer/warehouser/distributor of Stax is a company named:
RPD Limited
428 Hemphill St.
Ft. Worth TX
817-665-2160
They are the ones who actually have a warehouse full of Stax products that they have officially imported from Stax Japan, which they in turn distribute to retailers like Woo. I phoned them and asked about where and how I might possibly be able to actually get my damaged SR-009 somehow repaired, either domestically in the US or through return to Stax Japan. Surely it would have to be less expensive to repair the SR-009 than just to go out and buy a new one at retail prices, and my faith in 100% perfect repair really was with the Stax factory in Japan... if that was possible. I was put in contact with the head of RPD Limited who was very helpful.
The history of Stax is as follows (from Wikipedia): Stax Ltd. was founded in 1938. Twenty-two years later, in 1960, Stax released their first electrostatic earspeaker, the Stax SR-1. Over the following thirty-six years Stax produced a variety of amplification, earspeaker, tonearm, CD player, DAC, phono cartridge and loudspeaker products. In 1995, fifty-seven years after the company’s foundation, it became insolvent. The company was revived in 1996 as the new STAX company. In December 2011, Chinese loudspeaker manufacturer Edifier announced the acquisition of 100% equity in Stax... for the unbelievably ridiculous price of ¥120M which is approximately $1.5 million!!!. But at least Edifier is a real company, that is currently in business, and that now continues making and selling the Stax products (including the new flagship SR-009s headphones as well as the new flagship SRM-T8000 amp which is a hybrid tube/solid-state driver.
So the man from RDP gave me the email address of the man at Edifier (named Douglas Ip) who is responsible for dealing with worldwide customer service and support issues, including factory repair service requests such as mine which generally result in shipping the damaged headphones to Stax Japan for repair at the factory. After sending an email describing my situation and requesting a factory repair if possible by Stax Japan, I was responded to by an English-speaking customer service representative (a woman named Kay Ho) of the Edifier worldwide service manager I had written to originally. She was very nice and explained that they DO provide Stax factory repair service, and that it starts with shipping the item to the factory and agreeing to pay a $70 diagnostic fee (which of course would then be applied to the total repair cost bill, if repairs are performed).
And through this English-speaking representative, over the course of several weeks of back-and-forth email correspondence I was able to learn that typical SR-009 factory repairs (for parts and labor) have an estimated repair cost of $1300, and take about two weeks. Of course it could be higher if more damage is discovered or more parts are needed. They would notify me of what they find after the initial diagnosis and what the estimated repair cost might be, and we would the proceed from there. I decided this all sounded fine, and proceeded to ship my SR-009 to the Stax Japan factory address I was provided. By the way, shipping an expensive item to another country today involves all kinds of exporter license, pro forma invoice and US Customs paperwork, as well as a "10-digit product code" for the forms that is dispensed by the US Census Bureau. I eventually worked through Fedex International support desk and managed to get it shipped from California on Monday June 4. It passed through Japanese customs and was delivered to the Stax Japan factory the morning of Thursday June 7 (Japan time), the whole process less than 3 days elapsed time. Go with Fedex if you ever need to do this yourself.
Anyway, on June 12 I received an email from Kay advising me of the results of the initial Stax examination and diagnosis of my SR-009. The inspection report stated "an imbalance problem from both sound elements, and that the right channel slide pad plate is broken. Also ear pads and head pad are degraded and recommend for replacement. Total cost: USD 2,600 including all the parts, technical service charge and postage." WOW!
?Stax reported us that SR-009(SZ9-1627) shows imbalance problem that the right channel.
In general, the imbalance is due to:
1. Cable disconnection;
2. Natural deterioration of Sound Element (especially membrane); or
3. Tear (damage) of the membrane itself due to excessive input
When we decomposing Sound Element which was returned from overseas market (especially USA), we often see that the membrane was damaged (split) by inter-electrode discharge by excessive input.
Sound Element is necessary to replace for both channels.
?The slide pad plate is broken. Please see the diagram shown on the attachment.
? + ? = USD 1,300.-
?Ear pad - it's recommendation from STAX to replace but optional.
?Head Pad - please refer to the diagram attached and optional.
? + ? = USD 1,300.-
I hadn't noticed any physical damage when examining them myself, but obviously I was wrong. Of course I was stunned at the cost, which was now only $600 less than I could get a brand new SR-009 through the Japanese/American "exporter", but still $1200 less than it would cost for a new SR-009 from Woo. For the next two weeks I continued to correspond with Kay and the factory to get clarification as to exactly what had been found by the diagnosis, and exactly what needed replacement with new parts, and how that high cost came to be, and was it all mandatory (to get my sound back to normal) or was any of it optional?
Kay and the factory engineer were very helpful and cooperative, including sending me photos of the actual physical damage to the "right channel slide pad plate" along with the nearly torn headband, as well as the degraded (by use over the past six years) ear pads. I was actually quite surprised, as I guess I just didn't look close enough for physical damage. Yes, the L/R ear sound elements needed replacement in order to restore perfect sound. But the other headband and earpad items were "optional".
Please see the reply from STAX as follows.
? Sound Elements
Yes, Sound Elements are paired by Stax by checking the electrical characteristics of each element, it has to replace both L&R channels at same time, not only one channel.
? Slide pad plates
Please refer to attached photo.(image1) and it shows obviously broken so it has to be replaced. Slide pad plate is to just fixed the Head pad.
? Ear Pads
Please refer to attached photo.(image2, 3)
The surface of Head-pad and Ear-Pad becomes hard due to adhesion of hairdressing oil you can see the deterioration.
STAX thinks that the hardened pad brings you bad feeling when you put on the headphone. Did you feel that before?
? Head pad
Please refer to attached photo.(image4)
Both side head pad is almost cut off. And it shows that it is close to actually breaking away anytime soon and therefore it is recommended to replace it.
Anyway, after getting all of my questions about mandatory vs. optional answered, as well as at least venting my surprise about the $1300 optional additional cost for two new earpads and a new headband, I finally decided to just give in and let them "recondition back to effectively brand new factory condition" my SR-009, for the $2600 price. So on Thursday June 21 I emailed my authorization to Kay, to go ahead with the complete repair (both mandatory and optional parts) as their engineer proposed. Estimated repair time was around two weeks.
Last week, on Monday July 16, I received an email from Kay stating that all repairs were complete, with an invoice for the $2600 repair and return shipping charge attached. On that same day I put through my payment through PayPal, and on Tuesday July 17 I received notice from Fedex of their international shipment to me. And just a few hours ago, on Thursday July 19, the Fedex guy delivered my SR-009 back to me at my door. It was once again sealed in the same original carton I'd sent them (with Yama's tag and original Stax serial number still on it) and beautiful original wood shipping box. Inside everything was freshly factory sealed in taped new plastic and molded foam padding and packaging materials, same as it all looked when I first bought it back in mid-2012. Just beautiful handling.
And, the really good news is that my SR-009 once again sounds beautiful! This story had a happy ending.
So, now, after about two months having elapsed since this entire saga began, I am once again back in business... albeit a fair amount lighter in the wallet. But even in the absence of Yama's, I was still actually able to accomplish a genuine Stax factory repair (with 3 month warranty) with genuine factory parts and genuine factory engineers performing the work.
I think it was worth it, and I have no regrets. But I will now be far more careful about handling my SR-009 (with its brand new earpads and headband, which I must admit definitely do feel snugger and even more comfortable now than they did as best I remember from a few months ago).
I now await the A16.
Great story through, thanks for sharing. Douglas from Stax is on YouTube in few videos. Shame that fixing is so expensive, at least they could have upgraded your 009 to 009S for that high price.
Now you have some great headphones for when the A16 is released. Sadly for me they didn't use all around genuine leather for the earpads when i had them and because of the heat i sold them.
Now you have some great headphones for when the A16 is released. Sadly for me they didn't use all around genuine leather for the earpads when i had them and because of the heat i sold them.
raband
500+ Head-Fier
We probably need to know where they are at with certification before any dates from them can be considered.
They've been a month away from being ready for it forever now, and the process itself will take another month (more if there are any adjustments or re-certification to be required)
The next "milestone" I'm really waiting on from them is the one where they let us know that the unit has finally been submitted.
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