Don Quichotte
500+ Head-Fier
As it's been about 9 months since I bought the Stax 3030 (Classic II) system I decided it's time to share some detailed impressions on its strengths, weaknesses and proper use. I also added some widespread knowledge about it, thinking that this review may help some newbies learn some important things about this combo or the Stax headphones in general without having to resort to heavy searching / posting for it. And if this makes it half a review, half a guide, so be it.
Please keep in mind that, besides the usual disclaimer that my ears are different to your ears (not to mention the brain
), I don't have access to so much audio gear. Therefore, my comments on the source matching, for example, might just not be (as) valid for the $10k sources out there.
OTHER GEAR I've tried the Stax with or compared against:
- Sources: Cambridge Audio D300 CD player, Apogee Mini-Dac w. USB, a Lynx sound card, some very short listening sessions with other gear (Meridian G08 CD player, an older $2k Conrad Johnson CD player, my Yamaha K690 cassette deck)
- Headphones: AKG K501, Sennheiser HD600 (only from the memory, but I remember them extremely well) If you are interested in my take on these two, either for itself or for gaining a better knowledge of my listening preferences so that you know how much credit to give to the review below, check this out: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25514
- Dynamic headphone amps: internal Apogee Mini-Dac amp or directly driven from the CD player line outputs
- Cables: Van den Hul "The Name", various DIY cables using cheap connectors and Proel, Cordial and Belden guitar, instrument and microphone cables, DIY digital cable using Belden cable, others (short audition of a Van den Hul D102 mk2 or mk3 interconnect in conjunction with the Meridian G08, etc.)
BUILT QUALITY, PROPER USE
Sound pressure levels Beware of loud listening! Stax’ very smooth, undistorted and not so impactful sound entices you to turn up the volume knob to dangerous levels. I am normally keeping the volume knob right in the middle between 9 and 10 o’clock, or 2 and respectively 3 as marked on the Stax amp, moving up to 10 o’clock or half past 10 for some orchestral pieces or other very dynamic or quiet material.
Wearing As common knowledge as it may be, perhaps it’s not so pointless to caution one more time the Stax users against wearing the phones with wet hair (not 100% dried after a shower, after coming from a walk in the rain or a heavy sweating activity – pick your choice for the last one
). Unrelated to the wet hair issue, Stax told me there is a protection film between the stators and the user’s ear and in the highly unlikely event of an electric shock (I insisted on “but still, what if…?”) the amperage is very small, but anyway: water and Stax headphones should never meet. OK, enough of this.
I find the headphones pretty comfortable, the pads are made of "high quality artificial leather" which seems high quality indeed. They make a seal around the ears, so it can get too warm inside after 1-2 hours of use during hot summer days. This seal seems to have an important role, as breaking it results in significantly more midbass but also has some negative sonic consequences such as lack of sound coherence, muddy bass, etc. I remember reading that it is not recommendable to burn in the headphones off the head unless you put some books between them as the drivers are designed to operate against the mechanical resistance of the air trapped inside the can.
I don't like to wear the Stax while eating or to move my head a lot (which was never a problem with the AKGs) as I can get occasionally some low intensity mechanical noises apparently made by the protection film on the inner side of the driver (especially on my left side). I'm not so sure this is 100% normal, but I have been able to alleviate the problem by gently pressing with my fingertips on the whole surface inside the can. Some users reported ear itching due to the inner foam of the headphone, but I've never had this problem.
EDIT: no more noises when moving my head after I got my phones serviced (drivers and cable replaced).
The clamping force is rather low and the phones are rather bulky, so headbanging is out of question. Wearing them in bed is OK as long as you put a small pillow under your head and roll up a bit its left and right sides to support the headphones. Make sure there’s no pillow or any other large object at least 30-40 cm. to the left or right of your head, otherwise some of the leaking sound waves will be reflected back to your headphone, leading to a cancellation effect perceived primarily as - but not restricted to – a collapsed soundstage. Another thing to mention is that it doesn't matter if you wear the headphones more to the front or to the back of the head, higher or lower – the sound is the same (unlike the dynamic headphones I've tried).
EDIT: Actually, after Ken B's remark, I discovered that it's not quite 100% independent of the headphone position on the head - just less dependent than the sound of the dynamic phones I've tried.
Cleaning A head-fier recommended using good quality sticky tape that doesn't leave glue marks (I'm using 3M / Scotch) for cleaning the headphones, removing hair, dandruff, etc. I think it's a good idea as long as you don't do it too often because I remember reading that the old Lambda's part that wears out first is precisely the inner foam.
Storage The phones' box seems stupid to me as it's difficult to put them in correctly if you need to transport them and the cable is seriously bend in several places. Although the cable is extremely flexible, I would avoid bending it at sharp angles as much as possible. At home I put the headphones in a plastic bag when not using them to protect them against dust.
Burning in, warming up The complete burn in is said to take very long by some users (a few hundred hours), while Stax Germany recommends 40-50 hours and cautions against playing loud during this period. Don’t forget the above mentioned books-in-between burn in recommendation. Also, many users suggest a certain warm-up period (some say 15 minutes, others say much more) before critical listening, presumably to allow the amplifier to warm up and also to allow the electrostatic diaphragms to get fully charged. I must confess I have good ear, but rather poor (audiophile) memory, so it was hard for me to assess the necessary burn in period (on the other hand, during this time interval I had to get accustomed to the particular Stax sound signature, which was perhaps an even more significant process than the physical burn in of the 3030 set). Same for the warming up: I usually turn the amp on (the headphones are plugged in all the time) about 15-20 minutes before planned listening time, but I often end up having some chores to do or whatever and reaching for the Stax phones only much later. Warming up matters, but in my opinion other factors such as a quiet environment could be even more important.
EDIT: According to the thread starter here, Stax Japan denied that there would be any need for burning in the headphones with books in between.
EDIT: Another year spent with the 3030 convinced me that warming up and charging (by playing music for a while - perhaps 30' to an hour) do matter in a rather subtle, but very important way. Before warming up and charging (yes, both are necessary, I repeat myself), the sound seems mostly OK, but bland, boring, a bit confuzed and lacking tridimensionality and sparkle. I discovered that I was enjoying the music much more after the first hour or so of playing through the Stax.
Built quality My set has some built quality quirks, and I've read quite a few reports of built quality problems with Stax gear, so I am inclined to believe their QC is not so good. One of the problems I have is related to the independent left and right channel volume pots: they are misaligned. Aligning them correctly by ear took me quite some time and effort as I am very sensitive to a perfect L/R balance (I must confess I was a bit afraid to use a voltmeter on the Stax amp headphone output). I must say that otherwise the pots feel like good quality as they move very smoothly and, once correctly aligned, I’ve never had channel balance problems at any (including very low) listening level. Another one consists in a certain buzz or flutter like sound I get occasionally (not very often) in any of the left / right headphones – apparently a malfunction of the drivers, and something I know some other Stax users having complained of too. I have found a symptomatic treatment that works, but it doesn’t cure the disease, so to speak.
On the positive side, I must say that both the phones and the amp look and feel well engineered and there are many people using old Stax headphones for a very long time. Treat them carefully and I bet they will last for more than 20 years with only one pads / inner foam replacement. Will report back in 2026
.
EDIT:Meanwhile, I've sent my headphnes to be repaired and they came back with new drivers and cable. No more problems so far, and even the channel imbalance was due to the bad drivers too, the volume pots are not misaligned. And by the way, there are some really nice people working at Stax Germany.
Sound isolation / leakage These leak a lot! Even more than my K501! And the sound isolation is almost 0. I could even say sometimes the sound isolation gets negative scores! OK, this needs an explanation. For one reason or another, I perceive some external noises slightly better (!) while wearing the headphones (music stopped, of course). I think it’s not necessarily a matter of a mechanical amplification of some external noises, although I wouldn’t completely rule out this explanation either. My supposition, however, is that some frequencies are better attenuated than others and therefore do not mask these “others” as well as when not wearing the headphones, making them more noticeable.
I will repeat this further on in this review, but I think it’s an important remark so I will mention it here too: a quiet environment, extremely quiet if possible, is mandatory if you want to really hear – and enjoy - what these headphones are capable of. Otherwise you’re only scratching the surface, so to speak. While this observation applies to a certain extent to other open headphones too, the lack of external noises (or internal – spit that damn chewing gum, for God’s sake!
) is much much more important for the Stax than for, say, my also very open AKGs.
EDIT: After writing this review, I tried the Stax 3030 setup plugged directly into the wall and it does make a significant difference indeed. It sounds fuller and more full bodied in the bass, the room is more belivable on orchestral pieces - as opposed to the comparatively thinner and slightly glassy sound when not plugged directly into the wall. This makes me think that others' recommendation for changing the power chord is probably worth trying.
SOUND QUALITY
General impression As a general characterization, the sound is rather bright, extremely smooth (gives the listener a very nice silky feeling) and detailed, airy and relaxed, fast and somewhat lacking impact. The first things I’ve noticed when listening to this combo for the first time were the smoothness – without sacrificing detail – and this relaxed approach to music. It is as if playing music, even the most complex and demanding passages, is just as natural and easy for the Stax as walking or speaking our own mother language for us. If properly matched to balance its bright tonal response, the Stax 3030 combo offers a very non-fatiguing music presentation.
Detail, speed, transients, microdynamics As everyone knows, electrostats are detail freaks, with a very fast sound and sharp transients. Well, it’s true, but some comments need to be made.
First, these qualities do not make for a forward, aggressive presentation – well, the general tonality is forward, but this is a different thing and will be discussed below. Detail is abundant, but it doesn’t force you to take notice of its presence. Relaxation and easiness are the key words here. It’s not necessarily a matter of “wow, I hear so many new sounds I never knew were here!”, although you get this effect too, but more a matter of a finer retrieval of the texture of sounds and the general feeling that “everything is so clear!”. A very important consequence of the great resolving ability of these headphones is the fact that, unlike my beloved K501, they never mix the instruments together, no matter how many are playing at the same time. The K501 provide superb midrange detail, but they are especially great for small scale music with acoustic instruments like some jazz and chamber music, while with the large orchestral pieces things are more mixed together and there is a tendency to highlight a dominant instrument or group of instruments that slightly masks the others. With some piano or other small scale recordings the K501 can compete with the SR-303; when switching to orchestral music there is no competition anymore, following the various individual lines of the different instruments and perceiving the melodic and harmonic relation between them is much easier with the electrostats. One of the merits of my Stax is that they made me rediscover Mahler.
Same is true for the transients. You perceive them as very fast, like things start very much “all of a sudden”, if I may say so, there is a very clear and sharp delineation between silence and music. Still, the transients do not pack a lot of energy, they do not “bite”, it’s just the energy available is released very fast, without smearing. The decay feels very precise too.
Spoiled as I am by many years of K501 listening, I must confess I’m a sucker for microdynamics. The 3030 combo provides. In spades! Nothing more to add here, I am very demanding when it comes to perceiving the slightest nuances, modulations, changes in the intensity of the sound and from my point of view the 3030 leaves absolutely nothing to be desired in this respect. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that for me the microdynamics of a piece of audio gear are strongly related to its capability to communicate the music. One of the reasons why I find both the K501 and the 3030 set to be extremely musical.
The 313 amp is dead quiet, so everything is very easy to hear against such a black background. The easiness in hearing every detail contributes to the non-fatiguing quality of this combo: you don’t have to strain to hear something, you don’t have to make an effort to get the whole picture, but rather you open your ears and everything comes to you naturally. One can be tempted to raise the volume because the Stax sound so smooth and undistorted, but truth is that they behave extremely well at very low listening levels too (something I could not say for the HD600; IMO the K501 are pretty good at this too, but I’ve read that neither the K701 nor the K1000 are too happy with low volume listening).
Since these outstanding resolving abilities make for much of the Stax charm and since the sound isolation is basically non-existent, the lack of external noises is of paramount importance for fully enjoying these phones. I repeat myself, but I feel this is all too important.
Macrodynamics, impact, tactile quality The 3030 can play very loud without distortion or any apparent effort, and it’s really fast. Consequently, the sudden fortissimo bursts of an orchestra are very convincing, intensity-wise. The impact is a different matter. These headphones lack impact as compared to their dynamic counterparts, and this is not restricted to the bass region. It’s not only that the bass punch is missing, but also the midrange lacks that tactile feeling the K501 – and I bet the higher tier AKG models too – excel at. To make things clear: the impact is not totally absent, it’s just obviously reduced. Personally, I got used to this electrostatic trait and I even enjoy it to a certain extent, although I wouldn’t say no to some more impact. As it is, it makes music listening even less fatiguing on the long term.
This diminished impact accounts for an even greater sensitivity to external noises. With the K501, the music has a tactile feeling that allows for a better differentiation from the external noises, on percussions I have the impression I feel the sound with my tympani. I must admit, this is an AKG trait I really enjoy. Not so with the Stax, the ‘stats present the music with a degree of impact more similar to the outer noises. This gets me thinking. Maybe this tactile feeling – I keep repeating these words for lack of better ones – some headphones possess is a compensation for the fact that, unlike the loudspeakers and the live music, they can not provide the physical impact that makes your body vibrate (once again, I’m not talking only about the bass). Maybe the Stax are more “correct” from this point of view, I don’t know.
Dimensional attributes, soundstage The K501 are know to have a very wide soundstage. The 303 trounce them. This enormous soundstage – I wonder how the K1000’s is! – allows lots of space and air around instruments. Delightful! Unlike the K501, there is some depth too. I’m not good at perceiving depth, but I can say 303 are better than K501 and may or may not be better than HD600. I think the Senns give some easier on the ear depth cues, perhaps because of their tonal response, but I might be wrong here, it’s all from the memory.
Overall, I perceive the imaging to be very good. Binaural recordings are very impressive indeed through the 303. I could even hear – very convincing! – sounds above my head!
As I said before, the relative lack of impact makes the distinction between the sounds produced by the phones and those produced in the environment more difficult. Perhaps it’s just me, but the soundstage edges seem to melt in a strange way into the outer world.
One more thing to mention here. The instruments seem bigger than in the AKGs, and sometimes they seem very big. I imagine this has something to do with the large surface of the Stax planar drivers, perhaps because of the superior involvement of the outer ear as compared to the dynamic phones. I don’t know, just a supposition. Anyway, I like it. Combined with the very large soundstage, it gives the music (especially orchestral music) an impressive sense of scale and grandeur.
General tonality, bass, mids, treble I bought this combo hoping for a quite neutral sound, but this is not the case. In fact, it’s rather unbalanced tonally, with well represented low bass, lacking midbass (and I think the upper bass is lacking a bit too), a not so even midrange response – at least compared to the very even K501 – and prominent upper midrange and treble. The general impression is of a rather bright and perhaps somewhat “grey” sound. While the K501 have a fantastic coherence across the frequency spectrum they cover well (i.e. from upper bass to lower treble), the Stax combo doesn’t score so well in this respect. The K501 bass (the existing bass, allright) is more tuneful and can reproduce the music in a more engaging manner. This is not to say that Stax bass is slow by any means, it just doesn’t pack quite the same melodic power (although it’s quite musical in its own right). The frequency extension, on the other hand, is truly excellent, both up and down.
This sound signature is perhaps the 3030’s weakest part. However, it can be alleviated to a very large extent by careful component matching (see the “matching” section below), making in the end for a very seductive sound.
A similar trait to the K501, and something I value very much, is the fact that the bass and the midrange do not seem to affect each other at all. The bass doesn’t make the mids sound muddy or dirty (like the HD600 bass does), the mids don’t mask the bass even when there is very little bass in the mix (something that makes the K501 bass roll off much more acceptable, btw.). But the Stax go even further: no frequency seems to affect, mask etc. any other, in the mids or anywhere else.
Many people talk about a so called treble etch as a drawback of both the older and the current Lambda series Stax headphones (including the 303 and 404). I don’t hear this or I do not recognize it as such. Maybe with very expensive and high quality source and headphones (for comparison) one could notice a too smooth, detail-masking treble response on the 303’s part, I don’t know. From my point of view, treble is very good and, due of the correct reproduction of the upper harmonics, adds a touch of realism to the reproduction of acoustic instruments.
Instrument reproduction, timbres and colors The Stax capabilities to accurately reproduce instruments represent a direct consequence of at least three main performance areas: tonality, dynamics, detail.
The tonal imbalances of the 3030 obviously affect its reproduction of instruments, and it’s hard to believe a synergic source would solve this problem 100%. The same is true for some dynamic aspects: bass punch, impact. But even so, a complementary source can go a long way in this direction. True, there will always be some instruments better reproduced than others: violins can sound very good (although can be almost too smooth sometimes) and so can harp, female voices, any high pitched percussions (triangle, cymbals, etc.), harpsichord, brass and winds. Ambient sounds like footsteps are very convincing. Medium and low pitched percussions always sound very articulate and clear, but sometimes a bit more substance wouldn’t go amiss. Yet, the big drums, tympani and the like benefit from the impression of listening to a very big instrument that the Stax so skillfully convey. Acoustic guitars and cello are OK, but perhaps a tiny bit more body to the sound would be welcome – as if the sound of the strings themselves is slightly favored against the resonance of the wooden body of the instrument. Nothing seriously wrong, anyway. The piano is a tougher trial for the 3030. It doesn’t have the rolled off upper harmonics that plague the K501’s piano reproduction, but it doesn’t sound as coherent and with that perfect balance between of string and body sound as the K501 either. Sometimes, on certain piano recordings (particularly those with full bass and lots of treble), I may prefer the K501 to the 3030. The Stax can make piano sound artificial if not mated with a very synergic source.
But instrument reproduction is helped a lot by the excellent detail and microdynamics of this combo and by its large palette of colors. While the former two offer the listener a deeper insight into the texture of the sounds and a finer portrayal of the decay (not to mention the better grasp on the various individual melodic lines in a choral or organ work), the later results into a better differentiation of the timbres of the instruments. When properly matched (again this remark! – but it’s important to compensate for the Stax bright and grey – does this yield silvery? - coloration) and if the recording does not have a really excessive amount of high frequency content, the Stax combo doesn’t seem to have a sound of its own. Now the sonic landscape is sunk in darkness, the next moment a cymbal makes its contrasting appearance like the lighting of a match; a plucked double bass brings the reassuring resonances of its wooden body, and when your heart feels caressed the autumn colors of the oboe stir your most hidden emotions. You get the picture. Any headphone can portray different colors, but not all of them can make these colors as contrasting as the Stax.
It’s important to notice that the Stax are not colorful on their own (unlike the HD600, for example), they just reflect in an uninhibited manner the palette of colors of the source. The richer it is, the better – the 3030 will not be the weak link in this respect.
Matching: upstream components, recordings, music styles, listener’s preferences I guess you understood by now how important is the proper matching for a Stax based system if it is to sound really good. How should sound a source (+ interconnect, don’t underestimate its importance!) to be a good match for the 3030? Well, let’s make a standard profile. It should have a warm and colorful sound, with strong and punchy midbass and generally speaking an open (stay away from components with a cloudy midrange as much as from those with piercing upper mids!) and dynamic sound. Oh, and the treble should be very smooth and a little subdued. A great soundstage is most positively welcome. In my opinion, the tonal characteristics of the source (+IC) are the most important for this synergy, then the dynamic aspects and only in the third place the actual resolution / bass tightness / transient sharpness, etc. This is why at this moment I prefer the cheap Cambridge D300 to the much more expensive Apogee Mini-Dac with its stock power supply (still experimenting with battery power). Also, I prefer a cheap DIY two meters long interconnect to any other IC I have, including some built with much shorter runs of the same cable and similar connectors (!). My Cambridge / Apogee comparison can be found here: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=152558 (in the mean time I have found another cable that made me favor the Apogee for speaker listening, but still not for the Stax).
I must admit that I believe I was lucky to find so easy the right partners for the 3030 set. You might have to work much harder (suggestion: other users reported good synergy with the Aqvox Dac or some Naim CD players). But once properly matched, this Stax combo plays everything with great enthusiasm. Many users say that Stax are unforgiving with bad recorded material. I disagree, I think in their case it must be a matter of system synergy. My setup is revealing and even slightly bright, and yet I can listen to an old Beatles recording and enjoy not only the music, but also the sound! There is no CD in my whole collection I am reluctant to audition in my Stax setup, none! OK, some sound better than others. I cannot comment on the famous Stax / vinyl match, but as far as musical genres are concerned I can say that acoustic instruments and especially orchestral pieces are the Stax’ strong points. To my surprise, metal sounds pretty good too in my Stax and so does Bjork, for example, but other users may prefer more punch for these. This is why I would still recommend the 3030 primarily for jazz and classical music listeners (and AKG lovers), but please keep in mind that I also listen to old rock, electronic, etc. and I am very satisfied with my setup.
CONCLUSION: A SYNTHETIC CHARACTERISATION
Strong points: gorgeous detail, speed and precision, soundstage, frequency extension, scale, microdynamics, black background, great range of colors; smooth, relaxed and easy on the ear sound; very quiet listening levels as well as loud peaks are no problem for the Stax; very musical
Weak points: possibly not so good QC; lack of impact (that tactile quality) and bass punch as compared to the dynamic headphones; serious sound leakage; a quiet environment is very important; an uneven frequency response makes a matching source + IC (with a complementary coloration) mandatory, and it may just prove not so easy to find.
So… that’s it, folks! Enjoy your music!
Please keep in mind that, besides the usual disclaimer that my ears are different to your ears (not to mention the brain
OTHER GEAR I've tried the Stax with or compared against:
- Sources: Cambridge Audio D300 CD player, Apogee Mini-Dac w. USB, a Lynx sound card, some very short listening sessions with other gear (Meridian G08 CD player, an older $2k Conrad Johnson CD player, my Yamaha K690 cassette deck)
- Headphones: AKG K501, Sennheiser HD600 (only from the memory, but I remember them extremely well) If you are interested in my take on these two, either for itself or for gaining a better knowledge of my listening preferences so that you know how much credit to give to the review below, check this out: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25514
- Dynamic headphone amps: internal Apogee Mini-Dac amp or directly driven from the CD player line outputs
- Cables: Van den Hul "The Name", various DIY cables using cheap connectors and Proel, Cordial and Belden guitar, instrument and microphone cables, DIY digital cable using Belden cable, others (short audition of a Van den Hul D102 mk2 or mk3 interconnect in conjunction with the Meridian G08, etc.)
BUILT QUALITY, PROPER USE
Sound pressure levels Beware of loud listening! Stax’ very smooth, undistorted and not so impactful sound entices you to turn up the volume knob to dangerous levels. I am normally keeping the volume knob right in the middle between 9 and 10 o’clock, or 2 and respectively 3 as marked on the Stax amp, moving up to 10 o’clock or half past 10 for some orchestral pieces or other very dynamic or quiet material.
Wearing As common knowledge as it may be, perhaps it’s not so pointless to caution one more time the Stax users against wearing the phones with wet hair (not 100% dried after a shower, after coming from a walk in the rain or a heavy sweating activity – pick your choice for the last one
I find the headphones pretty comfortable, the pads are made of "high quality artificial leather" which seems high quality indeed. They make a seal around the ears, so it can get too warm inside after 1-2 hours of use during hot summer days. This seal seems to have an important role, as breaking it results in significantly more midbass but also has some negative sonic consequences such as lack of sound coherence, muddy bass, etc. I remember reading that it is not recommendable to burn in the headphones off the head unless you put some books between them as the drivers are designed to operate against the mechanical resistance of the air trapped inside the can.
I don't like to wear the Stax while eating or to move my head a lot (which was never a problem with the AKGs) as I can get occasionally some low intensity mechanical noises apparently made by the protection film on the inner side of the driver (especially on my left side). I'm not so sure this is 100% normal, but I have been able to alleviate the problem by gently pressing with my fingertips on the whole surface inside the can. Some users reported ear itching due to the inner foam of the headphone, but I've never had this problem.
EDIT: no more noises when moving my head after I got my phones serviced (drivers and cable replaced).
The clamping force is rather low and the phones are rather bulky, so headbanging is out of question. Wearing them in bed is OK as long as you put a small pillow under your head and roll up a bit its left and right sides to support the headphones. Make sure there’s no pillow or any other large object at least 30-40 cm. to the left or right of your head, otherwise some of the leaking sound waves will be reflected back to your headphone, leading to a cancellation effect perceived primarily as - but not restricted to – a collapsed soundstage. Another thing to mention is that it doesn't matter if you wear the headphones more to the front or to the back of the head, higher or lower – the sound is the same (unlike the dynamic headphones I've tried).
EDIT: Actually, after Ken B's remark, I discovered that it's not quite 100% independent of the headphone position on the head - just less dependent than the sound of the dynamic phones I've tried.
Cleaning A head-fier recommended using good quality sticky tape that doesn't leave glue marks (I'm using 3M / Scotch) for cleaning the headphones, removing hair, dandruff, etc. I think it's a good idea as long as you don't do it too often because I remember reading that the old Lambda's part that wears out first is precisely the inner foam.
Storage The phones' box seems stupid to me as it's difficult to put them in correctly if you need to transport them and the cable is seriously bend in several places. Although the cable is extremely flexible, I would avoid bending it at sharp angles as much as possible. At home I put the headphones in a plastic bag when not using them to protect them against dust.
Burning in, warming up The complete burn in is said to take very long by some users (a few hundred hours), while Stax Germany recommends 40-50 hours and cautions against playing loud during this period. Don’t forget the above mentioned books-in-between burn in recommendation. Also, many users suggest a certain warm-up period (some say 15 minutes, others say much more) before critical listening, presumably to allow the amplifier to warm up and also to allow the electrostatic diaphragms to get fully charged. I must confess I have good ear, but rather poor (audiophile) memory, so it was hard for me to assess the necessary burn in period (on the other hand, during this time interval I had to get accustomed to the particular Stax sound signature, which was perhaps an even more significant process than the physical burn in of the 3030 set). Same for the warming up: I usually turn the amp on (the headphones are plugged in all the time) about 15-20 minutes before planned listening time, but I often end up having some chores to do or whatever and reaching for the Stax phones only much later. Warming up matters, but in my opinion other factors such as a quiet environment could be even more important.
EDIT: According to the thread starter here, Stax Japan denied that there would be any need for burning in the headphones with books in between.
EDIT: Another year spent with the 3030 convinced me that warming up and charging (by playing music for a while - perhaps 30' to an hour) do matter in a rather subtle, but very important way. Before warming up and charging (yes, both are necessary, I repeat myself), the sound seems mostly OK, but bland, boring, a bit confuzed and lacking tridimensionality and sparkle. I discovered that I was enjoying the music much more after the first hour or so of playing through the Stax.
Built quality My set has some built quality quirks, and I've read quite a few reports of built quality problems with Stax gear, so I am inclined to believe their QC is not so good. One of the problems I have is related to the independent left and right channel volume pots: they are misaligned. Aligning them correctly by ear took me quite some time and effort as I am very sensitive to a perfect L/R balance (I must confess I was a bit afraid to use a voltmeter on the Stax amp headphone output). I must say that otherwise the pots feel like good quality as they move very smoothly and, once correctly aligned, I’ve never had channel balance problems at any (including very low) listening level. Another one consists in a certain buzz or flutter like sound I get occasionally (not very often) in any of the left / right headphones – apparently a malfunction of the drivers, and something I know some other Stax users having complained of too. I have found a symptomatic treatment that works, but it doesn’t cure the disease, so to speak.
On the positive side, I must say that both the phones and the amp look and feel well engineered and there are many people using old Stax headphones for a very long time. Treat them carefully and I bet they will last for more than 20 years with only one pads / inner foam replacement. Will report back in 2026
EDIT:Meanwhile, I've sent my headphnes to be repaired and they came back with new drivers and cable. No more problems so far, and even the channel imbalance was due to the bad drivers too, the volume pots are not misaligned. And by the way, there are some really nice people working at Stax Germany.
Sound isolation / leakage These leak a lot! Even more than my K501! And the sound isolation is almost 0. I could even say sometimes the sound isolation gets negative scores! OK, this needs an explanation. For one reason or another, I perceive some external noises slightly better (!) while wearing the headphones (music stopped, of course). I think it’s not necessarily a matter of a mechanical amplification of some external noises, although I wouldn’t completely rule out this explanation either. My supposition, however, is that some frequencies are better attenuated than others and therefore do not mask these “others” as well as when not wearing the headphones, making them more noticeable.
I will repeat this further on in this review, but I think it’s an important remark so I will mention it here too: a quiet environment, extremely quiet if possible, is mandatory if you want to really hear – and enjoy - what these headphones are capable of. Otherwise you’re only scratching the surface, so to speak. While this observation applies to a certain extent to other open headphones too, the lack of external noises (or internal – spit that damn chewing gum, for God’s sake!
EDIT: After writing this review, I tried the Stax 3030 setup plugged directly into the wall and it does make a significant difference indeed. It sounds fuller and more full bodied in the bass, the room is more belivable on orchestral pieces - as opposed to the comparatively thinner and slightly glassy sound when not plugged directly into the wall. This makes me think that others' recommendation for changing the power chord is probably worth trying.
SOUND QUALITY
General impression As a general characterization, the sound is rather bright, extremely smooth (gives the listener a very nice silky feeling) and detailed, airy and relaxed, fast and somewhat lacking impact. The first things I’ve noticed when listening to this combo for the first time were the smoothness – without sacrificing detail – and this relaxed approach to music. It is as if playing music, even the most complex and demanding passages, is just as natural and easy for the Stax as walking or speaking our own mother language for us. If properly matched to balance its bright tonal response, the Stax 3030 combo offers a very non-fatiguing music presentation.
Detail, speed, transients, microdynamics As everyone knows, electrostats are detail freaks, with a very fast sound and sharp transients. Well, it’s true, but some comments need to be made.
First, these qualities do not make for a forward, aggressive presentation – well, the general tonality is forward, but this is a different thing and will be discussed below. Detail is abundant, but it doesn’t force you to take notice of its presence. Relaxation and easiness are the key words here. It’s not necessarily a matter of “wow, I hear so many new sounds I never knew were here!”, although you get this effect too, but more a matter of a finer retrieval of the texture of sounds and the general feeling that “everything is so clear!”. A very important consequence of the great resolving ability of these headphones is the fact that, unlike my beloved K501, they never mix the instruments together, no matter how many are playing at the same time. The K501 provide superb midrange detail, but they are especially great for small scale music with acoustic instruments like some jazz and chamber music, while with the large orchestral pieces things are more mixed together and there is a tendency to highlight a dominant instrument or group of instruments that slightly masks the others. With some piano or other small scale recordings the K501 can compete with the SR-303; when switching to orchestral music there is no competition anymore, following the various individual lines of the different instruments and perceiving the melodic and harmonic relation between them is much easier with the electrostats. One of the merits of my Stax is that they made me rediscover Mahler.
Same is true for the transients. You perceive them as very fast, like things start very much “all of a sudden”, if I may say so, there is a very clear and sharp delineation between silence and music. Still, the transients do not pack a lot of energy, they do not “bite”, it’s just the energy available is released very fast, without smearing. The decay feels very precise too.
Spoiled as I am by many years of K501 listening, I must confess I’m a sucker for microdynamics. The 3030 combo provides. In spades! Nothing more to add here, I am very demanding when it comes to perceiving the slightest nuances, modulations, changes in the intensity of the sound and from my point of view the 3030 leaves absolutely nothing to be desired in this respect. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that for me the microdynamics of a piece of audio gear are strongly related to its capability to communicate the music. One of the reasons why I find both the K501 and the 3030 set to be extremely musical.
The 313 amp is dead quiet, so everything is very easy to hear against such a black background. The easiness in hearing every detail contributes to the non-fatiguing quality of this combo: you don’t have to strain to hear something, you don’t have to make an effort to get the whole picture, but rather you open your ears and everything comes to you naturally. One can be tempted to raise the volume because the Stax sound so smooth and undistorted, but truth is that they behave extremely well at very low listening levels too (something I could not say for the HD600; IMO the K501 are pretty good at this too, but I’ve read that neither the K701 nor the K1000 are too happy with low volume listening).
Since these outstanding resolving abilities make for much of the Stax charm and since the sound isolation is basically non-existent, the lack of external noises is of paramount importance for fully enjoying these phones. I repeat myself, but I feel this is all too important.
Macrodynamics, impact, tactile quality The 3030 can play very loud without distortion or any apparent effort, and it’s really fast. Consequently, the sudden fortissimo bursts of an orchestra are very convincing, intensity-wise. The impact is a different matter. These headphones lack impact as compared to their dynamic counterparts, and this is not restricted to the bass region. It’s not only that the bass punch is missing, but also the midrange lacks that tactile feeling the K501 – and I bet the higher tier AKG models too – excel at. To make things clear: the impact is not totally absent, it’s just obviously reduced. Personally, I got used to this electrostatic trait and I even enjoy it to a certain extent, although I wouldn’t say no to some more impact. As it is, it makes music listening even less fatiguing on the long term.
This diminished impact accounts for an even greater sensitivity to external noises. With the K501, the music has a tactile feeling that allows for a better differentiation from the external noises, on percussions I have the impression I feel the sound with my tympani. I must admit, this is an AKG trait I really enjoy. Not so with the Stax, the ‘stats present the music with a degree of impact more similar to the outer noises. This gets me thinking. Maybe this tactile feeling – I keep repeating these words for lack of better ones – some headphones possess is a compensation for the fact that, unlike the loudspeakers and the live music, they can not provide the physical impact that makes your body vibrate (once again, I’m not talking only about the bass). Maybe the Stax are more “correct” from this point of view, I don’t know.
Dimensional attributes, soundstage The K501 are know to have a very wide soundstage. The 303 trounce them. This enormous soundstage – I wonder how the K1000’s is! – allows lots of space and air around instruments. Delightful! Unlike the K501, there is some depth too. I’m not good at perceiving depth, but I can say 303 are better than K501 and may or may not be better than HD600. I think the Senns give some easier on the ear depth cues, perhaps because of their tonal response, but I might be wrong here, it’s all from the memory.
Overall, I perceive the imaging to be very good. Binaural recordings are very impressive indeed through the 303. I could even hear – very convincing! – sounds above my head!
As I said before, the relative lack of impact makes the distinction between the sounds produced by the phones and those produced in the environment more difficult. Perhaps it’s just me, but the soundstage edges seem to melt in a strange way into the outer world.
One more thing to mention here. The instruments seem bigger than in the AKGs, and sometimes they seem very big. I imagine this has something to do with the large surface of the Stax planar drivers, perhaps because of the superior involvement of the outer ear as compared to the dynamic phones. I don’t know, just a supposition. Anyway, I like it. Combined with the very large soundstage, it gives the music (especially orchestral music) an impressive sense of scale and grandeur.
General tonality, bass, mids, treble I bought this combo hoping for a quite neutral sound, but this is not the case. In fact, it’s rather unbalanced tonally, with well represented low bass, lacking midbass (and I think the upper bass is lacking a bit too), a not so even midrange response – at least compared to the very even K501 – and prominent upper midrange and treble. The general impression is of a rather bright and perhaps somewhat “grey” sound. While the K501 have a fantastic coherence across the frequency spectrum they cover well (i.e. from upper bass to lower treble), the Stax combo doesn’t score so well in this respect. The K501 bass (the existing bass, allright) is more tuneful and can reproduce the music in a more engaging manner. This is not to say that Stax bass is slow by any means, it just doesn’t pack quite the same melodic power (although it’s quite musical in its own right). The frequency extension, on the other hand, is truly excellent, both up and down.
This sound signature is perhaps the 3030’s weakest part. However, it can be alleviated to a very large extent by careful component matching (see the “matching” section below), making in the end for a very seductive sound.
A similar trait to the K501, and something I value very much, is the fact that the bass and the midrange do not seem to affect each other at all. The bass doesn’t make the mids sound muddy or dirty (like the HD600 bass does), the mids don’t mask the bass even when there is very little bass in the mix (something that makes the K501 bass roll off much more acceptable, btw.). But the Stax go even further: no frequency seems to affect, mask etc. any other, in the mids or anywhere else.
Many people talk about a so called treble etch as a drawback of both the older and the current Lambda series Stax headphones (including the 303 and 404). I don’t hear this or I do not recognize it as such. Maybe with very expensive and high quality source and headphones (for comparison) one could notice a too smooth, detail-masking treble response on the 303’s part, I don’t know. From my point of view, treble is very good and, due of the correct reproduction of the upper harmonics, adds a touch of realism to the reproduction of acoustic instruments.
Instrument reproduction, timbres and colors The Stax capabilities to accurately reproduce instruments represent a direct consequence of at least three main performance areas: tonality, dynamics, detail.
The tonal imbalances of the 3030 obviously affect its reproduction of instruments, and it’s hard to believe a synergic source would solve this problem 100%. The same is true for some dynamic aspects: bass punch, impact. But even so, a complementary source can go a long way in this direction. True, there will always be some instruments better reproduced than others: violins can sound very good (although can be almost too smooth sometimes) and so can harp, female voices, any high pitched percussions (triangle, cymbals, etc.), harpsichord, brass and winds. Ambient sounds like footsteps are very convincing. Medium and low pitched percussions always sound very articulate and clear, but sometimes a bit more substance wouldn’t go amiss. Yet, the big drums, tympani and the like benefit from the impression of listening to a very big instrument that the Stax so skillfully convey. Acoustic guitars and cello are OK, but perhaps a tiny bit more body to the sound would be welcome – as if the sound of the strings themselves is slightly favored against the resonance of the wooden body of the instrument. Nothing seriously wrong, anyway. The piano is a tougher trial for the 3030. It doesn’t have the rolled off upper harmonics that plague the K501’s piano reproduction, but it doesn’t sound as coherent and with that perfect balance between of string and body sound as the K501 either. Sometimes, on certain piano recordings (particularly those with full bass and lots of treble), I may prefer the K501 to the 3030. The Stax can make piano sound artificial if not mated with a very synergic source.
But instrument reproduction is helped a lot by the excellent detail and microdynamics of this combo and by its large palette of colors. While the former two offer the listener a deeper insight into the texture of the sounds and a finer portrayal of the decay (not to mention the better grasp on the various individual melodic lines in a choral or organ work), the later results into a better differentiation of the timbres of the instruments. When properly matched (again this remark! – but it’s important to compensate for the Stax bright and grey – does this yield silvery? - coloration) and if the recording does not have a really excessive amount of high frequency content, the Stax combo doesn’t seem to have a sound of its own. Now the sonic landscape is sunk in darkness, the next moment a cymbal makes its contrasting appearance like the lighting of a match; a plucked double bass brings the reassuring resonances of its wooden body, and when your heart feels caressed the autumn colors of the oboe stir your most hidden emotions. You get the picture. Any headphone can portray different colors, but not all of them can make these colors as contrasting as the Stax.
It’s important to notice that the Stax are not colorful on their own (unlike the HD600, for example), they just reflect in an uninhibited manner the palette of colors of the source. The richer it is, the better – the 3030 will not be the weak link in this respect.
Matching: upstream components, recordings, music styles, listener’s preferences I guess you understood by now how important is the proper matching for a Stax based system if it is to sound really good. How should sound a source (+ interconnect, don’t underestimate its importance!) to be a good match for the 3030? Well, let’s make a standard profile. It should have a warm and colorful sound, with strong and punchy midbass and generally speaking an open (stay away from components with a cloudy midrange as much as from those with piercing upper mids!) and dynamic sound. Oh, and the treble should be very smooth and a little subdued. A great soundstage is most positively welcome. In my opinion, the tonal characteristics of the source (+IC) are the most important for this synergy, then the dynamic aspects and only in the third place the actual resolution / bass tightness / transient sharpness, etc. This is why at this moment I prefer the cheap Cambridge D300 to the much more expensive Apogee Mini-Dac with its stock power supply (still experimenting with battery power). Also, I prefer a cheap DIY two meters long interconnect to any other IC I have, including some built with much shorter runs of the same cable and similar connectors (!). My Cambridge / Apogee comparison can be found here: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=152558 (in the mean time I have found another cable that made me favor the Apogee for speaker listening, but still not for the Stax).
I must admit that I believe I was lucky to find so easy the right partners for the 3030 set. You might have to work much harder (suggestion: other users reported good synergy with the Aqvox Dac or some Naim CD players). But once properly matched, this Stax combo plays everything with great enthusiasm. Many users say that Stax are unforgiving with bad recorded material. I disagree, I think in their case it must be a matter of system synergy. My setup is revealing and even slightly bright, and yet I can listen to an old Beatles recording and enjoy not only the music, but also the sound! There is no CD in my whole collection I am reluctant to audition in my Stax setup, none! OK, some sound better than others. I cannot comment on the famous Stax / vinyl match, but as far as musical genres are concerned I can say that acoustic instruments and especially orchestral pieces are the Stax’ strong points. To my surprise, metal sounds pretty good too in my Stax and so does Bjork, for example, but other users may prefer more punch for these. This is why I would still recommend the 3030 primarily for jazz and classical music listeners (and AKG lovers), but please keep in mind that I also listen to old rock, electronic, etc. and I am very satisfied with my setup.
CONCLUSION: A SYNTHETIC CHARACTERISATION
Strong points: gorgeous detail, speed and precision, soundstage, frequency extension, scale, microdynamics, black background, great range of colors; smooth, relaxed and easy on the ear sound; very quiet listening levels as well as loud peaks are no problem for the Stax; very musical
Weak points: possibly not so good QC; lack of impact (that tactile quality) and bass punch as compared to the dynamic headphones; serious sound leakage; a quiet environment is very important; an uneven frequency response makes a matching source + IC (with a complementary coloration) mandatory, and it may just prove not so easy to find.
So… that’s it, folks! Enjoy your music!
