[Snave]

Hi everyone,
I'm having some whistling noise issues with my Stax 407 headphones. I've sent them back to Japan for repair and they found nothing, but the noise remains. Given the nature of the noise I strongly felt the problem was in the phones, but perhaps it's in the 323s driver unit? Anyway if there's anyone out there in Perth, WA with a Stax system to help me do some diagnostics I'd be really grateful, it would possibly avoid some more pointless shipping/waiting.
Thanks in advance!

 

[dukeskd]

Quote:

Hi everyone,
I'm having some whistling noise issues with my Stax 407 headphones. I've sent them back to Japan for repair and they found nothing, but the noise remains. Given the nature of the noise I strongly felt the problem was in the phones, but perhaps it's in the 323s driver unit? Anyway if there's anyone out there in Perth, WA with a Stax system to help me do some diagnostics I'd be really grateful, it would possibly avoid some more pointless shipping/waiting.
Thanks in advance!

What kind of noise is it? Have you looked into ground loop noise? It may actually be coming from your source rather than the amp.

 

[Snave]

Hi dukeskd
Its kind of a high frequency whistling/hissing/static noise. Only in the right channel, and it seems to be affected by head movement or pressure/contact. Sometimes it's absent for long periods, other times constant. When present, it's unaffected by changing the volume on the amp. I'll experiment with changing the connections though, as you suggest, to rule out source or ground loops etc. I posted a while back in the Stax thread, and people seemed to think there was dust in the driver.
Thanks for your reply

 

[AnakChan]

I have a feeling that you're not going to find Stax in Perth but there may be a distributor or something like that in the eastern states.
 
If you don't mind me asking, where did you buy your Stax headphone from? Next Monday, Fujiya in Tokyo will have a mini event. I can try to ask the Stax folks of what could be done for your 407. Usually, Stax Japan doesn't deal with customers directly but via the retailer who sold the headphone, or overseas distributor.
 
However if I'm able to get some help from them, would you be interested in me taking your 407 back to them for a checkup? I'm actually flying back to Perth in August for a quick 1 week trip.

 

[Snave]

Hi anakchan
I bought them through pricejapan, and no it's not looking hopeful for another stax setup in perth. I'm in melbourne for 3 weeks now, and have brought the 407s with me to test with a different amp at dealer. Btw, the noise seems to have cleared up now, but the right channel is now very much lower than the left, so still something is not right.

 

[AnakChan]

Hi anakchan
I bought them through pricejapan, and no it's not looking hopeful for another stax setup in perth. I'm in melbourne for 3 weeks now, and have brought the 407s with me to test with a different amp at dealer. Btw, the noise seems to have cleared up now, but the right channel is now very much lower than the left, so still something is not right.

Lower in terms of volume? Funny that recently I just helped a friend send in his SR-009 due to channel imbalance. It didn't happen immediately but required about 30 mins run in and the right (or left? I can't remember) would lose volume significantly (but didn't die completely). Stax owners of other models also had similar issues. There weren't that many dodgy units out there but some so exist.

 

[Snave]

Yes mine will start up ok after being off for a long time, but within 3-4 mins the right channel has dropped off significantly. I can compensate with the volume control on the amp, but then the sound will distort in the right channel in loud passages. I'll test them on another amp, but will most likely have to send the whole rig back to Japan.