[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by $qwuzzy i know what you mean about cranking the volume!!! you just never notice it! i'm actually quite scared now, 'cause i never listen high!

Just don't blast them, and you'll be fine. I was playing mine at stupidly loud levels for months. Now that I've forced myself to acclimate to normal listening levels, I can't simply stand to have them as loud as they were back in the day. My ears haven't gotten any worse for the last year either, despite listening 4-6 hours a day; in fact, the tinnitus has lessened of late.

 

[Duggeh]

I must say that you've sold me. The long save begins...

 

[Oliver :)]

Nice review smeggy, thank you for putting some more fuel into my inner flame crying for electrostats.

I am a wee bit torn. The SR-001 MKII makes for the best priced entry (the driver unit alone is cheaper than the system at Audiocubes

) but I do not think I would actually use them on the go due to isolation issues. I appreciate my HD25 and ER-4S for a reason - it tends to be loud outside. I am also put off by the little runtime of the amp and the whole issue about the special connector. The Stax SRS-005A looks much better in that regard. I assume the amp unit coming along with it is truly sufficient, or will one suffer from upgraditis after a couple of weeks? It looks like the ideal desk system to me, provided create a little cable-contraption so I can use my Xinfeed adaptor with it instead of having to shell out for a Corda Cross-1...

Does anyone here have experience with ordering from Audiocubes to Europe/Germany? Any tax related worries?

 

[smeggy]

Thanks guys, appreciated.

Oliver, I think the 005 could well be the best cost/performance setup as the 001 battery life has been reported to be very poor. It's the one I would probably choose if I didn't already have the 313 amp. I don't think you would suffer upgradeitis too much as I suspect the jump in performance between the two amps would be relatively small via the 003 but that's really supposition on my part, however, I think it's somewhat true. Although it's ostensibly a portable headset, it would serve as a desktop setup very well. That's what I use mine for.

PS.
Kevin Gilmore is in the process of creating a portable battery amp that uses the standard Stax plug, hopefully it'll give us the best of all worlds.

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy Olivier, I think the 005 could well be the best cost/performance setup as the 001 battery life has been reported to be very poor.

I wonder about the burn in / charge up. How well does that work out with the 001? Is one always halfway through the set of batteries before the phones are at full potential?


Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy I don't think you would suffer upgradeitis too much as I suspect the jump in performance between the two amps would be relatively small via the 003 but that's really supposition on my part, however, I think it's somewhat true.

Of course, better upgrade the phones too, just to be sure

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy Although it's ostensibly a portable headset, it would serve as a desktop setup very well. That's what I use mine for.

Thank you for the reply.

I want something for my desktop that is not as isolating / clamping as the HD25, not as limiting in mobility as the Etys... Another question: How microphonic are the 003s?

 

[smeggy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver I wonder about the burn in / charge up. How well does that work out with the 001? Is one always halfway through the set of batteries before the phones are at full potential?

Catscratch would be the one to answer that as he has the 001

Quote:

Thank you for the reply. I want something for my desktop that is not as isolating / clamping as the HD25, not as limiting in mobility as the Etys... Another question: How microphonic are the 003s?

One thing, the 003 cable is only about as long as the Ety one so you're still on a short leash. Thankfully the cable isn't very microphonic at all but it would still benefit from a tie-clip to stop any tugging.

 

[TheSloth]

I'm sure you can beef up the portable amplifier for home use as it allows connection to a standard power supply. It is rated for 4.5V, versus the 3V from batteries and you can get pretty good wall warts these days so that might even out the difference somewhat.

 

[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver I wonder about the burn in / charge up. How well does that work out with the 001? Is one always halfway through the set of batteries before the phones are at full potential?

I would say that the first 5 minutes of charge-up have the most effect, after that, they reach their peak performance after 30 minutes. But, 5 minutes of actual charge-up is all you really need under portable applications. If I run them out of an AC adapter, I let them charge up for 30 min before use, but with batteries, it's not that big a deal.

The amp lasts around 4 hours for me off a set of regular AA's - more if you have a high-output source and are running the amp at a lower volume. If you're using a low-output source, on the other hand, you could go through a pair of AA's in 2 hours.

KG working on a portable 'stat amp? I've heard the rumors but never had anything confirmed. It would be pretty cool, though.

 

[smeggy]

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=167063

 

[catscratch]

Cool, thanks. Yet another gizmo to look forward to. As if my list wasn't full enough already

 

[sniks7]

Use rechargeable batteries, the 2,500 mva ones. I get more time out of them than I can be bothered to count..7/8hrs maybe

The headband is vaguely microphonic in high winds, but if you're on the go, there is not really enough isolation to be able to hear small microphonics over ambient noise.

I generally use these portably, with a 5g iPod, on the train, walking to work and so on. Given all the environmental noise warm-up is not a huge issue. On top of this, I've found the set-up to be fairly insensitive to different cables - could be the amp is just about up to the job and no more.

Using a wall wart improves drive and pace, but again, it's a marginal improvement (i also get a bit of hum out of my non-stax wall wart). I've been told the Stax wall wart is nothing special (by a UK dealer).

I have plugged them into an EAR834p running out of my Rock/RB250/vdh MC1 set up. They were good, but sounded a trifle overwhelmed. Again, I wonder about the amp/energiser.

On the headband thing, I remember sending in a post that never in the history of hifi had something so cheap looking and uncomfortable sounded so good! However, after a while, the headband becomes a boon and helps keep adjustment correct, whilst the discomfort goes away. Strange.

Twist them in: the position of these things is important. There's huge amounts of bass to be had by screwing them in right. Sounds like everyone using them here has worked this out though..

Finally: would love to hear how these compare to 303/404 and whether moving up to these phones would be much of an improvment.

 

[sniks7]

Have you noticed how many posts on this forum could be answered: "The Stax portable set-up"?!

 

[johnmatrix]

These phones sound like the continuation of the old style Stax sound. The fun, musical qualities you describe make me think of my Sr-X Mark III I just picked up off ebay. The headphones always get my toes tapping and just so much fun. They also have the rolled off top end you are talking about. If like the sound so much, you might want try the Sr-X Mark III, Sr-5 gold, or other stax classics. These phones driven out of a good digital reciever equals for great sound on the cheap.

 

[eduj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch The amp lasts around 4 hours for me off a set of regular AA's - more if you have a high-output source and are running the amp at a lower volume. If you're using a low-output source, on the other hand, you could go through a pair of AA's in 2 hours.

with my 10GB/sec gen Ipod as a source i get about 8 hours out of 2 Sanyo Nimh 2500mah AAs

 

[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniks7 Have you noticed how many posts on this forum could be answered: "The Stax portable set-up"?!

Yes. I've honestly stopped even posting in threads where the SR-001 would be the answer. No matter how much I say that this really does sound on par with or better than custom-molded IEM's or good full-size/portable amp, my suggestions just get drowned out by all of the UM2/E4c/HD25 suggestions and no one ever listens.

It's their loss.

I do think that the SR-001 is a bit hard to drive, at least in the sense that you need a much higher quality source for it than your run-of-the-mill portable. In that sense, it's a bit less forgiving of source quality than most of the more popular suggestions. The Stax will sound pretty good with a decent portable but it simply scales so much with a better source that it's hard to go back to merely decent sources. I'm using the iHP-120/MicroDAC to drive the 001 right now, with very good results. Nice synergy with this combo, though my vintage PCDP's have a bigger soundstage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eduj with my 10GB/sec gen Ipod as a source i get about 8 hours out of 2 Sanyo Nimh 2500mah AAs

I'll look into these, thanks. Would save me a lot in the long run.