smeggy
Member of the Trade: ThunderpantsTP1
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2004
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Please excuse my writing, I'm not the most articulate or entertaining at this stuff. Other phones I compared with are as listed in the sig below. Normally I wouldn't bother but, well, read on.
Reviewed using laptop>FLAC>toslink>Spitfire DAC>Stax 313 amp. All opinions IMHO
I recently got some new Stax SR-003 in the mail, I was excited but not overly so as these are very cheap at $150, and for an electrostatic, very small and unassuming. The build quality looks fine, the headband has a clever pivoting system for the detachable earpieces and they are pretty small, not IEM or earbud small but miniscule for a 'stat. These can be used either with or without headband. I found that with the headband, the pressure exerted on the canal entrances was pretty high and caused pain in a very short period of time so I removed the earpieces and popped them in 'au naturelle'. They sit at the top of the ear canal and come with oval pads so they actually fit properly.
I had to use the large set of silicone pads (med and large are supplied) or they didn't seal well and fell out. I find the best seal happens when the pads are lightly moistened. Unlike many reports I didn't find them uncomfortable and wore them all day. Tell a lie, the main body, if incorrectly positioned can press against the ear folds causing mild irritation. Remedied by minor adjustments. The earpads themselves caused no pain at all. Not using the headband means there is no pressure on the ears at all and it is very easy to get a good seal, easily confirmed by humming, as the hum appears inside your head like when you put your fingers in your ears.
Anyway, enough of the preliminary guff... onto the good suff.
On initial plugging in, the sound was, erm.. eeech! Honky, muted, not very refined and sounding a bit disjointed. Oh well, they are only $150, they should sound a little better when fully charged. So I left them in playing away as I worked, trying to ignore the rather crappy sound. After a good few hours of working away and letting them warm up something happened. BASS! Woah, where the hell did that come from? Sheesh, these things are serious little bass monsters, deep, throbbing and very powerful. That was the first thing to grab my attention so I decided to slack off for a few minutes to listen properly..
Holy s#%t these things are good, not good for the price but seriously good in a seriously good way. The bass, as mentioned is phenomenal, more so than my Shure E5's in both amount and definition yet it didn't seem out of place. The music has great depth and body, I was grinning from ear to ear! I believe there is some mid-bass emphasis going on here but it isn't diestracting and doesn't appear chesty or boomy at all. The bass is nicely textured and effortlessly deep, I mean these go places my Stax 404 haven't apparently ventured yet.
Incredible!
The midrange is as previously reported by others, absolutely beautiful. Fluid, smooth and delicious come to mind. Vocals are a delight, instruments are clear and well defined, it just sounds right in a warm and ear caressing way. Sibilance? Not with these babys unless there is some seriously bad recording in the pipe. I would even go so far as the say these are amongst the very best I have ever heard in the mids. What is even more astounding is that they have a real soundstage! The typical IEM dumps it all right between your ears, sometimes reaching all the way out to your temples
The 003s on the other hand have a very headphone-like presentation which sounds surprisingly natural and if you didn't know better you'd be hard pressed to believe these things are stuck *in* your ears. They have a big wide full-bodied sound to them that neither of my other IEMs can replicate. Not even close.
Onto the upper end of things. This is the one area where they could stand some improvement, well not really improvement, just a bit more range as they are a little rolled off but still very nice. It's not so much that you can't hear the treble, it is there, only a tad subdued. Having said that, they are definitly not lacking detail and the speed and dynamics are first rate. They have a delicacy of presentation to die for and they are probably the least fatiguing 'phone I've ever had the pleasure of hearing while not being dull and overtly polite. I like the 'stat sound but I think these transcend those boundaries and are just plain great irrespective of transducer type.
I don't want to come off as a big-ass fanboy here but these are the first 'phone I've ever felt moved enough by to want to write about in any dedicated way rather than as part of a general 'phone discussion. I was a little sceptical when people said these were probably the best kept secret in hi-fi but really, I do believe they are just that. They are amazing little things and I went from song to song becoming increasingly impressed as time went on. I tried them with numerous genres and they aced them all. Above all, I think these are plain fun to listen to, toe-tapping, head banging fun. I was even contemplating the Shure E500 as a future purchase, but now, not a chance.
At their price level, for me they are simply unbeatable. I haven't heard them in their 001 configuration with portable amp but I'd assume they are similarly good. With the 313 they sound exquisite. They could well become my fave 'phone. Annoying really, considering how much I spent on the others
Reviewed using laptop>FLAC>toslink>Spitfire DAC>Stax 313 amp. All opinions IMHO
I recently got some new Stax SR-003 in the mail, I was excited but not overly so as these are very cheap at $150, and for an electrostatic, very small and unassuming. The build quality looks fine, the headband has a clever pivoting system for the detachable earpieces and they are pretty small, not IEM or earbud small but miniscule for a 'stat. These can be used either with or without headband. I found that with the headband, the pressure exerted on the canal entrances was pretty high and caused pain in a very short period of time so I removed the earpieces and popped them in 'au naturelle'. They sit at the top of the ear canal and come with oval pads so they actually fit properly.
I had to use the large set of silicone pads (med and large are supplied) or they didn't seal well and fell out. I find the best seal happens when the pads are lightly moistened. Unlike many reports I didn't find them uncomfortable and wore them all day. Tell a lie, the main body, if incorrectly positioned can press against the ear folds causing mild irritation. Remedied by minor adjustments. The earpads themselves caused no pain at all. Not using the headband means there is no pressure on the ears at all and it is very easy to get a good seal, easily confirmed by humming, as the hum appears inside your head like when you put your fingers in your ears.
Anyway, enough of the preliminary guff... onto the good suff.
On initial plugging in, the sound was, erm.. eeech! Honky, muted, not very refined and sounding a bit disjointed. Oh well, they are only $150, they should sound a little better when fully charged. So I left them in playing away as I worked, trying to ignore the rather crappy sound. After a good few hours of working away and letting them warm up something happened. BASS! Woah, where the hell did that come from? Sheesh, these things are serious little bass monsters, deep, throbbing and very powerful. That was the first thing to grab my attention so I decided to slack off for a few minutes to listen properly..
Holy s#%t these things are good, not good for the price but seriously good in a seriously good way. The bass, as mentioned is phenomenal, more so than my Shure E5's in both amount and definition yet it didn't seem out of place. The music has great depth and body, I was grinning from ear to ear! I believe there is some mid-bass emphasis going on here but it isn't diestracting and doesn't appear chesty or boomy at all. The bass is nicely textured and effortlessly deep, I mean these go places my Stax 404 haven't apparently ventured yet.
The midrange is as previously reported by others, absolutely beautiful. Fluid, smooth and delicious come to mind. Vocals are a delight, instruments are clear and well defined, it just sounds right in a warm and ear caressing way. Sibilance? Not with these babys unless there is some seriously bad recording in the pipe. I would even go so far as the say these are amongst the very best I have ever heard in the mids. What is even more astounding is that they have a real soundstage! The typical IEM dumps it all right between your ears, sometimes reaching all the way out to your temples
Onto the upper end of things. This is the one area where they could stand some improvement, well not really improvement, just a bit more range as they are a little rolled off but still very nice. It's not so much that you can't hear the treble, it is there, only a tad subdued. Having said that, they are definitly not lacking detail and the speed and dynamics are first rate. They have a delicacy of presentation to die for and they are probably the least fatiguing 'phone I've ever had the pleasure of hearing while not being dull and overtly polite. I like the 'stat sound but I think these transcend those boundaries and are just plain great irrespective of transducer type.
I don't want to come off as a big-ass fanboy here but these are the first 'phone I've ever felt moved enough by to want to write about in any dedicated way rather than as part of a general 'phone discussion. I was a little sceptical when people said these were probably the best kept secret in hi-fi but really, I do believe they are just that. They are amazing little things and I went from song to song becoming increasingly impressed as time went on. I tried them with numerous genres and they aced them all. Above all, I think these are plain fun to listen to, toe-tapping, head banging fun. I was even contemplating the Shure E500 as a future purchase, but now, not a chance.
At their price level, for me they are simply unbeatable. I haven't heard them in their 001 configuration with portable amp but I'd assume they are similarly good. With the 313 they sound exquisite. They could well become my fave 'phone. Annoying really, considering how much I spent on the others
