[AudioThief]

What a minute. A stax, congested? O_o This is the first time I've ever read this.

All is relative my friend. =)

 

[tigon_ridge]

In what way do you mean congested? Is it due to your perception of a small soundstage, or is the resolution not high enough?

 

[AudioThief]

In what way do you mean congested? Is it due to your perception of a small soundstage, or is the resolution not high enough?

I would say that generally speaking, you can pick out every sound very clearly in the L300. However, in busy passages on certain tracks (I will name one if I come across a good example tonight!), the clarity disappears and the sounds "blend together" more than I would prefer. This is of course a very minor criticism, but I imagine an SR-009 would be able to easily keep up the pace on such passages.

 

[tigon_ridge]

Would you say that it is less congested in this regard than your other headphones?

 

[AudioThief]

Would you say that it is less congested in this regard than your other headphones?

Considering my other headphones are dynamic designs, the answer is obvious - yes The L300 is clearly much better resolving and clear than any dynamic I have heard.

 

[givemetacos]

My L300 friends.

Man, these are some fantastic headphones. They have put all my other cans out of use, seemingly permanently. I am putting my dynamic headphones up for sale. Some of which I was sure I would never ever sell.

I have some questions for you. How similar or dissimilar are the L700 from the L300? Some seem to strongly prefer one over the other. Generally it seems people agree the L700 are the "better" or more technical headphones. I also would like to hear some thoughts on HD800 vs L300.

My own "analysis" of the L300 are..

- Small soundstage, lacks depth but somewhat wide
- Amazing levels of detail and very fast, however can get congested at times (busy tracks)
- Very, very natural timbre and tone. Absolutely nailed it imo!
- A bit harsh/hard treble AT TIMES, and only on loud volumes. Can be sibilant. This may also be the 252s not handling volume well (?)

As far as I can understand, L700 is similar but bigger soundstage, overall higher resolution. HD800 obviously much larger soundstage. What other differences? More bass?

You pretty much summed up a lot of my feelings about L300. And I agree, that it can sound "congested" in just really busy areas, and it does better than most headphones, but falls short compared to HD800. And yeah the L700 is pretty much everything you said. Some people find it overly analytical, but it really sounds similar and I think it is just that extra bit of resolution that does that. I personally don't consider extreme detail to necessarily feel overly analytical, but that is subjective. I mostly just like the L700 over L300 because of the wider staging and better overall bass response (more extension, texture, and quantity). Compared to HD800, I think L700 gets close in soundstage, but not quite there. And along those lines I still think HD800 edges it out in imaging. L700 is less peaky in treble compared to HD800 and smoother up top with more forward upper mids and low treble. It also has more bass quantity than HD800, but I would argue the quality of bass on HD800 is better.

As much as I think Stax (at least the lambda series) are unique and excellent sounding earspeakers, I would still take a modded HD800 on good tubes with EQ over them for primary listening. But I can see it going either way for people depending on individual preferences.

 

[AudioThief]

@givemetacos

Thanks for the response. By the way, are you the reddit user by the name of I_want_tacos? Love your posts over there

HD800 are very intriguing, I see them dropping in price a lot these days (saw a mjolnir + hd800 combo for 1000$ recently on domestic used market). I am frankly surprised you prefer them over the L700. I feel the L300 already outmatches dynamics quite handidly, especially in timbre and sounding natural. Just goes to show how high quality the hd800 must be. I have heard others holding the hd800 in similar high regard.

 

[givemetacos]

@givemetacos

Thanks for the response. By the way, are you the reddit user by the name of I_want_tacos? Love your posts over there

HD800 are very intriguing, I see them dropping in price a lot these days (saw a mjolnir + hd800 combo for 1000$ recently on domestic used market). I am frankly surprised you prefer them over the L700. I feel the L300 already outmatches dynamics quite handidly, especially in timbre and sounding natural. Just goes to show how high quality the hd800 must be. I have heard others holding the hd800 in similar high regard.

Yeah that's me, always happy to help

You know, it is just that I tend to prefer good dynamics over both planars and estats really. But I like all driver types and have heard excellent examples from each. I always feel that good dynamics just put out a more visceral and tactile presentation. Estats have that clarity, detail, and speed, but it is always so light and airy that it almost feels like music is coming out of thin air and just appearing, but in doing so it can kind of lack a weight and presence the way dynamics present music. Someone once described Stax as feeling like a pillow hitting your face at 100 mph. A good dynamic might feel like a basketball hitting your face at 70 mph. Particularly with really dynamic and punchy cans like Focal Clear/Utopia you can really feel the difference. Both those are almost as fast as Stax and do extremely well with transient response, but they do it with force and slam. Stax does it with grace and ease. Again, I don't think one is "better" than the other. And I go back and forth in picking which ones I use based on things like moods and genres. There's a reason I own a ton of different headphones and driver types, they each have their specific strengths and weaknesses.

EDIT: Regarding HD800, the reason many people have a hard time letting it go is because it is one of the most unique sounding headphones whether you prefer it or not. It sounds so incredibly wide, open, and "out of your head". And combining that staging with good imaging, nothing else has that. Plus you throw on great build quality and comfort, it is just a solid value at the price you can get it. The main problem is that most people need to find ways to "fix it" as stock it can be a little rough. And it is unique in that it's fairly easy to change its character with mods and sources in a way that most headphones can't. This makes it fun as a hobbyist headphone, but also drives people crazy and frustrates them to no end in trying to "make it work". If I wasn't allowed to mod it, use EQ, and use good amps then I would undoubtedly take L700 over it any day.

 

[sling5s]

Will I need a transformer to adjust 100 (japan)to 110v(us)?
Which do you recommend?

 

[Sound Eq]

on zreview demos I was surprised listening to sound demos of l300 and 207, i felt the sound of sound demo of 207 was way better than l300, 207 has more bass and so much better than the sound demo of l300 and even sound demo of l700 for the same song

I was like how can that be, can anyone please help me out in figuring out which has more bass 207. l300 or l700

as to me the sound demo of 207 was simply better than l300 and l700

I know you can not judge exactly from a demo, this is why I am asking here for help

 

[Pahani]

on zreview demos I was surprised listening to sound demos of l300 and 207, i felt the sound of sound demo of 207 was way better than l300, 207 has more bass and so much better than the sound demo of l300 and even sound demo of l700 for the same song

I was like how can that be, can anyone please help me out in figuring out which has more bass 207. l300 or l700

as to me the sound demo of 207 was simply better than l300 and l700

I know you can not judge exactly from a demo, this is why I am asking here for help

I own both SR-207 (straw modded) and L700. Never heard L300, can't help there.

L700 surprisingly makes my 207's sound veiled in comparison...though in fairness, it may be the narrower soundstage of the 207 that's playing tricks on me.

As far as bass ONLY......the straw mod to the 207's does give it slightly more weight than L700; but still nowhere near my modded Purplehearts, which is my choice when I want a bass-heavy can.

I consider both to be neutral-ish in presentation, but at least to my ears, L700 is clearly the winner in virtually every way. I will say that the headband assembly of L700, while more comfortable, has me a bit more scared of breaking it than the 207 headband.

I'm not a critical listener, please don't ask me to go into detail about the differences, heh But yes, personally I prefer L700 by a good margin. Testing both at the same time out of my 353X at 3/10 volume.

 

[AudioThief]

on zreview demos I was surprised listening to sound demos of l300 and 207, i felt the sound of sound demo of 207 was way better than l300, 207 has more bass and so much better than the sound demo of l300 and even sound demo of l700 for the same song

I was like how can that be, can anyone please help me out in figuring out which has more bass 207. l300 or l700

as to me the sound demo of 207 was simply better than l300 and l700

I know you can not judge exactly from a demo, this is why I am asking here for help

Honestly, do not pay any attention to sound demos. It is a waste of time through and through. Like seriously, they tell you absolutely nothing of value.

 

[tigon_ridge]

I own both SR-207 (straw modded) and L700. Never heard L300, can't help there.

L700 surprisingly makes my 207's sound veiled in comparison...though in fairness, it may be the narrower soundstage of the 207 that's playing tricks on me.

As far as bass ONLY......the straw mod to the 207's does give it slightly more weight than L700; but still nowhere near my modded Purplehearts, which is my choice when I want a bass-heavy can.

I consider both to be neutral-ish in presentation, but at least to my ears, L700 is clearly the winner in virtually every way. I will say that the headband assembly of L700, while more comfortable, has me a bit more scared of breaking it than the 207 headband.

I'm not a critical listener, please don't ask me to go into detail about the differences, heh But yes, personally I prefer L700 by a good margin. Testing both at the same time out of my 353X at 3/10 volume.

What I got from those sound demos was that indeed his SR-207 had the most bass slam out of all the STAXes, but the L700 had the greatest soundstage and separation. In terms of vocals, I felt the L300 sounded best out of the three. They all, however, sounded leaps and bounds more lively and resolving than any of his dynamic and planar cans demoed.

 

[VRacer-111]

Just got in a used L300 today and listening to it tonight... man does it rock out compared to the ESP950! Using usb out from my laptop to Gustard X20U -> Schiit Loki -> NAD C275BEE stereo amp -> Mjolnir SRD-7 transformer -> L300. The awesome BASS presented is having me question my modded TH-X00PH... such PUNCH, extension, dynamic sound and detail coming from the L300... bass sounds full bodied and highly articulate at the same time....much beyond what the STAX SRM-323S can coax out of it. The mids and highs are spectacular as well... I just don't want to stop listening to it (even though the comfort really SUCKS compared to the ESP950)!

 

[sling5s]

Anybody want to sell their L300 pads if they upgraded to L700 pads. I have L700 but want to try L300 pads to see if that will bring the mids more forward. Please PM.