[tigon_ridge]

^ Distortion starts at 1 o’clock?? Is there any measured evidence of this? I highly doubt this...

By 'distortion,' I mean clipping, which is very obvious to the ears. I don't have an oscilloscope, unfortunately, to measure this.

 

[mmichii]

ok so we have 2 300 limited's in our house. both brand new out of the box from authorized dealers. both with about the same amount of time use. they look identical. they differ in serial by less than 20. they sound completely different. but not in a one is broken kind of way. one is definitely louder than the other at the same volume pot position. one is bright and kind of closed in compared to the other which has a much more expansive sound but isn't a bright if that's the word. I've had casual listeners listen to both and they can easily tell which one is on their head. I had them close their eyes and I handed them the unit. The best description might be what zeos said about the difference between the l700 and the l300 limited. Is there that much unit to unit variation? my brother even put a sticker on the headband of one so he could easily pick the one that suited his mood.

 

[Soundwave76]

^ hmm, don't like these kind of news...

 

[DecentLevi]

Come to think of it mine does sound quite different than the unit I heard at the meet. I thought it was all due to different source and amp but unit to unit variation could have something to do with it too. Anyway I've just been using mine for movies and experimental noise, and will look into EQ'ing and modding later to add some warmth, or hopefully better dynamics. Though the latter would require a higher amp unit.

 

[Soundwave76]

^ EQ based on oratory1990 measurements will remove a 'hollow' sound from the L300 Limited and you will be surprised how big the difference is in favour of EQ. At least I did. My prediction is that you will be VERY pleased with it and don't want/need any warmth after that.

 

[ahmedie]

ok so we have 2 300 limited's in our house. both brand new out of the box from authorized dealers. both with about the same amount of time use. they look identical. they differ in serial by less than 20. they sound completely different. but not in a one is broken kind of way. one is definitely louder than the other at the same volume pot position. one is bright and kind of closed in compared to the other which has a much more expansive sound but isn't a bright if that's the word. I've had casual listeners listen to both and they can easily tell which one is on their head. I had them close their eyes and I handed them the unit. The best description might be what zeos said about the difference between the l700 and the l300 limited. Is there that much unit to unit variation? my brother even put a sticker on the headband of one so he could easily pick the one that suited his mood.

There is unit variation, my unit sounded so much different that the shop unit. I compared them at the same time. The shop unit had more bass with rumbling sub-bass. I used my L700 vs shop L700 with different serial number.

 

[ahmedie]

^ EQ based on oratory1990 measurements will remove a 'hollow' sound from the L300 Limited and you will be surprised how big the difference is in favour of EQ. At least I did. My prediction is that you will be VERY pleased with it and don't want/need any warmth after that.

OH i just did that EQ it make big different to my unit !! (L300le)

 

[mmichii]

ok i guess its not just me then. I think the eq will help the one that sounds more expansive/enveloping because the word I was really searching for was hollow. it's really surprising the degree of variance because I have crappy hearing with tinnitus and I could still hear the huge difference. Aside from their exteriors they might as well be 2 different models

 

[Soundwave76]

^ hey I have tinnitus as well. Sucks but one really can habituate to it, even though in the beginning it seemed impossible. I try to listen now at low levels and take breaks often and switch to my nearfield Genelec monitors.

What do you use for EQ? I use ADI-2 DAC.

 

[ahmedie]

i used ES100, and loki for bass only

 

[Pahani]

^ hey I have tinnitus as well. Sucks but one really can habituate to it, even though in the beginning it seemed impossible. I try to listen now at low levels and take breaks often and switch to my nearfield Genelec monitors.

What do you use for EQ? I use ADI-2 DAC.

Yeah, I have horrible hearing and bad tinnitus as well. There's good news....after *cough* enough years with tinnitus, your brain will eventually do its' own version of "noise cancelling" and largely ignore it. I only hear the ringing now if I suddenly remember I have it (LOL yes, I'm serious) or, of course, if I'm straining hard to listen to something. Then it not only comes back, but climbs to a shout.

I WANT the RME ADI-2 DAC, precisely because my hearing is so bad. Its' wealth of added features seem perfect for our affliction! That price, though.......*gulp*

 

[Soundwave76]

^ Your hearing and it's health is the reason why you should buy the ADI-2 !!

 

[DecentLevi]

So I finally got around to trying the blu-tac mod on the L300 limited edition. First I tried it on only the left side with all but 2 'sections' (leaving about a 10% gap) and compared it to the other channel, which the bass did seem to improve and reduce peaky treble on that side. So I then tried a 100% seal on the other side for comparison and I much preferred that so made the other side to match. Now with both sides having a full blu-tac mod I am VERY pleased! The bass response indeed improved and if I'm not mistaken the dynamics also seem to be a tad better. At the same time luckily I've seemed to have lost none of that amazing soundstage. It now seems to perhaps respond to EQ'ing even better with this mod as well, and with the bass from 220HZ- boosted by around 2 db it now may be preferable to my HD-600 on a top-flight tube amp, with a few obvious technical improvements / differences.

I actually did a red-tac mod since what I had on hand was a red Loctite adhesive agent. I do get the occasional 'Stax fart' but it's a trade off to this increase in performance, and confirms the seal is good. Would anyone say there's any reason I should go for the L500 or L700 pads on the L300 limited?

To further up the performance I suppose I'll need a better energiser unit and better EQ right? I'm using the limited function included EQ on Foobar and would have to figure out how to load a VST plugin for a better one.

 

[Soundwave76]

The L300 Limited have the L500 pads. They are not bad imo and I am 50/50 on the fence whether to buy the L700 pads. Download the Equaliser APO which is great. If you have Roon you can use it’s EQ as well.

 

[dgozalie]

Hello

My friends makes a small review of Stax SRS-3100 consist of L300 and SRM-252S... check it out...

https://orronoco.blogspot.com/2019/09/stax-sr-l300-srm252s-electrostatic.html

thank you