[dcfis]

Hey Baby Stax owners, you already know how special sounding these little things are so I wont bore you. I havent had my stax too long but listen 6-10 hours a day due to my job in a desktop environment (quite, Im the only one there). The earpieces only hurt for the first couple of days and I never find them fatiguing, This was exactly what I wanted and needed in a phone.

Anyway some thoughts, I prefer them charged for 30 min on the sony 4.5V 500mA charger then battery power (duracell 2650 rechargables getting 6-7 hours) I dont prefer listening on the wall wart as to me it sounds like a 3/4 "treble booster" on the ipod, meaning there is a anoying upper midrange bite that displaces that bass to midbass warmness that is pleasing yet colored. Basically I feel it replaces that bass, midbass swell with just a bit too much low treble energy, and still doesnt sparkle or have an airy character. Also I dont seem to like to listen very long, though Its not a tinnitus thing and the stax is hardly ever harsh or nasty.

So having said that I started noticing that with the various interconnects and docks that I have produce probably the biggest sound character differences between any components that I have ever had in audio (Im a home audio guy, scaled down a bit and dont listen to my own speakers much anymore) So my primary rig is the 5G Ipod and baby stax, I have had various other grados, IEMs, Senns, low to mid end portable amps for reference.

So what Im getting at is from some old discarded Govt SPC or tinned copper wire of ~20g originally used in sensitive weather and airport instrument equipment I think I have a sonic winner and would like your opinions, especially the negative. I have an interconnect that I can loan out indefinately its about 8" with gold plated straights(radioshack, I just got a load of rt angle neutricks that I was going resolder but had this idea to keep the integrity of this cable and loan it out) You will need a turbo dock, I use the 4 and now the new 5. Also for reference I have used the cardas mini, headroom mini, earcandy, ALO SPC (one off),3-4 homegrowns from various places, taken apart Kimber 4tc cable,and a variety of different spc and solid and strainded copper. Yes I had a bunch of time and listening on my hands. Some were listened in, some burnt in as an extention cable on full size phones on the home rig and even played around with 9vs and a light.

So the sound as I percieve it. The soundstage is tighter and more focused. Not near as blury and sharper definition of individual instuments. The stax has a soundstage to me that is a mix of iems and full size cans(about 3/4s as wide as a good fullsize) and still some good in head sounds like iems and not much depth. The cable slightly reduces both(the width and depth but seems more connected and homogenious. Kinda like a Home theatre with the proper screen for the seating position instead of the guy that thought bigger was better and got a +1 screen that you cant quite take all in without moving your eyes. The bass to midbass charater is still sweet, vocals unchanged except for additional focus as well as the low treble. The mid and upper treble is much better with a little sparkle and brass instuments have weight and the proper bite (I was a little dissappointed in this before as I listen to a lot of blues and jazz) There is a bit of air and toms sound full and real not thin and hollow. The bad, is the lowest bass isnt as full but upright bass is raunchy good! All comments are on the battery power after warmup on the charger.

So I would prefer the first couple listeners be some of the contributors here so they can snuff this out if Im wrong or am deamed to have lead ears. I will pay the first shipping, after that the next guy can ect. If everyone likes it then I will talk to one of our good DIYs, give them the wire for free and see if they would like to make some interconnects for us. If not the I prolly have enough for 20-25 interconnects and will give it away to you guys to DIY. I dont want to give it away yet as Id like to support the DIY vendors first if it works out.

Thanks it a long boring post I know

 

[catscratch]

That's a generous offer and an interesting idea. Too bad my SR-001 is, for the moment, out of comission, or I'd take you up on it. Good luck with it, though.

I personally found them too soft in the highs, and I preferred them out of the AC adapter (I used the Stax one).

 

[Carl]

The SR-001's portible amp isn't exactly a masterpiece. If you really like them, have you considered geting the SR-003 and a full-sized Stax amp? I an only imagine how awesome it'll be to let the work hours pass listening to an 003 driven from a McAlister EA-1 or something.

 

[mirumu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl The SR-001's portible amp isn't exactly a masterpiece. If you really like them, have you considered geting the SR-003 and a full-sized Stax amp? I an only imagine how awesome it'll be to let the work hours pass listening to an 003 driven from a McAlister EA-1 or something.

I took my SR-003 and SRM-252A to work the other day. Pure bliss. With that, the power cable and interconnects though it's a bit much for me to bring in and set up every day, I'd rather leave another amp permanently set up here or have a nice portable pro-bias amp. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable to have something with exposed tubes lying around at work though, too easy to bump and break.

 

[dcfis]

Indeed ther is always better and a non portable big stax would fit the bill, however I wouldnt be listening through an ipod and I wouldnt have 150 buck portables with a McAllister. What my main goal here is to have a sane portable that I dont have to take in and out to go to the copy and do my rounds. I am more concerned with maximizing THIS system as a portable, though it doesnt seem like others use it like I am.

I really feel this cable opens it up by a good margin and really am just looking to have others comfirm that then share it for others that quite like this little stax.

Catscratch how did your break?

 

[catscratch]

I think I abused the plug on the unit a little too much. The plug, and more spefically the place where the cable attaches to the plug, has developed a loose connection. Now, channels are dropping out on me randomly if I wiggle the cable at the plug attachment. I'm looking at getting a new cable from audiocubes or directly from Stax if possible.

Meanwhile, I have an intersting experiement to perform. The SR-001 earbuds are burned in quite nicely, while the SR-003 is brand spankin' new. I can't do a real ABX test seeing how there's only one SR-003 cable between two pairs of earbuds, but we can do something similar

Yes, the SR-001 amp isn't the best... the SRM-313, while not being the best amp either, powers them much better, while the McAlister... well, let's not even go there. They are certainly very capable little earphones. Quite on par with many first-rate dynamic cans, at a significantly lower price (and here I thought I'd never say this about an electrostat!). I still prefer the SR-404, but the SR-003 has many qualities that the SR-404 is sorely lacking in (better midrange/midbass, more precise and focused imaging, better impact).

 

[catscratch]

Double ******* post

 

[mirumu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcfis What my main goal here is to have a sane portable that I dont have to take in and out to go to the copy and do my rounds. I am more concerned with maximizing THIS system as a portable, though it doesnt seem like others use it like I am.

I'm actually very keen to use my SR-003 that way although the SRM-001 isn't really the amp I want it to be. I'd like something similar, but with better sound, and a regular pro bias socket suitable for the SR-003. I wouldn't care if it needed more batteries and/or was a tad bigger.

 

[abs@nilenet.com]

I listened to the SR-003 out of my ES-1 a little and there is no treble veil at all. The only thing that I noticed from the short listen was bass was a little light but that could be the tubes I was using which is a 5687 in the first position, ken-rad vt-231 in the second, and mullard el34 xf2s in the back.

Happy Listening!

 

[dcfis]

So I take it the SRM252A ans SRM313 is a stax portable with pro bias plugs?

 

[mirumu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcfis So I take it the SRM252A ans SRM313 is a stax portable with pro bias plugs?

The SRM-252A is a quite small mains powered amp with a single pro bias socket. The SRM-313 is a full size mains powered Stax amp with two pro bias sockets but apparently you can get them with one pro bias and one normal bias socket.

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mirumu but apparently you can get them with one pro bias and one normal bias socket.

Not any more. Stax stopped including 230v jacks back in 2000-2001.

 

[dcfis]

Also wasnt someone here (vendor) going to make a portable stax headamp? That way maybe all our probs dissolve and we just purchase a sr003 plug

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcfis Also wasnt someone here (vendor) going to make a portable stax headamp? That way maybe all our probs dissolve and we just purchase a sr003 plug

Kevin Gilmore has been working on one for absolutely ages, but no idea if and when he'll be done with it.

I'm intending to make a portible class D amp for my 4070s, but again no idea if or when.

Of course, there is always the Stax SRD-P...

 

[mirumu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcfis Also wasnt someone here (vendor) going to make a portable stax headamp? That way maybe all our probs dissolve and we just purchase a sr003 plug

I was trying to drop a few vague hints about that since I was guessing they might be reading this thread. There has been talk of it and I think at least two people were talking of it. I'm certainly a potential customer.