[sclamb]

My friend Howard at Simply-Stax sent me the now discontinued Stax CD for testing headphones and set-up and it is excellent.

In total there are about 20 tracks, but the first 6.5 minute track is three people in a small square room with a dummy head located in the middle which is representative of the listeners head.

I have read a lot here at Head-Fi about soundstage etc. but this CD is an awesome way to tell how good your set-up really is. The sounds around your head can easily be placed in the room, but there are some times when the voices seem to be way outside of the room that I was sitting in, and there is one point where two people speak directly into your ear and it is a frightening experience as it seems that someone is now actually sitting in the room with me. It scared the hell out of my wife! Listening to this track with my eyes shut, I had a unique experience and an insight into just how good my Stax set-up is. The sense of realism and the feeling that the people are actually in the room with me, coupled with the massive perceived distance from left to right in the room is superb.

Has anyone else used this CD to test their set-up? It is definitely worth seeking this out if any still remain.

Simon

***UPDATE***

Here are the first eight tracks plus the last one from the test CD. The first track is the one that uses the dummy head:

**** LINK REMOVED ****

Enjoy.

I will stop at the first eight tracks as the others are classical music that, other than being very good quality recordings, are not that out of the ordinary. The first eight tracks are the most interesting IMHO.

I will give it over the weekend for the downloads to quieten down and then if anyone really wants the other tracks I will upload them.

Hope that is OK with everyone (and that the server speed is at least bearable!).

I wrote this later in this thread but I will repeat it here. I expect anyone and everyone who downloads it to ensure it is not put up on other servers or sold/distributed. It may be out of production but is is still copyrighted.

 

[jpelg]

Any way to find out from Stax if the tracks can be posted for download?

 

[sclamb]

I will email Howard and see what he can organise. I would rip my CD but I want to ask him first as he said not to copy it.

 

[acidboy84]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sclamb I will email Howard and see what he can organise. I would rip my CD but I want to ask him first as he said not to copy it.

Do keep us informed. Keen to hear the contents of the CD.

 

[immtbiker]

I would be interested in this as well.

Aside from left and right channels being mixed up, how does this tell you how good your system is setup?

 

[sclamb]

Well, as a comparison I listened to the CD on my daughters Panasonic stereo system with an old set of Sony headphones. The whole perception of width and depth was totally different, much smaller, the high frequencies in some of the tracks were non-existant and the sense of imtimacy when the voices are whispering down your ears was diminshed. I also found it difficult to accurately place some of the sounds in the room.

The texture was again something that differed. There is a track that has someone in a shower and getting ready to go out. On the Stax, the water sounded like water. On the other system it sounded like fat frying - totally unrealistic. The people speaking closely into each ear gave a sense of feeling their breath blowing into my ear on the Stax, but it was not there on the other system.

I did try it with the Sensas. Now that was scary. Again, there were subtle differences to the Stax, but the isolation really made some parts even more startling and the sense of people being present in the room was really quite surreal as well as scary. I really did get a tingle down at the base of my spine when the guy and the girl on the track whispered down each ear.

I guess the real benefit of the CD is to use it to see if changes you make to your set-up actually improve the experience or diminish it.

Simon

 

[evilgnome]

Being discontinued I hope that we can get a copy as well. Id love to test out my setup and see where I can go from there upgrade wise.

 

[Salt Peanuts]

I'd be interested in this as well. Please keep us informed.

Also, was this CD produced by Stax in Japan?

 

[Sugano-san]

Hi Simon,

I'd like to have a copy too. Sounds intriguing!

 

[aaroncort]

I'd like to say that I'm interested in this cd as well. Do you know if it was recorded binauraly? It kind of sounds like it was. I love binaural recordings. I wish books on CD were recorded with these heads as well.

 

[darkless]

I'd also be interested in getting a copy

 

[J-Pak]

If this is allowed I have about 30 GB of bandwidth I could allocate for a direct link. A lossless would be nice

 

[sclamb]

OK, I have been told I can supply the tracks so I will try and rip the CD this evening. I have agreed that I will not distribute this indiscriminately since it is copyright Stax, but I can point to the download for those that have responded to this thread.

Simon

 

[Sugano-san]

According to this German web site these two dummy heads were used for the recording of the STAX demo CDs:

NEUMANN KU 100

NEUMANN KU 81




Cool!

 

[john_jcb]

I would appreciate it if I were on the list as well. Thanks for your effort.