[vid]

There's a response plot of the sr-5, sr-x, and lambda pro when you look for 'sr-5 response' on google images. The sr-5 gold comes with the sr-x drivers as far as I know.
 
Nothing wrong with my sr-5, apart from a slight nasality due to the cups and a small treble peak above 10 kHz. Looking at the response plot above, there's little reason to get the gold if it costs more, as you can simply eq what is likely a small difference.

 

[Ali-Pacha]

  I'm looking for a second pair of Stax and I would like to know what is the difference between SR-5 and the SR-5 Gold?  I know the SR-5 uses the cloth cord and the Gold uses the ribbon cable, are there any other differences?  Do they use different drivers, would there be a major sonic difference between the two?

There is only one SR-5, silver inserts, white with grey cloth cable.
 
The SR-5 gold comes with three iterations, all with gold inserts :
- white with grey cloth cable
- black with black gold cable
- black with black ribbon cable
As for SR-X/mk3, it looks like there are some evolutions in the drivers, the original ones don't have the thermistor...and the last ones with ribbon cable are soldered to the cable (look around google pictures). Don't know if there is an impact on sound.
 
Speaking of sound, SR-5 is more sensitive and foot tapping then its gold sibling, with more medium, but less refined and less extended. Sound signatures are pretty close, but I do prefer the regular SR-5...and my favorite one among the old style round drivers is the Gamma Pro.

Ali

 

[Chris J]

Interesting.  I'm using the Caiman MkII as well and never had that issue that I'm aware of....I listen with some reasonably good cans so I believe I'd pick that up if it were happening.  You using a three-prong power cable, out of curiosity?

HS

Hey,
I'm using a Stax SRS-2170.
The power supply for the Stax amp uses a 2 pin AC plug.
The Beresford Caiman Mk II also uses a power supply with a 2 pin AC plug.
Cheers

 

[miceblue]

Why are there so many complaints about the ground loop "ham sound" anyway? If it's common enough that even STAX acknowledges it in their user manual, wouldn't that be a design failure? Typical headphone amps have a floating ground so that the headphone isn't referenced to earth. I'm not sure how the STAX amp works.

I'll put these here for reference:

 

[Ryman86]

Thanks for the responses everyone!  This has been very helpful.
 
And unfortunately I don't have anything about "ham noise" in my owner's manual for the 202.  I did get a good chuckle out of that translation!

 

[mechgamer123]

  Thanks for the responses everyone!  This has been very helpful.
 
And unfortunately I don't have anything about "ham noise" in my owner's manual for the 202.  I did get a good chuckle out of that translation!

Did you get an owner's manual with your 202? Would you be so kind as to post it sometime? Mine didn't come with any documentation other than the warranty info from STAX Japan

 

[HemiSam]

Hey,
I'm using a Stax SRS-2170.
The power supply for the Stax amp uses a 2 pin AC plug.
The Beresford Caiman Mk II also uses a power supply with a 2 pin AC plug.
Cheers

 
I forgot about that wall wart...you're right.  I was thinking of my Woo and KGST power cords.  Interesting that I don't have any issues using the same wall wart.  Hmmmm. 
 
Glad you found a solution, though. I think it's a mighty good DAC for the money.
 
HS

 

[Chris J]

I forgot about that wall wart...you're right.  I was thinking of my Woo and KGST power cords.  Interesting that I don't have any issues using the same wall wart.  Hmmmm. 

Glad you found a solution, though. I think it's a mighty good DAC for the money.

HS

Full disclosure:
The "Ham Sound" is from the DAC.
My Stax does not "Ham" with my iBasso DAC.
But I still like the Beresford DAC.

Oink :wink_face:

 

[HemiSam]

Full disclosure:
The "Ham Sound" is from the DAC.
My Stax does not "Ham" with my iBasso DAC.
But I still like the Beresford DAC.

Oink

 
 
LOL.  I'm with you.
 
My rig is a Woo WA7 with HD650's, HD700's, Sony Z7's, some UERM CIEM's and a few other odd bits.  I also listen to the my Koss ESP's with the stock amp and now the KGST.  The Stax cans have been ordered, but I don't have them yet.  
 
The Woo is dead black...nothing, even at high volumes with no music streaming.  On the ESP's, I can hear a hum or his when there's no music, but I'm confident it's the amp.  No issue now with the KGST and the ESP's.
 
Looking forward to trying out the Stax.
 
HS

 

[Ryman86]

  Did you get an owner's manual with your 202? Would you be so kind as to post it sometime? Mine didn't come with any documentation other than the warranty info from STAX Japan

Sure.  Here are some pictures (not the best quality but I worked with what I had):
 

 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Let me know if you need any other pictures.

 

[screechowl]

  Thanks for your responses.  The connector was attached to the amp at the time of the mishap.  The headphones fell from a high shelf and the cord was not long enough to reach the floor.  As a result the headphones/cord yanked on the connector causing 4 of the pins to shear off.  The phones are ancient and I am betting that the pins had become somewhat brittle.  I guess I better keep them in a drawer if I am going to keep them connected!  I will give them a temp repair tonight with a connector from a bad extension cable and order the proper connector for a permanent fix.

Finally getting around to repairing my stax SRX Mk3 6-pin plug.  I carved up the original damaged male 6-pin plug (what a piece of crap).  Unfortunately, I did a poor job of keeping track of what color wire goes to each pin.  Just want to make sure I have the pinouts correct.  The wire colors are Red(2), Black(6), Brown(3), Green(4), White(5), Blue(1), pin numbers in parenthesis.  Can any body confirm if I got it right!

 

[Ryman86]

Out of curiosity, how much should I be paying for an SR-5 with no channel imbalance+SRD-5/SRD-6 adapter?  $150?

 

[TominJapan]

  I only have the 252, from pictures it looks like the 212 uses the Toshiba dual FET, that is obsolete now.
 
Below are the before and after pictures of the SRM252s.
 
Before picture is stock except for the fuseholder

 
 
 

Folks, so I received my new 2170 set up that I bought In Japan and the SRM252S amp does not work....nothing happens no LED, nothing. For sure not me blowing it up as I carefully use 100v transformers,so I figured out how to open the amp and... the fuse came broken (!). It's soldered and I have little experience with soldering, not sure I want to replace it myself (seems simple though if you have a link with "soldering for newbies" that I could look at I would appreciate it...
Which fuse should I replace the blown-up fuse with ? I can only read it's 125 V.... I can't see any damage to the board, does that mean that it's just the fuse and I should be fine or is there a risk that the entire amp had be blown ????? I'll have already orrdered a new PSU with negative polarity 12V 1A.
Thanks for your help
 

 

[Chris J]

A new SRM 252S should not have a blown fuse.
I would send it back to Stax, they can fix it under warranty.

 

[TominJapan]

Thanks yes I know, but I bought in Japan where I do not live anymore just going thee for business trips nowadays and I know they'll tell me I blew it up....
Looked around, was thinking of replacing the fuse with a twin clip or a fuseholder.
Anyone has the precise fuse reference ? would a 5x20mm fuse with 1.5A/125v fast blow be the one to choose ? knowing that the orginal one is smaller.