[Duggeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dutchess of York /img/forum/go_quote.gif so it sounds like the srm1/mk2 is more electrostatic sounding and the srd-7pro is more dynamic sounding?

No. Theyll still sound like stats.

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penger /img/forum/go_quote.gif Since this is dedicated to out of production stuff, I figure I can ask here. Between the Lamba Sig and the Pro, what makes the Sig more expensive and harder to find? And how different are their respective 'sound signatures'?

Concerning their signatures, there is a difference, but I doubt I'd recommend most to pay the difference. I had both at the NorCal meet and as many said they preferred the Pros as vice versa. The Sigs are a little more mellow, organic and have slightly longer decay, the Pros thus little more forward, crisp and exciting. Both have a ton of detail. These differences are only in comparison between the two though and are shrunk when compared to others phones (even other Stax). Considering the Sigs come up far less often and tend to be twice the price, I'd recommend most hunt down the Pros. They're undervalued because there is "one model up". They're really close. I was a little disappointed when I recently picked up the Sigs at how close.

 

[Faust2D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robm321 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not to muddy the thread up, but I guess it is relevant. I'd like to hear more how the Lambdas compare to the Koss ESP/950.

ESP950 kicks Lambdas in the ass

To put it differently ESP950 sounds in many ways differently and better than Lambdas. At some music one might like Lambdas (SR-303 or SR-Lambda) more because they sound sweeter and a bit more spacious, but ultimately Koss is more resolving with better tonal balance and bass punch that Lambdas lack. For rock or modern non-acoustic Jazz I would go with Koss. All of the about is when ESP950 and Lambdas are used out of SRM-1 Pro. Out of it's own amp 950 is nice but not as good as Lambda out of SRM-1, IMHO.

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust2D /img/forum/go_quote.gif ESP950 kicks Lambdas in the ass To put it differently ESP950 sounds in many ways differently and better than Lambdas. At some music one might like Lambdas (SR-303 or SR-Lambda) more because they sound sweeter and a bit more spacious, but ultimately Koss is more resolving with better tonal balance and bass punch that Lambdas lack. For rock or modern non-acoustic Jazz I would go with Koss. All of the about is when ESP950 and Lambdas are used out of SRM-1 Pro. Out of it's own amp 950 is nice but not as good as Lambda out of SRM-1, IMHO.

Thanks for that - good information

 

[derekbmn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Let me do a wild guess... * The 1µm diaphragm (thinnest diaphragm ever).

The HeAudio now holds that title with a diaphragm thickness of 500nm.

 

[milkpowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Concerning their signatures, there is a difference, but I doubt I'd recommend most to pay the difference. I had both at the NorCal meet and as many said they preferred the Pros as vice versa. The Sigs are a little more mellow, organic and have slightly longer decay, the Pros thus little more forward, crisp and exciting. Both have a ton of detail. These differences are only in comparison between the two though and are shrunk when compared to others phones (even other Stax). Considering the Sigs come up far less often and tend to be twice the price, I'd recommend most hunt down the Pros. They're undervalued because there is "one model up". They're really close. I was a little disappointed when I recently picked up the Sigs at how close.

I more or less agree with what's been said. The Sig and Pro are very different. The Sig images much better and projects a more realistic soundstage. It's also considerably more detailed and transparent-sounding compared to the Pros. The bass is more alive and less muddy; the attack and decay are better defined so if it's realism you're after, the Sig is difficult to beat. It does however have one major flaw - very etched upper midrange. This I found terribly annoying for anything with a lot of string instrumentation. The fact that it has this "flaw" in the first place is doubly annoying considering how well it performs in general. So is it worth the $500-600 asking price vs $250-350 SR-Lambda Professionals? YES, but only if you can stand the etch. Having owned both, the SR-Lambda Professional is the safer (but not necessarily better) buy if you're only ever going to buy one pair, blind.

I posted my impressions here a few months ago.

 

[Tachikoma]

I have a Lambda Nova Sig and a Lambda Pro in my hands right now, and I'd say that the Lambda pro sounds more like the old SR-5NB than the Nova Sig <_< My LPs had their drivers replaced by Stax though (or just the membrane? I can't really read japanese), so they might be different from the usual LPs.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by derekbmn /img/forum/go_quote.gif The HeAudio now holds that title with a diaphragm thickness of 500nm.

Ok, edited to "thinnest Stax diaphragm ever".

 

[edstrelow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust2D /img/forum/go_quote.gif ESP950 kicks Lambdas in the ass To put it differently ESP950 sounds in many ways differently and better than Lambdas. At some music one might like Lambdas (SR-303 or SR-Lambda) more because they sound sweeter and a bit more spacious, but ultimately Koss is more resolving with better tonal balance and bass punch that Lambdas lack. For rock or modern non-acoustic Jazz I would go with Koss. All of the about is when ESP950 and Lambdas are used out of SRM-1 Pro. Out of it's own amp 950 is nice but not as good as Lambda out of SRM-1, IMHO.

I can't agree on that at least not with mine which is run through a cable adapter, rather than a completely recabled 950.

The 950 sounds pretty good on Stax amps but you will probably get a better result with a lambda. The 950 has a pleasing sound, without the slight bass boom of the lambda but I find the mid range and treble to be somewhat raspy. The 950 appears to have a treble peak a bit higher than the lambdas. I hear much more tape noise on older recordings with them. As regards bass punch, both my 404 and Lambda Nova have more punch.

The 950 more or less works with Stax amps, but I get some bass distortion on some music. Might not be a problem if you can mod a Stax amp to the slightly higher Koss bias.

If you already have the 950, the adapter or cable mod is worth doing because overall they sound better on Stax equipment than the shoddy Koss amp. But I wouldn't recommend buying one over a lambda.

Possibly they work significantly better with the best Stax cable.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust2D /img/forum/go_quote.gif LOL It's Mr. Professor in you speaking. Let me break it down in simple terms: SRM-1/Mk2 = detail galore, transparent, less punch SRD-7 = less detail, more euphoric, takes after the character of the amp you drive it with, more bass punch if the amp has it

x2

With my Lambda and Lambda Signature the SRM-1 is very airy and transparent. The SRD-7SB with Lambda seems to lose a little more detail than when I try the SR-Lambda Signature driven with the SRD-7 Pro.

And I agree they do take on the character of the amp. If I use the Travagans Red or Travagans Green speaker amps to drive the SRD-7 SB or Pro, it sounds airier than when I use the Nuforce Icon which has more bass slam and warmer more forward mids. The Travagans sound closer to the SRM-1 Mk2 Pro in terms of tonality. I actually prefer the Nuforce Icon over the Travagans when driving the Stax transformers, as it gives the instruments more body.

However, I do prefer the SRM-1 Mk2 Pro over transformers when driving Stax Lambda and Signature. I prefer the Nuforce with SRD-7 Pro transformer when driving my HE60, and I prefer the Travagans with SRD-7SB for the SR-5NB Gold Edition.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I also prefer the SR-Lambda normal bias above the SR-Lambda Pro. My SR-Lambda is warmer and smoother and more transparent (but still bright), while the Pro seemed to have a midrange suckout and less bass, but more dynamic range and energy. My 10yr old son was using them, and he asked me to trade for my SR-Lambda. I sold the Pros after about 2-3 weeks, and bought a second pair of SR-Lambdas.

My Lambda Signature are an upgrade to both, in my opinion. They do what the Lambda do best, and do it better. They do the warm smooth and transparent, and add weight to the bass and dynamic range. The Signature were my best headphones before I got the HE60, and on the SRM-1 Mk2 Pro the Signature might actually sound better (the HE60 on the SRM-1 seem a little thin).

[I just realized that this was my #4000 post!]

 

[Oublie]

I'm glad to see a lambda thread I read most of the stax thread but it's a mess and very difficult to navigate. I own the phones and rig in my sig but have a Zero dac/preamp on the way i'm interested to see if there is any improvement or difference in the sound of my lambda's with this. I have a few of questions.

1. The nad amp i'm using has independant power and preamp stages and the power stage has a 'Lab' mode which disables the filters on the power amp stage below 15hz and above 20khz does the power stage of an amp have a large effect on the sound when used as in my case with an srd energizer or is the sound signature mainly in preamp e.g. 75% 25% balance between pre and power regarding signature?

2. The wires connecting the srd 7 sb mk 2 are just the normal copper wire type which seems standard on all the srd's. I'm thinking of modding it by bypassing the front loudspeaker / earspeaker switch and replacing the hardwired cable with binding posts and then trying some other speaker cables. Will this make much of a difference the way it would with using different cable with normal speakers?

3. I read in the stax thread about removing the padding in the lambdas in order to improve the sound has anyone tried this and is it really a benefit?

4. would a cable change improve the lamdba's i.e. making my own cables to replace the standard lambda cables on my normal bias phones?

5. I have an srd 4 which has the 5 hole connection which looks like a pro connection is this the same connection and could the unit be modified to feed a 580v bias in order to drive a set of pro phones?

thanks guys.

 

[Faust2D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edstrelow /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can't agree on that at least not with mine which is run through a cable adapter, rather than a completely recabled 950. The 950 sounds pretty good on Stax amps but you will probably get a better result with a lambda. The 950 has a pleasing sound, without the slight bass boom of the lambda but I find the mid range and treble to be somewhat raspy. The 950 appears to have a treble peak a bit higher than the lambdas. I hear much more tape noise on older recordings with them. As regards bass punch, both my 404 and Lambda Nova have more punch. The 950 more or less works with Stax amps, but I get some bass distortion on some music. Might not be a problem if you can mod a Stax amp to the slightly higher Koss bias. If you already have the 950, the adapter or cable mod is worth doing because overall they sound better on Stax equipment than the shoddy Koss amp. But I wouldn't recommend buying one over a lambda. Possibly they work significantly better with the best Stax cable.

I use mine with an adapter. I never had bass distortion with my ESP950.

 

[Tachikoma]

Quote:

2. The wires connecting the srd 7 sb mk 2 are just the normal copper wire type which seems standard on all the srd's. I'm thinking of modding it by bypassing the front loudspeaker / earspeaker switch and replacing the hardwired cable with binding posts and then trying some other speaker cables. Will this make much of a difference the way it would with using different cable with normal speakers?

There is another mod you can try, connect the PCB and the transformers in parallel (from the speaker leads), so hopefully, "half" of the power goes to providing the bias, and half go directly to the transformers.

Quote:

4. would a cable change improve the lamdba's i.e. making my own cables to replace the standard lambda cables on my normal bias phones?

Yes, if you mean strapping the huge wide PC-OCC cable on to the lambda. If you intend to _make_ your own cables... you have to be really careful with the capacitance of the cable, and the dielectric strength of whatever you're insulating the cables with.

Quote:

5. I have an srd 4 which has the 5 hole connection which looks like a pro connection is this the same connection and could the unit be modified to feed a 580v bias in order to drive a set of pro phones?

The SRD-4 has no bias supply to begin with.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a Lambda Nova Sig and a Lambda Pro in my hands right now, and I'd say that the Lambda pro sounds more like the old SR-5NB than the Nova Sig <_< My LPs had their drivers replaced by Stax though (or just the membrane? I can't really read japanese), so they might be different from the usual LPs.

Stax always replaces the drivers with what ever is currently made so if the repair was done after 1999 then there are SR-404 driver in there. It's easy to check as the LNS drivers have a gold anodized ring around the top but the SR-404 are red.