[mangler]

Can anyone comment on the comfort of the earcup holes of the 507s? I was thinking of getting a pair as a gateway into electrostatics, but I tend get annoyed with headphones with smaller cups that can touch the edges of my ears. For comparison, 009s fit perfectly and have good comfort, but are a bit expensive for me right now. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to try the Lambda series, hence the (possibly silly) question.

For me, the shape of the earcups is fine, but it's the depth that occasionally bothers me, since sometimes the cloth covering the driver housing rubs against my ears. But, when putting them on, if you pull them out and then let them rest against your ears, the comfort is much better, I guess because it doesn't pull the top of your ear down while putting them on, so they rub less. It almost seems like you have to learn how to wear lambdas to make them comfortable.

FWIW, like love my 507!

 

[realmassy]

I found the 507 quite comfortable when I owned them. They are light and pads are very soft. I used to wear them 'from the back': put them behind your neck and rest your ears in the pads, paying attenrion to sit the pads on top of your ears, almost like they are hanging off your ears. Then slowly rotate them until the headband is on top of your head. This will also help getting a good seal, which is critical. Hope it makes sense

 

[pixelcity]

Nice surprise for me - SR-507 & SRM-323s shipped from Japan yesterday - looks like they will be delivered tomorrow or Thursday. WOW!
Sort of a useless post other than to say this will be my 1st listen to electrostatics... let's see how it goes.
 
BTW, I'll be comparing to Denon D5000 & T-PEOS H-300. Pretty much opposite of the spectrum 

 

[okw3188]

Let's hope you don't have the imbalance on your headphone, just like I had on my Airbow SC-21 few weeks back. It is back to Japan for repair....

 

[pixelcity]

Yeah I hope not. How will I confirm imbalance of the 507 drivers if the 323s has individual channel balance adjustment? You have me wondering now.

 

[pixelcity]

Package has landed at my office - gotta say that is fast overseas shipping time. Man I am excited - won't be in until tomorrow though.

 

[Miracles]

Post your impressions later! What were your previous headphones?

 

[tdogzthmn]

  Nice surprise for me - SR-507 & SRM-323s shipped from Japan yesterday - looks like they will be delivered tomorrow or Thursday. WOW!
Sort of a useless post other than to say this will be my 1st listen to electrostatics... let's see how it goes.
 
BTW, I'll be comparing to Denon D5000 & T-PEOS H-300. Pretty much opposite of the spectrum 

Did you buy them from price japan?

 

[pixelcity]

 
Did you buy them from price japan?

I did. So far a really seamless experience.
 

  Post your impressions later! What were your previous headphones?

I'll be re-wiring the 323s for US voltage tomorrow evening after work. If all goes to plan I'll at least get a quick listen in. I can take a swing at impressions, which quite frankly is a little daunting to me; I fear I don't have the vocabulary nor listening skills.
 
Regardless, my Denon D5000's are my bread and butter home listening 'phones. I also have the original AIAIAI TMA-1 & TPEOS H-300 as mobile/fun listening HPs. I also have some cheapo sennheiser IEMs I bought way back that were my gateway to headphone audio that I barely use anymore... I source from JDSlabs dac & use C5D & recently sold a hybrid tube amp that was nice (but time to rotate).
 
In summary I don't have anything akin to what I'm expecting from STAX in either sound signature or in technical capability. Should be fun.

 

[pixelcity]

Um, this is pretty damn good. Diana Krall is singing to me in my hotel room.
Anyone have a Smyth Realiser A8 for sale?

 

[tdogzthmn]

^ Sounds like you are enjoying your new purchase!

 

[pixelcity]

Oh it's great with acoustic blues, live sessions; Percy Sledge live is really powerful and moving. Great timbre and instrumental bass. Just loving it. Quite a refreshing departure from my Denons. It's even eerily good with certain fast electronic music. Bass is satisfying and correct.

 

[pixelcity]

uh oh - Smyth A8 on its way to me. 

 
This forum....
 
Also, more thoughts on the 507:
For the 1st time I have a strong preference for more lively mic'd recordings, acoustic, vocal, and the like with high dynamics. Acoustic bass instruments are supremely powerful with lovely texture - realistic. The 507s let sweet, happy, exciting music come through. Treble is more natural than I am used to. Fantastic.
 
I have been listening to these for 7+ hour sessions without fatigue. That is outstanding in itself. I remember my Denon D5000s (which are in NY; I am currently in VA) to be quite fun with their super bass. In fact, I was really worried the 507s would sound limp in comparison. Luckily, not at all.
I consider myself a borderline bass head, yet these SR-507s are so right, realistic in bass quantity, it simply doesn't matter. In fact, these are far from bass light. They hit hard when called upon; the realism is just as important as the quantity. Perhaps this is why I find myself preferring acoustic and live recordings.
Electronic music is somewhat unhinged from (instrumental) reality. It's almost like, what's the point of the 507? (again, strictly speaking about bass). That said, the "clicky" preciseness of certain electronic music over the 507s seems to wire the music directly to my brain, if that makes any sense. 
 
Suffice to say, I am more than a little excited to set up the Smyth Realiser A8 with these Stax phones. I will be using a very modest monitor setup with some NHT Superones to start with. Their stereo imaging is lovely regardless; I crave that with headphones. Yikes.
 
Edit #80 billion: I bet when I listen to my Denons tomorrow the bass is going to blow my head off 

 
Edit - these are so good

 

[tdogzthmn]

I feel like the SR-507 is often overlooked.  The Stax thread seems to be mostly people discussing amps for their SR-007 or SR-009.  I really can't image the SR-009 has enough of a performance bump to justify its price which is why I am so happy with the 507. 

 

[zolkis]

The SR-507 has similarly open sound as the SR-009, with similar tone - as opposed to the darker/warmer (stock) 007 -, but the 009 is indeed much better than the 507 in every respect: bigger sound stage, deeper bass with better slam, more refined midrange and treble, better micro- and macrodynamics, higher resolution. Definitely better, but not 4-5 times better. The 507 is indeed tremendous value, and I like it more than the Senn HD800. Interestingly, Stax systems fall at very good price/performance ratios, starting with the SR Lambda, SR-207, 407, 507, 007 Mk1, and even the 009, each being very competitive in its price range. Some say the 507 is somewhat shiny/etched sounding, but not to my (aging) ears.