tigon_ridge
1000+ Head-Fier
Hey everyone, it's been a while since I posted anything about headphones, but I just received a Stax l700 today. I strongly prefer my naked Lambda Nova signature over the Stax l700. I found out that the Stax l700 headband works for my Lambda Nova signature, and my Lambda Nova signature just sounds so much better than the l700.
I am using an SRM MK1 Mark 2 professional amplifier, listening to Apple music through a Bluetooth receiver. I know that sounds ridiculous but trust me there is little loss of fidelity.
The l700 sounds a lot more tame compared to my Lambda Nova signature, but that is at the expense of clarity. It may have something to do with the fact that I removed all of the foam in my Lambda Nova signature and reglued the drivers back to the ear plates.
The l700 sounds a lot more like Dynamic headphones to me compared to my Lambda Nova signature (I tried the hd800s with Sennheiser totl amp 3 days ago at the SF store and didn't like it compared to my lns).
I really wanted to like the l700 because the lamba nova signature is no longer made and is so hard to come by. But I have to say that the Lambda Nova signature is more intimate and unveiled compared to the l700.
At this stage of audio fidelity we are talking about very subtle differences, so take my words with a grain of salt.
Yes, I'm starting to be very confident in my assessment. The naked LNS has a level of clarity and engagement that the l700 can't match. Don't get me wrong, both of these headphones are absolutely fantastic, and somebody who hasn't heard both of these headphones will be very very satisfied with the 700.
At this point I'm trying to get my hands on a replacement L 500 / L 700 headband so that I can compare the two headphones without having to switch the headband around. The original headband on the LNS is atrocious.
The fact that a 23 year-old LNS sounds better to me than a new l700 is testament to the electrostatic technology and Stax engineering. It's also a testament to the kinds of superlatives we use to describe audio technology and subjective assessments of sound. I watched the Z review of the l700 on YouTube and was expecting some new level of audio Fidelity with the l700, but I'm quite disappointed.
Again, the l700 is an awesome sounding headphone. I just happen to like my naked LNS more, and I think that anybody who listens to both of these will agree that the LNS sounds more engaging and clear.
A user from the L300 thread mentioned that how the drivers are positioned relative to your ears can cause a deep trough to appear in the 8kHz range. You might want to do a sine sweep to investigate.
I actually prefer the sound of the L300 demo to the L700 demo by Zeos. If the demos approximate their sounds adequately, the L300 sounds more intimate with more present mids, whereas the L700 would be preferable to those for whom soundstage is critical. You should consider L300. At least two other people have stated they prefer the L300 to the L700. Several have said they prefer STAX "cheapies" like 207 or L300 through the srm-252s to even their flagships. The big head-fiers who've invested huge efforts into designing, building, and selling powerful amps to drive the STAX flagships will of course have their obvious bias, too. I've driven my HD600 with humbly-priced amps, and the Schiit Mjolnir, and honestly, the improvement I heard wasn't worth the hole in the wallet...even though the Mjolnir was supposed to be competitive with amps much more expensive than itself.
http://www.soundbsessive.com/stax-lambda-nova-signature/
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sta...nature-impressions-from-my-first-hour.515184/
These impressions make the lambda nova sig sound much lesser than modern STAX headphones, but we all know our ears have their own minds. That's just yet another reason why this hobby is such an adventure.