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The Stax Thread III

Mar 4, 2014 at 2:35 AM Post #1,636 of 27,962
Well, the sr307 is bright and etched, or at least that's what I heard from a short audition.
 
Mar 4, 2014 at 6:42 AM Post #1,637 of 27,962
toddthemetalgod said:
 
Thanks for the response
smily_headphones1.gif
. So where would I get a reterminated cable for use with a better stat amp? Which do you think out of the ESP and the SR-307 has the more euphoric, "natural" midrange? I can get one for $900 shipped out by Amazon, that wouldn't be too bad (I live in Canada, I'm not sure how this affects pricing). Also, I've heard a lot of bad things about the stock E90 amp sound quality and it's sort of scared me away from the Koss'.
Click to expand...

 
I had both the ESP-950's and the SR-307's at the same time and for several months; I vastly prefer the ESP950's. No, they 950's were not quite as detailed as the 307's but they are better in just about every other way. 950's has a far more natural sound ... better sound stage, better and more believable 3D imaging (really almost speaker like) ... and plenty of detail to be a very immersive listenen. I found the SR-307's to sound very "hard" in the midrange ... to the point that it really bugged me and could even be very fatiguing with certain sorts of music. Odd because one typically things of "fatigue" arising from the  high frequencies, but with the 307's ... it came from a very hard, etched sounding mid range. Couldn't get past it. The 950's don't suffer from this at all (or at least not enough to be bothersome).
 
The 950's are also the most comfortable headphone I've ever owned (I've since sold the SR-307's and kept the 950's) ... feather light on your head and I tend to forget I'm even wearing them some times ... 
 
But back to Lambdas ... I've recently bought a pair of SR-404 Limited Editions and they are night and day compared to the SR-307's ... the 404LE's are much more on par with the 950's ... really sort of like a 950's smoothness but with classic, Stax micro detail retrieval and none of the harshness that I found in the 307's ... 
 
Also, the stock 950's amp is quite decent if you ask me. I had it side by side with my Stax SRM323S amp and found the 323S to be only marginally better to my ear. I consider the 950 amp a great insurance policy to have on the shelf should I ever have to fall back on it.
 
I've owned all sorts of cans ... GS1000's, various Stax amps, my roommates have Beyer T1's and LCD3's ... and by far (if you can handle the routine maintenance that seems to plague many users) ... the Koss 950 kit is one of the best deals under the sun. Even with my new 404LE's ... I still listen mostly to the Koss cans as I still find the speaker like 3D imaging to be better than the over all presentation of the 404LE's ...
 
Mar 4, 2014 at 7:21 AM Post #1,638 of 27,962
toddthemetalgod said:
 
Thanks for the response
smily_headphones1.gif
. So where would I get a reterminated cable for use with a better stat amp? Which do you think out of the ESP and the SR-307 has the more euphoric, "natural" midrange? I can get one for $900 shipped out by Amazon, that wouldn't be too bad (I live in Canada, I'm not sure how this affects pricing). Also, I've heard a lot of bad things about the stock E90 amp sound quality and it's sort of scared me away from the Koss'.
Click to expand...

The Koss amp is inexpensively made, but in my A/B tests it is nearly as good sounding as the various Stax amps I've tried my ESP-950's on. I don't think it's cost effective to re-cable the ESP-950's AND buy a Stax amp just to get 10% better sound.  Now, if you ALREADY HAD some Stax amp(s) then, sure, get the cable changed.  But you're not going to get THAT big of a sound quality boost for the ~$600  or more it will cost to recable the ESP-950's and buy a Stax amp.
 
Spend the money on girls instead.  You can always buy loads of exotic hifi gear when you're an old man.  But when you're a geezer- getting the chicks... well, not so much. 
 
Mar 4, 2014 at 8:32 AM Post #1,639 of 27,962
I know these kind of questions are rather annoying, but how much does a srm-006 fetch these days?
 
Mar 4, 2014 at 5:31 PM Post #1,640 of 27,962
s1rrah said:
   
I had both the ESP-950's and the SR-307's at the same time and for several months; I vastly prefer the ESP950's. No, they 950's were not quite as detailed as the 307's but they are better in just about every other way. 950's has a far more natural sound ... better sound stage, better and more believable 3D imaging (really almost speaker like) ... and plenty of detail to be a very immersive listenen. I found the SR-307's to sound very "hard" in the midrange ... to the point that it really bugged me and could even be very fatiguing with certain sorts of music. Odd because one typically things of "fatigue" arising from the  high frequencies, but with the 307's ... it came from a very hard, etched sounding mid range. Couldn't get past it. The 950's don't suffer from this at all (or at least not enough to be bothersome).
 
The 950's are also the most comfortable headphone I've ever owned (I've since sold the SR-307's and kept the 950's) ... feather light on your head and I tend to forget I'm even wearing them some times ... 
 
But back to Lambdas ... I've recently bought a pair of SR-404 Limited Editions and they are night and day compared to the SR-307's ... the 404LE's are much more on par with the 950's ... really sort of like a 950's smoothness but with classic, Stax micro detail retrieval and none of the harshness that I found in the 307's ... 
 
Also, the stock 950's amp is quite decent if you ask me. I had it side by side with my Stax SRM323S amp and found the 323S to be only marginally better to my ear. I consider the 950 amp a great insurance policy to have on the shelf should I ever have to fall back on it.
 
I've owned all sorts of cans ... GS1000's, various Stax amps, my roommates have Beyer T1's and LCD3's ... and by far (if you can handle the routine maintenance that seems to plague many users) ... the Koss 950 kit is one of the best deals under the sun. Even with my new 404LE's ... I still listen mostly to the Koss cans as I still find the speaker like 3D imaging to be better than the over all presentation of the 404LE's ...
Click to expand...

milosz said:
  The Koss amp is inexpensively made, but in my A/B tests it is nearly as good sounding as the various Stax amps I've tried my ESP-950's on. I don't think it's cost effective to re-cable the ESP-950's AND buy a Stax amp just to get 10% better sound.  Now, if you ALREADY HAD some Stax amp(s) then, sure, get the cable changed.  But you're not going to get THAT big of a sound quality boost for the ~$600  or more it will cost to recable the ESP-950's and buy a Stax amp.
 
Spend the money on girls instead.  You can always buy loads of exotic hifi gear when you're an old man.  But when you're a geezer- getting the chicks... well, not so much. 
Click to expand...

 
Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm going to go for the ESP950. Even if the Stax are more detailed, I would probably prefer the Koss for their more natural sound.
 
Mar 4, 2014 at 8:19 PM Post #1,641 of 27,962
I'm sad I didn't grab the near-NOS Sigma Pro from Audiogon last night. $1000 is about the going rate for them right?

Might as well wait it out for a SR-007 near that price level.
 
Mar 4, 2014 at 10:34 PM Post #1,643 of 27,962
when I add pro bias to my amp, I will be able to adjust the bias.  If I was to get a Koss headphone, I've heard they do great on stax pro bias.  does it really need to be set to the higher?  has anyone tried this, and what was the result?
 
Mar 5, 2014 at 1:42 AM Post #1,644 of 27,962
keithpgdrb said:
  when I add pro bias to my amp, I will be able to adjust the bias.  If I was to get a Koss headphone, I've heard they do great on stax pro bias.  does it really need to be set to the higher?  has anyone tried this, and what was the result?
Click to expand...

The KOSS bias voltage is 600 volts, only 20v higher than Stax Pro bias. The difference in sound between the two is likely not even measurable, let alone audible. 
 
Or do you mean running the ESP/950 off a normal bias port? That would sound horrible; go pro or go home. 
tongue.gif
 
 
Mar 5, 2014 at 4:33 AM Post #1,646 of 27,962
You can run them at about 640vdc no problems. I couldn't discern any differences between 640 and 580 pro bias' though. If you do end up getting the Koss and wish to run them off Stax headphones in the future, buy the $15-30 extension cable from Koss and dice one end to convert to pro-bias connector which Moon Audio sells rather then chopping the end of your ESP950 cable which will void the warranty. Less hassle and no dramas.
 
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