[Sound Eq]

Battle of the Closed Back Giants:

A miracle happened and I got the possibility to get a Stax 4070 of the last series with improved headband adjustment in best condition.

Maybe 200 pieces were built. Many of them already ruined in recording studios. In such a top condition and still original with the first cushions there is perhaps still a handful in the world and to get these a difficult undertaking as I had to determine myself.

You also have to be careful with the 4070, that possibly changed pads, which fit on the fabric side (all Lambda pads fit) on the 4070, but the template headphone side for the double-sided tape just does not fit. This must be cut to size, otherwise it will cover some areas and the headphones will sound much worse.

The 4070 plays in contrast to the 009 meatier with more bass. A Lambda but with bass. A 007 is warmer with even more bass and further the king of Stax.

The isolation is on Stellia level with even less leakage to the outside. It sounds amazingly open with an impressive three-dimensionality for a closed and tidy fundamental as well as bass.

With classical music, however, no other of my headphones except the Mysphere has a chance against the 4070 - that's already clear. Terrific! Jazz fabulous! Metal, that's fun with punchy bass!

I now had all closed headphones except the R10. Stellia and 4070 are clearly the locking tips of the closed series!

how much you got the 4070 for

 

[Sound Eq]

No, it can barely drive 009

i never heard the carbon, but i use 007tii with my 007mk2 and i adore it above everything i own, beside a not that well known estat from another company that i will share info bout soon, which will be surprising to some , no its not the kaldas one its another company which deserves its own attention and I will be glad to share soon. I own also L300 LE and Jade2 and 407 and 307 and 007tii is amazing with these as well.

i barely am using the 007tii at 50% on volume with my 007mk2, and its as loud and dynamic as when i listen to all my other plannar headphones and amps, and if you look at my profile I own or owned alot of totl headphones

It might be true I am missing alot not using a carbon, BHSE, but the 007tii at least to me sounds great.

What is keeping me from buying a carbon is that some report it sounds cold and not musical, so with 007tii I adore how it makes all my estat sound

 

[tumpux]

Ugh, sorry if it came across as an insensitive remarks.
Carry on gentlemen..

 

[forestitalia]

I tried but can't find any meaning in that comment...

 

[Sound Eq]

I kinda envy you.
Ignorance is truly a bliss.
Everything sounds adorable until we taste the next best thing.

ignorance or what ever , I was telling that member 007mk2 sounds great with 007tii, if i compare it to my other totl planar headphones when I use hugo 2 dac and ifi ican pro.

not everyone needs to jump to a 6k usd amp to enjoy 007 mk2, but of course i am not saying it will sound as great as with using the carbon per what other users report here

well to me using 007mk2 with 007tii tops any sound I get from using any planar setup period

 

[AudioThief]

ignorance or what ever , I was telling that member 007mk2 sounds great with 007tii, if i compare it to my other totl planar headphones when I use hugo 2 dac and ifi ican pro.

not everyone needs to jump to a 6k usd amp to enjoy 007 mk2, but of course i am not saying it will sound as great as with using the carbon per what other users report here

well to me using 007mk2 with 007tii tops any sound I get from using any planar setup period

The 007tii can drive the SR-007. Do not listen to the people saying you need 6000$ third party amps to "get the most" out of them.

 

[Sound Eq]

The 007tii can drive the SR-007. Do not listen to the people saying you need 6000$ third party amps to "get the most" out of them.

that's exactly what i am telling the member who asked if it can drive 007mk2

also logically stax who makes these headphones, and go to shows for people to let them audition their headphones at the time when 007tii was the flagship amp and 007 mk2 was driven by that amp. It makes no sense if stax brings such an amp to shows and let people just ridicule their 007mk2 headphone if the amp can not drive the 007mk2

yes I am sure the carbon is better but it does in no means make the 007tii not able to drive the 007mk2. But so is the deal with all other planar headphones, so if I use the ifi ican pro does it mean I can not enjoy it, knowing that there is a way more powerful and expensive amp out there. of course not, yes you can go the upgrade road and no harm, but just do not slam good amps like 007tii just because the stax mafia says so

 

[Whitigir]

Don’t listen to people telling you, listen to the gears and decide for yourself

 

[BreadMaster]

Don’t listen to people telling you, listen to the gears and decide for yourself

Schiit Modi 3 .... lol

 

[raband]

WeeWooWhackadoodle

 

[Tugbars]

The 007tii can drive the SR-007. Do not listen to the people saying you need 6000$ third party amps to "get the most" out of them.

turn up the volume knob. feel how the 007t is getting out of juice. The trebles will get dark, mids will sound like as if they are washed up, the bass won't slam strong enough.

as you increase voltage (volume) without proper current the voltage sags, it distorts and compresses.

"So basically we have two factors here, the voltage swing determines the maximum volume of the amp and the current determines the maximum power. There are some caveats though, almost all of the amps out there have more than enough voltage for deafening volume levels but the issue is current. So the load of electrostatic transducers changes wildly with frequency and this is where the current comes in. If there isn’t enough standing current, the voltage swing can’t reach the required level and it sags. This only happens in a part of the spectrum so the bass and treble really (the midrange is the easy bit to drive) so loose, boomy bass and either bright or subdued treble. With the load of a typical Stax set about 19mA is required for full voltage swing with no current limitations which is why the Carbon was set to 22mA for a bit extra headroom. So all of this has little to do with the sound of the amp except making sure it can properly drive the load. All of my amps are neutral to the extent their tech allows, so the Octave is neutral unless you push it really hard and it just can’t keep up with the load. The KGSSHV, KGSS Klassik and KGST are much better and you’d be hard pressed to cause them to run out of steam."

this is a quote from Mjolnir Audio(aka spritzer)

If you want to keep things low budget, best way is to get a speaker power amp and use a transformer. Transformers will give you 1100 peak to peak voltage swing and enough current to drive your headphones. The trebles will get rolled off a bit, but that's okay. With this way you can get much better sound quality than 2500$ 007t, just with 850$(700$ for Vidar & 150$ for SRD7/mkII)

 

[AudioThief]

turn up the volume knob. feel how the 007t is getting out of juice. The trebles will get dark, mids will sound like as if they are washed up, the bass won't slam enough.

as you increase voltage (volume) without proper current the voltage sags, it distorts and compresses.



this is a quote from Mjolnir Audio(aka spritzer)

If you want to keep things low budget, best way is to get a speaker power amp and use transformer. Transformers will give you 1100 peak to peak voltage swing and enough current to drive headphones. The trebles will get rolled off a bit, but that's okay.

Would you mine pointing me to measurements where we can see the difference between 007 through stax amps Vs carbon? Do they even exist?

 

[CH23]

this is a quote from Mjolnir Audio(aka spritzer)

If you want to keep things low budget, best way is to get a speaker power amp and use a transformer. Transformers will give you 1100 peak to peak voltage swing and enough current to drive your headphones. The trebles will get rolled off a bit, but that's okay. With this way you can get much better sound quality than 2500$ 007t, just with 850$(700$ for Vidar & 150$ for SRD7/mkII)

I came here to say that I just upgraded from no stax (last month) to SRM323s+SR507, and now to an SRD7 mk II + Schiit Ragnarok. And it sounds absolutely brilliant.

I never bothered looking into Stax because I thought they were super expensive, but it's actually really affordable.

Also new for my SR001 mk II, the CES-A1. I love them. the new eartips are really comfortable and keep the earphones in well enough, that I can eat without them falling out, and I trust them enough to even bike with them.

The closed back cover makes the bass stand out slightly more, and gives a tad plasticky sound in the treble, but it's keeping sound out fantastically. I use a lot of public transit, which is always noisy, and this is not an issue with these.

Finally some stax portability!

 

[Tugbars]

You don't have to get Carbon. You just have to feed headphones' stators with high current somehow, especially on SR007. When underpowered, the sound gets distorted as you turn the volume knob up. I used to have 007t with L300, i bought SR007 right after and my first impression of SR007 was a huge disappointment. I thought i paid 2100$ for nothing. I panicked. A gentleman in my town was kind enough to invite me to his house to let me audition his SR007 & Carbon and there i realized what SR007s are all about.

yesterday i listened to L300 again, I use the very demanding passage of "Jannick Schou - Then Filling Your Pockets With Stones"(you can find on youtube, it's a very unconventional song also) where it starts from 2:15 to test detail retrieval & layering capabilities of headphones. When i tested with my L300, all i hear was distortion and blurred sounds.I wasn't able to pick sound layers in the song. i switched to my 007's & Carbon and everything was clear, well layered. I was able to pick any sound layer and pick every detail.While i was using 007t, my 007's were performing worse than L300.

 

[AudioThief]

You don't have to get Carbon. You just have to feed headphones' stators with high current somehow, especially on SR007. When underpowered, the sound gets distorted as you turn the volume knob up. I used to have 007t with L300, i bought SR007 right after and my first impression of SR007 was a huge disappointment. I thought i paid 2100$ for nothing. I panicked. A gentleman in my town was kind enough to invite me to his house to let me audition his SR007 & Carbon and there i realized what SR007s are all about.

yesterday i listened to L300 again, I use the very demanding passage of "Jannick Schou - Then Filling Your Pockets With Stones"(you can find on youtube, it's a very unconventional song also) where it starts from 2:15 to test detail retrieval & layering capabilities of headphones. When i tested with my L300, all i hear was distortion and blurred sounds.I wasn't able to pick sound layers in the song. i switched to my 007's & Carbon and everything was clear, well layered. I was able to pick any sound layer and pick every detail.While i was using 007t, my 007's were performing worse than L300.

But that is just an analogt, which the 007tii guy probably has heard before. I personally had the 727ii and it sounded perfectly fine. A carbon, bhse or kgss will not change the headphones. The 007 is driven by 007tii and 727ii. Unless I can get some hard proof about the fidelity increases from third party amps, Im just not buying it.