[capetownwatches]

What's wrong with referring our favorite “gadgets„ as a TOY ? Nothing at all!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy

I associate only positive thoughts with them – and NO, with one singular exception, none of my “TOYS” was ever an “Investment" with a positive FINANCIAL profit,
But countless hours of pure musical pleasure and enjoyment… You got it!!
Urs
(Sorry, yes I made this “notorious investment” in an X-9000 without thinking twice)

For some "BOYS" it may be different indeed..... MADNESS!!
https://www.amazon.de/Toys-Boys-Patrice-Farameh/dp/9076886326

 

[CT007]

I am pretty sure none of us is into this hobby to make a financial gain!

Yep. In this hobby, the opposite is the reality. ;p You're not here if you're trying to save/make money..!

 

[bearFNF]

Pick your poison (I choose 3.):
investment - noun
1. the action or process of investing money for profit or material result.
"a debate over private investment in road-building"
2. a thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future.
"a used car is rarely a good investment"
3. an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.
"the time spent in attending a one-day seminar is an investment in our professional futures"
4. ARCHAIC - the surrounding of a place by a hostile force in order to besiege or blockade it.

Personally I think it's an investment in your mental health to have something that you enjoy. Whether that also includes getting you a monetary gain depends on your own personal choice.

Think about all the people that think their house is an investment for profit, then never sell it. It is still an investment if they got pleasure out of living there, right? Or actually it is still an investment if they didn't get pleasure, just at a loss instead of a gain...

 

[dynavit]

If you buy secondhand 2 years after new release you may have good luck and loose nothing. Good headphones don't loose more than 50% in the first 10 years, but they loose 40% quickly being used after release.

 

[number1sixerfan]

If you buy secondhand 2 years after new release you may have good luck and loose nothing. Good headphones don't loose more than 50% in the first 10 years, but they loose 40% quickly being used after release.

Agree.. if it weren't for this I wouldn't be in the hobby. I buy most of my gear used (only in most recent months this hasn't been true), or deeply discounted from friends (I offer the same when selling) and trusted dealers. And I usually only buy gear that I know will have demand for years to come.

Gear doesn't appreciate but it surely holds its value well if you take care of it.. while you get to enjoy it immensely while having it. If needed, I could liquidate most of my gear at a very small loss and have thousands of dollars on hand within a week or two. There are certainly worst ways to spend money.

 

[tumpux]

Is it that hard to admit that spending ridiculous amount of resources on something nice is fun..

 

[tjlindle]

L700 Sigma came in a couple days ago! Blazing fast shipping from Hong Kong, very impressed

I haven't had a chance to listen to them yet unfortunately, but tonight I'll finally get some quality time to put them through their paces.

I felt the L700 driver's imaging capabilities could exceed the bottleneck of the Lambda enclosure (that's not to say Lambdas have bad enclosures, just that it felt like the L700 could benefit from a larger stage in which to flex its technical chops). I hope my hunch is correct, because if so this will be quite a ride.

In the meantime I have been having a lot of fun with the NB Crew

Three of my favorite cans ever, and in the middle the most resolving IEM I've ever heard too (that is a KSE1500/1200 modded with a Stax 5-pin).

SR-5 (not the Gold version unfortunately) is a very fun listen, not as exacting as the SR-X Mk3, a little warmer, a little bigger soundstage, still just as punchy and resolving.

SR-X Mk 3 I think has a really special place in the Stax canon, not just for its historical value but also because in its supra-aural form factor, it just channels music right into your soul, they are clear, tonally perfect, resolving and the soundstage is just pure magic, so direct and intimate. There is no attempt to make it an "earspeaker" in the sense of the Sigma or Lambda lines, it's a headphone that knows its a headphone and as a result the sonic presentation is elegant, simple, and direct. I am still kicking myself not buying the SR-X Mk 3 Pro DIY that spritzer was selling a couple months ago. As an aside I also don't really care for deeper pads, to me the tiny soundstage is a feature with these.

The NB Lambda is probably the most euphonic headphone I've ever heard. I still consider it probably the "least strong" Lambda in terms of technical performance but that midrange is just magical, everything you listen to on the NB Lambda is the sonic equivalent of grandma's home cooking. My favorite vocals from a headphone.

The KSE1500 takes 200v bias so it can be powered off of a full-blown NB Stax amp...holy s--t. All I can say is detail monster, it is like being buried alive in detail. Isolates just as well as Etymotics too so you can really hear every little thing with no interference from the outside world.

There is a Gamma on eBay that I'm eyeing but I'm thinking the price is not right on it. Shame as I'm really curious how it compares to the SR-X Mk3 in particular.

Normal bias sets are awesome. Stax bring back the socket please.

 

[kevin gilmore]

The KSE1500 on a non-portable stax amp is indeed amazing. But it does really require a 200 volt bias and stax normal bias is more like 250v.
All stax amps with a normal bias output jack can be easily modified by changing 1 resistor.
There is a person in china selling kse1500 with a 5 pin stax plug. Don't know if they are real or fakes, but they sure sound nice. And the price is dirt cheap.
(which probably means they are fakes)

 

[tjlindle]

The KSE1500 on a non-portable stax amp is indeed amazing. But it does really require a 200 volt bias and stax normal bias is more like 250v.
All stax amps with a normal bias output jack can be easily modified by changing 1 resistor.
There is a person in china selling kse1500 with a 5 pin stax plug. Don't know if they are real or fakes, but they sure sound nice. And the price is dirt cheap.
(which probably means they are fakes)

picture in a minute

Oh that's good to know re: NB amps being closer to 250v - I've been using the KSE out of a Stax amp for a while now, do you think that's damaging it in any way over time?

I have a few NB amps/energizers, that sounds like it's worth modding one of them specifically for the KSE.

EDIT: I'm curious if they're fakes too. The KSE seems pretty advanced on the tech side of things given the small size, seems like it'd be a huge pain to counterfeit it vs. any number of other IEMs.

 

[kevin gilmore]

it was designed for 200v. and i see no reason to over bias them when it takes less than a minute to change 1 resistor.

 

[tjlindle]

it was designed for 200v. and i see no reason to over bias them when it takes less than a minute to change 1 resistor.

Ok I'll look into that, could do it to either an SRD-7 or a SRM-1.

I'm assuming that might affect sound quality a little with Stax NB sets since they're slightly under-biased at that point, but I have other amps I can use with them.

 

[bigjako]

Please, someone buy this so I don’t: https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds...atic-tube-headphone-amp-for-stax-issue.24719/

It must be fixable. Who wants to go quarters and rotate it around North America? I’d love to hear Birgir’s all tube amp. I already have more electrostatic tube amps than I need.

 

[Tachikoma]

There is a Gamma on eBay that I'm eyeing but I'm thinking the price is not right on it. Shame as I'm really curious how it compares to the SR-X Mk3 in particular.

Normal bias sets are awesome. Stax bring back the socket please.

I hear it as somewhere between the SR-5 and SR-X. A bit nasal compared to either though.

 

[Swann36]

Ebony blocks and Alan Maher RFI filters.

Looking up Alan Maher is really interesting as i already use a grounding sheet to sleep on ...

 

[Zoide]

How does a CCS / ECC99 modded T1S compare to the 353X when it comes to driving the L700 (and potentially the more power-hungry Nectar Hive)?

Thanks