[Kiats]

Man I really want to try one of these - do any other Stax even sound remotely like them?

Well, the closest I suspect is the SR-X mk2 and Mk3 NB. So, the impact and density is not quite at the level of the Professional version. I think the driver for this is slightly bigger. But overall, nothing like any other Stax. Still mind blowing.

 

[Tachikoma]

No, it's the same driver size, the only difference is the bias (internal spacings).

I didn't find it too different from the normal bias mk3 tbh, but my mk3 was in mint condition, which may have helped.

 

[Alboxhen]

Someone sell me on Stax

 

[oneguy]

Someone sell me on Stax

Do you have ears? Stax has what ears crave like Brawndo.

 

[Kiats]

No, it's the same driver size, the only difference is the bias (internal spacings).

I didn't find it too different from the normal bias mk3 tbh, but my mk3 was in mint condition, which may have helped.

I will try my NB Mk3 in due course and see how it sounds vs the pro.

I suspect it will also depend on what energizer which you use to drive them.

 

[gammi]

Someone sell me on Stax

Simply put, the drivers move faster than any other kind of headphone. And the faster you can move air around (without distortion), the more accurately you can reproduce a sound wave.

 

[ruhian]

Succint! As @gammi has shared the technical, i'll share the cultural. No compromise in their products (went bankrupt twice because of this), product dev philosophy that is based solely on developments in material or technology that lead to increased fidelity (vs releases by competitors or consumers trends). Innovators who constantly attempt to break new boundaries vs maintaing a "safe" / tested house sound.

 

[BassicScience]

Simply put, the drivers move faster than any other kind of headphone. And the faster you can move air around (without distortion), the more accurately you can reproduce a sound wave.

Technically, estat drivers don't move (peak velocity) any faster than planars or dynamics. They accelerate (and decelerate) faster due to their lower mass, which translates to lower distortion, as the transducer more closely tracks the electrical signal. So, it's not about how "fast" you can move air around, but how precisely.

 

[simmconn]

Velocity is the integration of acceleration over time. Given the same time window, signal that generates the same amount of force, the higher the acceleration the higher the ending speed, isn’t it?

 

[gammi]

Technically, estat drivers don't move (peak velocity) any faster than planars or dynamics. They accelerate (and decelerate) faster due to their lower mass, which translates to lower distortion, as the transducer more closely tracks the electrical signal. So, it's not about how "fast" you can move air around, but how precisely.

From Merriam-Webster dictionary: Acceleration - the act or process of moving faster or happening more quickly
As I said, estats move faster.

Also your comment about precision is why I said "(without distortion)"
You could have a theoretically infinitely fast driver that moves at exactly the speed of any audio signal, but if the driver is deforming at that speed, the sound wave replicated will not be accurate.

Thus we've come full circle back to what I said: estats are good because they can move the fastest without distortion.

 

[alota]

In any case Stax rules!!! Lol

 

[gammi]

Velocity is the integration of acceleration over time. Given the same time window, signal that generates the same amount of force, the higher the acceleration the higher the ending speed, isn’t it?

Thing is, they won't be the same time window. the faster accelerating driver replicates the signal in less time than the slower accelerating one.
So you wind up with faster acceleration but in less time so velocity is more or less a wash.

It gets even trickier if acceleration is not constant. Which I presume for headphones it's not. Can have situations where a driver may accelerate quickly off a stop but reaches a lower terminal velocity because its acceleration drops off quickly perhaps based on things like maximum excursion distance of the driver. Also there could simply be a physical limitation to one drivers terminal velocity that another doesn't have that even given infinite time to accelerate, it would never reach a faster velocity.

 

[simmconn]

The ‘time window’ is specified by the observer, for example from idle to a certain time upon a step function stimulus. The time window should be the same when comparing two types of drivers in order to be an apple-to-apple comparison.

 

[ruhian]

The ‘time window’ is specified by the observer, for example from idle to a certain time upon a step function stimulus. The time window should be the same when comparing two types of drivers in order to be an apple-to-apple comparison.

difference in definition.....he is refering to the "time window" to reach the required ending speed.....while you are referrring to the time window afterwhich speed should be obeserved to compare the driver types. Long story short I believe you agree with each other haha

 

[number1sixerfan]

Someone sell me on Stax

In addition to the more science/engineering based inputs above, in the real world, (just in my $0.02) they tend to come off as just a bit quicker than dynamics/planars and a bit clearer and resolving. At a general expense of harder hitting bass from the latter. However, in all but the most ultra premium stats, you can find non-stat counterparts that can rival them in any category, albeit a bit far and few between rather than in many cases (ribbons--Sr1a, CA1a, TC, Susvara, etc. etc.). If resolution and clarity are top priorities, stats are definitely worth investigating, but definitely you can also get that elsewhere.

But there is a reason that all of the ultra-premium headphone systems are stat based (HE-1, Aperio, SGL Sr., etc.).