[seaice]

  The sound out of SRD boxes is punchy and engaging, and I too will understand why one or another does prefer it to dedicated amps, especially listening to normal bias phones.
From my experience (SRD-7/SB, SB/mk2 and mk2, SRM-1/mk2 pro, SRM-727II modded and BHSE), downsides are (way) simpler sound et more restricted soundstage.
Q/P ratio is obviously on transformer's side, but each will pick his poison

 
Ali

yes, punchy and engaging are the right words. I am not saying that I prefer my Leben+SRD7 box over my Carbon but it is an interesting experience and I am still trying to figure out all differences and nuances by swapping cables and tubes. I think that people with good speaker amps can start their Stax path with these boxes.

 

[Beolab]

Let me think for at least 0.007 seconds... Ok, that was easy... No! Like I said, based on that particular session, my BHSE/009's are not quaking in their boots.
I had intended to bring in old and new 007's and 009's into the equation (all driven by dealer's SRM-007t), but 3 hours goes so quickly and I had to first achieve my primary objective that day, which was to choose my best bet dynamics headphone. The Stax vs Chosen One can happen later at home. As always, I'll try to keep an open mind and report back what did happen, rather than what I thought should have happened.

To follow up on a few other questions and PMs:

Yes, I could have used a wider selection of sound tracks that more people could have related to, but this way my journey and the selection I used told me all I needed to know to make a purchase decision. Had there been a draw at this stage, I would have tried a few other genres.

Near the end, with time running out, I briefly tried the dealer's recommended Trilogy 933 (or something like that) Class A head amp driven by DAVE. Of the Paul and Wendy team that is HighEndHeadphones, Paul's favourite dynamics is Utopia out of the Trilogy, and Wendy's favourite I think is the Abyss out of I'm not sure what. Which is the thousandth reminder that YMMV. I compared Utopia vs HEK V2 out of the Trilogy, and here the tables turned: Utopia benefited from the smoother, bassier presentation, whilst the HEK sounded a bit plodding and bloated. Had I only listened via the Trilogy amp, I would have come to a different conclusion to this exercise. Which just goes to show how easily ones mileage can vary. However, even during this brief test, I had a strong feeling that the Trilogy was adding colouration and losing transparency, so I stuck with my original downsizing objective: The Chosen One MUST work directly out of DAVE.

All the headphone cables were stock. From a recent cable upgrade to my HD600's, I know how much a difference they can make. At least one headfier has praised how much improved the HEK V2 cables are, which I take to be a good thing, as I won't have to rush to replace them. The V2 cables look very ordinary though, which just goes to show...  

Thanks for your answer

The DAVE most have sounded much better than the Trilogy 933 i can imagine .
Then the DAVE is x 4.4 times more powerful then the Trilogy, so it got also better control 'and that could be the answer to why the
HEK 2 sounded muddy vs the DAVE.



http://www.trilogyaudio.com/933_amplifier_for_headphones.html

 

[TheAttorney]

You shouldn't read too much into a few minutes of one man's impressions. I got what I needed and it struck me as quite obvious at the time, but OTOH, Paul had months to prefer the Trilogy. Different perspectives, different objectives. Anyway, I know I started it, but this particular sub-topic probably best should continue in the DAVE thread .

 

[Spork67]

I'm not sure if it's a case of my ears / brain adjusting (to the stax sound) or if my old-with-new-caps stax amp has now (re)burned in properly - but over the last few days I've really noticed an improvement in the bass and sub-bass.
Either way, if the 404 Limited Editions and SRM-T1 are "better" than my existing gear I'm in for a real treat when they arrive.
 
nb: Who is in charge of emoticons for this site, and why isn't there as stax one? 

 

[Tinkerer]

You'll probably like the T1 a lot. It was the reference amp for the company for almost twenty years for a reason.
 
Just listening to a T1W myself for the first time with my 007's. Really not bad at all. The bass isn't quite as impactful as my KGSSHV was or even the SRA-12S but definitely better than the 727 with feedback mod. It's no KGSSHV, but it's probably my 2nd favorite amp I've owned so far. It doesn't have the punch of the 12S but has more articulation like the 727 mod, so kind of in the middle of those two sound wise to me.
 
Definitely a good temp amp for a good deal while I finish up my Circlotron hopefully by the end of January. All this waiting for group buy stuff and certain case-related things from china just keeps dragging everything out. All the boards are tested. It's just finishing the case and wiring everything up. I've never hand-tapped so many M3 holes in my life.

 

[edstrelow]

After about 9 years and after replacing the cable, I have also replaced the earpads on the SR007A.  They had gotten flattened and I was no longer able to get a Stax fart when I pressed the earcups.  This indicated some sealing issues which could affect sound.  The new pads seemed very big on the ears after the old ones  and initially gave  a boomy presentation, compared to the old pads.   This was somewhat worrying because some of the detail and dynamics I had been getting from the use of sorbothane damping seemed to be negated. (http://www.head-fi.org/t/744839/damping-mechanical-energy-distortion-of-stax-and-other-phones-with-sorbothane-and-other-materials)  But after 1 1/2 days the boom went away and the sound is better than with the old pads.
 
I was struck by this break-in effect and wondered if some of the breakin many people attribute to drivers could be due to breakin of pads.   I do not doubt that some mechanical breakin occurs with headphones, probably more with dynamics than stats. But I don't recall seeing  earpad breaking addressed. 

 

[AnakChan]

Not in this thread but that is something Val Kolton has been saying w.r.t. breaking in ear pads for the M100. Conceptually applicable to all headphones presumably.

 

[zolkis]

  I was struck by this break-in effect and wondered if some of the breakin many people attribute to drivers could be due to breakin of pads.

 
My guess is that a few cycles of warm-up and moistening the leather on the head makes it softer and with better seal. Also the warm-up cycles will affect the pad fillings, the effect being dependent on the exact material. Myself I haven't noticed this effect too much - definitely not to this extent -, although I've tried more than a dozen pads on my Stax and my TH900.

 

[a1uc]

I am thinking of trying the Stax 009 , what seems to be the amp of choice ? I currently and using the Abyss / Dave any help would be great

 

[rgs9200m]

If you like Joseph Audio speakers, you will be better off with SR007s (the current version), rather than the SR009.
I like Joseph Audio speakers myself, rather than, say, more modern JM Labs.
Try a KGSS-HV amp (the regular version is fine).
[If you have tried the 009 and like it, well then go for it. Otherwise, get the SR007.]

 

[zolkis]

I have a new reference in tonality and timbre: the Gamma Pro with protein leather Bose ear pads.
It has displaced my modded (in Purrin style) HD650 and 009 in that, both of which measure excellent, but sound-wise the modified Gamma Pro slaughters the HD650 in every respect.
The 009 (and 007) is still better overall (bass, stage, fine dynamic gradation etc), but the Gamma has no problems with the highs, it sounds so natural, full, energetic, and velvet-smooth - especially cello and piano sound so real. I've spent much of the night listening to cello+piano .
The Omegas have more bass slam, but the modded Gamma Pro does not lack in bass.
 
It is interesting that when used with normal bias, the Gamma Pro sounds much like the normal-bias Gamma, that is quite much worse (especially in the treble) than the Gamma Pro with pro bias.
 
FR doesn't mean that much any more to me (e.g. based on measurements alone, the modded HD650 should sound way better than the others), but here we go. Disregard everything below 40 Hz and above 8 kHz, the data there depends on so many things. I judge those areas mostly by ear.
 
I have tried about 8-10 pads with the Gamma Pro. I selected the best sounding ones, the somewhat smaller Bose ear pads. The Stax 007 pads were also working well, with less bass.
 
Green: original Gamma Pro + pads: open, nice midrange, not much bass.
Violet: HD650: sounds a bit bland compared to the original Gamma, but still good.
Yellow: Gamma with cleaned up back (nothing but the drivers) + Bose QC15 ear pads. Quite much more bass slam than with the original pads, but ain't 007 yet. Nevertheless, enough to not miss anything, from orchestra to EDM. A new reference.
 

 
I am going to make some custom ear pads to the Gamma Pro, let's see if it can improve still. BTW the driver seems to be usable in almost any type of loading, including closed designs. 
I also have the itch to make a TH900-like enclosure for it (with larger, damped cups), as the driver alone sounds much better than the TH900 driver.

 

[edstrelow]

My guess is that a few cycles of warm-up and moistening the leather on the head makes it softer and with better seal. Also the warm-up cycles will affect the pad fillings, the effect being dependent on the exact material. Myself I haven't noticed this effect too much - definitely not to this extent -, although I've tried more than a dozen pads on my Stax and my TH900.

I agree with these observations and I would also note that as the pads compress, the eardrums get closer to the drivers and the earcup chamber gets smaller. All these factors would seem to be in play.

I have a new reference in tonality and timbre: the Gamma Pro with protein leather Bose ear pads.
It has displaced my modded (in Purrin style) HD650 and 009 in that, both of which measure excellent, but sound-wise the modified Gamma Pro slaughters the HD650 in every respect.
The 009 (and 007) is still better overall (bass, stage, fine dynamic gradation etc), but the Gamma has no problems with the highs, it sounds so natural, full, energetic, and velvet-smooth - especially cello and piano sound so real. I've spent much of the night listening to cello+piano .
The Omegas have more bass slam, but the modded Gamma Pro does not lack in bass.

It is interesting that when used with normal bias, the Gamma Pro sounds much like the normal-bias Gamma, that is quite much worse (especially in the treble) than the Gamma Pro with pro bias.

FR doesn't mean that much any more to me (e.g. based on measurements alone, the modded HD650 should sound way better than the others), but here we go. Disregard everything below 40 Hz and above 8 kHz, the data there depends on so many things. I judge those areas mostly by ear.

I have tried about 8-10 pads with the Gamma Pro. I selected the best sounding ones, the somewhat smaller Bose ear pads. The Stax 007 pads were also working well, with less bass.

Green: original Gamma Pro + pads: open, nice midrange, not much bass.
Violet: HD650: sounds a bit bland compared to the original Gamma, but still good.
Yellow: Gamma with cleaned up back (nothing but the drivers) + Bose QC15 ear pads. Quite much more bass slam than with the original pads, but ain't 007 yet. Nevertheless, enough to not miss anything, from orchestra to EDM. A new reference.




I am going to make some custom ear pads to the Gamma Pro, let's see if it can improve still. BTW the driver seems to be usable in almost any type of loading, including closed designs. 
I also have the itch to make a TH900-like enclosure for it (with larger, damped cups), as the driver alone sounds much better than the TH900 driver.

As regards other use for the drivers, the Gamma pro was evidently the source of the drivers in my SRXIII pro which I believe were modded in the UK from low bias operation. I like them but mostly they are being used for experiments in mechanical damping, since the outer cover comes off easily and I have other covers to swap in place with different damping materials.

 

[zolkis]

Speaking of mechanical damping, I really like the ugly plastic headband on the Gamma Pro, with continuous adjustment, almost no mass and most of all, no ringing! .
Also, I had to remove the thin wool sheet and foam layer from the back of the driver because they were decomposing and losing particles, and noticed it sounds much better without them (with no big FR change). For what is worth, the 007 (and 009) don't have anything behind the drivers (except the metallic mesh).

 

[a1uc]

Thanks I will look into it

 

[Pokemonn]

darn(again ? lol) today i found my DAC(fostex hp-a8) needs warm up to sound right.
i put a CD box on top of DAC top plate to cover ventilation slit.(do it at your own risk...) dang! sound magical with SR-009.
009 sound treble smoother, bass is fulller, very dynamic very musical, no need to EQ for SR-009 anymore...
is this phenomenon common for any DACs???
 
my little advice: warm your DAC and room!
 
thanks.