The Stax Thread III

[mariopoli]

How dissapointing.

 

[Ali-Pacha]

@JimL11 spotted two new kids in estat amp town at last Canjam :

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/can...bruary-17-18-2018.872511/page-3#post-14052195

Ali

 

[misooooo]

Unless the picture is wrong and not a proper representative of the L300 Limited, the L300 Limited picture on the Woo page and everywhere else unmistakeably shows L500 pads... L300 and L500 pads are thinner than L700 pads, and the L300 pads have no straight sidewall (like Lamda Pros), while the L500 pads do. Ears will still touch on an L500, but not as much as an L300. My ears touch on my ESP950 and its not that big of a deal to me. And likewise on the L300 and L500 I've tried.

It was never stated on the Staxaudio.com site that the L700 stators were being used with the L300 Limited. Has always been ambiguous on what the stator heritage actually is exactly, definitelty a derivative of the L700 if not one.

Regarding whether the pictures are wrong, I remember reading on the Japanese PDF a little disqualifier that the picture (and even specs, I think) are not guarantees of the final product. So it isn't out of the question that Stax has been changing the model. Also not unheard of for a latestage prototype to be at CanJam.

 

[VRacer-111]

Regarding whether the pictures are wrong, I remember reading on the Japanese PDF a little disqualifier that the picture (and even specs, I think) are not guarantees of the final product. So it isn't out of the question that Stax has been changing the model. Also not unheard of for a latestage prototype to be at CanJam.

Understood, and would have been nice if someone took pictures of the L300 Limited at the show... I can't believe there is absolutely no pictures of it from NY CanJam this past weekend...

 

[givemetacos]

Unless the picture is wrong and not a proper representative of the L300 Limited, the L300 Limited picture on the Woo page and everywhere else unmistakeably shows L500 pads... L300 and L500 pads are thinner than L700 pads, and the L300 pads have no straight sidewall (like Lamda Pros), while the L500 pads do. Ears will still touch on an L500, but not as much as an L300. My ears touch on my ESP950 and its not that big of a deal to me. And likewise on the L300 and L500 I've tried.

It was never stated on the Staxaudio.com site that the L700 stators are the units used with the L300 Limited. Has always been ambiguous on what the stators are used, but is definitelty a derivative of the L700 if not actually L700 stators.

I've had that L300 Limited staxaudio page permanently open in my browser for weeks now (and I refreshed it daily secretly wishing for a price reduction haha) and there was definitely a time when it specifically used the wording of L700 stators. I remember this because it sent me in a rabbit hole researching estat stators for many hours. It also used to say L500 pads too. You might be right that the pic is showing L500 pads, but it is strange that they removed that from the features list. This "MLER" phrasing is definitely new because I would have researched that as well. So yeah, I don't know what to think anymore, but wording on that webpage significantly changed since last week.

 

[misooooo]

Understood, and would have been nice if someone took pictures of the L300 Limited at the show... I can't believe there is absolutely no pictures of it from NY CanJam this past weekend...

Here, although there isn't much to discern from it.https://www.head-fi.org/threads/can...bruary-17-18-2018.872511/page-2#post-14051362

 

[buzzlulu]

We've been discussing the L300 Limited and its appearance at CanJam over at reddit in this thread. To re-confirm it sounds like the L300 Limited (and not regular L300) was indeed at CanJam. For whatever reason, the L700 might not have been around during part of the day(s). It also seems like there was a significant sound difference between L300 Limited, L500, and L700. Also, it appears Staxaudio.com (authorized Stax dealer run by Woo Audio and the booth the Stax gear was at during CanJam) has updated their wording on the features of L300 Limited. It now says this: "The "MLER" (Multi-Layer Elect Rode) ellipse sound element is equivalent to Lambda series top model SR-L700." I believe up until last week or so it used to specifically use the wording that L300 limited used the L700 stators. But that is gone now. They also removed any wording about using the L500 pads. And at CanJam it was noted that the L300 Limited still used shallow pads that suffers from the same problem of ears touching the inside driver.

So it seems Stax might not be upgrading the L300 Limited as much as it originally seemed to be. It definitely seem like it will just be a fancier L300, and not really much closer to an L700.

Well Woo emailed back this morning and confirmed that the 300's I demoed were indeed the Anniversary edition. With that said I stand by comments made in my previous post above #14222
Keep in mind I am a Stax newbie however with some of the later comments concerning the online description of the anniversary edition suddenly changing this past week, and perhaps there not being upgraded components but simply cosmetic changes which differentiate it from a stock 300, then my perception that I liked the 500 better than the 300 anniversary might now have a logical explanation.

 

[buzzlulu]

Well - the mystery deepens. I just had a telephone conversation with Jack Woo who called me back. It turns out that there was BOTH a basic 300 and a 300 Anniversary headphone at the booth. Based on what I heard I think it was the basic 300 and not the Anniversary which the (confused) rep had me listen to. Mr Woo said that the Anniversary is considerably better than the 500 I liked - and approached the 700 in performance.

 

[givemetacos]

Well Woo emailed back this morning and confirmed that the 300's I demoed were indeed the Anniversary edition. With that said I stand by comments made in my previous post above #14222
Keep in mind I am a Stax newbie however with some of the later comments concerning the online description of the anniversary edition suddenly changing this past week, and perhaps there not being upgraded components but simply cosmetic changes which differentiate it from a stock 300, then my perception that I liked the 500 better than the 300 anniversary might now have a logical explanation.

Thanks for the update. I was definitely wishfully thinking that the L300 Limited would magically sound close to L700 so it is good to hear hands-on impressions and temper those unrealistic thoughts. Still really liking the L300's though so I'm not going to complain

UPDATE: Just read your 2nd post. Dammit this thread is a roller-coaster of emotions. That's actually really intriguing that Woo is now saying the L300 Limited is reaching L700 levels. I wonder if that is just marketing influence or if he really does hear it that way.

 

[Ojisan]

I've had that L300 Limited staxaudio page permanently open in my browser for weeks now (and I refreshed it daily secretly wishing for a price reduction haha) and there was definitely a time when it specifically used the wording of L700 stators. I remember this because it sent me in a rabbit hole researching estat stators for many hours. It also used to say L500 pads too. You might be right that the pic is showing L500 pads, but it is strange that they removed that from the features list. This "MLER" phrasing is definitely new because I would have researched that as well. So yeah, I don't know what to think anymore, but wording on that webpage significantly changed since last week.

The Japanese website and brochure has always indicated MLER Oval (ellipse) sound element. Among L300/500/700, L700 is the only one advertised as using MLER. I'm confused about the "stator" though. Is stator equivalent to electrode or something else?

 

[Jones Bob]

The Japanese website and brochure has always indicated MLER Oval (ellipse) sound element. Among L300/500/700, L700 is the only one advertised as using MLER. I'm confused about the "stator" though. Is stator equivalent to electrode or something else?

Electrode = stator. Different names for the same thing, like valve and tube.

 

[Ojisan]

Electrode = stator. Different names for the same thing, like valve and tube.

Ahh, thanks!!!

 

[JayKay47]

OK, the Stax website says that the L300LE stator is the equivalent of the L700 fwiw, I don't understand why this is so hard to comprehend. It says so in the features

https://www.staxaudio.com/earspeaker/sr-l300limited

 

[JayKay47]

OK, the Stax website says that the L300LE stator is the equivalent of the L700 fwiw, I don't understand why this is so hard to comprehend. It says so in the features

https://www.staxaudio.com/earspeaker/sr-l300limited

So safe to say L300 headband, stator housing, cable, L500 earpad's, L700 stator?

 

[JayKay47]

Could mean literally equal...could also mean equal in function for the specific device. Doesn't necessarily mean they're identical, which is the entire point.

No, it is not the point. If you have doubt, stop speculating and second guessing yourself.