[Argybargy]

The 507s I owned had zero etch and no hot treble. In fact, I thought it sounded slightly warm. The size and shape of your ears as well as how well you can seal the phones will have a BIG effect on the sound. This is one reason for the lack of consensus on many models.

 

[ThePartyPooper]

  Good choice : D
He will give you envy to discover of other pearl of Stax : )

I just hope I get the chance for my wallet to recover first! 

 

[milosz]

My Lambda Signature have a very nice etch.  I like the etch.  It is some kind of treble emphasis- either in the frequency domain or the time domain, or both, but it has a certain subtlety to it that keeps from being painful / irritating, IMHO. It's a treble emphasis of some kind, bringing out out detail without being  overly strident or tizzy.  Somewhere I've read that the Signatures etch is the most easily heard of all the Stax headphones. Could be. I had a pair of 'regular' Lambda Pros and they were closer to neutral, didn't notice any etch in comparison to the Lambda Signature's. 
 
The etch makes treble detail stand out a little, which can be a fun sound.  Accurate / neutral  -  not so much.  But it can be likeable.  And also can be useful when trying to hear a specific thing in a recording.  If I only had ONE pair of headphones, though, they could not be Lambda Signatures- it's nice to have the option of listening to the etch, but I wouldn't want it to be the ONLY way I could hear music.

 

[davidsh]

  My Lambda Signature have a very nice etch.  I like the etch.  It is some kind of treble emphasis- either in the frequency domain or the time domain, or both, but it has a certain subtlety to it that keeps from being painful / irritating, IMHO. It's a treble emphasis of some kind, bringing out out detail without being  overly strident or tizzy.  Somewhere I've read that the Signatures etch is the most easily heard of all the Stax headphones. Could be. I had a pair of 'regular' Lambda Pros and they were closer to neutral, didn't notice any etch in comparison to the Lambda Signature's. 
 
The etch makes treble detail stand out a little, which can be a fun sound.  Accurate / neutral  -  not so much.  But it can be likeable.  And also can be useful when trying to hear a specific thing in a recording.  If I only had ONE pair of headphones, though, they could not be Lambda Signatures- it's nice to have the option of listening to the etch, but I wouldn't want it to be the ONLY way I could hear music.

Yeah, with the LS it just sounds like there are more details without getting harsh or jarring sound, kinda too detailed and airy to be neutral. My understanding is, that there are 3 narrow peaks in the treble if I remember correctly.
 
The 307 oth sounds nothing like the LS with regards to 'treble etch' going from memory.

 

[zolkis]

My 507 doesn't have etch either, and it's warm sounding. As open as the HD800, but warmer and less grainy.
 
But this post is about the SR-007 Mk1. I always wondered why Spritzer says it's the best headphones Stax made. He called my attention to setting the headband properly.
I've been playing a lot with the 007, and have ended up with some delightful discoveries.
 
While wobbling around the 009, I discovered the versatility of the 007-Mk1, which I can now make sound like... I want it. It can sound closed in with a lot of deep bass or as open as the 009 (within some debated limits of course) with more neutral and dry sound. Cutting the crap, here are my learnings:
 
1. It is so extremely sensitive to headband and earpad adjustments (even slight mods). The first revelation came when I made the headbands shape similar to that of the 507, i.e. flatter in the middle, the leather headband almost touching the metal bands. Then, set the angle of the drivers from the ends of the metal headbands, to follow the head and ensure even and the right amount of pressure around the ear. A lot of variables on how to achieve this one. The effect is opening up the sound and maximizing the snap and bass impact.
 
2. After the headbands are properly adjusted, then by rotating the earpad springs around the clock while keeping the pads still, the sound is affected between warm, melodic & a bit closed sound to completely open, neutral and more dry, and in between the two ends. I love it - and for what it's worth, I usually end up settling the spring at the positions mapping to 4-5 pm on the clock, where it has deep, well defined bass with an excellent base resonance, and it's open and fluid sounding in the same time. It can sound a bit syrupy and laid back around the 3 pm position, and getting more dry and more forward at 6 pm.
 
3. Setting the spring is easy since after a lot of testing, I stopped using the grills, and keep the phones in the box when not used, to prevent dust damage. Fortunately the air is very clean here.
 
4. Since I have 2 pads, and older and a new one, I modified the old pads while comparing them to the new. Based on countless experiments, I can say the best mod is to trim the soft part of the internal foam just lightly (~ 2 mm) from the thin (front) end, making it tilt more. This also accentuates the effect of setting the spring position. Skip this if you want, as this is non-reversible, or like me, do it with one pad and keep the other unchanged.
 
In the end I love this versatility to set the sonics to my mood and the music. I don't miss the 009 that much any more (the 007 is kind of more fluid). The SR-009 definitely has its own merits, but now I know what Spritzer meant about the excellency of the 007 Mk1. I can still imagine better sound, but it's good enough for me for a long while.
 
I think it is impossible to review the 007 Mk1 properly, unless the reviewer takes the time to properly adjust and personalize the 007. My settings are likely non-optimal for others, but my wife and kids hear similar differences with it as I do, so the mods definitely have some value.
 
I would be useful if 007 Mk1 owners could try and verify these, except perhaps step 4.

 

[paradoxper]

I can really relate to this. After some time fussing around I really found the 007 sound to open up nicely. Biggest gains were with improved bass impact, though it is still light compared to some ortho's (I can live with it.) I also found the spot for me where the phones really disappear which helps increase that sense of sound coming from behind you. It catches me off guard quite often.

 

[3X0]

But on another note, 3X0 "The 323S is surprisingly "just right" with the SR-009 and SR-Omega IMHO."  So you would consider this a viable option for an interim amp while waiting on a TOTL (BHSE or the like)?

I can't say, but I tend to be far more of an objectivist than most here (and have an appropriately skeptical wallet).
 
I'm not sure I'd be able to discern improvements in the BHSE versus anything lesser with any semblance of confidence, but I have yet to hear it at length.
 
I certainly didn't perceive the KGSSHV to be much of an improvement over the 323S and in fact took some issue with what I perceived to be a slightly bright tonality with the Omega (not so much with the 007Mk1). The caveat is that meet conditions are of course far short of conducive to meaningful comparisons, but I was not inspired to rush out and commission a DIY build from what I heard.
 
The 323S is just a $500-700 amplifier that gets the job done without any issues worth crying about. I'm definitely in the minority here but  I'll sooner spend 10x as much on another SR-Omega than anything else...

 

[spritzer]

  This is the only statement I would believe to be accurate regarding the Lambda generations.
 
Even impressions on the new Lambda line by the Don (where is he these days?) have flip-flopped over the course of one or two years.
 
I would say that the only conclusive way to be sure is to hear them side-by-side, but this is of course easier said than done.
 
This isn't just a case restricted to Lambdas either. Read comparative impressions between the SR-007 vs. SR-009, SR-007 vs. SR-Omega, and SR-009 vs. SR-Omega and you'll find the same complete absence of a proper consensus.

 
I've never flip-flopped with the x07 range, they were awful from the day I received my first 507 with the 207 being the sole exception.  They aren't perfect (too bright/forward as all the new models are) but come closest to the ideal sound signature.  Dirt cheap too... 
 
Don't see much reason to visit HF any more but I still stop by to reply to PM's. 
 

  My 507 doesn't have etch either, and it's warm sounding. As open as the HD800, but warmer and less grainy.
 
But this post is about the SR-007 Mk1. I always wondered why spritzer says it's the best headphones Stax made. He called my attention to setting the headband properly.
I've been playing a lot with the 007, and have ended up with some delightful discoveries.
 
While wobbling around the 009, I discovered the versatility of the 007-Mk1, which I can now make sound like... I want it. It can sound closed in with a lot of deep bass or as open as the 009 (within some debated limits of course) with more neutral and dry sound. Cutting the crap, here are my learnings:
 
1. It is so extremely sensitive to headband and earpad adjustments (even slight mods). The first revelation came when I made the headbands shape similar to that of the 507, i.e. flatter in the middle, the leather headband almost touching the metal bands. Then, set the angle of the drivers from the ends of the metal headbands, to follow the head and ensure even and the right amount of pressure around the ear. A lot of variables on how to achieve this one. The effect is opening up the sound and maximizing the snap and bass impact.
 
2. After the headbands are properly adjusted, then by rotating the earpad springs around the clock while keeping the pads still, the sound is affected between warm, melodic & a bit closed sound to completely open, neutral and more dry, and in between the two ends. I love it - and for what it's worth, I usually end up settling the spring at the positions mapping to 4-5 pm on the clock, where it has deep, well defined bass with an excellent base resonance, and it's open and fluid sounding in the same time. It can sound a bit syrupy and laid back around the 3 pm position, and getting more dry and more forward at 6 pm.
 
3. Setting the spring is easy since after a lot of testing, I stopped using the grills, and keep the phones in the box when not used, to prevent dust damage. Fortunately the air is very clean here.
 
4. Since I have 2 pads, and older and a new one, I modified the old pads while comparing them to the new. Based on countless experiments, I can say the best mod is to trim the soft part of the internal foam just lightly (~ 2 mm) from the thin (front) end, making it tilt more. This also accentuates the effect of setting the spring position. Skip this if you want, as this is non-reversible, or like me, do it with one pad and keep the other unchanged.
 
In the end I love this versatility to set the sonics to my mood and the music. I don't miss the 009 that much any more (the 007 is kind of more fluid). The SR-009 definitely has its own merits, but now I know what spritzer meant about the excellency of the 007 Mk1. I can still imagine better sound, but it's good enough for me for a long while.
 
I think it is impossible to review the 007 Mk1 properly, unless the reviewer takes the time to properly adjust and personalize the 007. My settings are likely non-optimal for others, but my wife and kids hear similar differences with it as I do, so the mods definitely have some value.
 
I would be useful if 007 Mk1 owners could try and verify these, except perhaps step 4.

 
Nice to see when somebody gets it. 

  On my todo list though is to install a new diaphragm in a set of 009's to show just how good they could have been and indeed the prototypes were. 

 

[TheAttorney]

Hi zolkis, what do you mean by "the spring"?
 
Is this the bar going from center to circumference? If so, then I don't need to remove the grill to rotate it. Removing the grill is something I'm just never going to do, irrespective of the potential rewards (I leave my 007's out all the time, with no ill effects after 5 years).
 
I'm not one who has the patience to make lots of minute adjustments - I much prefer to fit-and-forget, but I have increasingly noticed that rotating the pads of the 007, even by a small amount, can noticeably change the sound. Spritzer has mentioned this in the past. I've always settled for the seam to be forward and slightly up and then not worried about it. But exactly how "slightly up" does affect the sound - I wish I hadn't noticed this.

 

[DefQon]

How can people find the 507's warm sounding, What?

 

[zolkis]

  Hi zolkis, what do you mean by "the spring"?
 
Is this the bar going from center to circumference? If so, then I don't need to remove the grill to rotate it. Removing the grill is something I'm just never going to do, irrespective of the potential rewards (I leave my 007's out all the time, with no ill effects after 5 years).
 
I'm not one who has the patience to make lots of minute adjustments - I much prefer to fit-and-forget, but I have increasingly noticed that rotating the pads of the 007, even by a small amount, can noticeably change the sound. Spritzer has mentioned this in the past. I've always settled for the seam to be forward and slightly up and then not worried about it. But exactly how "slightly up" does affect the sound - I wish I hadn't noticed this.

 
Yes, that bar is the "radius" of the spring, which is circular and tensions the earpad. The spring can rotate inside the earpad (moves easily counter-clockwise, but clockwise not so much, because the construction of the spring). The earpad can also rotate, but in the mods I have been describing they were kept fixed so that the joint pointed at 3 o'clock.
 
Now as the spring rotates inside the pad, the portion of the earpad where the bar is pointing to is slightly more elevated. On most 007's the bar is also set in 3 o'clock direction, but for me it sounds better around 5 o'clock - note that I have recessed the front depth of the pad about 2-3 mm by trimming the internal foam thickness, making the midrange more open. The spring can completely counteract this mod when set at 3 o'clock, and enable it more and more as it is rotated downwards to 4-5-6 o'clock. The relative max effect is at 6 o'clock, so I have a quarter of the circle to do adjustments. Setting through other quarters made different effects, which were not so desirable to me as they didn't sound as consistent from top to bottom. 

 

[zolkis]

How can people find the 507's warm sounding, What?

 
I guess it goes with the source, since to my ears it sounds warm even with the 323S. Yes, it also goes with the ears, mine are not young any more - yet the HD800 still irritates me whereas the 507 does not (usually). It is indeed more "etched" than the 007, but not enough to call it etched, somehow my brain can adjust to it easily, unlike to most dynamic headphones which are more etched than the 507 and I can't make peace with them. Likely that adaptation limit is different from person to person.

 

[DefQon]

Theres no doubt the 507 is a bright sounding headphone (guess age contributes as well) but the brightness of the 507 is to the point it is cold and clinical, of the few times I've heard it and tried to like it it was more irritating to the ears then my HD800's of the time.

 

[Argybargy]

I specifically bought the 507 because I wanted cold and clinical, what I got was warmth, so I sold it. Nothing wrong with my hearing as I find the srxmk3 slightly etched with a bit of glare to the treble and the 007mk1 to be slightly dark and the sr-5 to have fantastic musical mids.

I suspect there is more sample variation with stats than we might think, as well as the different SQ arising from variability from pad fit/seal.

 

[arnaud]

Theres no doubt the 507 is a bright sounding headphone (guess age contributes as well) but the brightness of the 507 is to the point it is cold and clinical, of the few times I've heard it and tried to like it it was more irritating to the ears then my HD800's of the time.

Hopefully you're not diseappointed with the 009, some say the voicing of 507 is similar (can't say personnally, haven't bothered checking the new lambda series).