The Stax Thread III

[Rayzilla]

The wait will come to an end soon. Received a message from home that two big boxes have been delivered. On my way home now and will need to do some important errands before I get to test the system out.

 

[Rayzilla]

My new toys arrived!


A little dent.


The SRM-323s and headphone accessories.

 

[Rayzilla]

The STAX HPS-2 headphone stand and the STAX CPC-1 dust cover.


SRM-323S and accessories.


SR-009 box.

 

[pedalhead]

 

[Rayzilla]

The unboxing in action...

ght/400[/IMG]

 

[Rayzilla]

At the bottom of the HP stand. A nice thought.


The final stand... I mean shot.

 

[Earspeakers]

^ Yeah it's very Japanese. Packaging is as important as the item!

 

[Pokemonn]

@Rayzilla any impression on SR009?

 

[Rayzilla]

  ^ Yeah it's very Japanese. Packaging is as important as the item!

It did put a smile on my face after I read it.
 

  @Rayzilla any impression on SR009?

My very early impressions:
1) DETAIL: I have a preference for as much detail as possible. I think this WILL be as good as it gets. Easily more than the HE1000. The HD 800 is still pretty close to this but I suspect that when I upgrade the amp, whenever that may be, I will be very happy in this area.
 
2) BASS: I like the bass to be tight and punchy. I think the 323S (now that I have the box, I realize that the s is capitalized) is not giving me that kind of bass. Right now it is a little more bloated than the bass coming out of my HD 800. The quantity of bass on the 009, even through the 323S is a little more than the HD 800.
 
3) Treble: I have a preference towards more treble than the average Head-fier, I think. I have no problems with the HD 800 treble, in fact I haven't tried any headphone that has better treble than the HD 800, in my opinion. The treble on the 009 is very smooth, in my opinion. It is there for sure and it is pretty sweet already, even with the 323S. To me, both HD 800 and SR-009 are pretty even with a slight edge to HD 800 but I think I might be alone on this one because of my personal preference in this area.
 
4) Comfort: I have a pretty small head based on the complaints by many Head-fiers that a variety of HPs are too small but to me I often need to go almost to the smallest setting. With the 009, I am not quite at the smallest setting but getting there. The headband is quite comfortable so far but not quite a comfortable as the HD 800. It has a little more clamping force than the HD 800 so the HD 800 will be more comfortable for long listening sessions. The pads on these are leather so they feel a little on the warm side but I think this is because I am spoiled by the pads on the HD 800. Nothing beats the HD 800 on comfort... NOTHING!
 
5) Cable: I like this flat cable. It is very flexible. I like the pin connectors.
 
No doubt these are keepers. I know that I am just scratching the surface on what these earspeakers (I need to get used to this) can do. Looking forward to the long journey.
 
Feel free to ask any questions.
 
 

 

[Armaegis]

  I have a Woo WEE (I modded one of the jacks to bypass the transformers; ...

 
I mentioned this earlier, but I'd just like to get some confirmation from the kind folks here on whether this is safe to do.
 
I've modded the right jack on my WEE so it bypasses the transformers (the left jack is normal though). I've got extra wires to connect the negatives from the speaker inputs to the L- and R- of the stax jack.
 
The L+ and R+ are connected to the switch, so essentially I've run two extra wires from the "Stax" position to the L+ and R+. When the knob is on "speaker", only the speakers play. When the knob is on "Stax" then my input goes both to the transformers and directly to the right jack.
 
So the question I'm asking is... sending signal to the transformers and directly out to one jack simultaneously is ok right? (obviously I'm not plugging in two headphones simultaneously)
I feel like it should all be fine, but with expensive gear on the line and dealing with one broken headphone already, I'm doubting myself.

 

[n3rdling]

Why not just leave the extra L+ and R+ heatshrinked and disconnected?

 

[Armaegis]

I'm not sure I understand...?
 
I wanted the ability to try both with and without transformers, but I also wanted the switch to disengage both jacks when I switch to speakers.

 

[Pokemonn]

Hello!
I can't get info about how to mod SRM727...
Please someone let me know how to or info links?

 

[kazcou]

I don't know if that can help

 

[blackads]

I don't know if that can help

The photos of the circuit boards in that thread show you the relevant resistors, but note that if you work carefully you dont have to replace the existing resistors as they are the correct values, just desolder the ends closest to the board edge, lift gently and solder a wire or a cut off resistor leg to the lifted end of the resistor and the other end to the board edge. Makes the mod easily reversible.