[astrostar59]

 
Couldn't agree more. The amount of crap that is regurgitated is hilarious.
How many people have their own thoughts on this board? Not many.
Too much emphasis on gear and not music.

Naa, don't agree. There are some VERY experienced Stax users and DIY Stat amp builders on this forum. And many of the opinions on here major on personal demos or own gear. Some guys here have such a long list of Stax models in stock or previously owned. I come here for that, and at the other place as well. Yeah a few talk up stuff and re-quote. However there are the forum guys here I totally trust like Purk and Paradoxper for example. Newbies can generalise and miss quote, talk stuff up, agree on that. But on the whole the content here is unbeatable. Other forums (any hifi subjects) as much lower quality of posting IMO and get too political and or abusive. I have got bollocked on here a few times, and I seas upset about that. Damb, I post all sorts of articles and my experiences to help others. But I got over it because I like this place a lot.
 
On music v gear, this is a gear forum to discuss equipment choices that result in more enjoyment of music. If you want to discuss music you need to be on a specialist music forum.

 

[vapman]

No amount of research is worth as much as going to a meet and hearing for yourself! That's why meets are so great and efficient.

 

[mulveling]

 
Naa, don't agree. There are some VERY experienced Stax users and DIY Stat amp builders on this forum. And many of the opinions on here major on personal demos or own gear. Some guys here have such a long list of Stax models in stock or previously owned. I come here for that, and at the other place as well. Yeah a few talk up stuff and re-quote. However there are the forum guys here I totally trust like Purk and Paradoxper for example. Newbies can generalise and miss quote, talk stuff up, agree on that. But on the whole the content here is unbeatable. Other forums (any hifi subjects) as much lower quality of posting IMO and get too political and or abusive. I have got bollocked on here a few times, and I seas upset about that. Damb, I post all sorts of articles and my experiences to help others. But I got over it because I like this place a lot.
 
On music v gear, this is a gear forum to discuss equipment choices that result in more enjoyment of music. If you want to discuss music you need to be on a specialist music forum.

Ditto. Let's not get into the business of bashing this forum; there's plenty enough of that going on in that other place -- which itself can't seriously be labelled as a headphone enthusiast forum anymore, other than its Stax thread and DIY section. And certainly, this forum is a place primarily for the GEAR aspect of our music reproduction enthusiasm. I tire of seeing this kind of post: "I'm going to claim the moral high ground here, because for me it's ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC".
 

No amount of research is worth as much as going to a meet and hearing for yourself! That's why meets are so great and efficient.

Meets aren't nearly as good as having the gear in-home. They also tend to develop group-think opinions pretty quickly that carry through the meet. They are however better than just reading reviews and acquiring 2nd hand opinions.

 

[vapman]

I fully agree. I didn't mean to imply they didn't have similar flaws but they beat a written review any day.

 

[comzee]

 
Meets aren't nearly as good as having the gear in-home. They also tend to develop group-think opinions pretty quickly that carry through the meet. They are however better than just reading reviews and acquiring 2nd hand opinions.

That's pretty much it. If I want to critically listen for hyper detail or nuanced differences, I need extraordinarily low DB levels in my listening room. Even a 120mm desktop fan creates too much noise for me. I mean, this isn't the case so much with closed, but all I use is open headphones.
 
Meets are so noisy, it can definitely give a beginner a good infrastructure of knowledge about the general sound for the different equipment. If you're trying to critically review the difference between similar performance dacs/amps, good luck.
 
Even at home, I mention the "day to day" differences. I saw someone else here mention it, but I'm not aware of how many people are "in tune" with their own physiological hearing properties.
Small things like how much caffeine I intake in a day, or how much sleep I got, effect my day-to-day hearing differences.
 
That means even extremely experiences users with 10+ years of living with Stax day-to-day, can here things or purport differences nobody else can sync up with.
Now when I saw differences, I mean nuances. Obviously regardless of the above factors, most people could tell the difference between main phones, like 007/009.
What I'm talking about, is when people say "There are different 009 version, that sound extremely similar, but different), like, ok, yea......

 

[astrostar59]

Personally, I am connected to this hobby by the emotion I feel in listening to the music at such a high level of realism and transparency, I never get the negative vibe.
 
On another note, I have realised a big jump in sound quality this last week by upgrading my Mac Mini power supply. It cost me about 600 US for a HDPlex and the Uptone Audio MMK board to replace the SMPS inside the Mac Mini. The difference is WOW, seriously good upgrade. It was better than a CDP before, now it is light years in front. The bass energy and smoothness of the treble is just incredible. It makes me think it is coming off a master tape not 44.1 material. Very happy, and for those with a Mac Mini I would look at this upgrade.
 
Powering a PC music server with pure DC and going fanless can have a similar result.

 

[gilency]

LOL

 

[Michael T]

 
There are some VERY experienced Stax users and DIY Stat amp builders on this forum. And many of the opinions on here major on personal demos or own gear. Some guys here have such a long list of Stax models in stock or previously owned. I come here for that, and at the other place as well. Yeah a few talk up stuff and re-quote. 
 
On music v gear, this is a gear forum to discuss equipment choices that result in more enjoyment of music. If you want to discuss music you need to be on a specialist music forum.

 
Agreed, it's the 80/20 rule.

 

[JimL11]

  @JimL11 : Thanks for your work on the SR-X plus. I just asked a build of one for my own use an I'm super  excited to try it with my HE-60. I wondered if that SR-X plus would be a good match for a 007 as well. I'm not acknowledged enough to estimate that myself so your opinion would be warmly welcomed  

Thanks.  I am using mine to drive my 007s and I think it does a good job, but I haven't compared it to anything else (i.e. BHSE, KGSS, etc.).  Objectively, it has a similar voltage and current capability to the KGSS so it should do OK with the 007.  Some of the people who are participating in the group buy on the other site do have some of these other amps so I am hoping after a few samples are built that they will be able to report their experiences comparing the SRX plus with other amps.

 

[Sorrodje]

@jiml11 : thks. Will check that.

 

[Spirulina780]

If high quality Stax headphones can convey music of quality equivalent of the most expensive hi-fi speakers there is, shouldn't the Dac, cables and other accessories be of very high quality then?

 

[Ali-Pacha]

Very skeptic about the cable thing, but the matter is probably the best s(c)hi(i)tstorm-generator in audio world 

 
 
Ali

 

[martin778]

Are stax tube amps AC heated?? I was rebiasing mine after installing RCA cleartops and noticed that DC balance swings from -0.8 to +0.5V (measured with a Keithley 199 DMM). Even after 60 mins of warmup - absolutely no way to keep it within 0.2V.
 
Has anyone tried running a power conditioner on them?
 
+
By the way - Cleartops took the grain in the HF from stock 6CG7EH's nicely.

 

[icebear]

  Very skeptic about the cable thing, but the matter is probably the best s(c)hi(i)tstorm-generator in audio world 

 
 
Ali

Hmmm, no need to be skeptic about the thing, you need cables, that's for sure.
And if you pay more than 10% of what the total price of your set up is, then you have been had, pretty simple

 

[Ali-Pacha]

 
Hmmm, no need to be skeptic about the thing, you need cables, that's for sure.
And if you pay more than 10% of what the total price of your set up is, then you have been had, pretty simple

My RCA cables come from mainstream gears bought over the last 30 years, and last time I bought cables, that was those XLR babies : http://www.woodbrass.com/cable-microphone-eagletone-mc20-xlr-xlr-1-5m-p158349.html
I'm also skeptic about price ratio / balance among components 

Ali