The Stax Thread III

[yates7592]

Carbon vs GG in 007 MK1 (both in 20 mA; GG is using JJ EL 34 and Telefunken EL34):
The smoothness and the rich tonality of 007 MK1 always have a special connection to me. It always draws me into music I listen to and lets me forget I am wearing a pair of headphones. Another thing I need to mention is that I feel 007 MK1 is a little more comfortable to wear than 009. When 007 MK1 is plugged in Carbon, the smoothness and dynamic response are intertwined. It is just right. When it is with GG, it feels like syrup and honey. It is sweet. It might be too warm for somebody. But not for me. If I do the tube rolling with some 6CA7, it probably can give a little solid-state amp feel.

Interesting, which is the best do you think for 007MK1, between GG or Carbon, when listening to rock, EDM, trance, ambient?

 

[BenF]

Comparison between stax 300 and HD 700 or K712 or even ATH AD2000? I'm looking for my first pair of cans and might go straight to the electrostatic world

If you'll go straight for e-stats, you'll never realize how good they really are, since you'll have nothing to compare it to.

I've listened to HD700 in a store, and liked it a lot more than HD600/800S. It's super underrated, lost between two overrrated headphones.
Here are my impressions straight from the store:
Sennheiser HD700 - crystal clear with great bass, timbre is good. A/Bing with Elear, Elear clearly is more dynamic and emotional. Very hard to drive - using HA-2 as DAC, Beyerdynamic A2 had to be maxed out, with Go1000 as DAC it was around 1-2PM

I bought K712 Pro a year ago, haven't opened the package yet.

Stax L300 has a unique speaker-like presentation, that only Abyss 1266 could come close to.
Elear\Utopia are more headphone-y.
It can easily be modded into L1000R by using L700 pads (about 130$ extra) and reversing the sides.
L1000R is untouchable even by L700 (1400$), at least with the small Stax amps.

 

[Whitigir]

Interesting, which is the best do you think for 007MK1, between GG or Carbon, when listening to rock, EDM, trance, ambient?

Honestly, it comes down to your personal preferences, do you like “tubes sound” or do you like “solid state sound” ?

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

Comparison between stax 300 and HD 700 or K712 or even ATH AD2000? I'm looking for my first pair of cans and might go straight to the electrostatic world

I wouldn't buy an AKG headphone, Samsung bought Harman and AKG got "Samsungized", and practically all AKG engineers left out and founded "Austrian Audio".
HD700 is a love/hate headphone (90% hate 10% love to be honest, for me, it's a blooper).
Didn't heard the AD2000 so can't comment on that one.
Stax L300 is neutral-ish but a bit bright, but nowhere near as bright as the HD700 or the K712, very nice headphone for the price.

 

[JimJames]

If you'll go straight for e-stats, you'll never realize how good they really are, since you'll have nothing to compare it to.

I've listened to HD700 in a store, and liked it a lot more than HD600/800S. It's super underrated, lost between two overrrated headphones.
Here are my impressions straight from the store:
Sennheiser HD700 - crystal clear with great bass, timbre is good. A/Bing with Elear, Elear clearly is more dynamic and emotional. Very hard to drive - using HA-2 as DAC, Beyerdynamic A2 had to be maxed out, with Go1000 as DAC it was around 1-2PM

I bought K712 Pro a year ago, haven't opened the package yet.

Stax L300 has a unique speaker-like presentation, that only Abyss 1266 could come close to.
Elear\Utopia are more headphone-y.
It can easily be modded into L1000R by using L700 pads (about 130$ extra) and reversing the sides.
L1000R is untouchable even by L700 (1400$), at least with the small Stax amps.

Thnx for the recommendation, I'll try the HD700 the next day and see what it's like. But yea I was thinking of going straight to e-stats because I tried a couple and I think that vibrant live sensation might be the way to go, so might aim straight to it; even though k712 low price is tempting...
Edit: Jesus are those 130$ for ****ing synthetic leather worth it??

I wouldn't buy an AKG headphone, Samsung bought Harman and AKG got "Samsungized", and practically all AKG engineers left out and founded "Austrian Audio".
HD700 is a love/hate headphone (90% hate 10% love to be honest, for me, it's a blooper).
Didn't heard the AD2000 so can't comment on that one.
Stax L300 is neutral-ish but a bit bright, but nowhere near as bright as the HD700 or the K712, very nice headphone for the price.

Ah that's a shame, I saw they stoped moved from Austria to Slovenia but didn't know the core of the akg team had left... Has there been any news on the decrease of quality from akg since? Is there still possible to find Austrian made k712 (the product image from a shop in Barcelona shows Austrian made)? Are the Slovenia made ones just like the chinese? And the last one, any info on this new brand Austrian Audio launching a pair of headphones anytime soon?

 

[BenF]

...
Edit: Jesus are those 130$ for ****ing synthetic leather worth it??

Absolutely

 

[JimJames]

Absolutely

And why can't another pair of thick oval pads do the same job?

 

[BenF]

And why can't another pair of thick oval pads do the same job?

Because
a) Stax L700 pads aren't oval
b) Stax L700 pads aren't thick
c) You can't just use any 3rd party pads without an adapter

 

[SeaWo|f]

There have been quite a few people who have experimented with zmf pads on their omegas. Also I think Kerry made his own pads. I have seen oval zmf pads adapted to lamda a number of times. Ether pads also might be worth a look.

 

[bearwarrior]

Interesting, which is the best do you think for 007MK1, between GG or Carbon, when listening to rock, EDM, trance, ambient?

Like I said in the beginning, it is all about personal preference. I personally believe that both GG and Carbon can drive 007 MK1/009 very well.

I will try to post more impression of the comparison between GG and Carbon in a few days.

 

[Gjoel]

This is gonna be a interesting evening.

Got the chance to test HEK / Bryston BHA1 up against my 007mk2 / 353x.

One set can stay and one need to go!

But I can already hear, it’s gonna be a hard choice.

 

[Whitigir]

This is gonna be a interesting evening.

Got the chance to test HEK / Bryston BHA1 up against my 007mk2 / 353x.

One set can stay and one need to go!

But I can already hear, it’s gonna be a hard choice.

So hard, get the SusVara instead

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

Ah that's a shame, I saw they stoped moved from Austria to Slovenia but didn't know the core of the akg team had left... Has there been any news on the decrease of quality from akg since? Is there still possible to find Austrian made k712 (the product image from a shop in Barcelona shows Austrian made)? Are the Slovenia made ones just like the chinese? And the last one, any info on this new brand Austrian Audio launching a pair of headphones anytime soon?

I know they moved the production to Slovenia before the Samsung thing, don't know about if you can get Austrian or Slovenian units, my guess is that the Austrian units are older stock than the Slovenian ones, didn't see anything about China.
I dunno, I wouldn't touch one, if it breaks, who will repair it? Or how much time will it take to repair it? Maybe I'm wrong but the current situation doesn't inspire much confidence.
Search "Austrian Audio" with google, I remember reading a link where one of the main guys said that they will focus on microphones and headphones, plus measuring equipment, but don't know when they'll release products.

 

[Gjoel]

Hehe Whitigir, Would need to rob a bank then.

 

[Whitigir]

Ah well....if you want to properly driving your 007, you would also need to spend some pretty money. Having a 007 and no good amp is like having a Ferrari for everything else, but the engine is of a Corolla .... LOL. The same thing for SusVara though. I was just teasing you, but you really need to have some beefy amps