[pegasus21]

Thanks Kelvin and wink. I thought I'll be able to convert the voltage natively. I'll just use a step down since it'll be easier and likely cheaper in this case.

 

[DJ The Rocket]

Is there a thread dedicated to sharing converter box impressions? I'm interested in your impressions no matter what amp you were using, because I'm looking for something that might sound good on a transformer and also drive a pair of Maggie MMGs

I'm still waiting to find a good price on a pro-bias SRD7, but in the meantime, there's an Adcom GFA-535 available for a good price in my town. Or should I hold off and look for B&K ST140? What about a Gainclone?

 

[wink]

Get a Stax 353X and slowly work your way up to a DIYT2.........

 

[DJ The Rocket]

@wink I already have a 727A and I performed the feedback mod myself, I'm interested in trying out the transformer route for different reasons

 

[DJ The Rocket]

I think pretty much everyone would agree Stax's top three earspeakers are:
1)SR-009
2)SR-007
3)SR-L700
4) ?????

Unless we count the mkI's and mkII's as two different headphones, is that about right? Then what model comes next?

Best I can guess,

Spoiler

spots 4-10 or 12 or whatever will be a lot of models really close together in quality, and it'll come down to personal preference at that point. I'd expect to see 507s, Lambda normals, Omegas, Lambda Pro Signatures? Maybe something interesting I've never heard of?

I do have a reason for thinking about this. I can't quite afford an 007, and I don't think the L700 is right for me, so is there really anything that would justify the cost of upgrading if I have a 407 and LPS now? I suspect that at this point I'll be happiest just buying some 507 leather pads if I must buy something, but to mostly keep saving for the 007

 

[Ali-Pacha]

Nope, some do prefer 007
My favorite ones out of 009 (I'm a 009 guy) are Lambda Signature, no doubt. I do prefer them over L700.

Ali

 

[leong526]

sure 009.....

 

[rpeebles]

Nope, some do prefer 007
My favorite ones out of 009 (I'm a 009 guy) are Lambda Signature, no doubt. I do prefer them over L700.

Ali

Hello...for a newby please: is there only one Lambda Signature and what year of manufacture. Why do you prefer it to the L700 . Thanks !

 

[Pokemonn]

I found best?? 009 EQ setting. its based on Harman Target Curve(+5dB@20Hz, +-0dB@1Khz, -5dB@20Khz, line, its most prefferd line curve for many people)
if you want to know about Harman Target Curve, Googole "History of Harman Target Curve" you can get .pdf file and infos.
http://www.juloaudio.sk/Umiestnenie_reprosustav/History of Harman Target Curve.pdf
I use software EQer "Boom2" for iMac. but it doesnt DAP DSD CDP network player Vynil etc etc. so I asked Suzuki-san to make Stax ED-2(maybe high quality analog hardware EQer?).

Schiit Loki Mini EQer is very effective! (warning! ad! Lol)
http://www.schiit.com/products/loki


please create the numbers(dB) for your prefernce by your self.

our missoin to sound 009 right Ended. Literaly End Game! Pokemonn learned one thing.
I have already e-mailed Suzuki-san(chief engineer of Stax)to ask to make ED-"2"(succsesor of Stax ED-1) which compensate Stax to Harman curve. He thanked me. Lets wait and see...

 

[hpeter]

Yes and no. That may be what Kevin Gilmore was referring to, but as I have said before, an ideal capacitor does not burn up energy, whereas a headphone does, in producing sound and heat. In an ideal capacitor, voltage and current are 90 degrees out of phase, so what energy gets dumped into the cap during one part of the cycle gets dumped back into the amp in the other part of the cycle, so theoretically, no energy is burned up. However, an ideal capacitor also makes no sound. The process of making sound uses up energy, so in fact a headphone has a resistive part of its impedance where current and voltage are in phase, and which is NOT stated in Stax's specified impedance. Hard to know what that part of the impedance is.

The reason I say that that is what Gilmore was referring to is that although there is no energy loss, hence his use of the term "virtual" (I assume this is what he meant), the current demand on the amplifier is very real. So I think that is what he meant, hopefully he will clarify.

i disagree, stax is just a capacitor with capacitance (nothing special)- which has some reactance across freq spectrum.

for example transmitter glass capacitors, rated for tenths-hundreds of Amps RF current going through them..
with values just a few xx picofarads..

likewise the speakers, they are like small value coils (with air gap) . reactance can be seen in graph too.

(reactance increases with rising freq)

steep line >1khz is the reactance of the coil itself; that´s how it should look like
the bass peak is just a mechanical-eletrical resonance -- (just a back emf) not related to coil reactance property.
"horizontal" line ; from bass to mids, is the resistance of coil wire.

if speakers used superconductors coils; this skewed line would be still there...
the bass peak would be much less (better damping factor from amp) and the bass to mid resistance horizontal line would be zero ohms

 

[kevin gilmore]

yes its a capacitor. but not a perfect capacitor. Most of the energy goes into the dielectric. In this case Air.
And the dielectric can change due to temperature and humidity.

 

[JimL11]

Not sure we disagree. Yes, a stat headphone looks like a capacitor, but a lossy one - some energy goes to heat in the dielectric, some energy goes to sound, which is the goal of the exercise.

 

[tigon_ridge]

i disagree, stax is just a capacitor with capacitance (nothing special)- which has some reactance across freq spectrum.

for example transmitter glass capacitors, rated for tenths-hundreds of Amps RF current going through them..
with values just a few xx picofarads..

likewise the speakers, they are like small value coils (with air gap) . reactance can be seen in graph too.

(reactance increases with rising freq)

steep line >1khz is the reactance of the coil itself; that´s how it should look like
the bass peak is just a mechanical-eletrical resonance -- (just a back emf) not related to coil reactance property.
"horizontal" line ; from bass to mids, is the resistance of coil wire.

if speakers used superconductors coils; this skewed line would be still there...
the bass peak would be much less (better damping factor from amp) and the bass to mid resistance horizontal line would be zero ohms

What exactly are you disagreeing about? It was never stated that these aren't actual capacitors. They just happen to be capacitors with very unusually high ESR, that is, much of the energy is transferred into sound. The dielectric is actually a very bad one (can't get much worse than air), but the high ESR is mainly due to the air resisting the diaphragm, and thus the current. The diaphragm is also subject to mechanical damping, which is also factored into the ESR. Functionally, it's capacitor, but to say that it's "nothing special" is silly. No capacitor behaves like an electrostatic driver does, nor has its high AC ESR property.

 

[Ali-Pacha]

Hello...for a newby please: is there only one Lambda Signature and what year of manufacture. Why do you prefer it to the L700 . Thanks !

The original ones, 1987, 1 µm diaphragm.
More air and clarity than L700, even if less details. More extension down low with more dry kick, where L700 and their leaky design are mellow low mid-ish (100 hz bump).
L700 have better soundstage (more precise, less diffuse) and more "modern" highs so to say, but there is a kind of euphonic je ne sais quoi (some say vintage sound) terribly pleasing with Lambda Signature.

Ali

 

[DJ The Rocket]

Found a couple of older posts from random stax threads that were worth bringing up again, but since I don't remember where they came from, I'm posting here

Good day everyone! I'm planing to swap L700 drivers into my old Sigmas. I love the sound-stage of Sigmas. But I don't know will drivers from L700 fit to them or not.

Anyone have such experience?

This is a fascinating idea, did anything ever come of it? If this works, if it combines the best qualities of both headphones (which seems reasonable enough), it could change everything about my future upgrade plans!

e-stats don't have the deepest bass but it's certainly sufficient

This must have been from one of the L300 or L500 threads I found this quote from the earbuds round-up thread to be apropos:

I suppose don't need them to do *everything* an e-stat does. Not all e-stats do, even

So to @makne I would say that not all e/stats do what e/stats can do

The Lambda Pro Signature reproduces the deepest bass I've ever heard from a headphone, by a large margin too. It's deeper and tighter than all but the best subwoofers I've heard. But I've also heard the newer Lambdas with a much different sound signature, and for those I would say your description is spot on.