The Stax Thread III

[buzzlulu]

There were three guys at the booth and Jack was not the one I spoke to. The person I spoke with said the amp alone was $2000.

Regardless I have a few questions - however please take into account that I am definitely a Stax newbie who wants to dip my toes in the water. I remember coming away from CanJam last year thinking the Blue Hawaii/009 was the best I heard and I have not been able to get that demo out of my mind. Aside from that I do not want to jump in full load as I have done that this past year with a pair of Utopia’s and Z1R’s for closed back. So the idea of TOTL Stax is not in the cards now.

Keeping in mind that show conditions and limited music selection were not ideal for demo I came away with these impressions after my first limited sessions with the Lamda series yesterday:

The 300 definitely gave me a taste of what Stax can do - a very open airy and FAST sound (my 2 channel is a TOTL Naim system so fast and PRAT are in my DNA) with an out of head experience.

Stepping up to the 500 I definitely heard an improvement - all of the same qualities as the 300 however much more refined, better timber and tonal qualities (less bright and strident) and a more fuller bottom end.

We were finally able to get their 700 over which was on loan at another display booth however I only had a brief few minutes with them. Based upon that very short listen I did not like them as much as the 500. I felt the bass was muddy and masked what was going on in the top end. Things sounded a bit confused and cloudy.

All demo’s were through the 353 Black anniversary which I thought was quite nice - from a performance, form factor and price persepective.

So here is my question to those who are obviously more experienced than I am - I felt the 500 hit the sweet spot - right in between the 300 and 700 - and due to my quick impressions of the 700’s bass - even if I wanted to spend for them (which I can do) - I think I would still go with the 500.

And now here is the kicker - if the 300’s I listened to were really the Anniversary issue - then I would not choose them. I liked the 500’s better. I think as a set, Anniversary 300/353 vs. 500/353, the cost is about the same. If the 300’s that I listened to were instead the regular 300’s than I might consider going blindly into the 300 anniversary as they are supposed to be a cross between the 300/700

Any opinions or advice?

 

[joseph69]

Stax could merge the 2 HPs together somehow?

Just try my simple mod, and you'll have a taste of both the 007mk2 & 009. I listened for 4+hrs last night and loved what I was hearing with this mod. The angle of the pads are critical to achieve the right balance, though.

By all means I'm not saying this sounds better than either the 007 or the 009, rather it just sounds nice and different. Again, like a combination of both when adjusted correctly.

 

[joseph69]

And now here is the kicker - if the 300’s I listened to were really the Anniversary issue - then I would not choose them. I liked the 500’s better. I think as a set, Anniversary 300/353 vs. 500/353, the cost is about the same. If the 300’s that I listened to were instead the regular 300’s than I might consider going blindly into the 300 anniversary as they are supposed to be a cross between the 300/700

Any opinions or advice?

I've read that the 300 Anniversary use the 700 driver which would explain why you prefer the 500.

 

[axle_69]

This was probably answered before but I couldn't find it quickly.

Does any one know if the mains transformer in the 353X (I guess it should be the same as for the 323s) has a tap for 230 VAC or if it is the same as for 240 VAC. If yes and wires are cut too close what would be the result of operating it at 230-235 VAC instead of 244 VAC, being less than 5 %.

 

[Whitigir]

Does it use 700 drivers or 900 ?

 

[VandyMan]

Does it use 700 drivers or 900 ?

700

 

[Jones Bob]

Does it use 700 drivers or 900 ?

Neither, that I can tell from their website.

https://www.staxaudio.com/earspeaker/sr-l300limited

The L300 Anniversary’ stator’s construction are “equivalent” to the L700. No mention of upgraded diaphragms as a feature.

 

[givemetacos]

There were three guys at the booth and Jack was not the one I spoke to. The person I spoke with said the amp alone was $2000.

Regardless I have a few questions - however please take into account that I am definitely a Stax newbie who wants to dip my toes in the water. I remember coming away from CanJam last year thinking the Blue Hawaii/009 was the best I heard and I have not been able to get that demo out of my mind. Aside from that I do not want to jump in full load as I have done that this past year with a pair of Utopia’s and Z1R’s for closed back. So the idea of TOTL Stax is not in the cards now.

Keeping in mind that show conditions and limited music selection were not ideal for demo I came away with these impressions after my first limited sessions with the Lamda series yesterday:

The 300 definitely gave me a taste of what Stax can do - a very open airy and FAST sound (my 2 channel is a TOTL Naim system so fast and PRAT are in my DNA) with an out of head experience.

Stepping up to the 500 I definitely heard an improvement - all of the same qualities as the 300 however much more refined, better timber and tonal qualities (less bright and strident) and a more fuller bottom end.

We were finally able to get their 700 over which was on loan at another display booth however I only had a brief few minutes with them. Based upon that very short listen I did not like them as much as the 500. I felt the bass was muddy and masked what was going on in the top end. Things sounded a bit confused and cloudy.

All demo’s were through the 353 Black anniversary which I thought was quite nice - from a performance, form factor and price persepective.

So here is my question to those who are obviously more experienced than I am - I felt the 500 hit the sweet spot - right in between the 300 and 700 - and due to my quick impressions of the 700’s bass - even if I wanted to spend for them (which I can do) - I think I would still go with the 500.

And now here is the kicker - if the 300’s I listened to were really the Anniversary issue - then I would not choose them. I liked the 500’s better. I think as a set, Anniversary 300/353 vs. 500/353, the cost is about the same. If the 300’s that I listened to were instead the regular 300’s than I might consider going blindly into the 300 anniversary as they are supposed to be a cross between the 300/700

Any opinions or advice?

Hmm that's unfortunate they didn't have both the regular L300 and L300 Limited. I've heard all regular L300/L500/L700 and I'm trying to determine where the L300 Limited falls. Your impressions of L700 seems different from mine in that I thought L700 had the best bass extension and was the most detailed and refined of the group. It didn't really feel cloudy at all to me, but I admit that I tend to listen to a lot of warmer headphones so perhaps I am just used to that. I also found the L300 and L500 to sound closer to each other than either of those vs L700.

What's funny is the way you describe L500 is pretty much what I hoped L300 Limited would improve over regular L300. From that description is also makes it seem like you heard a regular L300 and not the Limited. Sucks that couldn't get confirmation on that while you were there.

 

[buzzlulu]

Sucks that couldn't get confirmation on that while you were there.

I emailed Woo via their web site so let's see if they reply. I posted the same question on the CanJam impressions thread so hopefully someone will go to their booth and ask

 

[VandyMan]

I asked them and was told it is the same driver as the L700, as I stated above.

 

[buzzlulu]

I asked them and was told it is the same driver as the L700, as I stated above.

And did you listen to it?

 

[misooooo]

https://stax.theshop.jp/items/9564837

The Japanese site says the next shipment of L300 LEs will be going out in May. Not sure if this means that there's been a delay, or that the first batch has already shipped. Hoping for the latter.

 

[VandyMan]

And did you listen to it?

I did, but only for a couple of minutes. I was not impressed, but I don't know if it was the headphones or the amp or if I just passed judgement too quickly as the new battery powered amp with an L700 was next to it and calling to me. It was my first time hearing the L700 and I quite liked it. Did not listen for long enough to form detailed impressions though. The battery powered amp/dac seems very promising to me too.

 

[givemetacos]

We've been discussing the L300 Limited and its appearance at CanJam over at reddit in this thread. To re-confirm it sounds like the L300 Limited (and not regular L300) was indeed at CanJam. For whatever reason, the L700 might not have been around during part of the day(s). It also seems like there was a significant sound difference between L300 Limited, L500, and L700. Also, it appears Staxaudio.com (authorized Stax dealer run by Woo Audio and the booth the Stax gear was at during CanJam) has updated their wording on the features of L300 Limited. It now says this: "The "MLER" (Multi-Layer Elect Rode) ellipse sound element is equivalent to Lambda series top model SR-L700." I believe up until last week or so it used to specifically use the wording that L300 limited used the L700 stators. But that is gone now. They also removed any wording about using the L500 pads. And at CanJam it was noted that the L300 Limited still used shallow pads that suffers from the same problem of ears touching the inside driver.

So it seems Stax might not be upgrading the L300 Limited as much as it originally seemed to be. It definitely seem like it will just be a fancier L300, and not really much closer to an L700.

 

[VRacer-111]

We've been discussing the L300 Limited and its appearance at CanJam over at reddit in this thread. To re-confirm it sounds like the L300 Limited (and not regular L300) was indeed at CanJam. For whatever reason, the L700 might not have been around during part of the day(s). It also seems like there was a significant sound difference between L300 Limited, L500, and L700. Also, it appears Staxaudio.com (authorized Stax dealer run by Woo Audio and the booth the Stax gear was at during CanJam) has updated their wording on the features of L300 Limited. It now says this: "The "MLER" (Multi-Layer Elect Rode) ellipse sound element is equivalent to Lambda series top model SR-L700." I believe up until last week or so it used to specifically use the wording that L300 limited used the L700 stators. But that is gone now. They also removed any wording about using the L500 pads. And at CanJam it was noted that the L300 Limited still used shallow pads that suffers from the same problem of ears touching the inside driver.

So it seems Stax might not be upgrading the L300 Limited as much as it originally seemed to be. It definitely seem like it will just be a fancier L300, and not really much closer to an L700.

Unless the picture is wrong and not a proper representative of the L300 Limited, the L300 Limited picture on the Woo page and everywhere else unmistakeably shows L500 pads... L300 and L500 pads are thinner than L700 pads, and the L300 pads have no straight sidewall (like Lamda Pros), while the L500 pads do. Ears will still touch on an L500, but not as much as an L300. My ears touch on my ESP950 and its not that big of a deal to me. And likewise on the L300 and L500 I've tried.

It was never stated on the Staxaudio.com site that the L700 stators are the units used with the L300 Limited. Has always been ambiguous on what the stators are used, but is definitelty a derivative of the L700 if not actually L700 stators.