[AudioThief]

I had both the L300 LE and 007 and don't really think it's worth getting. Pretty similar sound signature, but more nasally, grainy, and worse in imaging. Doesn't extend as deep either so acoustics sound off, although EQ might be an option. For what it's worth it does have a wider soundstage

Thanks for the reply

Comparing my old L300 standard edt with my current 007 mk1, the imaging and overall soundstage is much more impressive on the 007, perhaps a bit more width but lack of depth in the l300. What I miss from my L300 is that I felt it had a tad bit more "fun sounding" sound signature. The 007 is very true to the source material and clearly much more resolving, but there is something from the lambda series I am missing. Not even sure exactly what, I just remember the L300 sounded very fun.

 

[padam]

Comparing my old L300 standard edt with my current 007 mk1, the imaging and overall soundstage is much more impressive on the 007, perhaps a bit more width but lack of depth in the l300. What I miss from my L300 is that I felt it had a tad bit more "fun sounding" sound signature. The 007 is very true to the source material and clearly much more resolving, but there is something from the lambda series I am missing. Not even sure exactly what, I just remember the L300 sounded very fun.

Really depends on the kind of music one listens to.

If it is more of that minimally-miked classical or jazz, the Lambdas do a much better job in the soundstage presentation (there are certain characteristics of microphones which are 'kept' better presented by the Lambdas, while the SR-007 just washes these attributes away and puts instruments in places where they don't belong, or splits a chorus left and right when it shouldn't happen. Might be more layered but also less realistic (although one could argue that headphone soundstaging is always artificial). Sometimes this is true for multichannel recordings, depending on how it was mixed together. I guess it is probably down to the oval-shaped drivers being superior in some way to the circular ones.

Also the SR-007 has a more laid-back character (depends on the version but more or less true to all of them), that works very well on certain music and less so on others. The Lambdas are generally more forward.


So my answer is yes, although I haven't heard the latest ones yet, I've read that while it is available, the L300 Limited is preferred to the L500 (and the L700 is preferred to the L300 Limited).

 

[oktapod]

I can only comment on the 007mk1 compared to L700. The 007mk1 is better than the L700 in every way, to my ears, although the caveat is that being harder to drive, they ask more of the amps and so it took changing from my 006T to a Mjolnir KGSSHV to really show what the 007s can do. On the 006T they sound quite a bit different, with the 007s still being better overall, but the L700 had tighter (if leaner) bass.

Both exceptionally good headphones, but I have no regrets whatsoever in moving from L700/006T to 007mk1:KGSSHV. Except that I didn’t go for the 007 first time round

 

[Ojisan]

Really depends on the kind of music one listens to.

If it is more of that minimally-miked classical or jazz, the Lambdas do a much better job in the soundstage presentation (there are certain characteristics of microphones which are 'kept' better presented by the Lambdas, while the SR-007 just washes these attributes away and puts instruments in places where they don't belong, or splits a chorus left and right when it shouldn't happen. Might be more layered but also less realistic (although one could argue that headphone soundstaging is always artificial). Sometimes this is true for multichannel recordings, depending on how it was mixed together. I guess it is probably down to the oval-shaped drivers being superior in some way to the circular ones.
<snip>

Isn’t this left/right split and placement more of a function of the recording itself rather than the headphone? Unless there is an inherent (or temporal) difference in L/R balance or phase, it seems strange that you would observe this. Am I missing some nuance here?

 

[padam]

Isn’t this left/right split and placement more of a function of the recording itself rather than the headphone? Unless there is an inherent (or temporal) difference in L/R balance or phase, it seems strange that you would observe this. Am I missing some nuance here?

It was A-B tested, so I don' think so and I don't think it has much to do with phasing.

As I wrote it depends on the recording (and nowadays these types of recording are not very common), but in my opinion, the headphone part has more to do with how the transducers are shaped (in this case oval versus circular) and how they are angled.
There are other reviews which I think observe this, such as:

https://www.headfonia.com/stax-omega2-mk2-review/

 

[AudioThief]

Really depends on the kind of music one listens to.

If it is more of that minimally-miked classical or jazz, the Lambdas do a much better job in the soundstage presentation (there are certain characteristics of microphones which are 'kept' better presented by the Lambdas, while the SR-007 just washes these attributes away and puts instruments in places where they don't belong, or splits a chorus left and right when it shouldn't happen. Might be more layered but also less realistic (although one could argue that headphone soundstaging is always artificial). Sometimes this is true for multichannel recordings, depending on how it was mixed together. I guess it is probably down to the oval-shaped drivers being superior in some way to the circular ones.

Also the SR-007 has a more laid-back character (depends on the version but more or less true to all of them), that works very well on certain music and less so on others. The Lambdas are generally more forward.


So my answer is yes, although I haven't heard the latest ones yet, I've read that while it is available, the L300 Limited is preferred to the L500 (and the L700 is preferred to the L300 Limited).

Thank you for the reply. And I think it is the more forward sound I miss from the lambdas. The L300 limited are half the price of the L700, and I really don't feel that I need to spend 1200$ on the L700, I am overall extremely happy with the 007, so I think that if the L300 LTD are a decent step up from the regular L300 I would definitely be looking at getting them.

 

[padam]

Thank you for the reply. And I think it is the more forward sound I miss from the lambdas. The L300 limited are half the price of the L700, and I really don't feel that I need to spend 1200$ on the L700, I am overall extremely happy with the 007, so I think that if the L300 LTD are a decent step up from the regular L300 I would definitely be looking at getting them.

It is a fairly easy answer anyway since in the absolute worst case you are going to just resell it with minimal or no loss at all, since it is limited production. And as an SR-007 owner you could probably afford a used Lambda (or two)

Going in the other way is more of a question of debate, since it can be a big jump, especially if the amp needs to be upgraded as well. And even something cheaper like an SR-X Mk3 can provide a lot of those things that make electrostatics great in the first place (if the comfort is fine)

I would say though that the unmodded 727II is pretty much a "hit or miss" type of sound, it behaves much more like a solid-state amp should be after it's been modified.
So if you hate the L300LE with the 727II it may not necessarily be the fault of the headphones (but again, it could be the other way round, after all, everything is subjective).

 

[staticdynamo]

I got my SRM-D10 today.

 

[Whitigir]

Wow nice! So has 009s been shipping out yet ?

 

[staticdynamo]

Wow nice! So has 009s been shipping out yet ?

Yes, at least SRM-D10 and 009s were sent on the same day (=yesterday) in Japan.

 

[buzzlulu]

Please give us some feedback on the D10 and what you are using to feed it (iPhone, DAC etc.)

009S's are shipping here in the States

 

[Whitigir]

Please give us some feedback on the D10 and what you are using to feed it (iPhone, DAC etc.)

009S's are shipping here in the States

Really ? Can you give more details ? Ant wait to get it shipped (notification)

 

[staticdynamo]

Please give us some feedback on the D10 and what you are using to feed it (iPhone, DAC etc.)

009S's are shipping here in the States

I used SRM-D10 with SR-L700. My DAP is A&ultima SP1000CP, and I used USB input.
The DAC chip in SRM-D10 is ESS ES9018. With SP1000's 2V output, the volume is
very loud at 12 o'clock. The sound is clear and S/N is pretty good. And very good for
long listening.

 

[buzzlulu]

Staticdynamo
Nice looking setup and thanks for the initial feedback. It will be interesting to see how it sounds with an iPhone feeding it Tidal streams or internally stored FLAC files.

As for DAP's I have a Sony WM1Z. On the D10 it looks as though there is a switch which chooses between USB and 3.5mm line input so I guess when set to 3.5 input the DAC section is not engaged and only the estat amplifier portion is functioning?

The Sony 1Z can use a dongle to output the digital files - I guess one needs to make an an analysis which DAC section is better - the Sony or the Stax - and feed accordingly. I wonder how the internal DAC section of the Stax compares to small things like Mojo etc?

 

[Whitigir]

Staticdynamo
Nice looking setup and thanks for the initial feedback. It will be interesting to see how it sounds with an iPhone feeding it Tidal streams or internally stored FLAC files.

As for DAP's I have a Sony WM1Z. On the D10 it looks as though there is a switch which chooses between USB and 3.5mm line input so I guess when set to 3.5 input the DAC section is not engaged and only the estat amplifier portion is functioning?

The Sony 1Z can use a dongle to output the digital files - I guess one needs to make an an analysis which DAC section is better - the Sony or the Stax - and feed accordingly. I wonder how the internal DAC section of the Stax compares to small things like Mojo etc?

That would be very interesting, but I can tell you that Wm1Z as an analog source into my T2+009 is very very hard to beat for (portable device). I compared Opus 2, opus 3, dx-200 with various amp-modules. The 1Z has the level of organic timbres so much more than any of those