The Stax Thread III
Feb 26, 2019 at 8:29 AM Post #17,298 of 25,262
What you are lacking if you are looking for other pads? Maybe some home-made mods would help.

Just curious of the sound difference and if it is worth the price jump over to the L300LE. I guess I'll wait to give a listen to the L300 + L700 pads first before deciding if an upgrade is even necessary or not. Maybe I'll end up loving the sound the way it is.
 
Feb 26, 2019 at 8:42 AM Post #17,299 of 25,262
Feb 26, 2019 at 9:15 AM Post #17,300 of 25,262
Feb 26, 2019 at 2:41 PM Post #17,301 of 25,262
Thank you for answer. I also see there is Stax srd-7 PRO version. So I assume it would work with sr-l300?
If its not an amp so it should look like that: Laptop -> DAC -> Amp -> Srd-7 Pro -> sr-l300 yep?

Correct, the SRD-7/STAX would be the load for the amp like a speaker would be. As long as it's a PRO socket version it will be most excellent with a great amplifier. I think I prefer my Mjolnir Audio modded SRD-7/NAD C275BEE amp/RME ADI-2 DAC setup over a KGSSHV Carbon CC / Schiit Yggdrasil setup. Would need more time with a Carbon CC / Yggy setup to really know. Love the subbass/bass, punch, and full bodied sound, and detail and clarity I get from my setup.

For and SRD-7, a clean speaker amp with some watts behind it works very well, a Little Dot is probably not going to cut it...
 
Feb 26, 2019 at 3:15 PM Post #17,302 of 25,262
Hello,

As I promised in the last post I will describe the mod that drastically increased the sound flowing from my new Stax SRS-3100 system.

* First of all, almost everything is solid plastic so between the part with pad and rest of headphone there is a space that always will have some sound leakages (this ellipsoid place), it will never be perfectly close together because of its plastic nature.
You can avoid it by placing there 1-2mm thich ductile tape.

After that we have low-bass frequency corrected a bit.

* Next SUPER-IMPORTANT thing that works probably only with electrostatic headphones (doesn't work with dynamic and planar headphones - yes I checked on my own) - we can easily do something that hugely improves low and low-mid ranges, have more mass in sound, bass line is fuller and more present, more dense and lasts longer. In addition we have much wider sound-stage and this is all without any negative changes in the rest of frequencies (higher mid and highs).
OK then what needs to be done to achieve it? (I don't know if what I have done in the first point has any meaning here because I tried this after that). Having headphones on head, catch them by fingers and pull off the head very little, few millimters, try few distances.


Good test is listening to this playlist from 30 to 60hz and checking what distant from head makes bigger difference for you:


How to sustain this distance from the head is not hard to discover I suppose :p


The final result:


Now the question is, why it works that way? I have some suspicions. Maybe because of the very construction of electrostatic headphones and the big size of surface that produces the sound-wave. Making a little bit of space between the head and pad let the sound waves flow around the head and some parts of frequency (especially low and low-mid) interfering with eachother making certain range fuller.

Ps. I warn you, if you have thought that Stax headphones have no isolation - try it now : P

i wrote about correct seal mod here somewhere... (p900)

point is, too good or bad seal will make bass weak.
but if you tune correct amount of leak, then it will rock !
i used microfoam tape meant for making windows airtight.
 
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Feb 26, 2019 at 3:22 PM Post #17,303 of 25,262
i wrote about correct seal mod here somewhere... (p900)

point is, too good or bad seal will make bass weak.
but if you tune correct amount of leak, then it will rock !
i used microfoam tape meant for making windows airtight.

I'm super happy right now with the mods I described there, even better with Ifi Itube2 between Dac and Stax amp :wink:

ps. I will try your advice to not seal it fully, but like you did it on the pictures (I found them on your profile) - maybe there will be differences - thank you :wink:
 
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Feb 28, 2019 at 6:48 AM Post #17,304 of 25,262
Quick question regarding the "parallel out" on the Stax SRM-252S, going from PC > Schiit Modi DAC > SRM-252S > powered bookshelf speakers. If I usually leave my powered speakers on 24/7, will sound come out from both the Stax L300 connected to the SRM-252S AND the powered bookshelf speakers? Or does the signal get cut off to the speakers when the SRM-252S energizer is turned on and only sound will go to the L300? Which means sound will pass through the SRM-252S to the speakers only when the SRM-252S is turned off?

Some clarification would be great, thanks!
 
Feb 28, 2019 at 6:57 AM Post #17,305 of 25,262
Quick question regarding the "parallel out" on the Stax SRM-252S, going from PC > Schiit Modi DAC > SRM-252S > powered bookshelf speakers. If I usually leave my powered speakers on 24/7, will sound come out from both the Stax L300 connected to the SRM-252S AND the powered bookshelf speakers? Or does the signal get cut off to the speakers when the SRM-252S energizer is turned on and only sound will go to the L300? Which means sound will pass through the SRM-252S to the speakers only when the SRM-252S is turned off?

Some clarification would be great, thanks!

It's a straight pass-through. I pass the signal from my DAC *through* my Stax energizers first, and the chain ends at the amp for my Dynamic headphones. I can listen to my Dynamic headphones with my Stax amps off (as I'm doing at this moment). Or, if I switch on one of my 3 Stax amps, I can listen to (several, if I want) Stax along with my Dynamics.
 
Feb 28, 2019 at 7:23 AM Post #17,306 of 25,262
It's a straight pass-through. I pass the signal from my DAC *through* my Stax energizers first, and the chain ends at the amp for my Dynamic headphones. I can listen to my Dynamic headphones with my Stax amps off (as I'm doing at this moment). Or, if I switch on one of my 3 Stax amps, I can listen to (several, if I want) Stax along with my Dynamics.

Thanks for the clarification. So for my setup, this basically means if I were to leave my powered speakers on with the volume up, music would play through my Stax L300 and my speakers simultaneously. Looks like I'll just have to turn down the volume down on the speakers if I want to listen through the Stax only.
 
Mar 2, 2019 at 8:49 AM Post #17,308 of 25,262
I'm super happy right now with the mods I described there, even better with Ifi Itube2 between Dac and Stax amp :wink:

ps. I will try your advice to not seal it fully, but like you did it on the pictures (I found them on your profile) - maybe there will be differences - thank you :wink:
I agree l300limited and l700 benefit greatly from a tube buffer / or tub amp / as it tame the upper mid or lower treble and slow / increase bass (better bass effect) and refine the treble while also adding depth to the soundstage which lambda lacks, i recommend FX Audio TUBE-01 for starter to see what you get from a tube buffer for only 30$, I prefer the sound with fx audio by miles.
 
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Mar 2, 2019 at 8:56 AM Post #17,309 of 25,262
I agree l300limited and l700 benefit greatly from a tube buffer / or tub amp / as it tame the upper mid or lower treble and slow / increase bass (better bass effect) and refine the treble while also adding depth to the soundstage which lambda lacks, i recommend FX Audio TUBE-01 for starter to see what you get from a tube buffer for only 30$, I prefer the sound with fx audio by miles.
Yep iFi's iTube2 makes very pleasant changes :) Also adds bass if you need much more of it (xBass+ system).
Btw it makes sound fuller across all ranges, so bass is also extended without using xBass+ switch.
But for a bassheads that also want cristal clear holography and details, iFi's tube buffer is a magic tool! xBass+ on 12dB and they will have a brain massage :D
 
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Mar 3, 2019 at 12:48 PM Post #17,310 of 25,262
That is an awesome respond, I love it whenever people disagree with me. We dont have to agree on everything, and that is what making the world insteresting :)
My disagreement with some hipsters at the adjacent breakfast table saying their digital guitar amp felt analog is what sparked my interest in HiFi Analog and Digital.
Being an a tech guy, someone saying analog is digital or vice-versa is like nails on a chalkboard.
Now that I have high-end gear, I can say that if you have good enough digital gear, it 'feels' as good as high-end analog..... buuuuut it will never be analog, and vice-versa.
 

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