The Stax Thread III

[Sound Eq]

I've owned the ifi iESL with the iCAN and it seemed to run my L700's fine but the 009's started to do some things that made me a little uncomfortable with it. I then started reading up on the threads here and started reading that quite a few wonder if the iESL actually damages the stat headphones. While I have absolutely no idea if this is even remotely true I stopped using my iESL having already ordered a Carbon. I am still awaiting the arrival of said Carbon and will be sure to let you all know if I can find any noticeable differences between the two. From what people have said it should be night and day. We shall soon see.

I will say despite the iESL not being with me any more, the iCAN and iDSD Pro are absolutely incredible and I believe I would have to spend a lot more money to find something that is significantly better to justify parting with them.

i am sure it will help us all once you get your carbon. I see that there is something similar to iesl called SRD 7 which is cheap. I have no idea if that can work with ifi ican pro though

I for one wish iesl in a combo setup with ifi ican pro can be good enough as the carbon, as ifi state that in the combo set it outputs 730 vrms

Anyhow I am just surprised how come ifi are barely doing anything to promote their ifi iesl and only few member have it, and when i ask them to send a review unit all I get is empty words. I like ifi but such scarce info to be found on that product , it is not encouraging me to buy it. Also if there was alot of info bout it on the net, I would not have asked to get a review unit and compare it to my 007TII

well if ifi does not care to properly document their product and have good comparisons with other products especially driving 007 and 009 then iesl will not be considered as a product to buy

If i can get 20 - 30% more headroom compared to my stax 007tII i will buy iesl but i will not buy a product blindly or that is not well documented and compared to other options out there

 

[Dan Lee]

Not sure about ifi's marketing or their intentions for the iESL. I will say that it is odd that they advertise the iESL box with images of very high end electrostatic headphones like the orpheus which someone else stated earlier in the thread. I imagine if you can afford higher end stats the iESL is not the power source your focus would be or should be on.

I will definitely post impressions when I get my carbon in.

 

[Sound Eq]

Not sure about ifi's marketing or their intentions for the iESL. I will say that it is odd that they advertise the iESL box with images of very high end electrostatic headphones like the orpheus which someone else stated earlier in the thread. I imagine if you can afford higher end stats the iESL is not the power source your focus would be or should be on.

I will definitely post impressions when I get my carbon in.

could be, but my stax 007 mk2 costed me bout 1.5 k usd, so its not a very expensive gear compared to my hifiman HE1000SE, I am just having difficulty of buying a stax amp like the carbon for bout 3-4k usd and not knowing how a solution as iesl can perform in comparison with my ifi ican pro

anyhow I will not keep asking ifi to send a unit as I sense there is a bit hesitance from their side, although I made it clear that my reference would be not a very strong amp to compare with and that is the 007TII,

anyway i will look at maybe KSSGHV or carbon

 

[Dan Lee]

If you feel you can wait a little I will let you know soon if your money will be well spent on a Carbon or something along those lines. I believe if mine does end up sounding good I know where you can get a brand new Carbon for $3000, but maybe just wait till I can give some impressions. All though I tend to believe what people have said on these forums. The general consensus is that the KGSSHV Carbon, KGGG, BHSE, or T2 (the most coveted of stat amps) will provide unparalleled sound quality. So for me I just cant bloody wait.

 

[Whitigir]

The best kind of candle lights in the Dark!

 

[baseonmars]

Regarding the SRM-007tii, is it possible to bypass the pot in the same way as one can with the SRM-727tii?

 

[JimL11]

Regarding the SRM-007tii, is it possible to bypass the pot in the same way as one can with the SRM-727tii?

Turning up the volume all the way does the same thing as bypassing the volume control.

 

[Sound Eq]

So i have been reading about all those energisers, i like my 007TII with my stax 007 mk2, and from reading bout all the other options out there, I read that the KGSSHV and Carbon are too bright and not musical sounding, but I never tried any so its difficult to judge, and BHSE is out of question for me, as that is not the path I will go after in terms of expenditures as the price is over my budget. As for WOO GES well I have no clue bout it, but on the other forum where stax is talked alot they ridicule the GES, or anything than what that certain builder in that site makes, all else is rubbish that is what the take away is from that site. But how can one know without auditioning, of course I see many buy his products so definitely that tells something

Although I still do not know what difference will I achieve from getting another amp than what I have 007TII with my 007 mk2, and if that huge investment will bring that wow factor, or would it be just a slight improvement , that is the main question for me. It sucks not being able to audition things. Some suggested to mod my 007TII but that is something I can not do, as I do not trust electricians who never know what stax are to do any mod, as to them the word Stax is foreign and here stax is not a known thing

Anyway, if I like to get an upgraded AMP for my 007Mk2, I would like it still to be musical, engaging and not getting bright, brittle, harsh or treble peaks that are annoying at all, especially i might add the 009/009s to my collection soon


On another note, yes I got a Jade2 and it sounds awesome, that is to address the strong attack on Jade 2, at least Jade 2 sounds better than many other stax headphones I have ( 407, 307 and L300 LE ) and I tired as well 009, L700 and L500. For the price the Jade 2 is a dam amazing stat.

Yes the 007 mk2 is the best electrostat I heard to this date and probably will be for quite some time for me

 

[Hi-Fi-Apricity]

So i have been reading about all those energisers, i like my 007TII with my stax 007 mk2, and from reading bout all the other options out there, I read that the KGSSHV and Carbon are too bright and not musical sounding, but I never tried any so its difficult to judge, and BHSE is out of question for me, as that is not the path I will go after in terms of expenditures as the price is over my budget. As for WOO GES well I have no clue bout it, but on the other forum where stax is talked alot they ridicule the GES, or anything than what that certain builder in that site makes, all else is rubbish that is what the take away is from that site. But how can one know without auditioning, of course I see many buy his products so definitely that tells something

Although I still do not know what difference will I achieve from getting another amp than what I have 007TII with my 007 mk2, and if that huge investment will bring that wow factor, or would it be just a slight improvement , that is the main question for me. It sucks not being able to audition things. Some suggested to mod my 007TII but that is something I can not do, as I do not trust electricians who never know what stax are to do any mod, as to them the word Stax is foreign and here stax is not a known thing

Anyway, if I like to get an upgraded AMP for my 007Mk2, I would like it still to be musical, engaging and not getting bright, brittle, harsh or treble peaks that are annoying at all, especially i might add the 009/009s to my collection soon


On another note, yes I got a Jade2 and it sounds awesome, that is to address the strong attack on Jade 2, at least Jade 2 sounds better than many other stax headphones I have ( 407, 307 and L300 LE ) and I tired as well 009, L700 and L500. For the price the Jade 2 is a dam amazing stat.

Yes the 007 mk2 is the best electrostat I heard to this date and probably will be for quite some time for me

The carbon isn't really that bright. The people saying it's to bright and lacking musicality are 009 users where it's already thin and bright and just plain annoying on just about anything that doesn't roll off the top end (007T,006T,BHSE,T2 etc....). On the 007 the Carbon would be the best sounding option Imho. Just my 2c

 

[bluesaint]

So i have been reading about all those energisers, i like my 007TII with my stax 007 mk2, and from reading bout all the other options out there, I read that the KGSSHV and Carbon are too bright and not musical sounding, but I never tried any so its difficult to judge, and BHSE is out of question for me, as that is not the path I will go after in terms of expenditures as the price is over my budget. As for WOO GES well I have no clue bout it, but on the other forum where stax is talked alot they ridicule the GES, or anything than what that certain builder in that site makes, all else is rubbish that is what the take away is from that site. But how can one know without auditioning, of course I see many buy his products so definitely that tells something

Although I still do not know what difference will I achieve from getting another amp than what I have 007TII with my 007 mk2, and if that huge investment will bring that wow factor, or would it be just a slight improvement , that is the main question for me. It sucks not being able to audition things. Some suggested to mod my 007TII but that is something I can not do, as I do not trust electricians who never know what stax are to do any mod, as to them the word Stax is foreign and here stax is not a known thing

Anyway, if I like to get an upgraded AMP for my 007Mk2, I would like it still to be musical, engaging and not getting bright, brittle, harsh or treble peaks that are annoying at all, especially i might add the 009/009s to my collection soon


On another note, yes I got a Jade2 and it sounds awesome, that is to address the strong attack on Jade 2, at least Jade 2 sounds better than many other stax headphones I have ( 407, 307 and L300 LE ) and I tired as well 009, L700 and L500. For the price the Jade 2 is a dam amazing stat.

Yes the 007 mk2 is the best electrostat I heard to this date and probably will be for quite some time for me

Btw, I just experimented running a $3k 300w speaker amp at low gain into iESL and am pleasantly surprised at the result. It easily bested how it sounded with iESL+iCAN Pro. Made the 009 sound better for sure. So energizers are definitely an extra option for you to consider.

 

[georgep]

So i have been reading about all those energisers, i like my 007TII with my stax 007 mk2, and from reading bout all the other options out there, I read that the KGSSHV and Carbon are too bright and not musical sounding, but I never tried any so its difficult to judge, and BHSE is out of question for me, as that is not the path I will go after in terms of expenditures as the price is over my budget. As for WOO GES well I have no clue bout it, but on the other forum where stax is talked alot they ridicule the GES, or anything than what that certain builder in that site makes, all else is rubbish that is what the take away is from that site. But how can one know without auditioning, of course I see many buy his products so definitely that tells something

Although I still do not know what difference will I achieve from getting another amp than what I have 007TII with my 007 mk2, and if that huge investment will bring that wow factor, or would it be just a slight improvement , that is the main question for me. It sucks not being able to audition things. Some suggested to mod my 007TII but that is something I can not do, as I do not trust electricians who never know what stax are to do any mod, as to them the word Stax is foreign and here stax is not a known thing

Anyway, if I like to get an upgraded AMP for my 007Mk2, I would like it still to be musical, engaging and not getting bright, brittle, harsh or treble peaks that are annoying at all, especially i might add the 009/009s to my collection soon


On another note, yes I got a Jade2 and it sounds awesome, that is to address the strong attack on Jade 2, at least Jade 2 sounds better than many other stax headphones I have ( 407, 307 and L300 LE ) and I tired as well 009, L700 and L500. For the price the Jade 2 is a dam amazing stat.

Yes the 007 mk2 is the best electrostat I heard to this date and probably will be for quite some time for me

I appreciate that it is hard to distill all the different opinions on this site, but once you view certain members' opinions as sound, there is usually no changing your mind. As well, you may like a particular sound that aligns with those other members. So given that you love the Jade 2 and would put it above all other Stax including the 009 and L700 (but not the 007 MK2), then I would say you should skip the Carbon as it is not likely the amplifier you are looking for. It is also worth pointing out that "on the other forum" the GES isn't ridiculed (though some minor technical issues are pointed out), and is regarded as WOO's best electrostatic amplifier.

 

[336881]

A 727ii and woo ges will not drive an oo7. You will for sure max out the pot on quiet recordings. A used kgsshv or carbon is what you want for the 007.

If you want something easier to drive a 404le with a octavev2 amp is much less expensive and 90% a 007/kgsshv.

 

[Sound Eq]

I appreciate that it is hard to distill all the different opinions on this site, but once you view certain members' opinions as sound, there is usually no changing your mind. As well, you may like a particular sound that aligns with those other members. So given that you love the Jade 2 and would put it above all other Stax including the 009 and L700 (but not the 007 MK2), then I would say you should skip the Carbon as it is not likely the amplifier you are looking for. It is also worth pointing out that "on the other forum" the GES isn't ridiculed (though some minor technical issues are pointed out), and is regarded as WOO's best electrostatic amplifier.

thanks for the answer, would you then recommend tube amps as GES as I like the 007TII sound, but I would like more power for my 007 mk2

 

[georgep]

The GES is really an entry level amp, a bit below the old KGSS (non-HV), and probably not much better (if at all) than your 007tII. For the last 6 or so years I have only had the T2 and Carbon (not as long as the T2 obviously), so can't offer much guidance to you.

 

[VRacer-111]

I will say that a Mjolnir Audio SRD-7 estat transformer + quality stereo amp of choice and a little bit of EQ is a great setup for an SR-007 Mk2 (and L300 Limited) if you are trying to keep costs down. Since the amp is the main driving force behind the sound you will be getting from the estats, just a matter of getting one that suits personal taste. There are many stereo amps available compared to Estat specific amps...much easier to find a lower cost, warm leaning high quality stereo amp.