The Stax Thread III

[JLoud]

I have the same Emotiva amp in my home office. Really nice sounding amp for the money. Tons of power from the headphone amp too.

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

I have the same Emotiva amp in my home office. Really nice sounding amp for the money. Tons of power from the headphone amp too.

This is a level of slam and control that I have not experienced on Stax before. Very clean and powerful sound.

 

[Tugbars]

You are getting into "electrostatics need good amount of current to work" memes too. Welcome to the club.

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

You are getting into "electrostatics need good amount current" memes too. Welcome to the club.

The soundstage is substantially larger and more controlled than I have heard on any driver unit.

 

[DesignTaylor]

The soundstage is substantially larger and more controlled than I have heard on any driver unit.

So eager to try a transformer setup. The STAX ones the have Pro Bias seem to be hard to come by. I would love to see a used iFi iESL come up for sale on the used market but may end up ordering one from Mjölnir-Audio.

 

[bearFNF]

Calling Stax 007mk2 owners:

I have recently stumbled accross a used pair which I am unsure of keeping.
I have noticed 2 things that strike me as unusual and I would appreciate it if you could comment if you have ever encountered this before

1. The Headphones had quite a bit of dust on them, but not the usual house kind of dust. It looked more like rubb-off from the styrofoam of its box/case.
   Have you encountered that, too? Do the boxes leave dust on the headphones? I am slightly worried about dust expore
2. The cups are not sitting firmly in the receptical of the headband. Of course they can be rotated, that's reasonable. But they feel a little loose as if the fitting should be a little tighter for a 3k headpiece. When rotating the cups, there is play if I wiggle them.
   Are your cups tighter? I am not talking about the leather pads, but the cups themselves

Thanks for your insight

1. No issue with "dust" from the case. Is it the Metal trimmed hard case with the gray foam interior? I also hope it is not Styrofoam, it should be a more uniform gray compressible foam. But, that being said if the foam is starting to break down I would be concerned about where they were stored.
2. The cups on mine do wiggle and rotate quite freely (maybe slightly less than 0.5mm or so radially by eye calibrated eye)

 

[bigjako]

Look what I got

I just got that Emotiva amp to use with my Jecklins and pulled out my old NB only SRD-7SB to connect up to it while I repair the Jecklin’s PS2 driver. Based on your experience I may make it a more permanent setup, thanks.

 

[elton7033]

My 2 cents after ~12 years of owning all kinds of Stax headphones: the amp makes a big difference, and current is king. You want one of the KGSSHV (non Carbon is fine too) amps with as much current as possible. It will make whatever Stax headphones (Lambda or better) you have sing. I personally don't like tube amps because I don't want to deal with the heat or tube rolling

Because most of the best Stax amps are DIY, it's difficult to verify that they were built or spec'ed properly. So that's why there are so many different opinions about the KGSSHVs. But one that is properly built and spec'ed will be end-game material.

Also, use a balanced DAC with XLR output.

the KGSShv Carbon Design is a collaboration design between kelvin and spitzer so the Mjolnir Audio is the one and only official model although the design are out their for everyone to build. the board Mjolnir use are also different in size compare to the normal one out there.

edited: typo now include the word Carbon.

 

[elton7033]

I mean, I liked the 009S enough to buy a set.
Just got my own pair today.

Congratulations I am sure you will love it

 

[elton7033]

The soundstage is substantially larger and more controlled than I have heard on any driver unit.

mat be soon you will see justify yourself to join the bhse/canbon club

 

[beholdclarity]

1. No issue with "dust" from the case. Is it the Metal trimmed hard case with the gray foam interior? I also hope it is not Styrofoam, it should be a more uniform gray compressible foam. But, that being said if the foam is starting to break down I would be concerned about where they were stored.
2. The cups on mine do wiggle and rotate quite freely (maybe slightly less than 0.5mm or so radially by eye calibrated eye)

Thanks for the answer, that clarifies it. At least the wiggle is no concern for me anymore.
The box is the original one with the gray foam and it doesn't feel degraded to me.
I do worry about where it was stored, though. There is no impediment currently, but I can return it without cost and I overpaid anyways.
So I will return it and search for a new one, because all else was pretty much brilliant with this thing

 

[leilei787]

Guys, recently there is an opportunity of purchasing a Woo Audio Wes 2nd Gen at very reasonable price, about $2K. I have read some mix review of the Gen 1. Curious how we compare KGSSHV, Blue Hawaii and Wes? Is it that bad? Thanks

 

[elton7033]

Guys, recently there is an opportunity of purchasing a Woo Audio Wes 2nd Gen at very reasonable price, about $2K. I have read some mix review of the Gen 1. Curious how we compare KGSSHV, Blue Hawaii and Wes? Is it that bad? Thanks

i am curious as well never try the 2gen wes... should be fun to roll tube around

 

[bigjako]

So eager to try a transformer setup. The STAX ones the have Pro Bias seem to be hard to come by. I would love to see a used iFi iESL come up for sale on the used market but may end up ordering one from Mjölnir-Audio.

I just hooked up my normal-only SRD-7SB to the Emotiva A-100 and connected my Lambda NBs - I am quite surprised by a) the wide soundstage (it immediately jumped out at me and slapped me in the ears) and b) the slam - it reminded me more of my L300 LE down low and has shown a different side of a headphone I thought I'd fully heard - seems smoother and heavier (more meat on the bone), but early on I'm hearing less sparkle. I guess that's what all the talk about the importance of amp is about...

Anyways, now I'd love to listen to my pro-bias cans on this combo. I read recently that you can still run Pro headphones on Normal bias amps/energizers, you just need to increase the volume. Is that correct or am I jeopardizing the Pro cans?

 

[6PANDEMONIUM6]

I just hooked up my normal-only SRD-7SB to the Emotiva A-100 and connected my Lambda NBs - I am quite surprised by a) the wide soundstage (it immediately jumped out at me and slapped me in the ears) and b) the slam - it reminded me more of my L300 LE down low and has shown a different side of a headphone I thought I'd fully heard - seems smoother and heavier (more meat on the bone), but early on I'm hearing less sparkle. I guess that's what all the talk about the importance of amp is about...

Anyways, now I'd love to listen to my pro-bias cans on this combo. I read recently that you can still run Pro headphones on Normal bias amps/energizers, you just need to increase the volume. Is that correct or am I jeopardizing the Pro cans?

The A-100 is a very smooth and powerful sounding amp. That's why I think it has good synergy with Stax. They benefit from being smoothed out a little bit plus the immense power improves soundstage and dynamic impact.