The Stax Thread III
Apr 15, 2021 at 2:59 AM Post #20,146 of 25,262
L300 thread with a lot of discussion of the LE in the 2nd half of all pages, primarily about pad differences. May be new toy syndrome, but having just acquired the regular L300 I'm shocked how much I like it compared to the SR-007MKII, especially given the price difference. The L300 is just so engaging, exciting, with a lot of detail and musicality, especially on EDM. The presentation is just so different from my other headphones. It's my new favorite fun headphone, and after some pad swapping to my ears, thicker pads are far more comfortable but eliminate the magic I'm getting out of them.

Thanks for the link to the thread ... some how i'd missed that ... my searching words just diddn't get it ... yes to my ears lots of musical detail ...
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 4:04 AM Post #20,147 of 25,262
I think the L300 LTD are fantastic and great value for the dollar. If you want to increase comfort you can purchase the L700 earpads which are much nicer. If the cheap L300 plastic headband ever gives you trouble that is also upgradable to the L700 metal version.

Thanks for your thoughts .. i've got some Brainwavz earpads along with SoCas mod bits after seeing Zs utube review
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 4:08 AM Post #20,148 of 25,262
L300 has it's own dedicated thread probably that's why this thread is focused on 007/009 and alternatives more. 353X is a great amp, you don't need a huge bulky amp for L300LE or SRX mk3 pro to make them shine. Does SRX mk3 pro(with SRX mk3 Normal Bias drivers) sound more detailed than L300LE to you? I've heard that Mk3 pro's are one of the most detailed sounding headphones Stax ever put out.

Thats really interestin about the Mk3s as mine are converted to pro bias by Birgir and do sound great ... with lots of detail and at the same time i know Birgir said he'd deliberately darkened them a bit ..which i'm fine with because of the tinnitus .. thanks for your reply
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 5:39 AM Post #20,149 of 25,262
L300 thread with a lot of discussion of the LE in the 2nd half of all pages, primarily about pad differences. May be new toy syndrome, but having just acquired the regular L300 I'm shocked how much I like it compared to the SR-007MKII, especially given the price difference. The L300 is just so engaging, exciting, with a lot of detail and musicality, especially on EDM. The presentation is just so different from my other headphones.
I was equally shocked with my L300 - it's second only to 009, I like it better than L300 LTD, L700 or 007Mk2.

... It's my new favorite fun headphone, and after some pad swapping to my ears, thicker pads are far more comfortable but eliminate the magic I'm getting out of them.
I do prefer L300 with its original pads too, using L500 pads (turning L300 into L500) makes L300 much less exciting, reducing the airiness in the treble.
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 12:55 PM Post #20,150 of 25,262
this one is interesting to me - i've heard a fair number of people comment on the BF2 vs the slew of well-measuring chi-fi dacs like topping, SMSL, etc. and quite a few people call out the BF2 as having much better macrodynamics. i'm not too sure myself since i currently only have the BF2 on hand but i thought it was interesting you had a different experience (not that it's wrong or anything!)

incidentally, where did you put the sorbothane on your sigma?
Yeah, I was expecting to hear something artificially exaggerated based on a lot of my past readings. A few months ago I exchanged some DMs on here with someone who said they found great synergy with the D90 and Stax, that the D90 gave a big and holographic soundstage to the Stax, and that the Stax was able to properly execute the high-end coming from the D90 (some have said the D90 is thin and can be piercing up high). I love my BF2, but I wanted to test what the polar opposite of it's hefty, warm signature and hear this holographic soundstage. I have always gravitated towards warm, wet thick sound sigs, but when I first heard a Lambda NB on a SRD7 with a cheap car stereo amp, I was hooked. I had been hiding from the treble, but the way in which the Stax so effortlessly and beautifully presented it, like a prima ballerina, opened my world from Nighthawks/EMU Teaks/Argons (and even Sundara/LCD2C tbh) to the fluid, fast, accurate and musical nature of Stax. RR1 and Hives didn't do it either - so it wasn't elecrostats, it was Stax. for me. That first experience was with a Modius, and a Khadas Toneboard, for reference.

Anyways, I digress. One of my concerns as I upgraded from the SRD7 and SRD-X to the T1S/006t along with the BF2 (and a Jolida Glass) was that I was layering tubes on top of tubes and covering over the effervescent shimmery sparkly sprites that I loved so much. So I wanted to trial the D90 to either validate or eliminate that. I'm sure that the D90 is doing some extrapolating and processing, and I hate having to use complicated UIs like the D90's, but my experience has been that the D90 has a wider and taller soundstage, and does a better job of fighting through the tubes to force the details out. The BF2 is like a wall or a wave of wonderful sound, the D90 is like a rainstorm of sound (?), where you can more clearly hear and feel the different placements.

On the downside, I detect a slight unnaturalness with the D90. Not one I'd hear without being able to immediately A/B between them, but the BF2 had the edge there. Yesterday I listened to both the D90 and BF2 with the 404 Sigmas, and due to the nature of the housing, the sparkle is muted and some of the high end details are too - but the soundstage was still larger on the D90, to me. I think DesignTaylor referenced listening to Stax as less like you're lounging in a chair, and more like you're sitting up, actively 'listening' to the music. Stax can reach out and grab your attention. I personally have never had an issue just zoning out while listening to Stax, but I understand the analogy and I think the D90 does a better job at that sitting-up, focused listening where the BF2 is for the leather chair-and-whiskey time. And I think my main caveat to what I'm saying is if you have a 252/353/717/727/KGSS(HV) then the BF2 will likely be the better pairing for those. I haven't really referenced it much, because it's in a different setup and only works with my normal bias Lambdas, but the Jolida Glass has a similar signature to the BF2 but is really quite amazing at three-dimensionality - but that is a warm DAC with a solid state speaker amp, so I find it more balanced and plays with the high end of the NB Lambdas better.

One example: I was A/Bing between the D90 and BF2 yesterday, listening to Soolaimon by Neil Diamond, a song I've listened to many times. The drums at the beginning had a more natural sound on the BF2, but on the D90 for the first time I felt like I could clearly hear that they were being struck twice (ie, the four fingers and the thumb, separately). A microsecond or 10 apart. I went back to the BF2 and now that I knew what I was listening for, I could detect it there too, but they were much more blended together and the separation between thumb and fingers wasn't as apparent. It felt more like the hand hitting it once than two parts striking slightly separately.

Re: the sorbothane, I cut them up into little 1-2cm squares, and would place 2 at a time all over the plastic housing (all on the outside). Some where the cable enters, some on the headband, some on the thicker plastic strips running along the outside rim of the housing. At first, it was a disaster (like when you bang a bongo drum that is sitting solidly on the floor, no reverb or whatever that is). As I removed some, it got much much better and now I just a have a few of them scattered around. It tames the reverberation (and I think distortion) but too much is worse than too little (thanks to John Wimberley for the guidance, though they talk a lot about that in the original thread I linked to).
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 2:35 PM Post #20,152 of 25,262
I'm a big fan of the Chord Qutest for its ability to extract detail, create space, and still maintain a natural presentation. But lately, I've been really enjoying the BorderPatrol DAC with my electrostat gear. If you A/B test the Qutest seems more immediately engaging, but after longer listening sessions with both I tend to prefer the fluid and natural presentation of the BP.
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 7:12 PM Post #20,154 of 25,262
all dacs used in NMR applications are R-2R for a reason.
All the Varian NMR's ever made used dual 12 bit dacs for the room temperature shim coils. Reason, they were ultra cheap. (And crap, and they burned up all the time)
The only other dac in the entire system is in the pulsed field gradient driver. A specialty 14 bit part was used for this. Definitely not audio capable.

The current Bruker avance 4 consoles use ESS delta sigma parts for the room temperature shim coils. No idea what was inside the pfg driver.

The A/D converters are completely different animals entirely, run at 20mhz and are 14 equivalent bits. Essentially an early version of DSD.
 
Last edited:
Apr 15, 2021 at 7:34 PM Post #20,155 of 25,262
Hi!

I've got an SRM-1/MK2 I want to pre-emptively recap.
I found https://www.head-fi.org/threads/stax-srm-1-mk2-re-cap.648596/, but have a few questions I was hoping people could answer!

1: I think I found the Panasonic FM EEU-FM1V471, I'm fairly certain amazon has them here. Digikey/Mouser both have a long lead time.
2: I can't find the Panasonic EET-ED2G221CA, any ideas for a replacement? What am I looking for in a replacement? I know I need to have a snap on capacitor, at least the voltage and capacitance rating, and something that fits in the original footprint. Is it just ESR I need to look for? Is lower better flat out better here, or do I want to aim for a match with the original?
3: Spritzer says that "Remember the labels for the pots are swapped on the PCB so offset is balance etc.". That just means when I'm doing the balacing/offset as described here that for Part A I actually adjust the pot labelled offset, and for Part B I adjust the pot labelled balance. Do all SRM-1/MK2s have this swapped, or do I need to check this?
4: Should I re-apply some kind of tape to keep the pots from changing after adjustment, like they come stock?
5: I have a 100 V model with the selector switch area covered by a plate. Is there a guide for converting that to 120V? It's as simple as reconnecting a cable to the correct spot, right?

I plan on taking it apart tonight and getting some detailed photos, but looking through the grates it appears identical to this.

Thanks for any help!

I do have experience soldering, so once I figure out the capacitors to get, I don't think I will have much trouble replacing them!
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 8:16 PM Post #20,156 of 25,262
I saw this come up on a local market, and I don't know enough electronics to make much sense of it (though it is very cleanly made). It's pro-bias but also has speaker output options. Seems to have first-stage 12AU7, driver-stage 12BH7, and quad output 2A3 tubes. Is this worth a purchase for my 007A?

i-img1200x897-1618275084oc4oes497119.jpg
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 9:20 PM Post #20,157 of 25,262
I saw this come up on a local market, and I don't know enough electronics to make much sense of it (though it is very cleanly made). It's pro-bias but also has speaker output options. Seems to have first-stage 12AU7, driver-stage 12BH7, and quad output 2A3 tubes. Is this worth a purchase for my 007A?

i-img1200x897-1618275084oc4oes497119.jpg
I would audition it before laying down your money. Also, who designed and built it would be helpful
 
Apr 15, 2021 at 10:44 PM Post #20,158 of 25,262
2021-04-15 21.27.16.jpg
2021-04-15 21.32.45.jpg


Here's some quick pictures of the amp internals. Looks identical to the one in the thread I linked here. I'm a bit confused as to how to wire it up for 120V, although it appears to support that configuration!

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!
 
Apr 16, 2021 at 2:03 AM Post #20,159 of 25,262
All the Varian NMR's ever made used dual 12 bit dacs for the room temperature shim coils. Reason, they were ultra cheap. (And crap, and they burned up all the time)
The only other dac in the entire system is in the pulsed field gradient driver. A specialty 14 bit part was used for this. Definitely not audio capable.

The current Bruker avance 4 consoles use ESS delta sigma parts for the room temperature shim coils. No idea what was inside the pfg driver.

The A/D converters are completely different animals entirely, run at 20mhz and are 14 equivalent bits. Essentially an early version of DSD.
https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/dac11001a.pdf?ts=1618552492970

this is the best precision DAC available in the market as far as I know.
 
Apr 16, 2021 at 3:08 AM Post #20,160 of 25,262
All the Varian NMR's ever made used dual 12 bit dacs for the room temperature shim coils. Reason, they were ultra cheap. (And crap, and they burned up all the time)
The only other dac in the entire system is in the pulsed field gradient driver. A specialty 14 bit part was used for this. Definitely not audio capable.

The current Bruker avance 4 consoles use ESS delta sigma parts for the room temperature shim coils. No idea what was inside the pfg driver.

The A/D converters are completely different animals entirely, run at 20mhz and are 14 equivalent bits. Essentially an early version of DSD.
On a slightly different topic (and my apologies for side tracking) are there issues on the “other site” that you know of? I haven’t been able to access it for a week almost.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top