[alota]

Thanks for the reco! Those might be a good match for the Topping L50 amp I just got.

I don' t know topping l50. In the past i drove with balanced beta-22. Recently with a smallest amplifier with a good result

 

[donpablo]

I have borrowed Stax L700mk2 + SRM D10, and ... I am not amazed, lacking of low bass, lacking of midrange juice, only holography and separation is outstanding, but overal I expected more, comparing to rest of my headphones setups.

 

[omega1990]

Finally got this today. A pretty rare piece. The Stax Aperio Alpha PRO, a dynamic headphone from stax. Very few have heard it. I've read comments that the regular Aperio Alpha was so bad, other users did not even want to comment on it. I just listened to the Alpha pro version which has larger tall pads which are supposed to add what stax ads called rich bass.

Actually I'm wondering why this headphone is hated. This headphone is super fast for a dynamic from the 90's and it actually has bass once the pads settle as it does not really clamp which reminds me of when I had the srx Mk3 pro. It's very transparent! Resolution and blackness of background is obviously not like a stax omega, but it's very good for a headphone this old. Honestly I'm very surprised over why this is considered bad. Imaging is also very precise.

For a dynamic headphone, it actually sounds like an estat...

 

[AudioCats]

This is Spritzer's Woo audio 3es review.

link

I'm speechless. It's a 14k amplifier..

hah!
Thanks for posting the link, the information is very inspiring.

Maybe somebody can do a "hybrid D10 thingey"

** use DC/DC to get high voltage

** RCA input --> 12ax7 long tail first stage ( splits ) --(DC coupled to)--> 12au7 long tail 2nd stage --(capacitor coupled to)--> apex modules.
(the tube portion can "draw "inspiration from" the Jadis JA30 circuit)

it can be one interesting "portable" amp. Just imagine two srm-252 sized chassis stacked, with four tubes poking out the top. (the lower chassis holds the battery pack and DC/DC modules)

A "Portable/micro T-(something)" anyone?

 

[SHAMuuu]

Finally got this today. A pretty rare piece. The Stax Aperio Alpha PRO, a dynamic headphone from stax. Very few have heard it. I've read comments that the regular Aperio Alpha was so bad, other users did not even want to comment on it. I just listened to the Alpha pro version which has larger tall pads which are supposed to add what stax ads called rich bass.

Actually I'm wondering why this headphone is hated. This headphone is super fast for a dynamic from the 90's and it actually has bass once the pads settle as it does not really clamp which reminds me of when I had the srx Mk3 pro. It's very transparent! Resolution and blackness of background is obviously not like a stax omega, but it's very good for a headphone this old. Honestly I'm very surprised over why this is considered bad. Imaging is also very precise.

For a dynamic headphone, it actually sounds like an estat...

That is super cool dude.

Do you have any other info like driver size or pics of driver or anything like that? Like if it's a metal type driver or some sort of PET etc.

Information seems to be very rare. I didn't even know of it's existence till now XD

 

[CT007]

If anyone is stationed around Minnesota, and has some winning Stax they'd be willing to let me demo in-house, for free or fee, please PM me! I can't find these damn headphones ANYWHERE

 

[kevin gilmore]

hah!
Thanks for posting the link, the information is very inspiring.

Maybe somebody can do a "hybrid D10 thingey"

** use DC/DC to get high voltage

** RCA input --> 12ax7 long tail first stage ( splits ) --(DC coupled to)--> 12au7 long tail 2nd stage --(capacitor coupled to)--> apex modules.
(the tube portion can "draw "inspiration from" the Jadis JA30 circuit)

it can be one interesting "portable" amp. Just imagine two srm-252 sized chassis stacked, with four tubes poking out the top. (the lower chassis holds the battery pack and DC/DC modules)

A "Portable/micro T-(something)" anyone?

so short answer is no. the apex opamps already have enough gain and don't need any tubes in front of them.
using the right apex opamps will result in a fairly decent amp, but it will not be portable. it will need heatsinks.
minimum would be 5 watts per chip, 20 watts total. 4 times that of a srm252. battery pack would be quite large.
and the price is not something many would be willing to pay.

 

[omega1990]

That is super cool dude.

Do you have any other info like driver size or pics of driver or anything like that? Like if it's a metal type driver or some sort of PET etc.

Information seems to be very rare. I didn't even know of it's existence till now XD

Unfortunately information is very scarce on this one.

From this site you can download this headphones data sheet
https://www.inexxon.com/stax-übersicht-history/1990-2000-kopfhörer-headphones/aperio-alpha-1-pro/

The first page gives a general idea of why they exist and a tiny bit on the technology behind them. Second page is the specs sheet.

48ohms @400Hz
20-20kHz
106dB/1mW
180grams in weight including cord
Neodymium magnet

If the regular aperio alpha was described as bright. This one sounds less bright than my stax 009 but not a warm as the 007. This is surprisingly neutral with less shout than almost any typical stax I've heard. Very good tonal balance for a stax headphone. Speed seems to be a hallmark. Some of my music felt like it was playing at 1.25x speed. I don't recall my focal stellias that I had for a short time playing as fast as these. I'll compare them to some of my other headphones over this weekend to try and better place its performance.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Unfortunately information is very scarce on this one.

From this site you can download this headphones data sheet
https://www.inexxon.com/stax-übersicht-history/1990-2000-kopfhörer-headphones/aperio-alpha-1-pro/

The first page gives a general idea of why they exist and a tiny bit on the technology behind them. Second page is the specs sheet.

48ohms @400Hz
20-20kHz
106dB/1mW
180grams in weight including cord
Neodymium magnet

If the regular aperio alpha was described as bright. This one sounds less bright than my stax 009 but not a warm as the 007. This is surprisingly neutral with less shout than almost any typical stax I've heard. Very good tonal balance for a stax headphone. Speed seems to be a hallmark. Some of my music felt like it was playing at 1.25x speed. I don't recall my focal stellias that I had for a short time playing as fast as these. I'll compare them to some of my other headphones over this weekend to try and better place its performance.

I appreciate the information!

Indeed, the pics of the driver seem almost non existent. I didn't find one.

Not sure what is "Japanese polyester and radial rib" ... some sort of specialized textile with surround? I would imagine polyester is closer to paper than PET relatively speaking? I have no clue, and this is quite the mysterious little driver.

I look forward to your comparisons to other headphones.

Also 180g.... impressive. I am assuming that is with the on ear pad (as opposed to the over ear) ...

 

[kid vic]

Is this the process to convert a normal bias SRD7 to Pro bias? It's what came up in a google search but double checking is usually a good thing especially given its for the SRM.

https://www.headfonia.com/stax-srm-1mk2-bias-modification/

 

[omega1990]

Stax Aperio Alpha PRO Review

ok so I've never seen a review of this one but no matter how much something might be unliked, I think for historical preservation purposes we should at least keep some kind of posts around mentioning them.

The Stax Aperio Alpha PRO was made in 1990 from what I understand as a portable option. Not sure if the driver is of original design from stax as I've found info mentioning it looks similar to a headphone made by Shiroshita Industry called SOUND WARRIOR stereo headphones [SW-HP20-B].

It came in a box that is labeled like if it was made to sell shoes lol, but for some reason they still gave it one of those fancy emblems like what's on the storage carrying case of the stax 007. The headphones are super cheap in build and have just two thin metal bands over the headstrap. The rest is plastic. This is an on-ear headphone. I think the cable is the best built part as it feels sturdy and flexible. It looks like a stax ribbon cable, which I thought was pretty funny. The 1/4inch adapter that's on it also looks pretty fancy for a headphone made so cheap. I've added a photo showing the adapter for my audio technica m40x on the left and stax adapter on the right.

So for sound, the first amp I tried was the sony ta-zh1es since this headphone is easy to drive and I didn't want to blow it up with my cfa3. The warmth from this amp made it sound easy to listen to and neutral sounding, but to hear what it's probably supposed to sound like, I played it on my audeze king amp as that is neutral sounding and yes I can confirm this headphone is on the bright side. It has a glare going on in the treble, but nothing else that I would say is bad. Mids have a little shout. Bass does not reach anything deep but it has a bit of boom to it. Overall it is thin sounding. The things I like about it is that it's light weight, pretty quick sounding, and does a good job of keeping focus on individual instruments even when things get complicated. Staging is intimate and sometimes wrapped around my head, so nothing far out and conveys sound as a left/right experience.

The weakest link to me was its resolution. I'm not sure how much this headphone was sold for back in the day but in trying to better determine its resolution I first compared it to my zmf auteur classic but the auteur was better in every way. I no longer have my hd600, but I still have my audio technica m40x. I know it's a closed back, but the performance of this stax dynamic was similar to the m40x and they kinda trade blows on whether one plays music better than the other. So I'd guess this headphone competes with the $100 or less area.

I can understand why stax collectors think its neat but would never recommend others to buy one. While it attempts to remind me of the stereotypical sounds of an electro static headphone, it does not execute those sound qualities anywhere near as good as an actual estat from stax. I did however find useful when play a portable device which is what this was made for. I decided to keep things appropriate for the time when this was released and pulled out my old gameboy and played some Donkey Kong and it did allow me to hear sounds I never would have heard if I used the gameboys speaker. It also sounds great when using my Nintendo Switch. So at least it has potential as a cheap gaming headset.

I read this headphone was made because stax received requests for a portable option. Personally if I wanted to make a request for something from stax I still want a closed back omega style estat. After hearing the stax 4070, I thought it did really well in what it tried to do. As for a modern new dynamic headphone from stax, as neat as that idea would be, my concern would be whether it might hurt the sales of their estats. Sure you could use the dynamic to entice people into discovering if they even like that sort of sound, but if the product is not well executed enough it might end up doing the opposite and hurt their sales. If I was someone buying the aperio-alpha-1-pro back then after hearing the wonderful advantages of a true stax estat, I would feel pretty disappointed, but I also would not hate this headphone since it does well when playing videogames. If you decide to play music with it use an amp that's on the warm side to counteract the slight shout and treble glare effects.

 

[SolarCetacean]

Very interesting review! I knew that old Stax had gone outside of their traditional niche of electrostatic headphones (I've seen references to Stax CD players, microphones, speakers, and non-estat headphones), but I had never read an actual review of one.

As for a modern dynamic Stax, I think it could happen. There's already a Stax-branded planar magnetic headphone, the Stax Spirit S3, though the tech is from Audeze. Since Stax is owned by Edifier (which also has a sizable stake in Audeze), I could see the parent company developing a dynamic headphone, getting feedback from Stax employees on the tuning, and then putting "Tuned by Stax" on the box, just like how Samsung puts "Tuned by AKG" on their GalaxyBuds. I'd wager that a lot more people have heard of Samsung than AKG, but if Samsung is putting AKG on their marketing and packaging, then people will have at least seen the name. If the end result of a Stax-branded Edifier headphone is at least decent, then it might be an introduction of sorts to the Stax brand. Kind of like how car manufacturers have luxury and regular brands (Lexus/Toyota, Infiniti/Nissan, etc.). I'm not really advocating for this approach, but I can see its merits. I don't see the Spirit S3 having a serious negative effect on Stax sales thus far.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Stax Aperio Alpha PRO Review

ok so I've never seen a review of this one but no matter how much something might be unliked, I think for historical preservation purposes we should at least keep some kind of posts around mentioning them.

The Stax Aperio Alpha PRO was made in 1990 from what I understand as a portable option. Not sure if the driver is of original design from stax as I've found info mentioning it looks similar to a headphone made by Shiroshita Industry called SOUND WARRIOR stereo headphones [SW-HP20-B].

It came in a box that is labeled like if it was made to sell shoes lol, but for some reason they still gave it one of those fancy emblems like what's on the storage carrying case of the stax 007. The headphones are super cheap in build and have just two thin metal bands over the headstrap. The rest is plastic. This is an on-ear headphone. I think the cable is the best built part as it feels sturdy and flexible. It looks like a stax ribbon cable, which I thought was pretty funny. The 1/4inch adapter that's on it also looks pretty fancy for a headphone made so cheap. I've added a photo showing the adapter for my audio technica m40x on the left and stax adapter on the right.

So for sound, the first amp I tried was the sony ta-zh1es since this headphone is easy to drive and I didn't want to blow it up with my cfa3. The warmth from this amp made it sound easy to listen to and neutral sounding, but to hear what it's probably supposed to sound like, I played it on my audeze king amp as that is neutral sounding and yes I can confirm this headphone is on the bright side. It has a glare going on in the treble, but nothing else that I would say is bad. Mids have a little shout. Bass does not reach anything deep but it has a bit of boom to it. Overall it is thin sounding. The things I like about it is that it's light weight, pretty quick sounding, and does a good job of keeping focus on individual instruments even when things get complicated. Staging is intimate and sometimes wrapped around my head, so nothing far out and conveys sound as a left/right experience.

The weakest link to me was its resolution. I'm not sure how much this headphone was sold for back in the day but in trying to better determine its resolution I first compared it to my zmf auteur classic but the auteur was better in every way. I no longer have my hd600, but I still have my audio technica m40x. I know it's a closed back, but the performance of this stax dynamic was similar to the m40x and they kinda trade blows on whether one plays music better than the other. So I'd guess this headphone competes with the $100 or less area.

I can understand why stax collectors think its neat but would never recommend others to buy one. While it attempts to remind me of the stereotypical sounds of an electro static headphone, it does not execute those sound qualities anywhere near as good as an actual estat from stax. I did however find useful when play a portable device which is what this was made for. I decided to keep things appropriate for the time when this was released and pulled out my old gameboy and played some Donkey Kong and it did allow me to hear sounds I never would have heard if I used the gameboys speaker. It also sounds great when using my Nintendo Switch. So at least it has potential as a cheap gaming headset.

I read this headphone was made because stax received requests for a portable option. Personally if I wanted to make a request for something from stax I still want a closed back omega style estat. After hearing the stax 4070, I thought it did really well in what it tried to do. As for a modern new dynamic headphone from stax, as neat as that idea would be, my concern would be whether it might hurt the sales of their estats. Sure you could use the dynamic to entice people into discovering if they even like that sort of sound, but if the product is not well executed enough it might end up doing the opposite and hurt their sales. If I was someone buying the aperio-alpha-1-pro back then after hearing the wonderful advantages of a true stax estat, I would feel pretty disappointed, but I also would not hate this headphone since it does well when playing videogames. If you decide to play music with it use an amp that's on the warm side to counteract the slight shout and treble glare effects.

Nice Review and pics! Looks dope with the gamboy.

I can't believe you played Donkey Kong on a classic Gameboy with STAX dynamic XD How many people have experienced that? Maybe just you LOL

If it can throw blows with a m40x, that's not too bad at all!

The STAX headband, and the ribbon cable make it look like quite the little gem. I think you're quite lucky to have one in your possession.

 

[austinpop]

In case anyone's interested, I have listed a Mjölnir-Audio Carbon CC in the classifieds.

 

[Mach3]

In case anyone's interested, I have listed a Mjölnir-Audio Carbon CC in the classifieds.

You leaving the staxosphere?