The Stax Thread III

[jody2k]

After 2 weeks of receiving my Stax lambda signature (SR-407) I wanted share my impressions

It's my first electrostatic headphone and the only thing I can say is just wow...what a dilightful sound.
Now I just wonder why I haven't just made the step earlier to electrostats after my long way searching into planar/dynamic headphones like the hifiman HE6SE V2 (which I still own for it's visceral bass impact), Sennheiser HD600/650, HD800, Hifiman edition XS, Hifiman Arya, HE1000SE/V2 and Audeze LCD-2/LCD-3/LCD-X.

The Stax lambda signature (SR-407) is just like "hold my beer" and just blows them all away with it's speed, timbre, separation and detail retrival in a effortless way.
I'm mainly listening to metal (specific metalcore, deathcore), classical music and psychedelic trance.

Maybe not the biggest soundstage i ever heard but very 3D-like stage with a amount of seperation I have never heard of.
Even prefered the soundstage of the lambda signature above the HE1000 V2 and Susvara which I both sold and that's quite a big compliment.
With every instrument having it's own place, very spacious, with alot of room to breath.

Now on the other side, Is it light in bass directly compared to my hifiman HE6SE V2? Maybe (without EQ), but with EQ I can get pretty close.
For those who are really bassheads (like me) it might be a bit "light" in bass in some tracks (especially without EQ) but never had feeling it is lacking bass in any way though.
But it difinitely has the most clear addictive and controlled bass i ever heard though.

 

[SolarCetacean]

So with the right adapter could you drive difficult to drive estats like the 007/CRBN with the koss box? as long as you EQ up <200hz ofc.

I'm pretty sure he was referring to the maximum voltage that the headphone drivers can handle, not what the amp driving the headphones can do. It just means that in theory, the Koss can handle more voltage swing before driver damage, if an amp was capable of producing said voltage swing.

 

[Svperstar]

I'm pretty sure he was referring to the maximum voltage that the headphone drivers can handle, not what the amp driving the headphones can do. It just means that in theory, the Koss can handle more voltage swing before driver damage, if an amp was capable of producing said voltage swing.

Oh, I thought it was what the Koss amp gives out. My bad.

I know Kevin measured the Koss amp on ASR and it gave out more power then he thought.

 

[kevin gilmore]

there is a gigantic difference between voltage and current.

the koss amp can deliver 2400vppss at 1khz into the koss headphones.
it is extremely current limited.
it cannot deliver 2400vppss at 20khz into the koss headphone. the power supply will go into protect mode.

the koss amp consumes a total power of 6 watts. it cannot compete with any of the stax amps that consume about 50 watts.

 

[folkguy]

https://songwhip.com/nils-petter-molvaer/streamer2004 This is an album I use to test for bass detail and texture/pitch definition, the 404 I owned was great but the 1 micron Sig from '87 despite it having a less tactile response is just better in techs all around. In general it's a great estat record. Wonder how planar bass would compare.

Now on the other side, Is it light in bass directly compared to my hifiman HE6SE V2? Maybe (without EQ), but with EQ I can get pretty close.
For those who are really bassheads (like me) it might be a bit "light" in bass in some tracks (especially without EQ) but never had feeling it is lacking bass in any way though.
But it difinitely has the most clear addictive and controlled bass i ever heard though.

Out of interest what amp are you using?

 

[jody2k]

https://songwhip.com/nils-petter-molvaer/streamer2004 This is an album I use to test for bass detail and texture/pitch definition, the 404 I owned was great but the 1 micron Sig from '87 despite it having a less tactile response is just better in techs all around. In general it's a great estat record. Wonder how planar bass would compare.


Out of interest what amp are you using?

Using a Sirrah (High-Amp) not sure it's V2 or V3 version can't find much info about it on the internet, it's a unknown german brand.
But I can see some compared it on head-fi and preffered it above the Stax SRM-252S.
I read it's using Japanese components so I guess it's a decent dedicated electrostat amp.

I just bought it for a very good deal together with the lambda signature from ebay.

 

[alota]

Using a Sirrah (High-Amp) not sure it's V2 or V3 version can't find much info about it on the internet, it's a unknown german brand.
But I can see some compared it on head-fi and preffered it above the Stax SRM-252S.
I read it's using Japanese components so I guess it's a decent dedicated electrostat amp.

I just bought it for a very good deal together with the lambda signature from ebay.

Why unknown brand? In Europe is known

 

[KDS315]

Using a Sirrah (High-Amp) not sure it's V2 or V3 version can't find much info about it on the internet, it's a unknown german brand.
But I can see some compared it on head-fi and preffered it above the Stax SRM-252S.
I read it's using Japanese components so I guess it's a decent dedicated electrostat amp.

I just bought it for a very good deal together with the lambda signature from ebay.

SIRRAH is an amplifier for STAX headphones made by Andreas Rauenbühler in Germany (high-amp.de) who is quite well known here. It is his least powerful amp, as he has much more powerful transistor (Polaris, Sirius, Elektra) and hybrid-amps (Alpha Centauri, Antares) - I own several of them and tested most of them, even prototypes.

 

[jody2k]

SIRRAH is an amplifier for STAX headphones made by Andreas Rauenbühler in Germany (high-amp.de) who is quite well known here. It is his least powerful amp, as he has much more powerful transistor (Polaris, Sirius, Elektra) and hybrid-amps (Alpha Centauri, Antares) - I own several of them and tested most of them, even prototypes.

Interesting didn't know that it was a known amp here, i'm pretty new to electrostatic community so appologies.
It's sounding amazing though I really like the combo with the stax lambda, very clear, powerful and controlled bass.

I can only imagine how good his upper mode amps would sound like.

 

[Thomsen132]

Since 3 weeks i own a High-Amp Polaris V3 to drive my SR-X9000. It's a real powerhouse of a solid state amp with 610 Vrms and 1720 Vss.
It surpasses my Mjölnir Carbon in some disciplines like resolution, pin point localisation and even the depth of bass and bass punch is at least as good or better. It is an amp for plankton and soundstage in combination with great bass lovers and from my subjective view a great match with the SR-X9000.
It does take a little bit of the mellow or romantic touch in the mids in the combination of SR-X9000 and Carbon and opens up the mids and super high treble.
An amazing amp

 

[alota]

Since 3 weeks i own a High-Amp Polaris V3 to drive my SR-X9000. It's a real powerhouse of a solid state amp with 610 Vrms and 1720 Vss.
It surpasses my Mjölnir Carbon in some disciplines like resolution, pin point localisation and even the depth of bass and bass punch is at least as good or better. It is an amp for plankton and soundstage in combination with great bass lovers and from my subjective view a great match with the SR-X9000.
It does take a little bit of the mellow or romantic touch in the mids in the combination of SR-X9000 and Carbon and opens up the mids and super high treble.
An amazing amp

nice. you had possibility to try alpha centauri in comparison with polaris?

 

[Thomsen132]

nice. you had possibility to try alpha centauri in comparison with polaris?

No
I am only interested in solid state amps.

 

[alota]

No
I am only interested in solid state amps.

My next amp is probably from high-amp. My headphone is 009. I will ask to the builder wich amp for my model...

 

[Svperstar]

Since 3 weeks i own a High-Amp Polaris V3 to drive my SR-X9000. It's a real powerhouse of a solid state amp with 610 Vrms and 1720 Vss.
It surpasses my Mjölnir Carbon in some disciplines like resolution, pin point localisation and even the depth of bass and bass punch is at least as good or better. It is an amp for plankton and soundstage in combination with great bass lovers and from my subjective view a great match with the SR-X9000.
It does take a little bit of the mellow or romantic touch in the mids in the combination of SR-X9000 and Carbon and opens up the mids and super high treble.
An amazing amp

I googled this and didn't see where you can order it. Got a link?

 

[Svperstar]

My next amp is probably from high-amp. My headphone is 009. I will ask to the builder wich amp for my model...

Well according to the Internet pretty much any amp can drive the 009, its only the 007 and CRBN that need massive amounts of power.

Ofc depends on who you talk too.