[Lornecherry]

To answer the question about which Lambdas, I have had tried all the Pro bias vintage, and a few of the new ones ...of the vintage, the LNS is the best for me; really sings with the 007A amp or T1. (best midrange bloom, least harsh highs, bass is there, but not in spades). I also, on occasion, like the Gamma Pros; not a musical as the LNS; with a much different sound signature from the Lambda's, and not quite as open...it's just that sometimes I like the change.
 
I much prefer the LNS to the 404's or 404LE (never tried 507). I now have Omega's II's on the way...will do a long A/B vs the LNS and sell the one that finishes 2nd (who am I kidding, I'll probably keep them both).
 
That said, paying attention upstream to your source and DAC will ultimately be the determining factor. On the Chord DAC, they all sound very good; as the Chord is great at getting rid of sibilance in poorer CD's. With the fully loaded Empirical Audio Overdrive fed by a good transport, the LNS is able to bring out the detail better than other Lambdas (thinnest membrane in the LNS compared to other Stax).
 
I use rather expensive PS Audio power conditioning and good cables (Stealth, Kimber Silver Streak), which are necessary with a revealing DAC, as the Empirical (or other revealing DAC) will sound shrill with all but the very equipment in front of it.
 
So...I recommend buying/trying all the Lambdas and selling what you don't like. There's a good market for used and I've almost always recovered my money by buying used and then selling to upgrade/try something else.
 
Too many times on here I read that one amp/Stax phone is better than the other...without proper care/thought given to the rest of the audio chain, and especially the front end.
 
I also run a subwoofer (Rel Stadium) with my phones, as none of the family is too near my dedicated listening room (or man-cave as my wife calls it). LNS + 007A + Rel sub to me sounds better than anything else I've heard at ANY show/meet (including the BHSE + 009 without a sub). Of course, I'm sure the 009's with a sub would be heaven. I know the sub idea has been kicked around before and largely dismissed by some as weird, dumb or not practical...but once you hear a properly "loaded" room with headphones this way, you are hooked. BTW the sub does not "boom"...it merely fills in the bottom that's missing and adds needed punch to the music that no small (ear) speaker is capable of. If you look at all of the prominent electrostatic speakers (Soundlab, Quad, ML, etc.) most of them need a very fast sub to fill out the bottom. 

 

[mongeddavid]

Thanks for the reply if you do decide to sell on the LNS then please bear me in mind thanks. My system consists of a Metrum Octave NOS DAC or Audio Note DAC Sig  I mainly play FLACs / WAVs from my PC via a Hiface EVO full stack SPDIF convertor and Master clock. Cabling either Chord Signature or MIL spec DIY cables. Rest of my system is a Border Patrol 300b SET Power Amp run via a lightspeed LDR passive Pre into Living Voice Avatar Speakers. The stax phones are the closest i have come in terms of sonic strengths to the sound of my main system.

 

[davidsh]

LNS has 1.5 um drivers, LS has 1um, the newer ones have 1.35 um drivers afaik.what do you think about LS vs LNS?

 

[n3rdling]

  To answer the question about which Lambdas, I have had tried all the Pro bias vintage, and a few of the new ones ...of the vintage, the LNS is the best for me; really sings with the 007A amp or T1. (best midrange bloom, least harsh highs, bass is there, but not in spades). I also, on occasion, like the Gamma Pros; not a musical as the LNS; with a much different sound signature from the Lambda's, and not quite as open...it's just that sometimes I like the change.
 
I much prefer the LNS to the 404's or 404LE (never tried 507). I now have Omega's II's on the way...will do a long A/B vs the LNS and sell the one that finishes 2nd (who am I kidding, I'll probably keep them both).
 
That said, paying attention upstream to your source and DAC will ultimately be the determining factor. On the Chord DAC, they all sound very good; as the Chord is great at getting rid of sibilance in poorer CD's. With the fully loaded Empirical Audio Overdrive fed by a good transport, the LNS is able to bring out the detail better than other Lambdas (thinnest membrane in the LNS compared to other Stax).
 
I use rather expensive PS Audio power conditioning and good cables (Stealth, Kimber Silver Streak), which are necessary with a revealing DAC, as the Empirical (or other revealing DAC) will sound shrill with all but the very equipment in front of it.
 
So...I recommend buying/trying all the Lambdas and selling what you don't like. There's a good market for used and I've almost always recovered my money by buying used and then selling to upgrade/try something else.
 
Too many times on here I read that one amp/Stax phone is better than the other...without proper care/thought given to the rest of the audio chain, and especially the front end.
 
I also run a subwoofer (Rel Stadium) with my phones, as none of the family is too near my dedicated listening room (or man-cave as my wife calls it). LNS + 007A + Rel sub to me sounds better than anything else I've heard at ANY show/meet (including the BHSE + 009 without a sub). Of course, I'm sure the 009's with a sub would be heaven. I know the sub idea has been kicked around before and largely dismissed by some as weird, dumb or not practical...but once you hear a properly "loaded" room with headphones this way, you are hooked. BTW the sub does not "boom"...it merely fills in the bottom that's missing and adds needed punch to the music that no small (ear) speaker is capable of. If you look at all of the prominent electrostatic speakers (Soundlab, Quad, ML, etc.) most of them need a very fast sub to fill out the bottom. 

You need to think of the 'room' as the cavity within the earpads between your ear and the driver when it comes to headphones.  Headphones aren't designed to drive entire rooms so the comparison you've drawn doesn't quite make sense.  Of course a little headphone driver isn't going to be able to output linear bass from a meter away but that's not how they're used so it doesn't matter.  When you ask them to drive a small sealed volume of air (as they're designed to do), they actually have a big advantage over most speakers in terms of giving you linear bass response.  They're also able to do this with a single driver which maintains coherence as you don't need crossovers and multiple drivers to accomplish this goal.  I don't know of any single driver speaker that will go down as low as a decent headphone, let alone something like an Audeze or SR-009.  In fact, if you get a good seal with your LNS those will go down lower than that sub you have. 
 
What headphones can't give you is the tactile sense of bass that a sub will give you as the waves hit your body.  This makes sense since the headphones are strapped to your head.  The Smyth guys actually recommend a device that you sit on in order to restore the tactile presence missing in headphones.  Your setup is definitely helping to restore that sensation.  I don't particularly care for it.  I would also recommend trying out a transmission line sub as that should help with the sense of agility and openness present in electrostats that a boxed sub can't really recreate.
 
Also, the LNS doesn't have the thinnest membrane.  That's actually the Lambda Signature...a completely different headphone.

 

[EveTan]

What's the market price for SRM-T1W s used?

 

[dukeskd]

What's the market price for SRM-T1W s used?

500-700

 

[antonyfirst]

Birgir, do you think the quality of Omega 2 pairs has also something to do with the stax fart?
In some pairs, the fart seems to occur more frequently than others. Is it possible that the best drivers, are also more sensitive to the farting, because of the charge deposited on the armatures?

 

[DefQon]

  500-700

 
Yeah around there, supposedly some say it is inferior to the T1/T1S in both sound and mechanical design.
 
Looks ugly too (imo).

 

[gilency]

I have used a sub off/on throughout the years with my headphones. Not a bad idea.
As far as expensive power conditioners and cables, well........

 

[rx79ez08]

Have any one heard the Lambda Nova Classic and the SRM-3?
How do they sound?

 

[Keithpgdrb]

thank you for your Lambda impressions.  very helpful.  What is the difference in tonal quality between the Lambda Nova Signature and the Lambda Signature?  Where does the 303 fit in all this?

 

[mongeddavid]

  thank you for your Lambda impressions.  very helpful.  What is the difference in tonal quality between the Lambda Nova Signature and the Lambda Signature?  Where does the 303 fit in all this?

Also if anyone has done a direct comparison between the 407 and 507 that would be interesting. Id like to get the 507s however as i have a pair of 407s that are not 100% i could use them as spares should the need arise and thus the 407 would make more sense. I Have tried the original Lambda ear pads on the 407 and i felt there to be improvement at the bottom end of the spectrum with bass being more defined and textured. My idea if i go for the 407s is to add the 507s ear pads at some point.

 

[DefQon]

  Have any one heard the Lambda Nova Classic and the SRM-3?
How do they sound?

I'd personally chose a re-capped brought back to life Xh over an SRM-3, but they are based on similar circuits. I have owned the LNC before and it is sort of laid back sounding, kind of reminds me of the Lambda Pro in some ways but it has a nice tonality to the sound. No treble etch to these ears but the original earpads were shot on mine so I used the old vintage Lambda pads and eventually the 404LE/507 leather pads so you can get subtle sound improvements here and there but I greatly prefer the vintage pads by a long shot due to the thicker density of the pad structure. 
 
For bare minimum of getting any basic Stax amp, I'd recommend an SRM1 MK2 or T1 out of the vintage line. SRM-323S is a good starting point out of the modern Stax amp's, better than the SRM1 MK2 and better than a lot of the more expensive tube amp's Stax sell's. Imo ofc.
 

  thank you for your Lambda impressions.  very helpful.  What is the difference in tonal quality between the Lambda Nova Signature and the Lambda Signature?  Where does the 303 fit in all this?

You mean sound quality. LNS is well regarded because it is neutral and same with the LS which some call bright sounding and little lean on the bass. The 303 is more of a fun sounding Lambda but still more neutral than a lot of dynamic, planar's and some other stat's out there.
 

  Also if anyone has done a direct comparison between the 407 and 507 that would be interesting. Id like to get the 507s however as i have a pair of 407s that are not 100% i could use them as spares should the need arise and thus the 407 would make more sense. I Have tried the original Lambda ear pads on the 407 and i felt there to be improvement at the bottom end of the spectrum with bass being more defined and textured. My idea if i go for the 407s is to add the 507s ear pads at some point.

Get 507/404LE leather pads onto your 407. Owner/user's of both say that the 407 sound almost the same to a 507 by using the leather pads.

 

[dukeskd]

I believe the LNS has the best bass of all the Lambdas with good extension ability. Otherwise, Defqon nailed it.

 

[rx79ez08]

Thank you DefQon and dukeskd, I am actually not really interested in the amp. But I am a little interested in the LNC. That is why I want to know how it sounds.