[Lonely_Rider]

Quote:

I used to do all my programming on a pdp-11/70.

 
Yeah, I also know pdp-11/70, and did my programming with VAX 11/780, VAX 8800 etc. Oh, those days...

 

 

[verber]

Quote:

 
Yeah, I also know pdp-11/70, and did my programming with VAX 11/780, VAX 8800 etc. Oh, those days...

 

 
Nah... those where the evil step-children of the true process of that age was DEC's Kx-10, be it running Tenex, ITS, Tops-20, etc. 

 
--Mark

 

[tonereef]

I've been listening to the 009s using a well designed and built all-tube DIY 6SN7 amp (2 output tubes) and I gotta say it sounds sweet. Using 6FQ7s rather than 6DJ8s in the 2nd stage gives it more low end oomph than my all-tube DIY EL34 amp. Just as importantly for the 009s, this amp doesn't emphasize highs and portrays timbre in a more complex and satisfying way than the EL34 amp. Dynamics are still plenty good. So here's the question: admitting that the O2 probably requires EL34s to sound its best, maybe some of the dissatisfaction some people have had with the 009s has more to do with the amp they're using than the phones themselves. Is it possible that the BHSE and the Woo (neither of which I've had a chance to hear) aren't the best possible match?
 

 

[satorarepotenet]

Quote:

 Is it possible that the BHSE and the Woo (neither of which I've had a chance to hear) aren't the best possible match?
 

 
The best possible match, I hope not. The best currently available? It seems indeed that lots of people think so... (leaving the T2 aside).

 

[spritzer]

The problem is with the transducers.  You can inject loads of distortion at HF to counter most of it but even then you are stuck with the odd bass and other artifacts. 

 

[moti]

Has anybody compared how the sound differs when driving pro-bias headphones by standart vs. pro-output?
 
Is it possible to put the STAX drive units in order from the best to worse by the operating principle as follows:
 
1. Line level amp
2. Line level tube amp
3. Speaker level transformer (low-bias)
4. Speaker level transformer (pro-bias)
5. ?

 

[Michgelsen]

Yes I would pay 250 usd for a pair of 202s in good condition. I think it's a fair price and MUCH better value than, let's say, a HD600 or HD650. I absolutely love them and I'm listening to them right now in fact. Their tonal balance is just right for my taste, there's no 'etch' in the upper mids, and they're airier sounding than the SR-007. Of course, the SR-007 wins in other aspects, but I could definitely live with the SR-202 as my only pair of headphones.
 
Quote:

Thanks for the answer, I think i'm getting them now. What would you pay for a used pair of SR-202's btw? Is 250usd too much for them?

 

[milosz]

Quote:

www.edax.com 

 
and i still remember the pdp-11/73 and the microvax's

Ah yes, Nuclear Diodes....  no doubt required for damping in circuits employing flux capacitors.
 
I remember working on a linear accelerator made by Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd.  that used a PDP-11/12 to control it, program being read in via paper tape....  the accelerator used depleted uranium as shielding, to make it smaller....
 
Your friend, the atom.....
 

(nice cape, dude...)

 

[kevin gilmore]

germanium so heavily doped that it diffuses at room temperature.
which is why you have to keep them at liquid nitrogen temperatures
forever. Still hard to beat the performance of those things 50 years
later.

 

[tonereef]

Quote:

The problem is with the transducers.  You can inject loads of distortion at HF to counter most of it but even then you are stuck with the odd bass and other artifacts. 

What other artifacts? Odd bass - no, just maybe not enough of it. I'm going by Tyll's FR graph - and that bump around 1K perhaps needs some taming. Anyway, I'm going to try rolling 6SN7s because at the moment there's actually too little sparkle in the highs. But otherwise, it's a different and better sounding headphone. Now there's a real foundation in the orchestral cellos and basses. Now pianos don't all sound like bright Yamahas.

 

[spritzer]

There is a clear shelving in the bass, same problem as in the HE90.  In fact, the root cause is exactly the same in these two models. 

 

[arnaud]

There is a clear shelving in the bass, same problem as in the HE90.  In fact, the root cause is exactly the same in these two models. 

And you've been abusing if the lcd2 lately haven't you ?

From all the measurements I've seen of the 009, including my own, the thing is flat down to 15Hz, show me the shelving are you talking about. Subjectively, the bass of the 009 is as good as it gets to my ears. One of the few staxes that really has impact while having this tight /tuneful quality that really highlights the recording specifics rather than overemphasize bass like so many phones do, which quickly gets old.

 

[jgazal]

Perhaps spritzer wants a multi-layer stator with imperforated outer area driving the diaphragm.... 

 

[tonereef]

Quote:

From all the measurements I've seen of the 009, including my own, the thing is flat down to 15Hz, show me the shelving are you talking about. Subjectively, the bass of the 009 is as good as it gets to my ears. One of the few staxes that really has impact while having this tight /tuneful quality that really highlights the recording specifics rather than overemphasize bass like so many phones do, which quickly gets old.

I think Tyll's graph (with the phones driven by a BHSE, right?) shows the bass down about 3 dB at 30 Hz, and starting to decline below 50? Whatever, the quality of the bass is excellent, but until now I really couldn't appreciate that fact because there just wasn't enough of it to satisfy me. Since the phones + amp is a package, I'm not about to apportion blame to one or the other, but there seems to be a lack of synergy between the 009s and EL34 amplification (at least in the amp I've used for close to a year with the 009s, and sorry I can't tell you anything about amps that are commercially available). This amp is all tubes, using 4 6DJ8s or 2 6DJ8s + 2 6FQ7s (I was using 6FQ7s, which softened the highs a little) and 4 EL34s. The maker says it's actually closer to a T2 than a Blue Hawaii. The 6SN7 amp has essentially the same circuitry (no resistors in the signal path) but 2 6SN7s for output. This makes for an easy comparison, because the variables are limited. The actual tubes of course make a big difference. Now that I've retubed the 6SN7 amp with great-measuring vintage 6FQ7s and 6SN7s, extended highs are back, but in a much more believable way than on the EL34 amp - the top is never overlit or borderline unpleasant, just really vibrant and open. The EL34 amp is using a matched quad of Winged Cs, and Electro Harmonix 6FQ7s (we didn't try vintage 6FQ7s in it). But anyway, supposing one could improve the bass and treble response of the EL34 amp using more expensive tubes, it's not worth bothering, because the 6SN7 amp sounds so good. And we think that's at least partly because it's using triodes, not pentodes - fewer odd-order harmonics. And nothing's close to being pushed whereas the EL34 amp is running a lot closer to the edge. The 009s evidently don't need a brute force approach the way the O2s do. The 6SN7 amp provides lots of gain, excellent dynamics, tons of detail, a beautiful midrange, and coherence - everything's of a piece, nothing sticks out. From here on any fine-tuning using different tubes and different interconnects is just icing. For me it completely vindicates the 009s - now to my ear there's nothing the O2s do better or even as well, at least if the sound of real music is your measuring stick (and yes, rock sounds great too, not just classical and jazz).

 

[David1961]

Because I don't like visceral bass, the bass 009's produce driven by the BHSE is just right for me, the problem I have is with some recordings using that combo, is there's an edge to the sound that's uncomfortable. I look forward to hearing the Aristaeus driving the 009's.