The weather in Detroit has been rainy for the last three days, and the remnants of hurricane Ike is going to dump more rain tonight. What a perfect time to listen to headphones! With so much time I started to compare some of my Lambda’s. After about a hour I decided to do a controlled comparison of my electrostatics.
I took 1 minute sound bites from different cuts off different CD’s and recorded them to my Alesis Masterlink ML-9600. I also took some cuts off of vinyl and recorded at 24/96 on the Masterlink. I can access any cut instantly.
For vocals I used Mary Black, Radka Tonif, Kellye Grey, Kenny Rankin and Jose Carreras.
Classical was Ravel, Ibert & Tchaikovsky on Mercury, Rimksy-Korsokov on Decca.
Pop/Rock was The Police, Cat Stevens, Led Zeppelin and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
Jazz was Pat Metheny, Brian Hughes, LA4 and Jazz at the Pawnshop.
The phones in the comparison were the SR-Lambda, Lambda Pro, Lambda Nova Signature, SR-202, SR-404, O2mk1, and Koss ESP-950. I also have SR-XmkIII, SR-XmkIII Pro, SR-5, O2mk2 and SR-003 but I did not include them because they all had a shortcoming. All the phones except the O2 were driven by my 007t. The O2 was driven by my 717. All the vintage Stax phones have new earpads. The Masterlink was connected to my Audible Illusions M3a driving my Stax amps. All interconnect was by Audioquest. The electronics were left on during the test.
I was judging them for musicality, tonal balance, low level detail, dynamics, extension and imaging. I did not compare that much for soundstage. As much as I love listening to headphones if I want soundstaging I listen to my loudspeakers.
Because the O2 is considerably better than the others in almost all categories I used them as my reference.
Let’s Start…
SR-Lambda. The original Lambda is still one of my favorites and did well in this comparo. They have a even tonal balance, beautiful midrange (just a little forward), The highs are detailed but not the best of the bunch. Just a little of the Lambda glare. The bass is nice but not real deep. They do not have the dynamics that the Pro bias phones have but they are close.
Lambda Pro. The Pro has always been a favorite also. The midrange is laidback and a little dark (similar to the O2). The bass is deep deep deep and punchy. The midbass is lean compared to the SR-Lambda. The Lambda glare is the least of the series. Dynamics are good. These phones, the O2 and Koss are the easiest to listen to loud. The Pro has gotten a little tarnished lately in this forum and IMO it is not deserved.
Lambda Nova Signature. This phone sounds very similar to the 202 but with a little less of the Lambda glare. I can see why people like them. They seem to do everything fairly well. Sometimes they sound a little bland. They would probably make a good studio monitor.
SR-202/404. They are the same only different?! The 404 sounds just like the Lambda Nova Signature but with added glare. This is the hardest phone to listen to loud (by far). These have the best low level detail of the Lambda series. The bass is not as deep and punchy as the Lambda Pro but not bad. The 202 did very well and is almost a Lambda Nova clone. They are a steel for the price.
The Koss ESP-950. The Koss loves to play rock loud. The bass is deep (not as deep as the Lambda Pro), midrange is well balanced, dynamics are great, treble is extended but a little polite (by Lambda standards). The one thing that I noticed about them that I never noticed before is that the better Lambda’s are a little more refined. When listening to them with the most natural recordings there is a opaqueness to the timber of instruments. You only can tell when you switch back to a good Lambda or O2. If you listen to mostly pop/rock at high levels this is the one.
The O2mk1. What can I say. They are better in every way. I can see why some people find them dark and unexciting. They only seem dark after listening to the Lambda’s for a while. What I find interesting is that they seem to find the good in bad recordings. It’s like magic! On the other hand the 404 finds the worst in good recordings. They need to be driven by a clean amp with good bandwidth. As good as the 007t is driving all the other phones it is not that well suited for the O2. The 717 is a much better match.
If I was on a desert island and could only have 2 phones it would be the O2 and Lambda Pro.
Here is my order starting with my favorite.
1. O2mk1 (I think that I’m going to sell my mk2 and find a backup mk1)
2. Lambda Pro (I want all Lambda Pro lovers to raise their hand)
3. Koss ESP-950 (I don’t know why this phone does not get more respect)
4. Lambda Nova Signature (there is not much to dislike)
5. SR-Lambda (better than the new phones and was made in the late seventies!)
6. SR-202 (a real bargain)
7. SR-404 (if Stax could get rid of the glare they would be #2)