The Stax thread (New)

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XXII /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have an sr-007 mk1 on its way. The only thing I have to drive it is a srd-7 pro out of my Balanced Beta22 (2 x Sigma22). This is obviously not ideal but will it give me good taste of what the sr-007 can do? I'm guessing that my HD800 would be significantly better since it's properly amped.

That will be an interesting comparison. Let us know. I'm looking to get the SR-007 as well.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XXII /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have an sr-007 mk1 on its way. The only thing I have to drive it is a srd-7 pro out of my Balanced Beta22 (2 x Sigma22). This is obviously not ideal but will it give me good taste of what the sr-007 can do? I'm guessing that my HD800 would be significantly better since it's properly amped.

I think it will give you an idea of what they can do. With a nice direct drive amp like GES the gains will be mostly in micro-detail and some in ambience/space and soundstage, unless you get a KGBH SE and then it will kick the B22/SRD-7 Pro's butt with better everything (bass, mids, treble, power, impact, detail, etc). I still remember the BHSE/Mk1 combo from CanJam like it was yesterday - it was imprinted on my brain and makes me unhappy with any lesser amp with the Mk1 now.

 

[XXII]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif That will be an interesting comparison. Let us know. I'm looking to get the SR-007 as well.

Will do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think it will give you an idea of what they can do. With a nice direct drive amp like GES the gains will be mostly in micro-detail and some in ambience/space and soundstage, unless you get a KGBH SE and then it will kick the B22/SRD-7 Pro's butt with better everything (bass, mids, treble, power, impact, detail, etc). I still remember the BHSE/Mk1 combo from CanJam like it was yesterday - it was imprinted on my brain and makes me unhappy with any lesser amp with the Mk1 now.

Thanks for your comments. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I like them

Do you use your srd-7 with your ZDT? How does the srd-7/ZDT combo compare with other stax amps like srm-1 or srm-t1?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XXII /img/forum/go_quote.gif Will do. Thanks for your comments. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I like them Do you use your srd-7 with your ZDT? How does the srd-7/ZDT combo compare with other stax amps like srm-1 or srm-t1?

The ZDT/SRD-7 Pro is great with my HE60 and Jade, and not as good with the O2 Mk1. My Woo GES sounds much better with the O2 when I had both running side by side at the Colorado summer meet. The ZDT/SRD combo is still much better than my old SRM-1 Mk2 Pro, and closer to Sherwood's old SRM-T1 was. It still lacks some detail and sounds mushy when compared side by side with the Woo GES. I have heard some tube hybrid and SS speakers amps that gave the O2 Mk1 a more snappy response, but I don't recall if that was done with my SRD-7 Mk2 SB or my SRD-7 Pro. I suspect my SRD-7 Mk2 SB may be the better sounding box.

Once i figure out if one version of my Stax transformers is better than the other I'll let you know - I only tried the SRD-7 Pro (110v AC two pro jacks) with the ZDT, and haven't tried my SRD-7 Mk2 SB on the ZDT yet.

I also have a modded SRD-7 SB normal boas box with a pro-bias jack and HE Audio Jack added, and the inputs are banana jacks that run directly into the transformers with the cheap pigtail cable removed (about a 3-4 ohm load I was told). I need to compare that too. Craig at EC thinks the ZDT could drive it without damage but could sound strained.

 

[XXII]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif The ZDT/SRD-7 Pro is great with my HE60 and Jade, and not as good with the O2 Mk1. My Woo GES sounds much better with the O2 when I had both running side by side at the Colorado summer meet. The ZDT/SRD combo is still much better than my old SRM-1 Mk2 Pro, and closer to Sherwood's old SRM-T1 was. It still lacks some detail and sounds mushy when compared side by side with the Woo GES. I have heard some tube hybrid and SS speakers amps that gave the O2 Mk1 a more snappy response, but I don't recall if that was done with my SRD-7 Mk2 SB or my SRD-7 Pro. I suspect my SRD-7 Mk2 SB may be the better sounding box. Once i figure out if one version of my Stax transformers is better than the other I'll let you know - I only tried the SRD-7 Pro (110v AC two pro jacks) with the ZDT, and haven't tried my SRD-7 Mk2 SB on the ZDT yet. I also have a modded SRD-7 SB normal boas box with a pro-bias jack and HE Audio Jack added, and the inputs are banana jacks that run directly into the transformers with the cheap pigtail cable removed (about a 3-4 ohm load I was told). I need to compare that too. Craig at EC thinks the ZDT could drive it without damage but could sound strained.

Thanks again Larry. What speaker cables are you using with the modded SB? Do you find that it makes a difference?

I might replace the pigtail on my srd-7 pro with something better.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XXII /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks again Larry. What speaker cables are you using with the modded SB? Do you find that it makes a difference? I might replace the pigtail on my srd-7 pro with something better.

The stock Nuforce Icon desktop amp speaker cables have a banana plug built into the end and so I was using that amp (but have only tried the box via the HE Audio jack so far). I bought a pair of 12 foot PureAV speaker cables with bananas from DedicatedAudio.com back in April when they were on sale at 1/2 price, but I haven't used them yet because I was going to get a nicer set of custom cables from Yaccocables.com and never got around to it.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XXII /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have an sr-007 mk1 on its way. The only thing I have to drive it is a srd-7 pro out of my Balanced Beta22 (2 x Sigma22). This is obviously not ideal but will it give me good taste of what the sr-007 can do?

Congratulations!

The β22 -> SRD-7 pro is far from the ideal amplification, but I certainly would say it gives you a really nice taste of what the O2 can deliver. I live quite happily with the same setup.

 

[milezone]

Has anyone seen/used this amp?

MIPA Stax Amplifier

It looks interesting and damn expensive but perhaps out of production.

 

[milezone]

.

 

[XXII]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Congratulations! The β22 -> SRD-7 pro is far from the ideal amplification, but I certainly would say it gives you a really nice taste of what the O2 can deliver. I live quite happily with the same setup.

Thanks krmathis! How does the β22 amping the srd-7 compare with other amps you have tried?

 

[dvb-projekt]

Does anyone have this schematics from this good old amp?

Best regrads,
Oliver

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XXII /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks krmathis! How does the β22 amping the srd-7 compare with other amps you have tried?

Let me see...
It has a more powerful sound (bass control) than the Signature 30.2, but lack its warm sort of analog sound. They both have a magical mid-range and a clean top-end. The detail levels is on par.
The Leben CS300 is quite nice as well, but the Boulder 865 stand out as the clear winner of those I have heard driving the O2 through the SRD-7 Pro.

You find some more impressions in my β22 thread.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milezone /img/forum/go_quote.gif Has anyone seen/used this amp? MIPA Stax Amplifier It looks interesting and damn expensive but perhaps out of production.

Overpriced doesn't even begin to cover this but I'm sure somebody bought one at some time.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvb-projekt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does anyone have this schematics from this good old amp? Best regrads, Oliver

The SRD-X Pro is probably an SRD-X with a different bias circuit - in which case, it's a fairly pedantic car radio chip amp driving a pair of small transformers.

What do you need a schematic for?

I still need to trace out the bias circuit from my SRD-X.

 

[J-Pak]

The pro bias transformer box and power amp will give you a taste of what the SR-007 will do (in fact I enjoyed this setup for about a year), but moving to the Blue Hawaii was the single best upgrade I've ever made (not including the actual headphones).