catscratch
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2004
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[duplicate]
P.S. If I were for instance to get a 009 from PriceJapan, what are my options if it goes wrong? I had problems with Stax stuff from overseas before, and Stax told me to take it to Yamas while Yamas told me to take it to Stax, and pretty much that was that.
I was not really until I listened to the SR-009 with the A10. I really like that combo but can not go all the way there right now so I am taking a first step with the SRM-727II based on SillySally recommendation.
Ah, thanks John. I had been afraid to power them up. They seem to work perfectly. And on closer inspection I see both dust covers are slack and wrinkled, but I don't hear anything I would attribute to that. But I do remember why they were in a closet! Rip your head off thin and bright. I have the SRD-7 SB on an old NAD receiver, and after a quick and dirty EQ first impression is very positive. The drivers will take bass EQ without overload or going muddy. Resolution across the range is excellent.
I don't know what to attribute the skewed balance to. Sort of doubt it was the NAD or cheap Panny disc player. That leaves the energizer and phones. First guess is I won't find a way to listen to these things without pretty serious EQ. I would love to hear opinions from others familiar with this phone.
You can't actually see the driver membrane - you are looking at the dust covers. These can be wrinkled, without being damaged. As long as they aren't torn. Is there any channel imbalance or problems with either driver?
Well I guess I got lucky, these old phones work and sound great. I wanted to drive them with my computer system so I bought the little Topping TP 30 usb/dac/amp, used the EQ function in J River (which apparently is processed internally at 64 bits), and 10 bands enough precision to get the job done. Driven flat with files and the Topping the Lambda did sound quite a bit better than the old NAD receiver and cheap Panny DVD player, but it still needed the EQ. Wasn't hard to get a good balance. The Lambda's resolution is amazing!
I thought I'd add another note or two now that I've been listening to this set-up for several days.
First off I was having a hard time remembering exactly how long ago I bought this Stax phone and Energizer. By using the Wiki Stax product history page here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stax_products I was able to find the date both the Lambda and SRD-7 SB were introduced, 1979, making them 33 years old! I bought them used at Stereo Exchange in NYC in the mid 80's as near as I can remember. I doubt they have all that many hours of use on them due to the condition they were in when I bought them, and the fact I found them too bright then, as now, but had no way to correct the FR distortion back then without the cure being as bad or worse than the disease!
Second note is a riff on how I personally appreciate how far digital has come since the introduction of CDs. It has really come to fruition in so many ways, exemplified in my modest little system of 1) external hard drive of all my (ripped) CDs (that I carry with me when I'm going anywhere for very long), 2) laptop, 3) J River Media Center (with EQ that I had not used before this), and last 4) Topping TP-30! (the quality of this little guy was the real surprise).
I don't see too much on the Topping here where Head-Fi'ers live, so a sub note caveat that may have positive implication for certain Stax users? I haven't bothered with the head phone output jack (too busy listening to the Stax, because) I have the SRD-7 connected to the speaker outputs. From the little that's out there on this tiny amp I would not be surprised if driving a Stax energizer is the best Fi one can get out of this very inexpensive little usb T-amp combo. It really sounds good to my ears.
Last, the sound of the phones themselves. Wow. I had hopes I could get a cheap but good fix to my "headphone problem" by reviving the Lambdas, and I got more than I bargained for. I've been an avid DIY speaker guy for years, and have let headphone listening go by the way side for the most part. I have a pair of Westone in ear phones that sound darn good, and convenient. Also a pair of Sennheiser HD 595s I never been able to work up too much enthusiasm for, and a pair of Fostex T50RP that I can hear potential in when I EQ them a little. Pretty good phones. My last phones years ago were the 1st model Yamaha Orthodynamic HP-1, which are beyond repair and gone to headphone heaven.
I've long been a fan of full range electrostatic speakers having owned several classic models. In addition, creating multi-way speaker systems of the best sub components available to the DIYer was a door that opened as a result of the DEQX DAC/crossover/EQ all-in-one box (with software) that is like Photoshop for audio. It's takes a while, but it's fun, and teaches a lot about audio if you have patience and perseverance.
All that forgoing to get to the bottom line, this Stax Lambda 33 year old design, fed a clean signal and corrected for fr distortion, is my new reference for overall sound quality. Which is a very pleasant surprise.
I've got a DEQX too, love it. I use it to tri-amp Magneplanar MG 3.6's,
It's the software that makes DEQX really special. It goes way beyond just flattening out the frequency response of the system, it works magic in the time domain. It corrects for phase, group delay and impulse response anomalies. The depth, imaging and 'rightness' of my MG 3.6's with the DEQX is really special. (Maybe I should say really SPATIAL.)
I have wanted to try using the DEQX algorithm with headphones....I have to build a dummy head in order to make my measurements. I have started to build a measuring head into which the calibrated DEQX mic can fit..... someday I'll finish this project. I don't anticipate actually USING the DEQX with headphones for my headphone listening, I just want to see if / how it works. Of course when I finally getting around to this, I will write it up here someplace.
Is the WEE plugged directly into the wall or via step up transformer? What about the T1S/SRD7?