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Originally Posted by Elephas /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Anytime there's a change some people like it and some people don't. I like both Mk1 and Mk2. I don't think the Mk2 is a messed up version of the Mk1. I understand that people who like the Mk1 very much might be upset by its discontinuation and the different-sounding Mk2.
But I think that being so critical of the differences between the Mk1 and Mk2 is an exaggerated perspective. If the Mk2, which sounds the most like the Mk1 than any other headphone, is so "simply unusable" and horrible, how can you listen to anything other than the Mk1?
Actually, maybe being so critical that only the Mk1 will do is good thing for the wallet: a one headphone collection.
That's not for me, though. I like listening to many different headphones and enjoying how they all sound different with a variety of music.
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I can tell you exactly why I don't like the Mk2 and like the Mk1. It's the midrange coloration. There are a few things for me which are outright unacceptable in a headphone, and the main one is a certain midrange coloration which I've found on a lot of headphones - some Audio-Technicas, the SR-404, and the A250, just to name a few. There, the upper midrange is peaky, which gives instruments a colder, thinner, more nasal tonality and makes things sound brittle and dry, or electric and artificial. It was a shame to see that coloration transplanted into the O2, albeit to a lesser degree, because the Mk1's ultra-realistic midrange tone was its main attraction. The only midrange coloration I tolerate is an emphasis in the lower mids, like the HE90 or K340, which, when coupled with a slight emphasis in the upper highs, creates a sparkly yet warm sound. That's a very popular and very euphonic coloration, very tube-like, but the O2 Mk1 doesn't have it either, and people looking for it specifically will be disappointed.
That, together with a relative lack of deep bass, which a lot of my music has, makes the O2 Mk2 unusable for me.
If that doesn't bother you, then by all means go ahead.
Also, I hate to see what I recognize as a definite step backwards in sound quality from a company that has no excuse for such sloppy design standards. There are a lot of cheaper headphones that I'd prefer over the O2 Mk2 starting with a balanced HD650, and Stax really has no right IMO to charge that kind of a price tag for nothing short of the original O2 Mk1's level of performance. I was going to say "perfection" but of course nothing, not even the O2 Mk1 or the HE90, is perfect. When you couple that with amps that are thoroughly not worth their money (new) you can see why I'm pretty much down on the entire current Stax lineup (the little 003 excluded).
Here's to hoping that the Jade will motivate them, but HEaudio will have to sell a lot more than 10 pairs a month for that to happen. We're not even a drop in the bucket when you compare what we buy to Stax's global sales.
[Edit: and before people even start - I owned
both of these headphones at the same time and have done extensive comparisons
side by side. From what I've read, the vast majority of people that have owned both and have done similar comparisons have preferred the Mk1.]