Elephas

Hehe, I didn't know people still have car phones. I remember using one of those things in the late 80's, but then I got a giant luggable "mobile" phone that looked and weighed like a brick. That phone was a weapon. I received my ES-1 in early Oct. 2008 after a long and frustrating wait. There are two identical power umbilicals and Mikhail's instructions were to connect them in parallel, inner to inner and outer to outer. With two umbilicals, I don't think this is too complicated and I don't expect that I'll ever switch them accidentally. The four umbilical plugs are all identical Neutrik Speakcon NL4FC. I've had the amp for more than two months of almost daily use and have had no problems. I tried two sets of EL34 quads that had one tube that couldn't bias right and a pair of super microphonic Bendix 2C51 tubes that were unuseable, but several other sets of EL34 quads worked fine as well as several other 2C51 pairs. I believe my ES-1 is point-to-point. I would like to open the case to see, but the screws are a hexagon type which I don't have a tool for and I don't know which of the many screws on the top cover need to be removed. The ES-1 sounds very good and I'm very pleased with it.

I went with all black except for silver tube rings. That's the same as my Aristaeus, but without the Aristaeus' wood accents. It is probably the ugliest. *cry* Justin, let me have spritzer's unit for an extra $500 + an SR-Omega, or I'll pay -$1000 for my ugly unit.

I want to change my color choices! Nah, just kidding... or not. Actually, I want someone else's unit. Someone else's is always better. My unit is probably the ugliest. I'll pay an extra $5 for Asr's unit or extra $500 for spritzer's unit.

OMG, how come I never thought to do that? I must be a complete idiot. I don't deserve to own an SR-007. I'm usually just trying to keep the rotating part of the housings matched up exactly with each other. Good thing I only posted about that here, where it's a secret. I knew you were still holding out on us, what other special Stax secrets are out there?

One good thing about the recables such as APureSound and Moon Audio is that their cables are stiffer and less prone to twisting than stock cords such as the W5000's. I haven't had the twisty problem with any recabled headphone. True, the large and heavy dual XLR plugs also make them less likely to pass in-between the Y-split either during use or putting them away. The SR-007 is another headphone with the potential to suffer from the Y-split twisties. My W5000 is a goner for sure. It is so twisted up from my misguided efforts that only detaching the cables can save it. I don't think I've read about this issue anywhere. I'm just glad that it came up and that it's not only me, most everyone has to deal with this potential problem too.

What do you mean it worked?! How can it work? I can't get it to work! And ol' Dusty gets thanks for just saying pass it through the other way?! It wasn't even a suggestion, it was a question! You think I haven't tried that? Trying to pass it through the other way is the reason my W5000 got hopelessly twisted. Each time I made a pass it made it worse, and reversing didn't help either. It got to the point where anything made the twists worse. If it is only slightly twisted, one pass can solve the problem. But if it is twisted a little bit more, that probably means that the single-cable section has already made more than one pass through, and trying to reverse it exactly is tricky. I'm willing to pay big bucks to anyone with a solution to this. Yeah, I mean it. Big bucks, or maybe even some free audio gear. Those twisties really annoy me.

Let me know if you need help identifying EL34 tubes. I have a PDF with descriptions and photos of most EL34's.

Yeah, those two cables after the Y-split becoming twisted is a problem I haven't found a solution for. I'm careful when storing the headphone and its cable, but sometimes it still happens. Usually I see that it is becoming twisted and am able to fix it with just one pass of feeding the single-cable section and plug through the Y-split. But sometimes that makes the twist worse. It's possible for the single-cable section to pass through the Y-split when the two cables of the Y-Split are overlapped, and each pass just makes it worse. That happened to my W5000 and I think there's no way to fix it other than detaching the cables from the housings. I made the twists worse with each pass I made, and now they are twisted fairly badly. Grados don't have this problem because their housings spin 360 degrees. The HE90, SR-Omega and other headphones with driver housings that detach from the headband assembly are also able to avoid the problem.

Well, I'm all for some good Mk1 versus Mk2 discussion showdown. I finally got spritzer to admit that the Mk2 has deep bass. And then, he confesses that it's only at ultra-high volume where the Mk1's deep bass is more coherent than the Mk2's. I've probably never reached the high volume levels he's talking about. Man, I'm so good. <- what is this thing? Next Mk1 preferrrer to the slaughter, please.

I used to own a HeadAmp KGSS with dual 23-step attenuators, and I didn't like the large steps and not being able to dial in the desired volume exactly. Some songs are quite loud, usually not so well-recorded ones, and I felt I didn't have enough range one the volume knobs. Another good thing is that the steps on these 45-step attenuators match up quite closely with the markings around the knobs.

I had the chance once to compare the HA2002 and HA5000 with a W2002. I thought the difference between the two amps were minimal. Even when matched with the HA2002, I still didn't like the W2002. Too congested and lacking details, air and soundstage. I prefer the L3000 and W5000, which do different things better than the W2002. I also like the W11JPN more than the W2002.

There's some discussion of the O2Mk1 versus O2Mk2 (again, isn't everyone tired of it by now? How about some Jade versus O2Mk2? ) over at the HF Stax thread, and someone named some names. I'll just hide out over here until the dust settles a bit.

I have the SRM-T1W, not the T1S. I think it is comparable to the 007t and 727 in overall sound quality, and is probably better than the 006t. I haven't compared these amps directly, so that is just a general impression. It drives the Lambda Pro quite well. I also think it drives the SR-Omega surprisingly well. Yeah, the 3D21A quad and 6BX7 pair, as well as 6BL7, are all doing very well in the ES-1. These lower-cost tubes are great values. I finally found another box to store the 3D21 adapters in, and reluctantly threw away your cardboard takeout box. That was a nice quality takeout box, the equivalent of a VT-231 in the takeout box world. I've very pleased with the ES-1. I waited a long time for Single Power to do the upgrades, and experienced frustration with delays and particularly their broken promises regarding it being ready-to-ship, but I must say that the amp sounds great. I really like the dual 45-step attenuators, which were one of the upgrades done. I listen at varying volume levels, from ultra-low to medium high, depending on the music or my mood, and these attenuators allow precise control of the volume level. But, unfortunately, it seems that there are good reasons why some tubes are quite expensive. Philips metal base Sylvania 6SN7W metal base Tung-Sol 2C51 with adapters

No, no, the O2Mk2 is not deserving of the cushion "throne." That's for my aching back. Since I received the ES-1 in two giant boxes and struggled to unpack it, I've been using the cushion as lower back support. I've been playing with those 3D21 tubes and the adapters stored in your cardboard take-out box for about a year while waiting for the ES-1 to be modified. Yes, I've tried them and they work very well. They kind of made me wonder why I spent money on Mullard xf1 and xf2. I've also tried GE Fat Boys and a set of Philips metal base briefly, but took them out to save them for the BHSE. Up till now, I've only used the 2C51 adapters in the first gain stage, with WE 396A, Tung-Sol and Raytheon tubes. In the second stage, I've tried several 6SN7, such as Sylvania VT-231, 6SN7WGT, 6SN7W, CBS and RCA 5692, Ken-Rad black glass, etc. The ES-1 is a tube-rolling nightmare. I thought the Aristaeus was bad, with all those ECC83 and 5751 to try, but there's no comparison; the ES-1 is a bottomless pit of tube hell. That audio rack has gotta be the crappiest one evar.

I like Mullard tubes, especially EL34's!

I'm a bit tempted by the $1499 intro price, which will make selling it easier after it goes up to the regular $1799 price. But I don't like having to use an adapter. I think the pricing strategy is a bit risky. After it is at $1799, they can't adjust it downward during 2009 if demand is low without making the early buyers angry. If demand at the regular price is very low, He Audio might have to endure months of very slow sales. If several early buyer reviews during Dec. 2008 and Jan-Feb 2009 are not good... One thing He Audio could do is make changes to the Jade during 2009 and therefore have the ability to be more flexible with pricing. Going up in price after making some changes would make more sense. Going down in price would make those early buyers angry, which is why I think the intro pricing strategy limits their options. I think He Audio should just price the Jade at $1499 and forget about intro pricing. Then, if demand is high and reviews are good in June or Sept 2009, they can make a few cosmetic changes and raise the price to $1699 or $1799. I don't have much faith that the Jade will remain unchanged through 2009 and 2010. Given the worldwide economic troubles, I think the Jade's pricing is questionable. There is only a small market for high-end headphones and there are proven alternatives such as Stax, some current production dynamics, going for balanced dynamics, and a potentially flat or softer market for used OOP headphones. I think many people are hesitant to switch from dynamics to electrostats, especially if they haven't heard many electrostat systems. People also like being able to plug in their dynamics into widely available amps and being able to use them with portable rigs.

I think the Jade's $1500 intro price and $1800 regular price is a bit high, given several factors such as lack of company history, small size of He Audio, country of origin, lack of info on the Head Direct website, lack of He Audio info, only one distributor, etc. I don't want to use an adapter. Why doesn't He Audio just terminate the Jade with a Stax 5-pin plug and make it standard Stax Pro voltage? Especially if there's no He Audio matching amp. Also, the long public "beta" development period and the many changes didn't increase my confidence in Mr. He and He Audio.

You have no proof. The main difference between the ES-1 and the Aristaeus, when driving the O2Mk1 and O2Mk2, is dynamics. The ES-1 has greater dynamics and makes the O2Mk1 sound brighter, more open, and more vigorous and energetic. Driven by the Aristaeus, the O2Mk1 is comparatively sleepy, dark and flat-sounding. I still prefer the O2Mk2 over the O2Mk1 when using the Aristaeus. The Mk2's more forward midrange and greater mid-bass quantity makes it more involving and more dynamic than the Mk1. But with the ES-1's greater dynamics, the Mk1 is more involving while also being more tonally balanced. The Mk2 also sounds good driven by the ES-1, but I think it's mid-bass quantity has comparatively too much emphasis. I prefer the Mk1's "formula" of tonality and dynamics and its more laid-back midrange, which seems to me more natural-sounding than the Mk2's forward midrange. I think dynamics is the biggest difference between the ES-1 and Aristaeus. I also think the ES-1 has better details and a larger soundstage.

Ahem. Has anyone compared the Stax SR-007 with the SR-007Mk2? What do you think about the difference? Is it OK if I like the SR-007 more than the Mk2? (I don't usually place the headphones there, it's just for the photo. The stand is too short so the headphone is slanted.)

Damn, that's impressive. And how did ol' "GPS" type that out on a computer? I don't know how to do that, that's the reason for the old-fashioned pen and paper. That's like the mystery of how some people can type out SR-"Omega" with an "Omega" symbol instead of letters. Maybe it can only be done on a Mac?

Ah, instead I shall fall back on my and everyone's favorite Rihanna - Umbrella (Remixes). Comparing gear with this song is quite simple, really. First, choose one of the remix versions, I suggest "Jody Den Broeder Lush Club Remix" with a generous running time of 9:12. Then place the headphones on your head. Plant your butt into your listening chair, making sure you have plenty of room to move about. Prepare a pen and piece of paper. Press play and turn up the volume to a level slightly higher than normal volume. Now, enjoy Rihanna and count the number of butt wriggles you make over the duration of the song. Mark them down on the paper with the standard prisoner notation of groups of 4 vertical slashes and one long horizontal one. If anyone can beat my record they can have my Aristaeus!

Why isn't there a "The Headcase Sennheiser electrostatic thread?" Currently playing: Hilary Duff - Happy (from album Dignity) I feel 10 years younger!

I missed this thread, is the link no longer active?

I think Iron_Dreamer probably has one of the best sets of ears around here, and he can also put his thoughts into words very well. That's a rare combination and very valuable to readers. I own both, so I don't think it's redundant for me. But I think it would be redundant for most people. I also think the OP should stop obsessing with the L3000, get a better source and later maybe a better amp, and enjoy the W11JPN.

I would agree that the SR-007Mk1 is somewhat similar to the L3000 with better overall details, imaging precision and notes separation. Both have smallish soundstages. The L3000's bass is better, though. It has better texture and details than the SR-007Mk1, or other electrostats. I don't think any of my electrostats can match the L3000 in bass quality.