spritzer

So I've officially fallen off the wagon again as I got one of these just now. I swore I was done buying headphones but clearly not... So I just put them on my head so listening impressions will come later but first some over all impressions. Now the case...the case is super retarded whoever came up with should be patted on the back for being super "special". It's pretty much Head-fi in a case form, has wank factor off the scale but is utterly useless. Way, way too heavy too. Now the cable, from the outside it looks well enough made but I will open it up to see what's inside. The pins on the plug were all bent and it looks like the whole front of the plug has bent inwards as it is now concave. Not sure if it was supposed to be like that but it has clearly deformed a bit. I needed to bend the pins to get them to fit in our custom made sockets so something is off. Now this is a used set so I don't know what abomination it was plugged into... The rest of the cable is ok, I like the small splitter piece but the cable is way too microphonic for my taste. Even the smallest tap is transmitted straight to the cups. Now the actual connectors for the cups...again we reach one of those "special" design choices. So it looks like a DB9 plug (smaller though) but the actual contacts are tiny PCB mount parts so it is all for show. I'll take some pics later but this is super stupid. I'll also run some HV tests on it and see how it holds up as I zap it with some KV's. Now the actual phones, I like that they say "FLOW" on the headband which I presume is some other model. Too costly clearly to make a new molding for this... The earcups feel solid but those earpads are just crap. They are pretty badly made and the opening is far too large. They will be the first thing I'm going to tamper with. Then we have the circa 3mm thick dense foam on the face of the driver...in 2018!! Now this used to be the norm (though never for Stax) and the Koss ESP950 still has this but that's only because they haven't changed in nearly 30 years. I'll try them first fully stock and then start to mess with them. Pics will come later as I start to take them apart too but first some listening...

Indeed, the headphones are setup for constant charge so when you pull the power source the charge is still present. It will then slowly dissipate over 20-30 minutes or so and the sound will become softer and softer.

They are ODU parts, not LEMO. Can't remember the part number but you can find it on HF. Senn is using similar parts for the HE-1 connectors. As for the fake Lemo, I used something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1Set-2Pin-Push-Pull-Circular-Aviation-Connector-Compatible-LEMO-0B-FGG-EGG-Serie/171989556108?hash=item280b605b8c:g:Z48AAOSwhcJWOhal:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true Standard 0B series but they might be a bit long.

The amount of fail in that one is strong. It's clear that they are using an older version of the KGSSHV boards and it was suggested to me that they took apart one of my first mini's, which was in no way optimized for this role, and copied all the stuff I later revised to make it work better in this chassis. That's the issue with a copycat, zero clue as to why things were done that way.

They are made by ODU I believe, same as the HE-1 connectors. As for cheaper options, what about the fake Lemo stuff from China? They are very well made and pretty cheap...

All of the Lambdas going back to the first set all have some bass limitations. I wouldn't say they roll off all that much though...

Wasn't that the pile of shit Ray did?

No, the opa is an IC, not the transistors Kevin referred to.

Yes, they have been closed down last I heard.

The links above are the official Stax store so they have them in stock.

So they managed to find a new box of these or something? The SR-80 pads were out of stock for years and years...

Fitting that's a cRaptor...

They do manage large savings across the board by basically using the same chassis design for almost 40 years with minimal changes but they also really lag behind in modernizing how this stuff is built. Now full SMD is tricky at these voltage levels but system integration and having less wiring will make a real difference to the assembly time for each unit. As for the circuits, they could build a variation of the Carbon but they have a real reluctance to use certain parts or for the amps to weigh too much. Both would apply to the Carbon as it needs large heatsinks to function properly. Now you could scale back the power but sort of defeats the point of all of this...

Yup, that is a real issue if we were to make adapters for the Shure to drive other designs but I still have to try the phones on some normal bias stuff.

I seem to remember there being a lip on these but I'm not sure. It's been a long time since I've taken apart SR-80's... No but it's not a gem either, it uses HV opamps and some really nasty parts as well. This compared to the Shure KSE1500 amp which is really, really nice.

Sure looks like it and let's just bask in the glory of the M-03...

It looks really flimsy to me and now that Massdrop is selling the ESP950, it is a much cheaper alternative. I also wonder if that thing is really an amp or just a passive adapter. Easy enough to build tiny transformers with high ratio so you can use it with normal headphone amps but without pretty much any pictures...hard to tell.

It is a very different animal to design something with whatever parts we want or making something in the hundreds or thousands with a reliable supply of parts. That being said, Stax does do a lot of stupid shit and they seem to be getting worse. Bad decisions galore and with the new stuff made in China, assembly has gone down the drain.

Fucking hell... I'll buy one. How bad can it be...famous last words.. Funny how they can do a proper 6 core flat ribbon cable at this price but Hifiman can't do it on a 50k$ product...

At its core, yes. They are running at much lower power with those tiny TO220 heatsinks and to be honest...pretty bad output transistors. KSC5502's with Cob of 20pf. Long gone are the days of 2.2pf... Stax also just fucks with the circuits for some reason. I once did a board for the 323S and just tweaked the circuit a little bit but with massive changes to the better.

The circuitry is similar (as with the D-50) but Stax always fucks with it in some way. The 717 was too warm for its own good and the 353X is a bit too bright for me. Easy to fix but outside the scope for most people.

For me the issue is paying so much for 009's. I might get one and offload some of my other sets or just have a 009 anodized black...

Nope, normal ones.

New Stax product for the 80th anniversary.... a black SR-009... https://stax.co.jp/products/sr-009bk/

That's a hardcore project. I'm helping a friend now removing all the tiles off the floor, redo most of the internal walls, going through all the electrical stuff and some more which intense enough...