spritzer

Indeed but the mastering was all done in PCM...

Their stance on DSD is well known so I wouldn't hold my breath. I must say I agree with them as DSD is just another way to sell people shit they already own

I do love the markings on old equipment stating the number of semiconductors inside. They should do that on computers these days...

Well the whole sorbothane and dynamat stuff is simply retarded. Same as the headband resonance where I saw it investigated once by Hifi News. The "test" was so horribly flawed that it wasn't even funny and clear that the tester simply got the results he wanted.

The elastic is much stronger in the new units so this is no longer an issue. Bass bloom is much more a factor of the earpad height than anything else. Also the smaller hole on the 007 pads will lead to less issues as a larger opening is always a terrible idea.

Well you can just unplug it so that that would be recommended. It is a pretty crappy circuit indeed... As for the actual amp, the main HV coupling caps can be upsized with no issues. I always used 0.22uf/630V polypropylene caps here as I had them in stock. There are no bad effects from increasing the value on these at all. What I'd do is measure the pin spacing and then go into mouser and find the right caps. I perfer the molded caps (i.e. not the box ones) as they are easier to place. Just go to film caps, polypropylene and the correct pin spacing. Plenty of 50V film caps as well. I like Panasonic for these as they are often quite small. A couple of other things, the 10pf feedback caps I'd also change. I suppose 500V units would suffice here but higher is better. I'd use silver mica because they are awesome. The two back to back100uf/6.3V caps could be swapped out for a single bipolar unit or even a ceramic unit. I would also swap out the 1K pot too as it will be pretty crusty by now.

It's more the PCB's that have a copyright as they are essentially a drawing i.e. artistry comes into it. That is certainly the version under Icelandic law.

Well that's because HF hasn't had any serious Stax discussion for years. I actually checked out the Stax thread over there this morning (replying to PM's is the only reason to go there) and seeing the discussion about diaphragm thickness just cracked me up. All of that info is in the old threads or stuck in the heads of us the old timers. As one of the mafia members said, "we've forgotten more about Stax than those fools will ever know". He isn't far off..

I was offered one of the Flux Lab units but it was before I moved so "mehh" was my only reaction. There have been some funny issues though, trim falling off as it is just glued in place and shit like that...

You can't do any comparisons on the 007t, it's just crap....utter crap. Anything with a flat response will sound bad on it and anything with hyped treble will sound ok.

Well there are three distinct versions of the 007A (might be more, who knows) and the first two sucked!! Well the first one could be modded into shape but Mk2.5 was just a lost cause.

Indeed. Kevin has a much more Zen approach to this but then again, I'm the hothead...

That's exactly it, they are too flat and the foam won't last.

I might also sell the boards but it's not really something I'm interested in doing. It might work out later on if I step up production and can leverage that into cheaper boards. We'll see

All Mk2 parts will fit the Mk1 007 but they will all be different color. That's simply the Stax way of doing things... Impossible to tell how long a set will last, way, way too many variables.

Well serial numbers on Stax stuff mean less than nothing. They aren't linear and they flip between the ranges at will. The only exception might be the 009 but there is no way to know for sure. All Mk1's have the same issues, cable entry is a weak point, the elastic in the headpad will give out and the earpad foam will not last. The older sets have their own issues as Stax used a different material in the headpads and arcs which becomes rather tatty with age. The Mk2's fixed all of this and for me the new EP-007 pads are the best Stax have ever done. Not the fucking disaster which are the 009 earpads. Don't get me started on that clusterfuck...

It is truly shocking how far they go with this stuff. Kevin and I are seeing it as they now have our version of the KSA-5 for sale, complete unit which really doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. From now on I'll never release board files for the final optimized version of something. On this note though I had a stroll through Aliexpress and they are ripping off a lot of stuff. Full Dartzeel clones in the same livery and everything. I for one only use high life caps though it is a struggle to keep stuff small while doing that. The main PSU caps usually have a lifetime of 3000hr at 105°C (some more than that) and they run at less than 50°C so at least 10000hr of life in them.

Don't have the time to check all the links but in the main amp section (back half of the schematic) you can upgrade the caps. Back in the day capacitors were much bigger so feel free to upgrade within sensible limits. Double or even triple will be fine. On the EQ you can't do that except for the PSU stuff. The small caps need to be the same value or you will mess up the RIAA curve.

Indeed and obscured heatsinks are a terrible idea.

Personally I'd just get a new SR-007A as it is better and a lot less potential issues to deal with. If you want a 007Mk1 then I'd personally stay away from the SZ1 units as they can be a mixed bag. Some are good but others not so. Ohh and what ever the fuck that Shure 'stat system... the new JH13...

They didn't even ask for permission to use the circuit so yeah....

I bought the cheapest one and it is a crap version of the KGSS. Plenty of info about it here somewhere

It's just a butchered GES, nothing interesting.

Depends on the capacitors used and how hot it runs.

I'd remove all the non stock stuff and start over. The main PSU caps were just dual section units so you can swap in a normal single section cap.