mypasswordis

Hm, do you know Stax could end up with Airbow drivers, which I think are just cryo'd 404 drivers? Maybe they cryo'd it themselves? Not sure how much difference that would make either. There are quite a few tweaks to the original 404, I just don't know if/how much any of them make a difference in sound. Strange how some people keep describing the HE5 as bright. Two people did compare their HE5s and one did end up being brighter than the other, so I guess QC isn't great.

How much of this would you say is attributed to the velour vs stock pads? I'm thinking about getting some for mine. Damped the back plates with some weatherstrip and now the bass is much less muddy/slow and the resonance around 50-70Hz is gone, I was wrong about the passive diaphragms being too effective. But there's still something not *quite* right about the sound.

At least half the people on this board own or have owned one, so it seemed like a good benchmark. The cable is just SPC I'm pretty sure, not full-blown silver. The pads are also different, though (real leather). The enclosure might even be slightly redesigned to fit that 404LE badge. And that's just on the outside; if the drivers are also tweaked the 404LE could be quite different sounding from the 404. And I'm pretty sure Birgir only modded the 404, not the 404LE.

Say what you will, but I like the SR-404 more than the O2 out of an SRM-1/Mk2 and I remember Colin saying something to the effect that running the O2 out of a BH doesn't add much treble at all so I may just plain prefer the 404 to the O2. Plus, Birgir says there's more difference to the sound than can be attributed just by a cable change and even a driver remount with damping like he did with the SR-404, so Stax probably tweaked the drivers.

I'd certainly like for it to be. That way hopefully I can pick up one used for cheap(er) next year when some new FOTMs roll around.

I hope you're fucking his dad, then. Because if not, he could find out, and we wouldn't want any unnecessary emotional scarring. Since you're "Christen" do you believe God made power cords sound different, so you could tweak the sound signature of your source?

He is not 18 lmao so he just transferred it into his dads name and he is back up and running! lollerskatesroflcopterbbqsauce

I pretty much agree with none of the above, from my short time hearing a pair (not counting balanced because I didn't hear it as such). If they had leather pads they'd probably sound bloated and mid-bassy. I do agree that there is a slight obscuring of the midrange, at least compared to 'stats.

It's not necessary but wouldn't hurt if it wouldn't be too much hassle. I can in fact chain them off one amp because they all have earspeaker/loudspeaker switches so the only problem is if someone has the switch set on for another headphone and cranks the volume up trying to get sound and ends up blowing a driver.

Great, I can't wait to hear the exStata. The problem with my vintage 'stat collection is a lot of them use different plugs from Stax and for some of them I don't have the heart to lop off the plug and replace with a WPI, which means I have to make adapters, which is hard to find the female end for some of them. For the others I'm just lazy, or in the case of the Jecklin Floats... they have different requirements from most 'stats. I don't listen anywhere near as much as I used to and all of the headphones I have I can live with listening to (otherwise I wouldn't have them) so most of my headphones end up sitting around for months before the next use. I'd sell most of them off like Birgir has done but don't feel like parting with the collection I've so painstakingly acquired these past few years just yet.

Ooh! If Colin and I show up, between the two/three of us we'll have an electrostatic tour de force the likes of which few have seen before. Most of mine will have to run off a speaker amp so I'll probably have to lug the CR-620 along and then chain-trafo box.

We'll miss ya. Provided I'm able to go.

It's true that they need to keep their cables up to par with the rest of the headphones, because right now buying an HD800 is honestly like buying a 100k sports car without performance racing tires.

My 936 clone (Aoyue) came with an extra heating element so I'm pretty sure it's replaceable.

My boobs are way bigger than hers, I should certainly hope that's just a stock photo.

Great. If you end up having to leave the area and want to listen to it (and the K1000?) beforehand let me know.

That'd be great, thanks! Let me know if you find it. Yay we should have another meet sometime in the near future. Are you going to try and make it to Vlad's March meet in VA?

Er, I shouldn't have used the word 'return' as it's not really returning anywhere. I bought it off ebay.de and had it sent to DAC partly so he could verify that it was completely functional at least off the N1000, and let him borrow/use it for a month or so. It's only now getting shipped to me. And that's really too bad about yours being messed up. You should definitely hear a properly working one (mine) sometime. I'm hoping it shouldn't be too hard to make a DIN to Stax adapter so I can try if it works off Stax stuff too.

Return shipping for my ET1000... and thus begins my life as a bottom guy. Also some fuses that are the wrong size for my Jecklin PS2. I'm pretty sure that makes today some sort of fail.

Strange why they decided to name the 'stat the Jade.

Yeah, that's pretty much him in a nutshell. There could also be a plastic bag or something off to the side to show what he's drifting toward.

Sorry to hear that.

ESP10 ftw. I still need to redo the Stax jack on mine. And then put the pro bias board in the SRD-7. And buy SR-5 pads for them. And replace the ceramic caps with silver micas.

That cat makes me smile. Curious little troublemaker.