The Headcase Stax thread

[The Monkey]

What do you think about a KGSS?

[Voltron]

I'd put it in the sounds good but doesn't transform them from boring to engaging and/or exciting. Haven't spent lots of time on that though.

[GPH]

I can't talk about the O2Mk2 because I've never heard a pair, but I had the chance at a meet to compare briefly my O2Mk1 out of a SRM-007tII and out of a SRD-7 Pro using Quad II monoblocks. The music on both setups was fed by a shiny Shanling CD player that seemed to be a very decent source.

The SRM-727 sounded way more polite than the SRD-7, making the sound less exciting. The level of details was excellent from what I remember, but I was put off by the unengaging sound. It reminded a bit of the SRM-T1S, in the sense that it sounds good, but doesn't get my foot tapping. Also, the volume of bass it provides isn't satifying enough considering what the O2 are capable of and the treble is too gentle. On the other end, the SRD-7 Pro setup sounded more in-your-face, very lush with slightly uncontrolled bass and rolled-off top end. It doesn't resolve the microdetails in the music which can be good for some genres, but it's well admitted that the transformer boxes are not the last word in term of resolution. The SRD-7 Pro/Mk2 really rocks with a good amp to say the least and I'm very happy with the SRD-7 Mk2/Cambridge 840A that I use right now.

Also, from what I remember, the KGSS DX that I had sounded somewhere in between the SRM-727 and the SRD-7 Pro, taking the best of both worlds and adding a truckload of tight controlled bass and resolving the very little details in the music. It could be argued that its overall presentation is a bit sterile, but I liked it a lot, except for the cost.

Edited November 21, 2008 by GPH

[postjack]

I can't talk about the O2Mk2 because I've never heard a pair, but I had the chance at a meet to compare briefly my O2Mk1 out of a SRM-007tII and out of a SRD-7 Pro using Quad II monoblocks. The music on both setups was fed by a shiny Shanling CD player that seemed to be a very decent source.

The SRM-727 sounded way more polite than the SRD-7, making the sound less exciting. The level of details was excellent from what I remember, but I was put off by the unengaging sound. It reminded a bit of the SRM-T1S, in the sense that it sounds good, but doesn't get my foot tapping. Also, the volume of bass it provides isn't satifying enough considering what the O2 are capable of and the treble is too gentle. On the other end, the SRD-7 Pro setup sounded more in-your-face, very lush with slightly uncontrolled bass and rolled-off top end. It doesn't resolve the microdetails in the music which can be good for some genres, but it's well admitted that the transformer boxes are not the last word in term of resolution. The SRD-7 Pro/Mk2 really rocks with a good amp to say the least and I'm very happy with the SRD-7 Mk2/Cambridge 840A that I use right now.

Also, from what I remember, the KGSS DX that I had sounded somewhere in between the SRM-727 and the SRD-7 Pro, taking the best of both worlds and adding a truckload of tight controlled bass and resolving the very little details in the music. It could be argued that its overall presentation is a bit sterile, but I liked it a lot, except for the cost.

Do you remember if the Quad monoblocks were Quad Classics, 40s, or 80s?

[GPH]

Do you remember if the Quad monoblocks were Quad Classics, 40s, or 80s?

I think they were the original version, they looked very vintage, but I'm not 100% sure. Laurent (larryminator) used them to power his Quad ESL57 which were totally awesome speakers.

[Voltron]

GPH-

I am confused because you mention the 007tII at the beginning of your post but then speak only about the 727. Not sure if it is typographical or if you have heard both in comparison to the KGSS DX and/or SRD-7s. How many watts does the Cambridge put out?

[GPH]

GPH-

I am confused because you mention the 007tII at the beginning of your post but then speak only about the 727. Not sure if it is typographical or if you have heard both in comparison to the KGSS DX and/or SRD-7s. How many watts does the Cambridge put out?

I'm sorry for the confusion, it's a typographical error, I meant SRM-007tII all along. I've never heard the 727, only the 717 and for a very short time.

The Cambridge puts out 120W per channel.

[spritzer]

The 007t has never done much for me with any of the Stax headphones and it cripples the SR-007. Switching to 6S4A output tubes could help but that requires major surgery. Good IC's do help making the combo sound less dark but it's like a band-aid on a bullet wound. A better amp wakes them up and shows what they really can do so I think you should try to audition the BHSE and a SR-007 Mk1 as well.

Transformers are also an option but it doesn't matter how much power to try to use with the Stax boxes, it won't do much good. The transformers are tiny (fit in the palm of you hand) and simply aren't designed for anything close to the load of the SR-007 and thus can't pass the power needed. Even a low wattage output transformer is much larger then the Stax units which are nothing more then reversed output trafos so they can't take a lot of current. A simple solution would be to buy the cheapest Hammond push-pull output trafos and wire them up backwards with a bias supply but this hasn't been tried AFAIK. I've wanted to try this for a long time but shipping dead weight via Fedex over the pond isn't a wise investment...

[padam]

Got my Lambda Nova Signature & T1S yesterday. Unfortunately I arrived at the seller's house late in the evening so I didn't have much time to listen to it but it was wonderful. It seemed to have a better bass and a more relaxed sound compared to listening the SRM-1/MK2 & SR-404 combo a few days ago. Now I just need a decent balanced DAC to complete it but I am out of funds for a while.

[spritzer]

There is no added benefit of using a balanced dac with the T1S unless you really have to. The amp is balanced so you only gain about 3dB worth of volume and not much else. The quality of the dac is much more important then the connection it uses.

[padam]

There is no added benefit of using a balanced dac with the T1S unless you really have to. The amp is balanced so you only gain about 3dB worth of volume and not much else. The quality of the dac is much more important then the connection it uses.

I was thinking of Stello DA100S, but maybe I should save up for an AudioZone DAC-1?

[spritzer]

I use the AudioZone because it was cheap, sounds great and it is small enough to fit on top of the Stax amp. There are a lot of alternatives out there and since I've never heard the Stello so I can't help you there.

[Elephas]

That likely was my fault. I just thought that there must be other Mk2 preferrers (I like making up words) out there to at least make for some dialog.

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.

[Dusty Chalk]

I actually think they're a lot closer than others do as well -- I still prefer the Mk I, but could completely live with Mk II, especially with rock/pop music, which is mostly what I listen to.

[vvs_75]

Thinking to dip my head in to electrostatics.

Can somebody tell me please, how to tell the difference between Lambda Pro and Lambda Signature or Nova?

Thanks

[Voltron]

Thinking to dip my head in to electrostatics.

That could be dangerous.

Lambda Pro = Black

Lambda Sig = Brown

Not sure on Nova

[Sherwood]

Nova is easy to tell. It says "Lambda Nova Signature" in giant letter on top of the band.

[vvs_75]

Thank you guys!

[spritzer]

All the Signatures are brown, Lambda Signature is brown with old style of arc assembly, Nova Signature is almost identical to the SR-404 except for the labeling and the RSA approved gold rim on the drivers which can be seen from the outside.

[The Monkey]

My Lambda cables always get all twisted after the Y-split (the cables that go to each earpiece). Not twisted together, but each one almost has a spiral look to it and I can't get them to straighten out. Does anyone else have this problem?

[wrecked_porsche]

Same here on my Lambda Signature. I tried to straighten it out when I first got it, but there is no possible way to do so, guess we just have to live with it.

[Fungi]

Mine are straight except for the part right near the strain relief, because they're vertical there instead of flat like the cable.

[spritzer]

There is always a light twist on Stax cables so some is normal. Some examples have been worse then others with the cable badly done to begin with.

[wrecked_porsche]

Mine are straight except for the part right near the strain relief, because they're vertical there instead of flat like the cable.

You mean yours makes a 90 degree angle with the entry point?

There is always a light twist on Stax cables so some is normal. Some examples have been worse then others with the cable badly done to begin with.

Well, its good to know that the spiral/twist is somewhat normal...

[Fungi]

You mean yours makes a 90 degree angle with the entry point?

Well, its good to know that the spiral/twist is somewhat normal...

no, well I mean kind of. The cable cross section's all -- and then splits to - - but then it's | | at the entry points.