The Headcase Stax thread

[spritzer]

I do worry about my aging HE-60s.

I'm working on a solution to that. Properly isolate the drivers from the rest of the wold and have spare parts like the o-rings (which won't last) and the screws easily available outside of Sennheiser.

[manaox2]

Pure fucking BS x2.

This Dinan fellow seems like a real douchebag.

I can vouch for him being a good seller though. I bought my O2 from him and he was surprisingly patient through a paypal ordeal. He gave me a fair deal because he liked the 404LE better then the O2 personally. In his mind, he may believe that seemingly insane opinion. Now that I've compared the two a little, I myself disagree. I haven't heard the modded 717 he loves so much, is it maybe possible it benefits the 404 more then the O2?

[spritzer]

The mods to the 717 are minor in my book. I compared them on my SRM-T2 as a comparison and that comes with excellent input switching.

[mypasswordis]

I can vouch for him being a good seller though. I bought my O2 from him and he was surprisingly patient through a paypal ordeal. He gave me a fair deal because he liked the 404LE better then the O2 personally. In his mind, he may believe that seemingly insane opinion. Now that I've compared the two a little, I myself disagree. I haven't heard the modded 717 he loves so much, is it maybe possible it benefits the 404 more then the O2?

Yeah it could be that he actually believes it. But his wording definitely is in the hype category, and it just so happens that he wants to sell it, even though he seemingly prefers it to the O2MkI, O2Mk2, and HE60. Also, he's already sold one pair of 404LE which iirc was another pile of fail because I think he was trying to profit off it (still trying to sell at cost for this one). And he doesn't actively participate in any discussions on sound, or at least hasn't for awhile.

Also the 404LE just isn't very good imo/e.

[morphsci]

I actually bought my 404LEs from Dinan and it was one of the few recent HF transactions that was pleasant. At the time he also listed those as his backup pair so he must have backups for his backups.

[deepak]

Is the description of the 404LE in the for sale thread over at HF accurate, or simply a bunch of bullshit in order to hype and sell it? Is it really that good?

FS: STAX 404 Limited Edition, 404LE 35th Anniversary - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

There is not much to say about these...they are a lightyear ahead of the 404 Signature in terms of sonics and cosmetics and a perfect companion to the O2. The have better bass extension, slam, and dynamics than any O2, have better detail up top when compared to an O2 Mk1 yet are smoother, and have a near perfect midrange presentation when compared to an O2 Mk2. Not to mention that they easily surpassed my HE60's in all regards.

I dislike every Lambda I've heard except the SR-Lambda and SR-404LE. The SR-404LE is definitely the most resolving of the Lambas as well. They (LE) do not surpass the HE60 or SR-007 mk1.

[KrypticMind]

Just picked up a pair of Lambda Sigs. Sounds like they haven't been used in a while since I got all of this staticy sound in the left side, which slowly died in the next few hours. Now they seem to have a little channel imbalance with the left being a little quieter, so I'm leavin' them on 'till they fix themselves, hopefully.

[n3rdling]

Make sure your channel balance on the volume knob is set correctly if you're using a Stax amp.

[KrypticMind]

It's correctly set this time.

My other Stax 'phones don't have the problem, so I think it's just this particular 'phone. After a couple days of music, I think I'm starting to hear progress. The center of music went from far right to middle far right. Logically, the center should be centered soon.

On a side note... Who's Peter?

[deepak]

Shouldn't a fully functional pair of drivers charge up instantly?

[dreamwhisper]

I can vouch for him being a good seller though. I bought my O2 from him and he was surprisingly patient through a paypal ordeal. He gave me a fair deal because he liked the 404LE better then the O2 personally. In his mind, he may believe that seemingly insane opinion. Now that I've compared the two a little, I myself disagree. I haven't heard the modded 717 he loves so much, is it maybe possible it benefits the 404 more then the O2?

yeah dealing with Dinan was A+++ awesome with the unmodded 717 I bought, really pro job on everything

I'm trying to remember what he dissed this one time as to the reason why anyone would hate on him, anyone remember?

[n3rdling]

I remember him saying the Ed8 sounds like his Grand Utopias.

[dreamwhisper]

I remember him saying the Ed8 sounds like his Grand Utopias.

Yeah he told me he liked his O2/modded 717's better than his Grand Utopia's as well.

Also said that the 717 amp/O2 combo scaled with power chord upgrades etc, but I can imagine that is quite possible judging from my own experiences with how revealing the O2's are.

I'm seriously considering upgrading the AD/DA in my studio after listening to it with O2's.

[n3rdling]

I think he also started some kinda burn in debate in the Stax thread over there which was a bit annoying. What AD/DA are you currently using in the studio?

[mypasswordis]

Shouldn't a fully functional pair of drivers charge up instantly?

If it hasn't been used in awhile, chances are it will need time to properly charge up. I even experienced this with my SR-Lambda which I hadn't used in over half a year and needed a day or two of plugging into bias to sound normal again. My Superex PEP-74 takes 30 seconds to a minute every time even after being run in (the trafo box is self-bias). Congrats on the Lambda Sig, it doesn't suck. Also, 404LE resolution = meh.

[dreamwhisper]

I think he also started some kinda burn in debate in the Stax thread over there which was a bit annoying. What AD/DA are you currently using in the studio?

8 channels from here:

& 8 channels from here:

The first one only has 4 channels with pre-amps so for the channels without pre-amps I route signal first into one of 3 stereo pre-amps.

The first one also doesn't have compression/limiters like the second so signal is routed first through one of the 4 channels of hardware compression (2 single channel compressors and one stereo compressor)

All the gear is tube compression or tube pre-amplification except for one Millenia pre-amp (the Digi 003 and Digimax is SS too of course)

I don't use the Digimax for DAC duty, so I don't know what it's like but I'm not too impressed with the Digi 003..

I think it's mostly because choices are limited at that price point.

The Digidesign ProTools HD systems like it offers more channels (and more processing power)

but not much more of an advancement in fidelity/sound quality.

I guess I'm thinking about something like a ULN-8.

But I haven't done much research yet, so I'm mostly thinking about thinking about the ULN-8.

[KrypticMind]

Yeah, I was told they need to be left playing music to charge for a while because of some electret effect where there's a parasitic charge on the driver that makes it lose sensitivity. Or something. Spritzer made it sound a lot smarter.

Oh, and thanks mypasswordis. Look what you've done to me, haha.

[deepak]

Also, 404LE resolution = meh.

Yup I thought the same thing when I heard them with meet amps (they also sounded very forward). I changed my mind with the Blue Hawaii.

[mypasswordis]

I didn't find the 404LE to be particularly forward. Never listened to them in meet conditions, and comparing to my other headphones, found the resolution to be pretty average. Not a big deal, resolution is nice but once I've heard a recording on a particularly resolving headphone and hear all the little niggles and such in the recording, it transfers to all my other headphones regardless of resolution (until I forget). And sometimes it's nice to relax and just enjoy the music.

[skullguise]

re: 404LE resolution = meh

Yup I thought the same thing when I heard them with meet amps (they also sounded very forward). I changed my mind with the Blue Hawaii.

Second this. The 404LE sounded just decent on my SRM-T1W at the Boston meet, but better out of the BH. The Lambda Pro's out of my amp seemed more resolving, though, to the point of excess brightness with some music (though oddly, not shrill, so it wasn't sending me running at any time). Paired with my Parasound DAC at home, the combo is pretty sweet.

Still looking for an O2 and amp, though; but not TOO hard.....

[mypasswordis]

So you're saying the Lambda Pro is more resolving? Doesn't that prove my point? And resolution and brightness are more or less two different things imo.

[deepak]

So you're saying the Lambda Pro is more resolving? Doesn't that prove my point? And resolution and brightness are more or less two different things imo.

I think you're underplaying the role of an electrostatic amp. The Lambda Pro mids aren't terribly detailed given the midrange suck out. They are impressive sounding and probably the most "dynamic sounding" of the Lambda series with the hard hitting bass.

[mypasswordis]

I think we're all getting terms mixed up. Mids can be detailed and sucked out at the same time, sucked out just means they're not forward but recessed. Also, I find nothing "dynamic sounding" about the Lambda Pro, it doesn't have hard hitting bass, and does not have the most amount of bass by far. The 404LE and 404 quite obviously have more, to me, with the 404LE having the harder hitting bass. If anything, the 404LE is the one trying to sound like a dynamic, to me. And you're right, I don't get how an amp could make the O2 more forward and dynamic and then make the 404LE less forward.

[deepak]

I think we're all getting terms mixed up. Mids can be detailed and sucked out at the same time, sucked out just means they're not forward but recessed. Also, I find nothing "dynamic sounding" about the Lambda Pro, it doesn't have hard hitting bass, and does not have the most amount of bass by far. The 404LE and 404 quite obviously have more, to me, with the 404LE having the harder hitting bass. If anything, the 404LE is the one trying to sound like a dynamic, to me. And you're right, I don't get how an amp could make the O2 more forward and dynamic and then make the 404LE less forward.

I never said the BH makes the O2 more forward and dynamic if that's what you mean? Dynamics has nothing to do with how forward or relaxed something sounds. Maybe the BH makes the 404Le less forward by giving it more spatial resolution- it definitely does this moving from a Pro bias transformer box with the O2 to the BH. But I haven't heard the LE on a pro bias transformer box.

We'll have to disagree with the Lambda sound signatures. The regular 404 didn't have particularly hard hitting bass when I owned them. The Pros certainly did on the same amp with more midbass. The 404 did have better extension, but moot really.

I'd like to hear all three now that I have a Blue Hawaii, I somehow doubt my ranking would change much from SR-404LE > SR-Lambda > SR-Lambda Sig > 404 > Sr-Lambda Pro

Edited April 23, 2010 by deepak

[mypasswordis]

I just assumed that was what people meant when they said the BH "wakes" the O2 up, along with getting rid of the bloated mushiness. Wasn't referring to anything you said in particular.

I didn't say the 404 had hard hitting bass, just that it had more of it than the Pro. The 404LE has a big thump going on, with a minor boost in the low bass, which could be considered hard-hitting except it sounds like rubber. My hearing must be seriously wonky since I just don't hear things some people mention and with others hear things that are quite obvious to me that others don't hear.