The Headcase Stax thread

[mypasswordis]

Housings make a bit of a difference, yeah.

And the word etch now seriously bugs me to no end.

[Les_Garten]

I believe that I heard an Airbow at the Colorado '08 meet which was woodied by Headphile, and listened through my GES and SRM-1 Mk2 Pro. I posted that the mids sounded a bit recessed to me and the phones were a little on the bright side, which reminded me more of an SR-Lambda Pro. That was in comparison to my SR-Lambda. Did those belong to anyone here? Maybe Elephas?

I don't think those sounded anything like the SR-404LE that I bought last year, which were a little darker with smoother mids than my SR-Lambda (less etch). While I didn't compare them directly, I've compared both to the same pair of SR-Lambda as my reference. Did the Headphile mods cause that much of a change in the sound, that it no longer sounded like a 404LE?

Headphile is quick to point out that they Manufacture Art and not headphones, gotta Love that...

[cetoole]

Did the Headphile mods cause that much of a change in the sound, that it no longer sounded like a 404LE?

The best drivers in the world will sound like crap in an inappropriate housing.

[spritzer]

Place a bit of tape on the back of the housing and hear the difference.

[Currawong]

Someone buy an SC-1 and 404 through Craig and let me borrow them and I'll happily do the comparison.

[spritzer]

Grado drivers aren't dipoles.

[Les_Garten]

My experience with Grados is the opposite of yours. Any thing that increases back pressure in the chamber makes them sound strange, very quickly. Grado makes the Grate more breathable and less restrictive when you go from the 125 to the 225 Grados for this very reason. Just bringing your hands close to the cups makes the sound change immensely.

[Les_Garten]

double blind.

Heh, no, eyes wide open!

I just move my hands close to them. The change is pretty striking. If you cover the backs of Grados, the drivers sound like they'll explode. They really sound like you'll damage them.

[Les_Garten]

you have no idea if that's the case. might as well claim that gremlins appear.

Well, what I'm saying is have you done this? If you do, you don't have to be a Golden Eared Wonder Boy to hear it. Put em on and start bringing your hands close to the cups. Any restriction to out flow causes them to do a strange Honking kinda noise. If you want, go straight to hands over the cups and move them out. I would be amazed if you don't hear this. Covering the back of the cups makes them un-listenable.

[n_maher]

There's a world of difference between providing a reflective surface over the entire opening/grill (your hand) and the dot that Jacob was experimenting with. You guys are arguing about essentially nothing. One of you tested one thing, the other another, albeit with wildly different methodologies but the fact that one heard a difference and the other didn't is entirely irrelevant in this case.

[Les_Garten]

for fuck's sake. double blind > whatever-you-say-boss. fuck off, now, before i get angry. anti-science motherfucker.

Go ahead and get angry

I'm certainly not anti-science, quite the contrary.

But hearing an effect for yourself that is easily demonstrable ain't bad either. You don't have to be a blind man to hear what I described above.

[Les_Garten]

There's a world of difference between providing a reflective surface over the entire opening/grill (your hand) and the dot that Jacob was experimenting with. You guys are arguing about essentially nothing. One of you tested one thing, the other another, albeit with wildly different methodologies but the fact that one heard a difference and the other didn't is entirely irrelevant in this case.

I would think the Grado dot would be reflective and restrictive.

My suggestion with the hand is that you don't have to cover the cups to hear the effect. You can move your hands in and out and hear the effect some distance from the cup opening. The sound change is quickly appreciated as your hands move in and out.

But anyhow, whatever...

[Dusty Chalk]

Jacob The dog who is so angry, he cannot move; he cannot eat; he cannot sleep; he can just barely growl; bound so tightly with tension and anger, he approaches the state of rigor mortis.

[Les_Garten]

RUFF!!

[Elephas]

I believe that I heard an Airbow at the Colorado '08 meet which was woodied by Headphile, and listened through my GES and SRM-1 Mk2 Pro. I posted that the mids sounded a bit recessed to me and the phones were a little on the bright side, which reminded me more of an SR-Lambda Pro. That was in comparison to my SR-Lambda. Did those belong to anyone here? Maybe Elephas?

That was a regular Lambda Pro woodied by Headphile. Yes, that was mine. Yes, it sounds like crap.

I also have an Airbow SR-SC1 that sounds a lot better than that woodied Lambda Pro, but I don't really like it either, it can't really compete against the O2mk1 or O2mk2.

Someone buy an SC-1 and 404 through Craig and let me borrow them and I'll happily do the comparison.

Nooooooo, not you, who wants to fight all the time.

Not Spritzer either, who thinks the O2mk1 and O2mk2 sound HUGELY different and can't tell the difference between real leather and fake leather earpads.

I'm willing to send the Airbow SR-SC1 to a qualified someone who has a 404LTD. If he can get a regular 404 too, that'll be great.

[spritzer]

Blah. I may be sitting here, bored out of my mind, in a lounge at Logan but I'm not going to start arguing with my elephant friend... That said,the Mk1 vs. Mk2 debate has been all but settled by now.

[padam]

Maybe this sounds good:

Headphile SR-X Pro

[Tachikoma]

Too bad the poster who bought it disappeared soon after buying it. <3 the original SR-X pro - now I'm just debating whether I should fashion a cable using the other half of my extension cord, and upgrade the SR-X's cord.

For anyone who cares, the shuguang CV-181Zs are settling nicely in my SRM-T1S. They make my old RCA 6SN7GTAs sound harsh and shrill by comparison, and the bassiness seems to have gone too. Having said that, I'm not sure if the upgrade is worth getting, compared to saving it up for a new ExStata.

[Dusty Chalk]

I did. In my head, you were channeling tADitW, so just in case you weren't aware of it, I thought I'd share. blah blah logical conclusion blah blah

[n_maher]

have you double-blinded it? no? then you have no idea what is perceivable. i have. the dot made no difference, in my test, which was a standard DBT. part of my job is editing DBT medical experiments. i know this shit.

I think you're taking this a bit to the extreme Jacob. If someone punched you in the head would you need a double blind test to confirm that they had punched you? There is a distinct, easily perceptible change in how the headphones sound when you cover the entire grill area with your hand. The same could be said if you laid a speaker down so that the driver was facing the floor. If you want, this weekend we'll tape over some Grado grills and let Tyll test them vs. no tape. Or would those measured results be insufficient to satisfy you?

[Kabeer]

Maybe this sounds good:

Headphile SR-X Pro

Probably closer to your SR-5 pro. They look like they have leather circumaural pads on. Even bigger than your pads. (maybe O2 pads)

[spritzer]

Yeah, they have SR-007 pads. I won a NOS set of SR-Omega pads which Larry intended to use on this set.

[luvdunhill]

My Krell can definitely drive this puny transformer box that Biggy sent along with me. Roughly at 50% volume at loud levels and much quieter than I'd expected.

[spritzer]

Do you like the sound? If you have any hum then turn the AC plug 180

[monsieurguzel]

Spritzer, I totally noticed that too. I have a pair of Mk2 and thought it was odd that they barely made any farting sounds, especially compared to the pair at the Woo booth! The pair did feel like it had some mid bass emphasis, but it might have been due to the WES drivig it (which I personally found too warm)