The Headcase Stax thread

[Voltron]

Were I in your situation, I'd return the funds and just try to sell the phones again to anyone else. Unless the guy goes to your place and listens by himself the BHSE does a much better job driving the HE60 than his A10, I don't think he'll be convinced his amp's is at fault.

This. Don't bother fighting over the sale, just take out what it cost to ship and refund the money. Tell him the cans work fine on your amp upon return so it has to be his setup, but you don't really need the hassle.

[HDen]

My bet is he is hunting for an excuse to return them for some unrelated cause (car needs work, lost job, sick wife, etc) and fishing for reasons.

I agree with this, probably a bad impulse buy and now he has some expenses he needs to take care of. Best thing to do here is cut the shipping costs and refund him his money. Avoid any unnecessary hassles

[n3rdling]

^doubt that is the case because he is interested in buying my set.

[Voltron]

^doubt that is the case because he is interested in buying my set.

Then you should tell him to go fuck himself.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Although this isn't a Stax issue it does have to do with stats so I posted in this thread.

So I sold my HE60's through Audiogon to somebody who is also a member at HF. After receiving the headphones he reports that there is a problem where "the sound quailty was a bit distorted and the balance had pulled to the left". I offered suggestions and mentioned he could send them back to me for review. He immediately sent them back to me and wants a refund. They arrived in perfect shape and sound fine out of my BHSE. No distortion, no balance issues. The buyer is using a RSA A10 amp and now believes that perhaps the amp may not have provided enough output to drive the HE60's from the Stax jack or my HE60 to Stax adapter was faulty. First of all it's hard for me to believe that the A10 is so bad it can't drive the HE60 without distortion and balance issues from the Stax jack. I think I read Ray even demonstrates the A10 with the HE60 although I don't know how it is plugged in. And would the the Stax jack provide any different output than the HE90 jack on the A10? If the Stax adapter I am using with the HE60 is faulty, wouldn't I hear it on the BHSE?

I'm probably going to refund his money minus shipping because I like the headphones but really believe I wouldn't have to in this situation.

I posted in my A-10 impressions that I didn't like it with the HE60 or O2 Mk2. But it did sound good to me with the O2 Mk1 or HE90 and even Jade. But with the HE60 I thought it sounded bright and harsher (with my HE60 or Ray's) than I like. (note - the O2 Mk2 were too forward in the mids with it).

[manaox2]

I had an opposite reaction to it, but don't spend much time with the HE60 or MK2. I'm about ready to admit that I'm a BHSE fanboi.

[spritzer]

Mixed impressions don't surprise me. When you run the tubes this far outside of their comfort zone they will become unpredictable to say the least.

[TommyTunes]

Both The Needle Doctor and Elusive Disc are offering 10% discounts for the Labor Day Holiday weekend, so I decided to pull the trigger and order a 4040II system (I already have 303's and an SRM-212 amp). First, I called the Needle Doctor and they told me that they order them when they receive an order and it can take from a couple of weeks to a couple of months because the distributor is not very responsive. I then called Elusive Disc because it showed that they had them in stock, unfortunately they did not, same song, they can order them but didn't know how long.

I really would prefer a USA modeel to eliminate the need for a transformer. I went ahead and ordered them but what gives with the Stax distributer? Why potentially several months?

Back in the late eighties, most high end stores carried Stax and many had them in stock, when I bought my first system back then they were close in price to what they are now, so that make them a bargin, couple that to the mainstream interest in'phones and you would think that if people could actually demo them in a store Stax could sell a boatload.

[spritzer]

This is indeed a bad situation compared to say the UK where Stax is everywhere, in every magazine and selling a lot of gear. As for the transformer, the SRM-006tA can be modified to run on 117V but it might be hard if they cut the higher voltage wires on the transformers.

[Hens]

So I just took delivery of my O2 mk1 on Friday.

Wow, what a great headphone, there is still the inherent headphone limitation of poor depth, but the imaging and soundstaging is superb. Much better than my hd800 and, I have to say, much wider.

Also, it doesnt have the big hole in the mid range that is present on the hd800.

The only problem I have with them at the moment is that my ampflication is limiting the stax. I have a highamp design stax amp, and while it was great for other stax headphones, there just isnt enough gain or power for the O2's, they sound horribly cramp and congested on anything but the highest volume setting. I will try up the gain on the amp and hopefully that will set me straight, otherwise, looks like I'll be trying to build one of KG's designs, or saving pennies for a BHSE from headamp.

Hens

[spritzer]

"One of us, one of us, one of us...."

Congrats and and damn straight in comparison to the HD800.

[Hens]

A lot of people say that hd800 has a much more expansive sound stage than the O2s.

I have found this to simply NOT be true. I can however understand why people have come to this conclusion, and that is simply because the hd800 sound more distant. The hole in the midrange will only emphasize this attribute, making vocals sound slightly further away.

As the O2 doesnt seem to have this problem, things are layered much more realistically, accounting for the awesome pin point imaging, and I believe it does go much wider. I cant wait to see how they respond to improved amplification.

Some saving graces for the hd800 though, I do think it has slightly better detail retreival and things seem to have a bit more "texture" although some might call it "coarseness." Remember though that the hd800 is running off much "better" amplification than the O2.

[spritzer]

Better amplification does indeed help with this on the SR-007 but they will never be "flashy" about their detail retrieval. It's there but never in your face like some supposedly detailed transducers.

The soundstage can also become wast with a good amp but only if that's what the recording calls for.

[Hens]

I have set the volume pot of my stax amp on full am using my modified WA2 as a preamp.

With the gain of the preamp it means I have a bit more range of the volume pot (on the WA2).

Its sounding quite good right now.

I should also add that I am very impressed with how well engineered the driver housing are, add to that the lovely leather pads and headband and the hd800's feel kind of cheap....

[spritzer]

Wow, the gain of that amp is really on the low side. Even the tiny Stax amps have enough gain for earsplitting levels.

[Hens]

Well I have the resistors necessary to change the gain of the amp, but not the hex key to take the panel off, haha.

Can't win them all.

[Dusty Chalk]

Wow, what a great headphone, there is still the inherent headphone limitation of poor depth, but the imaging and soundstaging is superb.

Am curious, have you ever listened to binaural recordings?

[Tachikoma]

Mmm, truth be told the O2 isn't that great with binaural recordings. A more "honest" phone like the SR-X actually works better there, imo.

[John Buchanan]

Ah.......the Stax Space Sound CD. First time I heard it through an SRM-T1 and Stax Lambda Signature phones. First track, I asked the salesman to turn off the other music in the room - the guitar playing way over to one side. The first time there had been a complete suspension of disbelief - I was amazed when the salesman laughed and said take off the phones. The guitar player remained attached to the phones!! I still use that track to show people what is possible with headphones.

[Hens]

Am curious, have you ever listened to binaural recordings?

I have listened to binaural recordings, and yes, they do part to overcome depth problems, but, problem is, there isnt many of them.

And definately none for any of the music I listen to. It would be great if it were though!

[jgazal]

People usually recommend newbies to stay quiet, but I will try to add a bit of information.

Binaural recordings are usually based on dummy head microphones. The outer ear (pinnae), the distance between diaphragms (mimics the distance between your tympanic membranes or at least the entrance of your auditory canal) and torso reflections and absorptions will not match the way it happens with the vast majority of the population.

Head Related Transfer Funtion (HRTF) is idiosyncratic. You have your very own and a limited parcel of the population will have a similar one.

If you want to take normal stereo into a personalized HRTF stream, then you have to measure your own HRTF and use a DSP to do the job. There is still no database to search for average HRTF that match your own one.

And guess what, there is a product that does exactly that (it uses a microphone placed exactly in the entrance of your auditory canal). It is called Smyth Realiser A8. It is really expensive (USD3400). I have not bought it. It will transform any regular multi-track recording (up to 8 channels) into a lifelike 3d sound field.

There was a military research using similar concept in airplane cockpits, but they used to measure the HRTF of the pilot into an anechoic chamber. Reversely HRTF “reads” the reverberation and other cues of the room given its sound signature.

I am still waiting for a two channel cheaper version... It will take years...

Anyway, it is a breakthrough so early adopters shall be willing to pay the current premium price.

Best regards,

Jose Luis

[Torpedo]

There are good reasons why newbies should remain silent

[jgazal]

There are good reasons why newbies should remain silent

I hope I did not say something wrong...

Okay, just one more and I will keep my mouth shut.

There is an alternative cheaper way to test idiosyncratic binaural recordings.

If you want to make your OWN binaural recordings, you might want to use these microphones:

Sound Professionals SP-TFB-2

or

Microphone Madness MM-BSM-8

or

Soundman OKM

If you want to record loud sounds, hook them into the line-in jack of a portable digital audio recorder (i.e. Sony PCM-D50) using a battery pack (i.e. Sound Professionals SP-SPSB-10).

For quiet sound you are able to hook them directly into the pre-amp jack of the portable recording (which already has plug-in power, although not optimal).

These microphones have some noise of their own (small diaphragms), but with moderate sounds you will not notice. With quiet sounds you will hear some kind of hiss.

The best part of it: you rarely were into the recording venue so you do not know how it sounded originally in real life. With you own binaural recording you have a faithful reference to judge your playback equipment fidelity. Even sounds on the street might be your reference recording.

Of course these microphones have their own fidelity limitations (even the MM higher version with Sennheiser capsules), so take it with a grain of salt...

It is impossible to use a large condenser microphone to mimic your HRTF... I believe the ultimate (and expensive) solution is a regular recording with better microphones (large membranes) and a DSP doing all the HRTF math somewhere in the playback chain.

Best regards,

Jose Luis

[Les_Garten]

Ah.......the Stax Space Sound CD. First time I heard it through an SRM-T1 and Stax Lambda Signature phones. First track, I asked the salesman to turn off the other music in the room - the guitar playing way over to one side. The first time there had been a complete suspension of disbelief - I was amazed when the salesman laughed and said take off the phones. The guitar player remained attached to the phones!! I still use that track to show people what is possible with headphones.

Any idea where that CD might be found?

[John Buchanan]

Les, it's been OOP for 15 years. No idea.