The Headcase Stax thread

[Mr.Sneis]

20 hours ago, oogabooga said:

How normal is it for LNS drivers to be off-kilter? I just received a pair and the left driver looks fucked up. I removed the four screws on the driver to try and get a closer look, but I wasn't able to pull the driver/back plastic apart (didn't want to use too much force) - not sure if a previous owner glued em on.

The for sale listing you got those from clearly had the driver crooked to begin with.

Stax used black double sided adhesive for both the driver and earpads.  Over time it weakens and gets really nasty to deal with, and yes it seems to me to be very common,

When you separate the baffle from the housing you've got to do so carefully as stated above, it is simply too easy to puncture the driver dust covers.  Doing this will also probably destroy the outer facing open cell foam.

Cleaning all the old adhesive off is time consuming and nasty.

Buy some polyeurethane glue, probably best to order online as hardware store guys are clueless.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Mr.Sneis

[DefQon]

Spritzer, Massdrop has the Hifiman HE-350 for about $130 USD shipped, looks like a good candidate to have some electrostatic drivers put into.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-hifiman-he-350

Another thing I saw your picture 2 pages back with the headphone display, your SR-1 and 3's appear to have different pads as they usually are more flat (at least the SR-1's I had was) did you refoam them or used a custom pad? Also how goes the sound of the SR-5  with O2 pads?

[spritzer]

It's always fun to see how badly this shit is made so I bought one. 

As for the pads, the SR-1 was never supposed to have flat pads.  See this original instructions booklet:

They are a tall ring of neoprene so I've been experimenting with various pads to try and find a modern equivalent. 

[astrostar59]

On 24 Apr 2016 at 1:33 AM, spritzer said:

I use Bostik branded but that close to the sensitive electrostatic drivers isn't the best idea. 

A surgical blade and slicing it off like a wood planer, works best i think. Then when you are only left with a smear, wipe that off with a damp cloth with your thinners on, that way keep it tight and not allow liquid to drift into the drivers. By using a releasing chemical on that much glue will end up with a dangerous sticky blob. By taking 97% of it off with a blade, you are only left with a thin film.

Edited May 3, 2016 by astrostar59

[joehpj]

When I was laying on my bed, one thought suddenly came to my mind: the difference of 007 MK2.5 and MK2.9 may because of the cable. Since PCOCC has been discontinued for some years(3?), Stax maybe had to change the material of the cable as the original PCOCC cable was run out of. Hmm, who knows?

Edited May 10, 2016 by joehpj

[spritzer]

No....just no.... 

[Ali-Pacha]

Sorb, definitely.

Ali

[oogabooga]

Thanks Spritzer, catscratch, and MrSneis, I was able to get the housing off (the adhesive had 'melted') and indeed all is as you describe. 

I'll scrape off as much glue as I can and wipe the rest down with 100% isopropanol (if anyone knows of a better solvent please do share!). 

When I repaired my Lambda Pros, I used Double Sided Hercules Tape. The only kind of PU glue I know of is Gorilla Glue - is there something better out there? 

 

[spritzer]

Just spent a couple of hours comparing a SR-303 which is about to give its life for the 4070 and a brand new SR-407.  For my collection I decided to collect all of the TOTL Lambdas so I had to get a 407.  The 507 is a steaming pile of shit and they are all dead to me... 

Anyway, the 303's were is pretty great condition and sound their usual self.  Naturally both were run off a Carbon as that's the only way to roll..  The 303's are very neutral with no real issues, bass is strong but lacks depth, midrange is a tad laid back and the highs are just right for a Lambda.  Not too piercing and none of the etching of the old days.  These were fitted with the newer "cloth" earpads which did fix a lot of the old x0x problems.  

Now enter the 407 fresh out of the box.  From the get-go they are far more energetic, the midrange has real presence, the bass has more foundation and the top end might be even bit too alive.    This is not as tiresome as the 009's top end, here they just go over the edge from time to time but the Carbon keep them in check.  Over all a truly impressive set of headphones and goes to show what Stax can do without creating the mess that is the 507's. 

[dripf]

2 hours ago, spritzer said:

The 507 is a steaming pile of shit and they are all dead to me... 

Over all a truly impressive set of headphones and goes to show what Stax can do without creating the mess that is the 507's. 

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/StaxSR207EP507LeatherPadsSerNumSB22217.pdf

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/StaxSR507SE11049.pdf

The 207 and 507 measure so similarly I doubt I'd be able to hear a difference. Rin Choi measured the Lambda Signature and the 207 and the difference over the decades is a couple of dBs, particularly in the extremes. More alike than different.

What do you think?

[wink]

Don't trust the measurements.........    

[spritzer]

Rather take them with a hefty grain of salt.  The 207 and 507 sound nothing alike so something is rotten. 

There seems to be this movement now that measurements are king but they only tell part of the picture.  Do amps sound the same based on THD, frequency response and noise?  No!! 

[Craig Sawyers]

Quotes from http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/jan/31/human-hearing-is-highly-nonlinear , originally published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 044301 – Published 23 January 2013.

"The information available from Fourier analysis is bound by an uncertainty relation called the Gabor limit. This says that you cannot know the timing of a sound and its frequency – or pitch – beyond a certain degree of accuracy. The more accurate the measurement of the timing of a sound, the less accurate the measurement of its pitch and vice versa."

"Oppenheim and Magnasco discovered that the accuracy with which the volunteers determined pitch and timing simultaneously was usually much better, on average, than the Gabor limit. In one case, subjects beat the Gabor limit for the product of frequency and time uncertainty by a factor of 50, clearly implying their brains were using a nonlinear algorithm."

In other words, conventional analysis of non-linear distortions in an audio system tell you absolutely nothing about how it sounds, because human hearing beats measurement by a healthy margin.

[spritzer]

Exactly!!  The ears are a sucky measurement tool but do some things really well. 

Edited May 24, 2016 by spritzer

[zolkis]

On 5/24/2016 at 0:30 PM, Craig Sawyers said:

Quotes  

In other words, conventional analysis of non-linear distortions in an audio system tell you absolutely nothing about how it sounds, because human hearing beats measurement by a healthy margin.

I fully agree with the observation, but what do you mean by conventional? There is quite much research and a couple of approaches on how nonlinear distortions correlate with differences audible by humans, some of them quite old, others quite recent. I'd be interested to know how to tell the conventional from the non-conventional. I know it's a bit off-topic, a private message would suffice. Thank you. 

[Craig Sawyers]

Total harmonic distortion, intermodulation distortion for example - I thought the comment on Fourier Analysis kind of gave it away.

[stax fart]

(sorry for my bad english)

Hello everyone,

First post but I've been reading the forum the last two months.

I've read that many users prefer the 007 (with the port mod) to the 009, and that Stax does revisions and changes on the headphones without warning about it.

The last version of the 007, refered as "2.9", seems to be the best one (reading this from some Spritzer posts)...

My doubt is, there are two colors of the 007 actually, one being all black (import version) and the other silver (japan version).

With the port mod, do the actual black and silver versions sound equal? Or do they sound different?

Sorry for my ignorance, but I would like to know this litte detail.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Everything is going to sound different, unfortunately. 

So my advice is to go about this psychologically -- me, I prefer the all-black look, so to put my mind in a good state, I will eventually get the very best all-black version that I can get (probably with the port mod, but I don't find it as significant an improvement as everyone else does, so not right away).

It sounds to me like you have a definite preference -- I recommend you go with that preference.

PS Great user name.  I also highly recommend avoiding yourself, they totally ruin the listening experience!

[dripf]

4 hours ago, stax fart said:

I've read that many users prefer

Always do the opposite of what the mafia says.

[wink]

... and then, turn around, and do the opposite of that....    

[spritzer]

There has never been any evidence that the A or II units differ in any way besides color.  It also wouldn't make a lot of sense for Stax to do that and defeat the whole purpose of the A and II system.  So yeah, they are most likely identical. 

In other news I managed to save those 4070's.    One set of SR-303 drivers and leather earpads and they are good as new... 

[stax fart]

Thanks for your answers!

Doubt solved

 

[bwck2000]

Hi Everyone

Does anyone know what the wrinkled-like dust proof membrane in the lambdas made of？Or where can i get one？

I have two pairs of lambda on my hand( LNS / signature) and their dust cover  need the be replaced

one is broken by age ,one is broken when i try to get rid of the humming issue by opening the driver

the membrane seems to be air-permeable that makes me believe they are not the ordinary one. 

Does anyone has a clue?Thank you very much

PS I don't believe in curves and data. The renowned HD800 got excellent results on these but just doesn't fit my taste(a lambda is better except the soundstage).These unmeasurable listening experience makes the HI Fi world captivative

[spritzer]

It's some type of PVC film but no idea where to get it. 

[bwck2000]

Thank you spritzer

then ill use nylon dust cover like the one in lambda signature instead

but not sure if its 100%dust proof......