The Headcase Stax thread

[Dave R]

Oh, in my previous post where I wrote " Now it doesn't need me to mention ", I should've added on Head-Case, if I'd have wrote it on HF I wouldn't have needed to bother.

Now I have said I'd never write another post on HF again, but unfortunately a couple of weeks ago I had to correct something astrostar59 wrote on that shit site about the NOS Mullard tubes I use on my BHSE.

[aldavey]

Why bother to reply to anything astrostar59 posts?

[spritzer]

astroglide is just retarded so why waste energy on him?  He takes being clueless to new heights...

As for the amp...I bet it is just a 727 with tube input but who knows what they are up to.  Looks to be a completely unregulated PSU as usual with just the LV rails and tube heater being regulated. 

2 hours ago, zolkis said:

I can relate to that! I've been pondering for a while to take the SR-Gamma Pro drivers and put them in a bigger wooden closed back but Onken front loading enclosure, like Fostex/Sony or such. Should be better than most closed cans today, this side of the R10.

That could work if you manage the backwave. 

2 hours ago, wink said:

......  probably  wanted/needed the 404 drivers for another project......    

Well they were LNS drivers as they are way better than the 404 crap...   They are still attached to the HE90 baffles though as the plan is to make a clone of the HE90 shells one of these days and use them in it.  Add some slight angle to the drivers and the end result would be far better than the stock stuff. 

[Dave R]

24 minutes ago, aldavey said:

Why bother to reply to anything astrostar59 posts?

I wouldn't normally, but he wrote a post saying he thought I was using either NOS Mullard xf1's or xf3's with my BHSE, when they're xf4's. 

 

 

[Dave R]

26 minutes ago, spritzer said:

astroglide is just retarded so why waste energy on him?  He takes being clueless to new heights...

Like I've mentioned in the reply I did to aldavey's post, Birgir.?

[wink]

3 hours ago, aldavey said:

Why bother to reply to anything astrostar59 posts?

Didn't you know this is "Be kind to Astro-mud week"  ?

His opinions are valid even if they are irrelevant and totally misguided. Especially over at Head-Shrink which has now been totally renovated, but is still as full of it as ever.

7 hours ago, johnwmclean said:

Full points for the style.

.... but,   but      it doesn't have a normal bias output.....                                              

[3x0]

5 hours ago, Dave R said:

So what Stax should do is give the cost of that amp excluding the two mentioned, then those excited about buying this amp will realise they're getting a $3000 ( maybe ) amp that costs above $5000, unless someone knows different.

Not sure it'd really make a huge difference considering commissioned builds could also have a substantial increment from "BOM" cost attributable to labor and casework (especially since they don't benefit from the scale Stax has for amp chassis).

 

Was the XF4 correction really worth making? They're just power tubes in a hybrid tube/SS amp and all the XF/metalbase hullabaloo is way out of hand IMO.

[mwl168]

5 minutes ago, 3x0 said:

Not sure it'd really make a huge difference considering commissioned builds could also have a substantial increment from "BOM" cost attributable to labor and casework (especially since they don't benefit from the scale Stax has for amp chassis).

that's assuming the manufacture passes the cost saving to the consumer...

[3x0]

Honestly I'd be surprised if Stax's margin was anything less than 3x their cost.

Yeah, even with several hundred (thousand depending on the build) going to labor and casework a commissioned DIY should be a much better deal.

[Dave R]

5 minutes ago, 3x0 said:

Was the XF4 correction really worth making? They're just power tubes in a hybrid tube/SS amp and all the XF/metalbase hullabaloo is way out of hand IMO.

All I can say is when I was using the stock Mullard's and SED's with the BHSE the 009's SQ was very uncomfortable, whereas with using the xf4's the SQ was/is much more comfortable and that was from using the K-01, but I found since using the Yggy SQ is even more comfortable.

E.g. When I was listening to Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer from 009/BHSE/K-01 with stock Mullard's the SQ was so uncomfortable I had to turn the volume right down, whereas with the 009/BHSE/Yggy and using xf4's I'm turning the volume up. ( obviously not to ridiculous levels )

 

 

[Whitigir]

6 minutes ago, 3x0 said:

Honestly I'd be surprised if Stax's margin was anything less than 3x their cost.

Yeah, even with several hundred (thousand depending on the build) going to labor and casework a commissioned DIY should be a much better deal.

Agree! Kevin geniuses and the whole Stax mafia is amazing.  I am glad to be living in this era to have the opportunity and chances to do this.  DIY projects are amazing.  The simplest way I look at this is that DIY community only has heart and enthusiasm that fuel and fire them up....while Stax has a company and brand reputation to be worrying about.

 

3 minutes ago, Dave R said:

All I can say is when I was using the stock Mullard's and SED's with the BHSE the 009's SQ was very uncomfortable, whereas with using the xf4's the SQ was/is much more comfortable and that was from using the K-01, but I found since using the Yggy SQ is even more comfortable.

E.g. When I was listening to Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer from 009/BHSE/K-01 with stock Mullard's the SQ was so uncomfortable I had to turn the volume right down, whereas with the 009/BHSE/Yggy and using xf4's I'm turning the volume up. ( obviously not to ridiculous levels )

 

 

Have you ever tried xf2 yet ? It is so expensive and I wonder if it is worth it ? What if I need replacements >_< those are the hardest factors

[aldavey]

But Stax design and build the the best Ear Speakers we are all using so why can't they build a kick ass amp?

[kevin gilmore]

jude reviewed the new stax amp, t8000 over there

[aldavey]

Frankly I don't care I love my Birgir Carbon, been using it for the last 6 hours solid, time for bed in Tokyo.

[Dave R]

36 minutes ago, Whitigir said:

Have you ever tried xf2 yet ? It is so expensive and I wonder if it is worth it ? What if I need replacements >_< those are the hardest factors

No I've not tried xf2's, but I got those xf4's from a place in the UK I've had dealings with before , and found them to be very reliable, however xf4's were the only NOS Mullard's they had and still do.

 I also read ( sometime ago ) on a guitar forum where someone had tried all NOS Mullard xf's, and found them to be not that different, this will have been though with guitar amps not headphone amps.

P.S. I got a second matched quad of those xf4's, but when I have that KGSSHV Carbon, I'll probably be using the BHSE half as much as I do now.

[n3rdling]

Loving the knob

[Ledzepp]

Hi folks,

Newbie question (pls be gentle): was there supposed to be a new headphone/earspeaker that goes with this new amp?

 

[spritzer]

It does seem though that Stax have finally decided to make some money on their amps as 600K for that...is a bit extreme.  I do like the knob and the new face plate though, very classy yet classic Stax. 

We don't know when the new Stax phones will come but they have been working on them for a while now. 

[JimL]

If they are using 6922 tubes in the front end, they may not need a low voltage PS, since the LV PS in the solid state amps is just for the front end.  OTOH, it appears there are a couple heatsinks in the PS, so maybe they do have a low voltage PS.  If they are using the 727 for the rest, hopefully they will reconnect the global feedback.  The output heat sinks do appear larger than the 727, and the power consumption is up to 95 watts, so it appears there is quite a bit more current in the output stage.

Edited April 27, 2017 by JimL

[Ali-Pacha]

Love the classy face plate too. Maybe we should wait a bit before shitting full throttle on circuit / sound / price 

Maybe I should plug my Vali2 as a preamp on my SRM-1/mk2 Pro to have a taste of how T8000 could sound 

Ali

Edited April 27, 2017 by Ali-Pacha

[Dusty Chalk]

3 hours ago, n3rdling said:

Loving the knob

Phrasing!

[Ledzepp]

Just watched the Japanese interview video with close-ups. Can't help wondering what Line-4 will be used for. Any info or speculation?

[jgazal]

3 hours ago, JimL said:

OTOH, it appears there are a couple heatsinks in the PS, so maybe they do have a low voltage PS. 

If you were to design a DAC or a phono pre-amp daughter board to be anchored in the line 4 slot, would you need some kind of high voltage dc to low voltage dc converter?

 

[arnaud]

From the little I understood in the video, slot 4 is for addon that are still in developments. Suzuki-san (chief designer) specifically mentioned about DAC or equalizer (phono that is?).

He also mentioned this line 4 slot has its own transformer / supply, independent from the rest of the circuit.

He mentioned great attention had to be paid to shielding giving how closely spaced these components are and the mixture of low level signals (including upcoming slot 4 boards) and 60dB circuit (or 54dB I forgot). So, encaged toroidal, encaged inpu stage tubes, encaged slot 4 board... 

Seems like a big effort just to make this all fit in one box to limit manufacturing / shipping costs and all.

Oh, another thing he mentioned which flew over my head is presence of a servo (world first for stax) to make sure the amp operates within spec from cold start. Otherwise, you'd have to wait about 1h till warmup because of thermal drift. Hopefully I did not get this wrong but the heatsinks used for the SS output stages are face to face with close spacing to make this thermal drift uniform across channels (or differential signals?). I let the experts decipher and correct this ;-).

Not sure if I'll have the patience to wait in line but I may be able to see it irl this w.e.

arnaud 

[spritzer]

Ehhh Stax had a servo in the T2, 717 and 727... 

Yeah the LV supply is probably for the addon.