spritzer Posted March 19, 2009 Report Posted March 19, 2009 The 717 is a bit of an oddball as it is warm yet detailed, or rather SS done well.
wrecked_porsche Posted March 19, 2009 Report Posted March 19, 2009 Indeed. I'm listening to it now. Oooh... its a wonderful amp. Nice tight and punchy bass with tons of PRAT. Mmmmm... crisp and crunchy guitars.
cetoole Posted March 19, 2009 Report Posted March 19, 2009 Seems Yamas wants $12 for a pair of replacement mineral wool damping biscuits and $8 for a pair of foam covers for the SR-Lambda. Havnt heard back about a replacement headband strap, but while this doesnt seem completely unreasonable, I would definitely be interested if anyone has a bit more economical source for replacements. The first two I cant imagine are Stax specific items, just cut to size.
Fungi Posted March 19, 2009 Report Posted March 19, 2009 What about McMaster Carr? They carry everything
cetoole Posted March 19, 2009 Report Posted March 19, 2009 Kinda what I was thinking, but I dont know what density the stock is or what to get there.
manaox2 Posted March 20, 2009 Report Posted March 20, 2009 Biasing this T1 feels like trying to make a full court shot at the buzzer. Its mostly luck and the settings also don't stay for me. I'll get it to .100V and it'll be 1.8V in ten minutes.
luvdunhill Posted March 20, 2009 Report Posted March 20, 2009 Biasing this T1 feels like trying to make a full court shot at the buzzer. Its mostly luck and the settings also don't stay for me. I'll get it to .100V and it'll be 1.8V in ten minutes. 1.8V is practically zero in electrostatic world.. heck, 10V is practically zero.
The Monkey Posted March 20, 2009 Report Posted March 20, 2009 Seems Yamas wants $12 for a pair of replacement mineral wool damping biscuits and $8 for a pair of foam covers for the SR-Lambda. Havnt heard back about a replacement headband strap, but while this doesnt seem completely unreasonable, I would definitely be interested if anyone has a bit more economical source for replacements. The first two I cant imagine are Stax specific items, just cut to size. Dealing with Yama's is such a pain in the ass. Which headband are you looking for, Colin?
cetoole Posted March 20, 2009 Report Posted March 20, 2009 Normal bias SR-Lambda. I just kinda want a new strap, as the plastic on the current one is a bit cracked and the material is showing signs of age. Tracking shows them at my PO, so should be waiting for me when I get home.
cetoole Posted March 20, 2009 Report Posted March 20, 2009 Well, Yamas got back with me. $35 for just the cloth strap.
Elephas Posted March 21, 2009 Report Posted March 21, 2009 (edited) Anyone with an SR-Omega willing to confirm something? When I lift its earpads up slightly, bass quantity becomes massive. This happens whether lifting them up at the bottom, front, back or top, and even also when lifting the entire earpad up about one centimeter. Increase the distance further and the sound is very distorted. But when the earpads are lifted just slightly the bass impact is huge. Imaging precision also becomes fuzzier. I assumed the SR-Omega also seals around the ear. When I press the driver housings slightly against my head there is also a squeal, but not as much as the O2Mk1 or O2Mk2. I thought that a seal was necessary for deep bass, but apparently perceived bass is greater without a seal than with one. With some tracks, I kind of like the massive bass. It is very satisfying, very deep and solid, and somehow comforting. OK, now I feel like an idiot, but an idiot enjoying massive bass. I stuck AAA batteries over my ears and under the earpads. Edited March 21, 2009 by Elephas
spritzer Posted March 21, 2009 Report Posted March 21, 2009 The SR-Omega earpads aren't sealed in any way at the baffle so if you lift them you open up a small port. If you open it up some more you shouldn't experience distortion (I've run the SR-Omega drivers in open air and no distortion) so this could be a hint that something is wrong. My first cause of action would be to tighten the 3 screws at the back of the housing (the odd numbered of the 5 ones there i.e. 1,3,5) and if you feel up to removing the pads, tighten the screws there as well. To get accurate bass you need the seal, add a port and you boost certain frequencies (frequency bands really) but usually cut the available bandwith of the drivers.
Elephas Posted March 21, 2009 Report Posted March 21, 2009 By distortion I meant that when the driver housings and earpads are pulled some distance away from the head, on both sides, the sound becomes thin, imaging becomes very fuzzy, tonality goes to hell, etc. Not one or both drivers sounding distorted. Pulling the bottom away slightly results in greater bass than pulling away the top or the sides. The bass is massive and deep, deeper than normal. Yes, it isn't as tight or as accurate, but it is massive and deep! There's probably a "sweetspot" distance where the bass quantity and quality is optimized for my preferences. It's not very much, I think about .5 to 1 centimeter. Just a little bit of lift of the earpads, and teh BASS! Can you imagine the SR-Omega being the ultimate basshead headphone?
spritzer Posted March 21, 2009 Report Posted March 21, 2009 They do have the largest drivers ever crammed into a headphone so no wonder they can produce a lot of bass. The hard part of designing any transducer isn't producing the bass, but controlling it. One of the reasons I need to buy a SR-007Mk2 is to see if I can boost the bass just a bit, yet keep everything else inline. Damn recession messing with my research...
Elephas Posted March 22, 2009 Report Posted March 22, 2009 One of the reasons I need to buy a SR-007Mk2 is to see if I can boost the bass just a bit, yet keep everything else inline. Hmm, I was just innocently wondering... I've read that the "general consensus" is that the O2Mk2 is inferior to the O2Mk1. Some people's descriptions made the Mk2 seem quite horrible, in fact. Lack of deep bass, annoying boomy mid-bass bump, tonality all skewed and off, vocals too forward, midrange too forward, tonality not balanced, it is too colored... I could go on, but I believe you know much better than me the weaknesses of the O2Mk2 versus the O2Mk1. So, if the Mk2 is so horrible, so different from, and so inferior to the O2Mk1, why did Justin demo the BHSE at the March 21 NY Meet with an O2Mk2? And why are the impressions so far in the meet thread very positive about the O2Mk2 + BHSE combo? I believe an O2Mk1 was also present at the meet? So shouldn't everyone have recognized immediately how superior the Mk1 is over the Mk2? Or maybe the people there were not discerning enough, including a certain n-maher (who was gracious enough to sell me a ThinkPad at a great price that I'm using)? I don't think any hurled Molljnirs can reach me if I hide in the basement for the rest of the month.
spritzer Posted March 22, 2009 Report Posted March 22, 2009 You know it is all about perceived bass and being impressive which is what the Mk2 does well. It's impressive at first listen (something the Mk1 definitely isn't for most first time users) yet with time those aspects which impressed become tiresome. To somebody who hasn't had these phones on his head for the last 6 years the difference between the two is small and easy to over look but the same could be said about any of the Lambdas. To a large extent they all sound the same but the devil is in the details and once you notice those details, they stick out like a sore thumb. Once I heard just how much bass detail the He90 drops/skips over they were useless to me. Great headphones but the flaws far outweigh what they do well. I just realized one thing... why didn't Justin send the Jade along? With both Fang and Aaron there it could have been interesting... Ohh and it is Mj
Elephas Posted March 22, 2009 Report Posted March 22, 2009 Gah, that thundercloud is scary! At least there wasn't any scary sound, I'm afraid of loud thunder. Yes, Justin asked when he should send the Jade back to me and I said to keep it until the BHSE is ready. I believe he intends to buy one for himself afterwards. I forgot about the Jade. If Justin didn't bring it to the NY meet because it wasn't his unit, I regret not telling him beforehand to bring it, I wouldn't have minded. Now now now, your explanation about the devil in the details makes some sense, but ultimately it comes down to each person's perception of the differences among the headphones, whether the differences seem large or small. That's completely subjective. One person might say the O2Mk1 and O2Mk2 sound completely and very different, night and day different, while another could say they sound very similar, and both people would be correct. I think that's the source of many of the arguments on Head-Fi and other audio forums. We judge the differences we hear differently, and value them differently. These kinds of arguments go around and around and never result in anything concrete. But there's no question that we are all hearing differences among the headphones, so at least no one's hearing acuity is being questioned, unlike some of the more heated cable arguments. I'm not saying the Mk1 and Mk2 are the same, I'm saying they are very similar and the differences aren't enough to consign the Mk2 to horrible or inferior status. And if the people at the NY meet are saying the O2Mk2 + BHSE combo sounds very good, it's one counterpoint against the negative comments about the Mk2. I just think the Mk2 has been unfairly maligned. Nyah nyah nyah, I'm wearing a 4070, its large mass will protect me against any puny Mjollnirs.
The Monkey Posted March 22, 2009 Report Posted March 22, 2009 I heard the O2 mk2 (used to be mine...) with the BHSE at the Meet. I thought it sounded simply excellent. I also think that the Mk2, with its slightly more pronounced midbass (to my ears) is a better Meet phone than the Mk1 because it can overcome some of the ambient noise a bit better. Regardless, I thought that the BHSE took the Mk2 and gave it the kick in the pants that it needs. Bear with me here, I feel like that the Mk2 is just slightly, um, lazier than the Mk1. Just the very littlest bit slower than the Mk1--perhaps due to te midbass. And in some ways, when I was comparing the two, I found this to sound almost like the Senn veil, but to a far lesser extent. We are talking about very small differences here. So, when I had the Mk2, I found myself wondering if there was an amp that would be able to "punch through" that bit of veil. I feel like the BHSE is such an amp. The Mk2 sounded nimble and all around great. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to trying the mk1 with the BHSE, Nate had to break down his equipment to give it some time to cool down (for some reason Nate didn't want to risk his packing boxes bursting into flame). So, I don't have those impressions. But as Nate and I discussed, the differences between the phones may be obvious to Stax lovers, but they are much much closer than they are different.
spritzer Posted March 22, 2009 Report Posted March 22, 2009 Me thinks Micheal is working for Stax to try and rebuild some of the Mk2's reputation!!! What headphones will they return to you once you are finished?? ...But as Nate and I discussed, the differences between the phones may be obvious to Stax lovers, but they are much much closer than they are different. My point exactly. I'm a very picky and can obsess about the smallest thing so to me they are very different but to a layman they are pretty much identical. Even Yama's claims that is the case to Stereophile (latest issue, Recommended components) and that the changes are merely cosmetic.
n_maher Posted March 22, 2009 Report Posted March 22, 2009 All I know is that the MKII and BHSE sound fantastic together. And that's not from meet impressions, it's what I'm listening to right now.
spritzer Posted March 22, 2009 Report Posted March 22, 2009 Stop torturing me, I've been without a BH now for 9 months... :'(
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