The Headcase Stax thread

[wink]

 

[Craig Sawyers]

And that is absolutely correct. After 20 years I'd forgotten how a darned dilution fridge worked. 

I said " The hotter atoms of helium 4 diffuse upwards into the helium 3 (no viscosity, remember), and a truly impressive pump attached to the mixing chamber sucks these hotter helium 4 atoms out. That shifts the equilibrium point, and the next hottest helium 4 diffuses upwards, etc etc " Which is the wrong way round.

Of course, the He3 sets up a concentration in the He4, and you pump the on the He4 side to reduce the equilibrium 6% of He3. The He3 moves very easily through the He4 because of its superfluidity. The downward evaporation of more thermally excited He3 into He4 is the cooling mechanism.

The guy in the video describes it very well - thanks for posting it.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Craig Sawyers

[DefQon]

Craig were you ever a scientist or professor at Oxford by any chance?

[Craig Sawyers]

No - I've never been an academic. I did my first degree in electronics and then a doctorate in laser physics. But my career was first in professional consultancies and then in industry (including 7 years at Oxford Instruments - which is why we live here). And for the last 20 years as a self employed technology and business/management consultant.

In fairness in my mid 20's I applied for a "new blood" lectureship at St Andrews University in Scotland. That was the strangest interview I have ever had, and decided academia was not a good fit for me (from my perspective didn't pay nearly enough, no prospects etc), and we parted company. Plus the clowns approached the CEO of the tiny 20 person company I worked for, for a reference without asking me first. So had I not left anyway to join PA Technology my career there would have been blighted.

I did have a five year foray back into an academic environment in recent years, but as a self-employed large project manager. What particularly surprised and dismayed me is what a political and backbiting environment it is, particularly at a senior professorial level. Everyone watches their backs pretty much continuously, jockeying for position. I'd have hated that aspect of university life.

[wink]

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/829843/stax-sr-009-and-t2-successors-confirmed-for-spring-2017

[cclragnarok]

51 minutes ago, wink said:

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/829843/stax-sr-009-and-t2-successors-confirmed-for-spring-2017

I went through the original Japanese text about the new model, and I don't see any mention of new flagship headphones.

It says that they are planning to release a new flagship amplifier designed to go with the SR-009.

EDIT: They are also hoping to release something "wonderful" in 2018 (the new amplifier is planned for 2017).

Edited December 23, 2016 by cclragnarok

[arnaud]

Correct, I think this was just the excitment to post big news while relying on google translate ;-).

Now, what could 2018 big thing be if the amp is  released next year?! A new ... ladder DAC? ;-)

arnaud

Edited December 23, 2016 by arnaud

[spritzer]

I think Stax clearly need a 50K$ amp/headphones combo not to be left out!!   

[Sechtdamon]

5 minutes ago, spritzer said:

I think Stax clearly need a 50K$ amp/headphones combo not to be left out!!   

After acquisition by Edifier, I think that they'll do that.

Well at least it'll be worthier than the things that done by others.

 

9 hours ago, arnaud said:

A new ... ladder DAC? ;-)

I couldn't understand it but, they said they'll make a DAC/Amp?

If they said they'll make,

C'mon stax mafia, Stax itself is faster than you.

[wink]

Why would anyone want a DAC/amp, when you can build the amp and get a YGGDRASIL.....?

[Dave R]

The only thing by Stax that would stir my interest, is a possible new Flagship Earspeaker, anything else I'll pass.

[spritzer]

If it is anything like the 009's/L700/L500 then I might give them a miss.  So tired of that fake sound. 

[nopants]

l700 also sounds artificially hifi? that's kind of disappointing

[joehpj]

L700 has bright sound character like 009. Nice HP when paired with stax amps. But with KG amps...... 

Edited December 24, 2016 by joehpj

[dripf]

1 minute ago, joehpj said:

L700 has bright tremble like 009. Nice HP when paired with stax amps. But with KG amps...... 

Everything is bad so long as it is in production.

[mtoc]

Dr Fang Bian a few days ago says the BHSE and these kinds of "DIY" or half-diy amps is the main reason that, let a lot of SR-009 get burnt, these amps are simply overpower. Should be extremely careful with, or simply avoid. And then he says his new cans, HSL, is on another level.

[Sechtdamon]

2 minutes ago, mtoc said:

Dr Fang Bian a few days ago says the BHSE and these kinds of "DIY" or half-diy amps is the main reason that, let a lot of SR-009 get burnt, these amps are simply overpower. Should be extremely careful with, or simply avoid. And then he says his new cans, HSL, is on another level.

He should spit the shit in his mount before he speaks.

[joehpj]

37 minutes ago, mtoc said:

Dr Fang Bian a few days ago says the BHSE and these kinds of "DIY" or half-diy amps is the main reason that, let a lot of SR-009 get burnt, these amps are simply overpower. Should be extremely careful with, or simply avoid. And then he says his new cans, HSL, is on another level.

link plz. I can read Chinese.

[Dave R]

Dr Fang who ?, I'll stick to taking notice of those I trust. ?

[JimL]

33 minutes ago, Dave R said:

Dr Fang who ?, I'll stick to taking notice of those I trust. ?

He is the head honcho of HiFi Man.

[kevin gilmore]

does the original T2 qualify as overpowering?

because it runs on +500 and -550v and has more voltage swing than a bhse or any other electrostatic amp, diy or commercial.

only exception is the koss esp950 which is designed for its own headphones. And i guess the original jeklin transformer box.

now if you have a cavalli piece of shit with no output protection, or a transformer box, then yep you can and will do damage.

Edited December 24, 2016 by kevin gilmore

[Dave R]

48 minutes ago, JimL said:

He is the head honcho of HiFi Man.

Ahh ! so that must be the Guy that created the Shangri-la which costs an obscene amount, well I've had my 009's since 2011 and have driven them mostly with the BHSE, and the only problem I've had with those earspeakers is the cable.

Edited December 24, 2016 by Dave R

[JimL]

24 minutes ago, kevin gilmore said:

does the original T2 qualify as overpowering?

because it runs on +500 and -550v and has more voltage swing than a bhse or any other electrostatic amp, diy or commercial.

Obviously, since Stax has been making electrostatic headphones since before Dr. Fang Bian was born, they don't have a clue about, um, er, ah...  Dr. Fang Bian (in Emily Litella voice):  Never mind.

Likely trying to push his new limited voltage output 300B stat amp with 6SN7 drivers.  With those tubes, wonder how he got enough voltage gain?

[kevin gilmore]

output transformers

hifiman has in the past, and continues to make unreliable stuff.

if the 300b amp really is direct coupled, he is going to have trouble getting more than 600 vppss without significant amounts of distortion

Edited December 24, 2016 by kevin gilmore

[mtoc]

Here's the while story:

After making the declaration that I mentioned previous, Dr. Fang Bian proudly lent the HSL suit to a guy who is a SR-009 user since the beginning. After several days auditioning, the dude reports back: Stax 009 (with the HSL amp) easily sounds a lot of better than the Shangri-la (with the HSL amp).

And then Dr Fang Bian became furious, really scared the xxxt out of us. He told us we simply need more listening experiences. Stax doesn't sound like real at all, they sounds like you are in heaven, too Tibet-ish, too clean (note: maybe too Shangri-la). His reference setup is the HSL suit plus a PCM63 DAC cos this setup sounds like real, like the reality, like the sound from the Chicago Concert Hall which he often visits. But at this time already nobody listens to him.

According to him: the HSL amp doesn't use output trannies on purpose, and the vol control was based on relays.

BTW, T3 coming out in the next year

all hail the T3

http://www.fujiya-avic.jp/blog/?p=28326

look at the red words at the end of the page

Edited December 25, 2016 by mtoc