The Stax I thread

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by knerian, Mar 28, 2016.

  1. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    So, how's the comfort of the L500 in comparison to the L300? I know the L300's thin pads also annoy some people, but do the yokes also differ?
     
  2. yaluen

    yaluen Acquaintance

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    The L700 and L500 are similarly flawed. The parts circled in red will prevent the top of the cups from rotating past the yokes/gimbals. If you have even a normal sized head, you'll likely have fit issues such as @OlafR has described, pressure along the top and poor seal at the bottom. I have no idea what Stax is doing releasing an anniversary product with this not being addressed.

    L500
    [​IMG]

    L700
    [​IMG]
     
  3. OlafR

    OlafR Acquaintance

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    Excellent post, yaluen. Seems I was wrong in assuming that the L700 was better constructed. Bizarre stuff, considering what one is used to from Stax in this department.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2018
  4. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Humour me.

    My SR-303 have those little tabs, but I made sure that they're on the outside of the forked holders- as that's where they're supposed to go, like this (not my picture):

    [​IMG]

    If I assemble the headphones with the tab inside, like on your L-300 picture, they fit badly, as you describe. Pop one leg out of the capsule holder, and move the tab outside before re-attaching the holder, and see how you go.

    Yeah, I know. Curiosity. Can't be helped.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2018
  5. yaluen

    yaluen Acquaintance

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    Alas I don't think that would work. Take note where the tabs are on the advanced lambdas, right next to the pads, whereas they're near the outside edge of the cups on the old lambdas. I no longer have my L300, but I believe you'll just end up having a big gap between your temples and the pads. Besides, the flared baffle is wider than the space between the legs and will prevent you from putting things back together.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Damnit, now curiosity is going to drive me nuts ;)
     
  7. I_want_all_the_tacos

    I_want_all_the_tacos Friend

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    I was borrowing my buddy's L300, L500, and L700. To be honest, from my personal experience the L700 just didn't particularly feel much more comfortable than the L300 in fit/comfort. Mostly L700 was more comfortable because of the deeper ear pads. If the L300 Limited ends up having a nearly identical sound quality as L700 at half the L700 price, I personally wouldn't spend an extra $600+ for maybe a slightly better yoke design. But comfort is very individual and subjective so it depends how big of a comfort difference that makes for you.
     
  8. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    Found this pic on HC, couldn't find more about it.
    I think that if we take the SR-009 as a reference (named C32 before being SR-009), we'll have to wait until october for the big guns.
    [​IMG]
     
  9. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    Got my 353x and l300 today... great listening system! Nice resolution without being overly technical, as in fatiguing. Thanks for the recommendation @MuppetFace!!!
     
  10. AudioThief

    AudioThief Acquaintance

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    Hi guys. I posted this over at head fi as well, but figured some of you guys could have some valuable input also.

     
  11. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I'm pretty sure the SRM-252S doesn't have anywhere near the power for driving 007s properly. They won't sound anywhere near their best. The poor thing is probably just running out of juice and/or maybe distorting?

    When you're at the 007 end of the range, you're probably better off considering something like a BHSE or a Carbon, if you can afford it (is that what "my new amp" is going to be?). If you're staying with Stax branded amps, you're going to need to go quite a long way up the range.

    Essentially don't worry if the 252 can't make the 007 sound all that good, it's a big ask.
     
  12. AudioThief

    AudioThief Acquaintance

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    Unfortunately I don't have the economic means for the TOTL third party amps for now, so I have purchased a Stax 727ii. I knew beforehand the 252s would not cut it for the 007, but after recognizing this shimmer/hardness/harshness, not sure what I should call it, in both 007 and l300, I wondered if this was an issue that perhaps the 252 specifically had. My personal theory is that once I plug the L300 into the 727 it will not have the same hard sound up top. Maybe I am wrong?
     
  13. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I can't say for sure (as I haven't heard what you're hearing so can't be 100% sure about the problem), but they should scale up somewhat, at least, yes.

    One thing, is your 727ii already fixed? If not, you'll want the 727 feedback mod, or it won't sound so great.
     
  14. %20 Oddity

    %20 Oddity Friend

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    Not gonna lie this looks fake as all hell. Especially with the unit name having six results on google (of which two are head-fi, and one is a french blog that lists stax.co.jp as a source, which doesn't... have this.).
    I mean, we do know that STAX was planning a DAC/Amp, but... I dunno. I remain skeptical.
     
  15. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    Skip to 53:15, is not fake.
     
  16. OlafR

    OlafR Acquaintance

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    He does not quite explain why he is super-excited over the little portable thing. Stax headphones are not very suited to portable use, if you ask me. (But there may be some excitement in seeing what happens when it starts raining, true).

    Very unpleasant audio in the interview btw, the shouting 700? Hz resonance really hurts when it "hits" the ear. People need to be more conscious about sound quality (in all kind of situations) imo.
     
  17. shipsupt

    shipsupt Admin

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    Well, there's always "transportable" vs portable...
     
  18. I_want_all_the_tacos

    I_want_all_the_tacos Friend

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    Just for an update there has been a discussion about L300 Limited going on in the head-fi thread as well as a reddit one. It was definitely at CanJam this last weekend, but so was regular L300 and it seems there might have been some confusions for people as to which they were listening to.

    Anyways, good news is that at least 1 impression from someone that was 100% sure he was listening to L300L side-by-side with L700 said they did indeed sound really similar. User AGT1500C from reddit said:
    "I listened to both the L300L and L700 late on Sunday. Pretty sure the L300L has different pads than the regular L300 because I have pretty large ears and they barely touched the housing of the electrostat. My overall impression was that the L700 sounded a bit cleaner and more controlled than the L300L but I was listening to different songs through a different amp and at different sound levels so take that with a grain of salt. I'd say the L300L did sound quite similar to the L700, and one of the employees at the booth said there was little difference between the two, FWIW."

    Also, in an e-mail Jack Woo said this about the L300 Limited:
    "The casing and headband of the L300 Limited are identical to the standard L300, except the gold plaque. The drivers on the Limited is almost identical to the L700 which cost twice more. It is the superb value. It is almost gone so reserve a pair as soon as you can.

    -Jack"
     
  19. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    So they're definitely physically the same, and definitely physically different, and the sound is almost identical or different? Glad we cleared that one up :D
     
  20. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    It seems that L300 Limited and L700 have the same stators but different diaphragm.
    Stax only mentions "same stators", the "almost identical" may be because of the different diaphragm.
    If that wasn't true, they'd say something like: "same drivers as L700"
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2018

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