Stax SR-X1

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Bill-P, Jul 31, 2024.

  1. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    Well, I gave my impressions, and I purchased, and here it is.

    TL;DR: warm, smooth, airy, slightly bass-light but nothing egregious, gorgeous midrange. Typical Stax left-right imaging shenanigan. Soundstage not amazing but at least is super airy just like any other e-stat. Also... it's $500 for the headphone so what is there to complain? I have heard e-stats at 4x or even 6x this price that don't sound this good.

    Measurements because why not?

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Other specs I measured: weight is 248 grams without cable (for context, HD650 is almost exactly the same weight). The cable is 148 grams.

    P.S.: because it's so light and there's practically no clamping force, bass seal is quite hard to achieve in measurement. But it does have actually... some of the best bass extension I have ever seen out of any e-stat. Does sound like it too. I don't think I'm missing anything other than "quantity" in "Doin' it Right".
     
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  2. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Which driver unit and DAC are you using?
     
  3. joch

    joch Friend

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    What are you energizing the SR X1 with?
     
  4. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    I'm using SRD-7 with a cheap-ish speaker amp right now. Will be picking up a Kingsound M10 and then a Topping EHA5 to do some more comparisons.

    Decent Stax rig for <$1000 is like secretly that dream that I have always had that is now achievable.
     
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  5. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    In case anyone was curious... Stax shout can be eliminated with pad-swap. This is with Brainwavz hybrid pads:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Sounds a lot less "in yo face" now. It's a bit dark but still very airy. Bass still won't win any award but I feel like at this point... I'd just EQ it and call it a day.
     
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  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    How is the tactility? It is less ethereal, more hefty, than the other STAX?
     
  7. mk801

    mk801 Almost "Made"

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    Which Stax model do you think the SR-X1"s bass response compares most closely to?
     
  8. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    Yeah, it's less ethereal. I think it sounds more like very fast planar rather than typical Stax. Of course it's not up to the likes of HE-5 or HE-6 but I don't find myself wanting more bass heft.

    Like I wouldn't say its bass is hefty or weighty, but it sounds like actually good bass rather than weightless fart if that makes sense.

    Not sure how much of that is due to the assembly? I'm not quite sure but this makes it look like that's just the diaphragm facing my ears and only one stator right behind it.

    [​IMG]

    Single-sided magnet did seem to improve bass impact with planars at the cost of some speed and accuracy, so... maybe this is the equivalence of that but for e-stats?
     
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  9. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    None of them to be honest. This sounds like... it's more bassy than the regular Stax. I have SR-X Mk3 which sounds like a kiloton of brightness in my face after listening to this one. But the SR-X1 isn't completely "dark". It sounds brighter than it measures. And the bass response does in fact change quite a bit with seal and ear pads, so it does seem like with the right pads and seal, we can get bass to extend even further down.

    The best way I can put this is... other Stax headphones, including the legendary SR-Omega, have always sounded like... something vibrating in front of my face without shaking my skull. The SR-X1 does in fact shake my skull when called for, even though it does not do so as strongly as most dynamic headphones and planars. And actually, now that we are on that topic, I think the e-stat that sounds most similar to this would be Sennheiser's HE-1. The SR-X1 seems to have that kind of bass, but it is less... enveloping and "in my face" than HE-1, and the treble is much more subdued than however I can remember HE-1.
     
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  10. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    Nah that's just the dust cover.

    Going by the design I hope it sounds like a souped up SR-5.
     
  11. ludoo

    ludoo New

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    Bought one from Japan a while ago, and mine didn't sound like an SR-5 at all. I ended up selling it as I didn't like its recessed upper midrange, from either my SRM-T1 or SRM-313.

    Edit: if you can tame the 1.5khz peak in the X1, maybe it would sound similar to an SR-5 (with more bass and resolution).

    To give you an idea, this is mine measured on my flat plate rig, compared against an SR-5 and what for me is the best incarnation of Stax NB round drivers, SR-5 drivers+cable in an SR-X frame. Green: SR-X1, red: SR-5, blue: SR-5 drivers in SR-Xmk3 frame.

    [​IMG]
     
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    Last edited: Aug 1, 2024
  12. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    Yeah, the 1.5KHz peak can be tamed. I tried a bunch of pads and t here are 2 I do like quite a bit:

    [​IMG]

    The Dekoni angled pads are these:
    https://www.amazon.com/Dekoni-Audio-Replacement-Compatible-Headphones/dp/B077NNNMR9/

    The Yaxi pads are these:
    https://www.amazon.com/YAXI-stPad2-Black/dp/B074X468CH/

    I think the Yaxi is closest to stock sound but fixes the bass extension and 1.5KHz peak, thus making things less "dry".

    But if more upper mids is desirable, I think one of the angled Dekoni pads will work better and they still preserve bass extension quite well.

    The Brainwavz pads are also not bad but I don't think they fit right... hence bass drops off the cliff there. Maybe we can 3D-print a bigger pad mount?

    But yeah, I think the SR-X1 is just waiting for the right ear pads to "fix" them per se. I do find them quite enjoyable as is in any case with the Yaxi pads for now.

    P.S.: as for why I enjoy the SR-X1 with Yaxi pads, I think this explains it:
    [​IMG]

    I wouldn't say it sounds exactly like the LCD-4 but... this is very very close in terms of tonality.
     
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  13. gepardcv

    gepardcv Almost "Made"

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    Is that hole at the top of the photo a port for air venting? What happens if you blutac it closed? That does things to the SR-007, some good, some bad.
     
  14. Bill-P

    Bill-P Level 42 Mad Wizard

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    Good observation! I was going to post about it but yeah, that's a port for air venting between front and back. I have found that Stax headphones in general actually need this vent to equalize pressure between the front and back sides of the diaphragm, otherwise the fart gets really really bad.

    Either way, closing this one won't do us much good. Even the stock ear pads can already block the port almost entirely. When the port is blocked, there's a bit more sub bass, but also an increased chance of "Stax fart" whenever the headphone is shifted around.

    So I have decided to just leave it alone. The same hole does indeed allow SR-007 and such to have a bit more sub bass when filled with blu tack. It's just not really needed with SR-X1 since bass response is mostly dependent on how supple the ear pads are and it is already reaching very low as is.

    If anything, I've found SR-X1 actually can benefit more from selectively blocking the vent in the back of the diaphragm. For instance, check this out:

    [​IMG]

    Yeah, I have found that there are ways to almost flatten the response and make FR look very good. It sounds super bright and thin like this, though. Far brighter than HD800/600. I don't think a flat FR is desirable here. But such an FR can be achieved by using... electrical tape over the grill to reflect a bit of that treble and... we basically get FR to look and sound super bright, but soundstage suffers as well. Perhaps there is a balance that can be achieved here.

    Pics or it didn't happen:

    [​IMG]

    ^ This is already using half the width of the tape. Full width will cause >8KHz to spike up like the above. Using half width gives a bit less >8KHz:

    [​IMG]

    And I have personally found this to be the most ideal FR for myself. It gets... just bright enough to not sound congested while not really emphasizing anything crazy.

    As for how to achieve this... use these ear pads:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q5X3L1M

    Cut out the filter cloth piece and then replace it with this essentially:
    https://www.amazon.com/Black-Speaker-Stereo-Fabric-Repair/dp/B07F3YS99J/

    And as above, electrical tape piece right over the horizontal piece in the rear of the grill.

    Again, pics or it didn't happen:
    [​IMG]
     
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