Good to see someone finally review these! Been looking to buy a used pair and barely anyone on youtube has done a video for the S version. Looking forward to the upcoming Susvara, Final D8000, LCD4 or Abyss headphone review ;)
I'm green with envy! 💚 Although I don't understand how you can sound demo Stax without listening to anything acoustic, orchestral, or jazz. That's what they're good at.
Will include in the sound check episode for sure. This is out of the box, clicking through tracks on roon. Stuff that I go to in order to get a quick assessment of how something is performing. The selections are stream of consciousness-- whatever I'm feeling in the moment. The sound check is where I do a deep dive across genres.
@@DirectorsGarage I could tell by your comments about the volume level. the DACT has a real slow ramp up so nobody complains about it getting loud too quickly.
Congrats.. now you've got the Blue Hawaii.... next for the shootout will be DanClark's Voce? Also maybe you can look into how to convert EL34 into KT88 much to your taste?
Hi William! Here's what's coming up: Shootout/sound check with the Thieaudio Legacy 4 (vs. Moondrop Starfield vs. Meze Rai Solo) Shootout/sound check with the Campfire Audio Andromeda (vs. Unique Melody MEST) Debut of another Summit-Fi over-ear. What's In The Box? Bargain Basement IEM What's In The Box? Audio 46 Mystery Box 4-Way Summit-Fi shootout (Stax vs. Utopia vs. Empyrean vs. ????(tease)) Top 5 IEMs What's In The Box? iFi Mystery Box The order is subject to change.
I have a pair-- UE's Reference Monitors-- the first ones that were tuned flat. I use them in the field all the time. I won't buy CIEMs for the purposes of this channel. Here's why: 1) UIEMS sound the same, pretty much, no matter who buys them. Everyone has at least a chance at the same experience. CIEMs have more variables and can sound radically different depending on how the impression was taken, and who is doing the mold. 2) I turn over a TON of headphones for this channel. If I buy a CIEM, I'm stuck with it forever. That's not good when you want to get product in and out the door. 3) They are a horrible investment. UIEMs retain their 2/3rds of their value, generally. CIEMs are worth a fraction of what you bought them for the second you pay for them. 4) (and perhaps this should be first) I love sharing experiences. It's my favorite part of the hobby to sit someone down who has never heard anything with a sonic signature beyond white Applebuds and let them really listen to something special for the first time. Their reactions are disbelief. I can do that with UIEMs. With CIEMs the experience is for me and me alone. That is nowhere near as fun as sharing. At work, my friends are constantly bugging me on the set-- What's the latest? What's new? What's in your bag? They know I'm carrying something great-- and I keep extra sets of eartips on hand, just in case. Terrific fun-- which is the whole point of the hobby, for me, anyway.
I have the same set up :) you have to let the tubes warm up for about 30-60mins before you get power and it sounds better. Between this and the wa33+1266 I'm quite set for bass and detail
@@DirectorsGarage tube rolling is a huge rabbit hole Michael. Ask some and they prefer different sounds generated by different tubes. I found the late 1950s / early 1960s Amperex (Holland) brown-base EL34 to sound absolutely superb (xf5 and xf6 codes). They give it more bass and calm the highs a bit. The driver flex issue your hearing is par for the course though :) and the hot earpads, I didn't feel too much in all honesty but hey, we're all different. I have the same setup with tt2 and mscaler.
@@Matthew-oh1wg Thanks. All of those Amperex/Telefunken/Fisher/Dynaco tubes are from Mullard in Holland. They just slapped their name on them. I think Zenith also got their supply from Mullard. I loved the metal base GZ34 and preferred the older metal base to the brown, it was my favorite rectifier tube (probably still is, though I've been on the Takatsukis for a while in my Woo amp. I wonder if the metal bass EL34 would be as good? If I could figure out how to easily change the ear pads I'd do it in a second, but from everything I've read, it's a difficult process to do. I'd love to hear these with a Dekoni pad or something breathable. I am mystified by why they'd take such a world class product and build it in the worst way imaginable. It's like: Cups by STAX, Body by Fisher Price. Someone wrote that they put all the cost into engineering the drivers-- but at this price-- I think most listeners would be willing to shell out another $1000 for better materials. The driver flex is real. Moving my jaw will induce a pop in one side or the other. What the SR-009S does well -- is insanely great.
@@DirectorsGarage the headfi thread for the bhse has sooooo many tube recommendations I think I'd be spending more on tubes vs the amp one were to try it all out :) it's a never ending quest unfortunately haha. The tatsukis are great on the wa33. But to be frank, I'm pretty happy with the standard wa33 as it is. Certainly better than tt2 and that's great already lol. As for the earpads on the stax, yeah I agree. But it's the same with their cable. It's almost purposefully made difficult. But then look at the lcd4 and lcd4z. They glue their pads and you void their warranty if you try to replace it yourself. I agree that these are poor design choices and their choice of lambskin could definitely be better.
You should really try the SR-007 next. It's supposed to have better tuning for music enjoyment. Mk1 is vintage and many Stax collectors still consider it the best headphone in the world, Mk2 is the current model.
Michael, I am of the opinion that the Utopia is the greatest headphone in existence, better than any planar magnetic or e-stat implementation, simply for the reason that I believe that restricted excursion of the driver leads to dynamic compression. I've stopped looking and lusting after other gear once I got the Utopias. I don't have as much interest anymore in the Susvara, Abyss, Shangri-La Jr, and SR-009S. That being said, how did you feel about the dynamic range of the Stax compared to the Utopia?
I haven't compared the two. I'm going to be doing a shootout soon where I look at all of these top-tier headphones and talk about their strengths and weaknesses in comparison. I try not to jump the gun. I agree, the Utopia is one of the greatest headphones. So is the STAX and the Empyrean. There will be pros and cons to each-- and areas where one out-performs the other. Of course all of this is amp dependent. The Utopia may sound better or worse depending on how you are driving it. It's my current open back favorite, but I have 3 headphones that I've never put head-to-head with the Utopia. One of these I've yet to show on the channel (tease alert!). Stay with the channel, and thanks for watching!
The Joseph Grado Hp-1000 improved model (www.head-fi.org/threads/my-new-joseph-grado-hp2i-hp2is.428230/ ) is probably the best dynamic headphone. Utopia has a similar sound signature to the Sr009s, but the Sr009s is faster, more detailed and has the ability of a bigger soundstage. (I own all 3)
I have small Stax SR-002 and L300 limited edition - love them both! Small ones i use at work, they do not distract me as much as big ones. It is my kind of sound! clean, precise, coherent, airy... Bass is a bit lean. But I am ok with that. It is like japan food: Not much fat (on one side no boomy bass on other maybe a bit dry) amazing textures and a lot of very high quality high tones (like high quality soy sauce, not like too much offensive salt) I got my L300 limited plus energiser used for 1000 euros... Wander what would 20x of money bring me? I hope I will have a chance to hear it one day. Anyone thinking about getting STAX - any model: cheap or expensive - i confirm the hype.
@@semccoin Correct, at least not without introducing distortion. The manufacturer (HeadAmp) contacted me and said they have a slow ramp up on the attenuator, because they were worried about people blowing out their ears. I wish I could get a little more volume out of the BHSE, but it's not lacking and even with the pot open there I didn't hear any noise being introduced. I am surprised that I need to open the volume pot that much to get to listening level.
Benchmark + Susvara will beat this handily and at 1/2 the price. Dealers will heavily discount the Susvara (you just have to ask). Benchmark is pretty much fixed in price, can save a little on the used market.
it hurt me to see the way u put the amp when showing us the rear & front of the amp, u might damage the potentio and the rear jacks when u put them to your desk, coz i treat my baby stuff like my baby. well i guess u treat your self for your birthday 😉. not long before 100 episode, I am all the way with you mr michael! BRAVO
Ha! I was resting it on a corner of the amp so the "goods' weren't taking the weight. The desk is soft pine, too (and really old!). Much softer than the metal. Thanks (as always) for watching!
Love your channel but please, please, please tell me that there's some sort of time lapse thing going on & you're just not ripping open boxes & listening straight away!
There will be a 4-way shootout coming where I compare all of my top open-back headphones. I still have one to reveal! Stay tuned-- and thanks for watching!
There will be a 4-way shootout coming where I compare all of my top open-back headphones. I still have one to reveal! Stay tuned-- and thanks for watching!
