Headphone listening - Which way is up??

There is a real mixed view about Stax with some people loving it and others not so enamoured so I am buying a secondhand Stax 3030 set-up tomorrow to make up my own mind!
Will post some views shortly!

 

You had better make sure you hear some others as well then! I expect the Stax will be better than the HD600's but others can better the Stax considerably. Enjoy

 

Stax 3030 - Initial reaction

I got the Stax 3030 from a guy in Rutland who had bought them in July this year but had not really used them so these are not yet “broken-in†These have the solid state Class A energizer. I am told that the difference between the more expensive valve and the solid state energizers are negligible with some people actually preferring the less expensive solid state one so I went with this.
My initial reaction to the first listen was fairly negative! The sound seemed to lack “body†and “dynamics†– the sound of drumbeats etc seemed not very realistic. I began to understand the seemingly contradictory comments about the bass performance of these headphones. The bass was definetly there if you listened for it but there was still an underlying perception that it was lacking.
On the plus side everything positive that I had heard about these phones was there… the transparency, the detail, the effortlessness, the treble quality and the vocals were the best I have ever heard!
Further extended listening and experimentation showed that these phones were incredibly sensitive to positioning. Yes that's right!! These are not called earspeakers for nothing!! I found that by lifting the bottom front corner of each earpiece by a centimeter or so totally transformed these phones. Having created little pads to do this and listening, the Stax have body, dynamics and bass equal to or better then the HD600/X-CanV2 whilst not compromising on any of its traditionally known pluses. I now began to understand what the fuss is all about with these electrostatics.
With this experience and hindsight, it is clear why the AKG K1000's have the amount of adjustability designed into their earpiece positioning….after all, every head and ear is different!!
So have I found headphone nirvana? The honest answer is I don't know! I would definitely like to listen to the K1000's and understand what they are all about!
Anybody wanting to swop K1000's for Stax for a few weeks????

 

That's an excellent description - of what they sound like 'cold'. Stax need to be left to charge for an hour or two, just like electrostatic speakers. ONce on they can be safely left permanently powered up, which is recommended.

Then they make everything else sound broken.

 

Yes its true they did get better when left switched on.... but even after several days I was not still happy with them.

The Sennheiser He60/Hv70 that I had years ago - also electrostatics - were massively superior to the stax, and I'm kicking myself I let them go for a stupid price as they are now selling 2nd hand for what they cost new 10 years ago.

 

Stax are keepers

Decided to keep the Stax so the HD600/XCanV2 are up for sale....see private ads if you are interested!

 

What does PRaT mean?

 

http://www.zerogain.com/forum/glossary.php?t=P