there's a Stax distributor in singapore right?

[Blues 0]

ooh.. ya hor.. u all stay near each other.. quite convenient..

for me.. east to west.. lol.

but worth the trip definately, especially your cds collection are like.. most of my mp3s are there as part of your cd collection... alex toh, chage aska, nanase aikawa, zard, s.e.s, and much more..

woah.. I seldom see people who have similar music taste with me.. or at least similar music collection.

Now if only you can sell me some of those cds.. keke(cunning laugh)

[Mackie 0]

dream on baby......my cds have lived with me through different generations now. U were still a toddler when I'm listening to Matsuda Seiko, Nakamori Akina, Yuki Saito etc.

[tee 0]

Just switching back to the topic of Stax and equipped with info gathered from the other thread "Opening DT880...", i went to Kingsley yesterday with the hope of having a home trial. All my intention was to compare with my existing Nova earspeakers.

 

I spent about 2 hrs there, with very friendly help from Mikhail and Desmond, got into real good mood of listening to test discs with a pair of SR-404 Signature. The sound was ultra smooth, making your soundfield extended beyond your head. The decays from bass and strings were very refined, with second and third harmonics being presented in good proportions. Positioning of instruments (esp on ascoutic jazz from TBMs) could be felt in layers, demonstrating its ability to project and control depth and separations within soundfield. This handling is unique to bring listening closer to 3D feel !

 

On vocals, believed to be its best strength over all other dynamic cans, the voices have that airy feel, not just warm but emotionally charging, thanks to the electrostatic drivers. These traits are best demonstrated with Andrea Bocelli's Romanza (XRCD2- 461807-2) played on Bow's ZZ CDP. When it came to track 5 Caruso, the powerful tenor voice of Andrea was interposed with rhythmic piano, eliciting resonance and response with tear ! Track 15 Time to Say Goodbye (together with Sarah Brightman) was another tune that made your heart melt completely.

 

So far during the short period of auditioning, the only caveat was the slight lacking of bass. However, this did not hamper the enjoyment at all. It still offered the bass section, just that the exension was not too deep. Desmond indicated that the pair needs about 50 hours of run-in before full details and bass response could reach their optimised state.

 

Overall impression was so good that i decided that home trial is unnecessary. Possesion took over. The high satisfaction gained was rare in comparing with other experiences during this 6-month of hunting. It is a masterpiece that warrants Stax to have an unique status in the world of headphones and beyond.

[N@Z 0]

An interesting first impression tee. How did it sound in terms of soundstage scale? Compared with say the AKGK1000 or any other headphones you are familiar with.

 

How long do they allow you to home audition it?

[evil-zen 0]

hmmm how about those stax omega II with tubed amp?

[ablaze 0]

wow, you bought them!

what're you using to amp the 404?

[ablaze 0]

bump for tee

[tee 0]

Hi N@Z, Zen-san and ablaze,

 

K1000 will be akan datang...

 

Will leave Omega II for my audition after my retirement in 200x

 

SR-404 Signature is a very refined piece of instrument if you would permit me to call it. I would like to run it in for at least 80 hours before giving more comments. I am still using SRM-Xh as driver, hoping that i could get hold of a SRM-007t or SRM-717t (pre-owned maybe) one day as substitution. Here, i adopt the approach of upgrading in stages just like my usual system rollout. Or abalze do you have good any suggestion ?

[ablaze 0]

hehe, one often spouted piece of advice: go for the best you can afford straightaway. skip the intermediate steps, in the long run, you'll end up there anyway, but if you go straight, you'll save some money. of course this is easier preached than practised

 

hey tee, care to share the prices that Kingsley offers for the various models? thanks ("list" price vs bargainable price )

[tee 0]

Hi abalze,

 

well, i think you have got the list price (S$2600?) posted already for the set of SR-404 and SRM-006t. Desmond could reduce it to about S$2400 for their existing customers. So maybe if you want to buy it, i could go down with you for a chat with them. Or maybe you could try to bargain......but i would suggest using gentle approach with these nice guys as they would provide you with good after-sales service that are comparable if not better than good people at MBD...

 

Straight to the Top is a risky strategy unless you know exactly where you want to land and that there are no stronger or better opponents (i mean "components") around now or near future. Besides, you miss the chance of gaining good experience in trials and testing different grades of equipment and the mix n match thrills along the way.

 

So my personal practice is to do it in stages, provided you anticipate that it is not one of those rare pieces for collectors. Also, there should be enough potential demand / market liquidity for your existing one when you upgrade. I have already identified a potential buyer for the SRM-Xh who has lost his stax recently. Hence, the strategy is to source for a SRM-007t or 717t in a less-expensive manner (such as pre-owned or from Tokyo market this summer). And since SRM-007t is supposedly better than SRM-006t, you are actually building upgrading path for your next move : the ultimate Omega II in a few years' time.

[N@Z 0]

...

Straight to the Top is a risky strategy unless you know exactly where you want to land and that there are no stronger or better opponents (i mean "components") around now or near future. Besides, you miss the chance of gaining good experience in trials and testing different grades of equipment and the mix n match thrills along the way.

...

Quite right.

 

My approach is to take slightly bigger steps inbetween as you go up the ladder. Maybe in my case I can't differenciate smaller improvements but it still allow for gaining some experience.

[tee 0]

Yeap, N@Z, they say hi-end is no end, but the law of diminishing returns kicks in when you are close to the top or flagship model of a premium brand. And unless my ears (or psychoacoustic responses) could appreciate the differences, i would hesitate to plonk in my last dollars just to realise that last miles of sonic gain. Of course, there are exceptions like the case of SR-404 when emotion rules over my logic.

 

Hmm... i think the exit strategy is also another important consideration as certain brands can be quite easily disposed of in pre-owned markets when you upgrade. This could be an important decision when you need some funding to top up or buy new gadgets. This idea is particularly relevant for most of the Chinese equipment as the pre-owned markets lack familiarities and reviews on them, putting huge pressure on price discount to the sellers.

 

In the same breath, Stax has this limitation, plus the high premium paid at entry price for new owners and the restrictive pin-matching connection between the amp and headphones. So if you are ready to go for one, please be prepared for this scenario.

 

However, if you are looking at a pre-owned piece, then the premium would be much smaller and therefore your exit price discount would suffer less later on, giving you more rooms to justify the price you pay for these lovely earspeakers that you always wanted. Again, SR-404 was an exception for me that i just felt the need to possess it immediately. Luckily, i found a buyer for my existing piece as an incidental hedge.

 

 

 

[tee 0]

one little correction : the model SRM-717 should be without the "t" as it is a solid-state amp, not tubed amp as in the case of SRM-007t. Just confirmed.

[ablaze 0]

tee, did you happen to enquire about the individual driver unit prices, and individual earspeaker prices?

I'm particularly curious about the SRM-313 and the SR-404 combo

[tee 0]

Hi ablaze,

 

I did not enquire for all the prices, particularly in relation to SRM-313 and SR-303 combo (called "Classic"). However, i did learn from Desmond that the two tubed amps SRM-006t and SRM-007t would be priced at about $1.5 - 1.7k and S$3 - 3.2k respectively if each is sold separately from earspeakers depending on the prevailing exchange rate.

 

I think in view of substantial amount of cash outlay for these cans gems, it would be better to meet them in person and discuss about prices after auditioning. As i treat the system not as ordinary playmates but as precise instruments to gain more insights into my collection of softwares while deriving maximum joy in listening.