Stax SR-L700 / SR-L500

While I agree that it's not likely that the overall characteristics of the headphone are being altered to any significant extent by the amps you're using, I do agree with 3XO that you're seriously picking some of the worst performers to do your comparisons and they are contributing to poor performance.

And yeah, that plastic enclosure... never has been a strong suit of the Lambda and not likely helping either.

Of course, I'm speculating a bit as I've not heard the L700, but I've heard a few other STAX, amps and headphones.

 

Measurements of @cocolinho 's SR-L700 : http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...xy-the-stax-compendium.1976/page-4#post-54794

SR507 vs SR-L700 :



Surprising bass Roll off ( and the seal for 507 and L700 is the same on my coupler) . significantly less High mids. ( Take care of the scale. I choosed it to emphasize differences )

A few subjective impressions : Overally, I agree with OJ's impressions including the feeling of so-so bass quality ( i'm using a Stax amp : SRM-T1 ) . Very very nice FR, better soundstage that any other I heard from a Lambda but still a bit Lambda-ish. Resolution is not up the best offers. It's definitely a Lambda and not an Omega "lite" . IMO. Much better than the SR-507 taht sounds shouty and too forward compared to its new sibling. Bass is indeed not perfect. Slight boominess and "one note" nature. Nothing that bothersome but not the best bass ever. Somewhat fun and engaging though. Not "reference" bass. The measured roll off is hearable when I listen to a sweep tone but I never felt it could be a dealbreaker when I listened to real music including Electronic music or soundtracks.

Very easy to like headphones, sounds very good with everything, somewhat relaxing but not laid-back sound sig. Considering the price of this L700 and the fact it seems easy to drive with an affordable amp, it's a Highly recommended headphone. I loved to listen to that one.

Stax just created its own HD6X0

 

It's tough to analyze the STAX measurements. I owned the SR-507 and got rid of it because it had too much boom and sizzle. The sizzle is more evident in the distortion (super sharp 7kHz spike) and treble ridges in the CSD. The L700 has much smoother treble on CSD. Sometimes sharp dips in the FR are really peaks. CSD is good to confirm if these are peaks.

 

Subjectively , the SR-L700 rounds circles around the SR-507 in term of FR. I borrowed a pair to compare directly. No doubt. The only odd point is the bass roll off. I don't think it'a measurement artefact but who knows.

 

Could be the shape of the pads just being slightly different enough to not confirm to the plate, but perhaps conforming to the head better.

 

Actually, my coupler is soft and conforms to the pad . I made this coupler especially for Stax Lambdas. See SR-507 measurements for reference : seal is perfect.

 

Weird. Maybe L700 was designed to be intentionallly lossy?

 

That's what I precisely think. But there's no port i can detect (a la 007mkII) and I didn' want to dismantle this L700 @cocolinho sent me for a few days.

 

Dunno why then. It' would be the first Lambda that does not seal perfectly on my coupler.

 

I think you solved the mystery. It could even be that the pads were not snapped on perfectly in place leaving a small gap in a corner.

 

Yup. Stats and especially Lambdas are hard to measure and measurements won't represent accurately what an average listener will get IRL. Considering those facts, I made a choice and i'm using a coupler puposedly designed to conform to the pads. It's a choice and it works for all Lambdas hence the perfect bass extension showed in all Lambdas measurements I provided . the L700 is the first one where I get such a Roll off.

Pads are indeed the better suspect. I checked all what I could and didn't see any issue but I didnt remove pads . This L700 is already shipped so I can't do more experiment.

I hope some other measurements will pop up in next weeks.

 

Definitely less Shouty than the 507 ( by a large margin) . See the difference between 1 and 3 khz that explains partly what I heard but I definitely think one of the most important change is the fact the driver si more away from the ear. ( + 6mm) and more angled .