Possible long shot I think but are there any Stax Earspeaker users on here?

I have moved from a traditional speaker based system to headphones as they are more domestically compatible and I have just about finished off my casual beside setup but am thinking of a killer setup for kicking back to for serious listening.

Hence looking at some of the Stax offerings. Anyone own them who can share their thoughts?

They used to be the only choice for serious headphone users but that has changed massively since the rise in popularity of smart phones. Now everyone makes a high end headphone.

I audtioned Stax extensively when I first bought my high end cans. It was the second time I’d listened to them, the first having been about ten years earlier. The first time I listened to a pair they blew me away with their clarity, presence, transparency and sheer engaging musicality. The second time I heard them I thought they were every bit as good as the other pair i’d just taken off. My point being that, as I said, there are many other choices available these days.

One caveat to this is that I was not listening to their top end model, merely their mid range version (and I can’t even remember the model name, just the price point, which was around £1000 for the phones and the energiser).

In the end I went with a pair of Hi-Fi Man HE500s with a valve based headphone amp by Audio Icon. The HiFi Mans are built as planar magnetic transducers while the Stax are electrostaics. There are differences between the designs but their commonality is that they move air using a sheet of material rather than a cone.

Your bigget issue with buying high end phones is finding a way to test them. Not many places carry high end phones and even less will have a large array you can test. I was lucky that an online retailer I found was based just down the road and let me come over to demo a whole load, including the Stax. I took my own sourvce with me to make the process more realitic and came away very happy.

That said, I’d wager the selling price that you could simply buy whatever Stax set up you can afford (can and energiser) without trying them first and be very very happy. They are utterly sublime and mesmerising.

Last comment here is that the bigget issue with high end cans is that the level detail and intimacy they resolve is so far ahead of your speaker system that going back to that can be a dit of a dissapointment. But it seems like you won’t have that problem to contend with!

Thanks for your thoughts – I was thinking of the very top end stax. The 007 or 009.

I have a pair of beyerdynamic T90’s and an am thinking of upgrading those to T1 2nd gen. These are fed by an ifi set up and I’m delighted with them so know what a ‘good’ system sounds like.

This is my bedside set up and gets a listen every night and is perfect for high end casual listening.

I now want the best for serious listening sessions (the sort that involve a decent single malt) and short of the Sennheiser Orpheous 2 (£50k) or so then Stax it is I think.

I am within driving distance of Cheshire Audio and they stock them and I think Moorgate Acoustics here in Sheffield can get them for audition (they’re a stax dealer) so I may well give them a call.

You’re presumably aware that they need their own electrostatic amp to power them?

Of course if you’re looking at Stax then the cash is probably not the limiting factor!

I am yes – thank you.

And no, within reason budget shouldn’t be an issue. Music is incredibly important to me, it’s what’s got me through the last few weeks and I’m happy blowing a bit of inheritance on something like this.

My mum would approve also of my choice 🙂

I’ve listened once many years ago and thought them amazing. However I try to limit my headphone usage these days as I find they worsen my tinnitus more than listening via speakers.

One thing to note about the Stax cans is that they are about as open-backed as it gets, do you’ll have plenty of sound leakage/entry if using them in the same room as others.

One thing to note about the Stax cans is that they are about as open-backed as it gets, do you’ll have plenty of sound leakage/entry if using them in the same room as others.[/QUOTE]

If I had my way it would be in a separate building but alas no at least I’ve got a listening room I’d use…

Moorgate Acoustics here in Sheffield

Wow are they still trading. That’s happy news!

I was at uni in Sheffielf and back in 1995, just after I graduated, I bought my first serious system from them. MS10i speakers fed by Arcam Alpha 7 CD and Amp. Happy days they were.

Danny you’re clearly a man with serious, well informed and impecable taste so it would be terribly jejune of me to advise you further other than to say, knock yourself out and then tell us just how much fun you had doing it!

They are indeed although they have recently moved to Chesterfield Rd. Not been to their new store yet though.

I’ve spent more money that I ought there over the years 🙂

Have you heard the dummy head recordings Stax realeased in the mid eighties to showcase them?
Got a copy when I bought a set of Pro Lambdas in the eighties.
Truly amazing