Headphone Heights

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Original Message

Stax Amps - What to do ?

Posted by Grant99 on September 14, 2020 at 16:21:41:
I have a beloved pair of SR-404s I have had for years. Also a pair of SR-007 Omega Mk.2s and an old pair of SR-4 electrets. Also the Koss electrostatics as well.

So I have used...the Stax 006t amp, a McAlister amp, and the Woo Audio energizer WEE with my speaker amp, which is a MFA D75 power. The MFA is basically a push pull class AB amp running 2 pairs of 6550/KT88 tubes.

So...I could never get the volume with SR-404s with the Stax amp. When I went to the McAlister amp, it was a big difference with the 404s. Much more detail, more "air" and you can run them a lot louder. However, I still didn't seem to have enough thump to really drive the SR-007s with this set up, which are regarded as one of the hardest e-stat phones to drive, can't get the volume.

Then came the day when I plugged in the WEE energizer to my MFA amp; it was night and day ! With the SR-007s the volume is there, and there is more detail, more air, more bass, more fat in the midrange,more imaging, actually, these headphones sound better with this set-up in every way in every aspect.

Also to my surprise, the SR-404s sound even better with the WEE/MFA set up; more detail; more air, for example.

So all of this leads me to think...perhaps for best results with SR-007s you really need a good amp, based on 6550/KT88 tubes ?

I know there are a number of companies making amps for e-stats...that seem to all based on the EL34 tube. Isn't the 6550 tube much more powerful, in the appropriate circuit with the adequate power supply ? I am sure some of these sound good...but can they really drive the SR-007s to their potential ?

I don't really want to take a chance and pick up a EL34 based amp, which I am sure would be good, but find out it doesn't quite drive the SR-007s the way they need. So for now I will stick with my current set up with the WEE and the MFA.

Grant