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RE: Sorry about that...

Posted by John Elison (A) on October 17, 2019 at 10:48:32

In Reply to: Sorry about that... posted by EdAInWestOC on October 17, 2019 at 06:59:37:

Hi Ed,

My FiiO FH7 earphones arrived today and they sound great right out of the box. Perhaps they'll improve with break-in, but I'm perfectly happy with their sound quality right now. They sound slightly better than the FH5 earphones with more robust bass and slightly extended highs. I really couldn't ask for more in a $450 headphone.

Last night I compared my Koss ESP/950 electrostatics with my FiiO FH5's and although the two definitely sounded different, I found the FH5's just as enjoyable for extended listening. The Koss electrostatics definitely had more sparkle in the highs but they lacked adequate bass response. The FH5's had more natural and robust bass with highs that were perfectly acceptable so I really preferred the FH5's for extended listening. Consequently, I definitely prefer the FH7's over both of them although I'm sure the Koss have a bit more sparkle in the highs. If they only had a bit more bass the Koss electrostatics would be just about perfect.

My guess is that the top-of-the-line Stax might just be perfect. However, they should be very close to perfect for their price. I would really love to own them but I just can't justify their price. Regardless of how accurate and perfect they might sound, they're still headphones and I've never heard a pair of headphones that I preferred over high-quality speakers for extended listening. Still, I would love to own the new Stax. Check out the link below if you want to drool. ;-)

> To tell the truth I don't really care for IEMs. It is a thing I have about sticking something in my ears.

I've never enjoyed the kind of earbuds that wedge into the outer ear but for some odd reason I find the ones that fit into the ear canal quite comfortable. The cable on FiiO earphones wrap around the top of the ear to support the weight of the earphone and the part that fits into the ear canal doesn't bother me at all. I think they're actually more comfortable than any full-size headphone I've tried including the Stax Lambda Pro's I owned some years ago.

> I might... [buy Stax SR-009S headphones] ...one day but I also have a bug to get back into RTR after all of these years.

I know what you mean. I loved reel-to-reel back in the day. I owned two Revox A77 tape decks and I knew them inside and out. I aligned their heads and made all internal adjustments to achieve perfect performance. I was a PMEL technician in the Air Force with access to a fully equipped electronic precision measurement equipment laboratory. I bought a brand new Revox A77 at the audio club on Bitburg Air Base and took it directly to the PMEL. I started with head alignment and went through all the electronic adjustments -- bias, bias traps, equalization and frequency response, etc. I set it up for Scotch 207, which I believed was the very best tape at the time.

Nowadays, open reel tape is just way too expensive. It costs between $50 and $100 for a 10.5" reel of top quality quarter inch 1-mil blank tape that provides only 48-minutes of music in half-track stereo at 15-ips. New prerecorded tapes cost between $200 and $400 each. It's just not worth it. If you could get over your prejudice against digital I think you'd find that DSD sounds as good or better than the best reel-to-reel tape available.

I have a very good friend who might just be the foremost authority for the repair and restoration of Studer tape recorders in the Northwestern United States. He wants me to get involved with reel-to-reel again and he's even offered to give me a fully restored Studer tape recorder. However, it's just not feasible for me considering the price of media. He also owns a TASCAM DA-3000 in addition to a Korg DSD recorder and when he makes a digital copy of a high-speed analog master tape, he can't hear the difference. Unless you're rich, and my friend definitely has some money, it's just not economically feasible to get involved with reel-to-reel these days.

Best regards,
John Elison

• Stax T80009S Supreme Electrostatic System   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 10/17/19

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