Z Review - STAX L700 and L500

Got your email. Thanks!

I emailed you.

ZeosPantera

Ive tried emailing you but don't know if you've gotten them? If you're still interested, please let me know. My email is Billy.castaneda@yahoo.com

Yes. Email me here SteveCiofaloAudio@gmail.com

ZeosPantera

Would you be interested in doing a review of the AKG K812?

Hello, Maybe it interests you. <a href="https://www.head-fi.org/p/1189/mixcder-is-looking-for-us-and-uk-reviewers" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.head-fi.org/p/1189/mixcder-is-looking-for-us-and-uk-reviewers</a>

Yeah that is a good enough setup to feed the 353 and your new HD6xx. You definitely want a combo that has full line-outs and that does. Also welcome aboard!

ZeosPantera

Hey Zeos, I am that Sennheiser HD580 guy. Thank you so much for bringing back my passion for music listening. I have a huge collection of self ripped CD collection lossless on iTunes and do some PC gaming. Before I buy the Stax L700 and 353x. I need to buy a desk DAC/ headphone AMP (combo?) for my new purchased Massdrop HD6xx, which the DAC will be shared later for both head sets. After seeing your STAXipede video. Would JDS Labs O2+ODAC revB. be a good (objective) choice for this case?

So you are my father?

ZeosPantera

lol, no insult taken.

ZeosPantera

The plastic folding kind just covered in Yoga mats and wrapped in black tape to hide that fact.

ZeosPantera

Hey, Zeos just curious, what kind of table/desk are you using?

The Grass is always greener. So burn all the grass and start living in the desert.

ZeosPantera

I added their old URL to the video description. I can swap it out with this. Thanks.

ZeosPantera

The PadMod is availble on SoCas3D.com btw (link is missing ;) )

Casper Mønsted

Ah, yes, thank you. didn't know you could use a switcher like that in reverse. Not used to usb connected devices on audio equipment except for dacs. I'm an old school guy, used to press buttons. I have a laptop/dac/headphone amp situation, but its now grown into phono pre/tube phone pre/ss headphone amp/balanced Headphone amp/tube headphone amp/energizer, oh my. Mix in a few dacs and its getting to be quite headphile salad. learning how to serve it fresh

Jan Miller

Yes. Foobar2000 <a href="http://www.foobar2000.org/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.foobar2000.org/</a> is the software. I have multiple USB sound devices hooked to my laptop. Foobar can choose which one it outputs to via a menu OR you can set a hotkey to swap devices. Most RCA switches can also be used in reverse. Able to swap one input to multiple outputs. There is no directionallity on them.

ZeosPantera

Sorry, novice here, don't understand, foobar2000 is the software yes? what hardware are you using or recommend (rca switcher) that has enough outputs to switch between multiple amps? Is the hardware on your sound card? Most rca switchers I see have multiple inputs for sources, but lack the amount of outputs needed for multiple amps. Didn't mean for the question to get out of hand, but I'd like to understand the mechanics of your set up (with the hope that the part I'm not getting can be explained without too much effort).

Jan Miller

I use Foobar2000 to swap the sound devices it uses IE Dac's. For amplifiers any RCA switcher will swap back and forth. It depends on how many amps you have and want to swap to.

ZeosPantera

sorry, not in this video, for swapping DACS or amps

Jan Miller

Keep in mind Carl, an audio reviewer for a magazine/blog has to try and turn words on a page into feelings. I believe this is the case with most of the reviewers in the Head-Fi, InnerFidelity, and CNet communities. Tyll tries to stay "objective" but he loves the M50x over the MDR-Z1R, and I can say after owning both of them that he's full of shit. Jude at Head-Fi loves the Stax SR-009 and says in a full system, competes with the HE-90 (the original Sennheiser Orpheus) and falls short of the HE-1 (the new Orpheus that Zeos heard at NYC). Maybe I'm the exception to the rule, or maybe Steve is, but there's no way I'd ever feel my Skullcandy Aviators are missing something after listening to any current flagship. For some real-life examples, I had listened to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories through a few different speaker/headphone combinations and never really had my socks blown off. I then decided to warm up my Mjolnir2 Tube/GungnirMB stack with my HD800's for 2 days playing pink noise to get my audiophile on and purposely listened to other music leading up to this big listening session through the Samsung earbuds I received with my phone. I cried multiple times because of what I heard in R.A.M. that night, but continue to appreciate the album to this day because I can start to make out some of those micro-details on cheaper systems because I heard it once on a great one. So, in my experience, listening to Focal Utopia's/LCD-4's/HE-1000's/etc. doesn't make my old reliable $100 (or cheaper) headphones inadequate. However, it feels like on those different flagship headphones, I'm looking at a piece of music through a lens, and maybe the voicing of the headphone brings out parts I've never heard before. Or, maybe it presents a certain passage so well, I feel like I'm on ecstasy and need to rock out for a bit. Whatever you decide to do next I hope opens new doors to your listening sessions.

I had the L700's here for a full month packed away in the box waiting to ship (had to finish with some IEM's).. Never once unpacked it to have a re-listen. Too distracting.

ZeosPantera

Wait in this video? You talking about swapping DAC's on the computer or RCA's or what?

ZeosPantera

Basically the reason we have hypercars. Everyone needs to start with an old buick.

ZeosPantera

Excellent thoughts well-made and I totally agree from my standpoint. I suppose getting down to the crux of the matter is a sentence from Steve Guttenbergs review last year of the L500. He said that after hearing headphones like these it is hard going back to dynamic drivers, no matter how high-end they may be. I suppose it's a fear that after listening to these I would feel something huge missing when I went back to my T1's or any of my others, M1060's & Fostex planers included. Saying that, at the moment the headphone I'm most wanting to add to my collection is the HiFiman HE-6. But finding a nice condition one that doesn't cost as much as this L700 is virtually impossible it seems.

Carl Abudephane

Z, real quick what are you using for your source selector?

Jan Miller

Exactly, so your end game is to own absolutely fucking everything. My kind of guy.

Jan Miller

Oh and I agree

Milton Dumay

Wow, that's deep

Milton Dumay

My girlfriend thinks I have a problem because I own about 40 headphones. They range in price from throw in a backpack cheap to pelican case protection. Honestly, every headphone has its quirks to make it special. So yeah, Stax may be the best, but I don't want the best all the time. Sometimes, I like listening to my Beats Solo 2 for the on-ear isolation. Sometimes, I like HD800's for classical/analytical applications. Sometimes, it's my modded M1060's because I want to look silly in public with XB1000 pads. Everything in my arsenal has a purpose, and pairs with specific pieces of gear and music. If I stuck with what was my best 5 years ago when I only had 3 headphones in total, I'd probably grow old of the HD800 presentation and want something else so I could appreciate my "best" again. To me, as cliché as it is, the best things in life are best in moderation. The L700s, or whatever is best to your ears, should be special occasion listening so the magic is never lost.

Great review. My first and over-riding thought when watching this is, would owning these genuinely have a serious negative effect on the other headphones that one ones? Will listening to any other of ones collection result in such dissatisfaction with them that they are essentuallly done with. I own a fair few headphones, some obviously better than others, but I enjoy listening to them all for they all bring something different to the table. But would having these render them all so lacking that one simply does not want to listen to them anymore?

Carl Abudephane

I feel sorry for the guy that sent the LCD-4's only to get shut down by Zeos and the Stax L700 and 353x energizer combo.

I feel sorry for all the rich bastards who have the money to just go end game immediately and miss the journey up the ranks.

Jan Miller

As it will hopefully be mine. The LCD4 are equally impressive but at $4,000 and much heavier it is an easy win for the stax.

ZeosPantera

Wow. That's one hell of a statement. Well I just opened a new savings account and named it "stax/divorce fund". Here we go down the rabbit hole. I am so glad I waited before buying anything else after my Jot/HD650 combo. This will most definitely be my end game rig.

Killdozer

I mean their potential almost lost on me. They impress me from the weakest amp through just about any dac. So the Dac in the JOT through the 353 will still be leaps above what most consider normal for these.

ZeosPantera

Would you say the dual-mono dac in the Jot is good enough to enjoy the L700/353X to their potential? This is my only gripe with the Jot, the lack of a line out. But then again, Schiit would be cannibalizing their $849 balanced DAC, if you could get the same thing plus a bad ass amp for $500.

Killdozer