[eskamobob1]

A load with similar impedance as a typical stat headphone but still I need it to be a voltage divider (to save my analyzer input) so I have a mathematical consideration, and inaudible distortion to me Personally is everything under the maximum cd quality dynamic range since I only listen to tidal cd quality. Now rip on.

If any and all distortion under 96dB is inaudible to you why even try new gear? We had that solved in the 80s

 

[573531]

If any and all distortion under 96dB is inaudible to you why even try new gear? We had that solved in the 80s

You will be surprised to know that at my normal listening volume most stax amps (all I measured) including some famously praised aftermarket ones here fail to meet this mark

 

[aokman]

You will be surprised to know that at my normal listening volume most stax amps (all I measured) including some famously praised aftermarket ones here fail to meet this mark

That part wouldn’t surprise me with all the toxicity in the estat community and lack of any detailed testing and comparisons of high end amps vs. cheaper options…

 

[eskamobob1]

That part wouldn’t surprise me with all the toxicity in the estat community and lack of any detailed testing and comparisons of high end amps vs. cheaper options…

Honestly, me either. While a lot of KG amps are subjectively better than stax made ones, they all fall absalutely flat conspired to similarly prices amps from other places. Z10e for example absalutely destroys bhse in terms of resultion/seperation/background blacckness/basicaly every technicality I can think of.

 

[eskamobob1]

You will be surprised to know that at my normal listening volume most stax amps (all I measured) including some famously praised aftermarket ones here fail to meet this mark

But you just said srd-7 from that time period meets it...

 

[iFi audio]

Folks, we have this now:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-ican-phantom-vanish-into-the-music.968343/

 

[aokman]

Honestly, me either. While a lot of KG amps are subjectively better than stax made ones, they all fall absalutely flat conspired to similarly prices amps from other places. Z10e for example absalutely destroys bhse in terms of resultion/seperation/background blacckness/basicaly every technicality I can think of.

Nice to hear someone talk about the Z10e because I really liked that one, wish someone had all these amps and the resources to pit them against each other in real world analysis rather than the usual “buy my 6k amplifier or don’t even bother with estats” garbage…

 

[BTD1]

Folks, we have this now:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-ican-phantom-vanish-into-the-music.968343/

Do you know when the manual will be available on the web site?

 

[BTD1]

Folks, we have this now:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-ican-phantom-vanish-into-the-music.968343/

Do you know of the lights from the circular display are dimmable?

 

[573531]

But you just said srd-7 from that time period meets it...

It’s not an amp, it’s basically passive, the thing which influences it the most in distortion is the amp you use it with.

 

[eskamobob1]

It’s not an amp, it’s basically passive, the thing which influences it the most in distortion is the amp you use it with.

Sure, but even super cheap amps now have greater than 96dB Snr and THD, so, if the transformer is transparent from your testing so should the entire chain be

 

[aokman]

It’s not an amp, it’s basically passive, the thing which influences it the most in distortion is the amp you use it with.

Sort of passive, it switches the speaker inputs / bypass also through the rotary switch which is also the mains switch on a seperate wafer but still in very close proximity then you have all the resistor compensation stuff going on which is directly in the signal path depending what variant of SRD you have.

Ripping out all the old wiring and going direct in and out of the transformers would be ideal but at the very least get rid of the switching…

Turns out that new phantom amp still has transformers buried underneath also. Thats a lot of money for a transformer based amp lol.

 

[iFi audio]

Do you know when the manual will be available on the web site?

Once the product is available for sale, its manual should go live then.

Do you know of the lights from the circular display are dimmable?

Pretty sure this display is dimmable, but I'll have to check that.

 

[etc6849]

Using the iFi iESL, I initially tried one AHB2 amps to power the Stax X9000's, but it wasn't loud enough. I then tried two AHB2 amps and was really pleased with the headroom (very seldom do I see the Benchmark lights clip anymore unless I have things uncomfortably loud).

Now, I finally have another way to power my electrostatic headphones, as I now own some original Stax SR-009's and a BHSE. To my ears, the BHSE is really transparent too.

However, the iFi iESL + two Benchmark AHB2 amps + DAC3 + HPA4 combo is so good, it may even surpass or at the very least be as good as the famous BHSE (or any electrostatic amp for that matter)!?! I wasn't expecting this, but with the Stax X9000, I can drive the BHSE into clipping while the iFi iESL combo pictured below still has around 3dB of headroom left.

With the Stax SR-009 headphones, both electrostatic setups have way more headroom than needed. No way would I turn up either until they clip.

I'm honestly not sure where to go from the iFi iESL + two Benchmark AHB2 amps + DAC3 + HPA4 combo. I doubt anything available is going to be as transparent and powerful. Hopefully one day we see someone with an Audio Precision analyzer setup a test circuit that can measure a setup like this, and compare it to some of the top electrostatic amps.

 

[Miiksu]

@etc6849 the heck? 190W at 4 ohm was not enough?