Having ascertained that both 'phones performed identically for all reasonable intents and purposes, I now avoided countless unpluggings and simply swapped ear pieces on the go, with both amps fed from the same source via identical runs of Analysis Plus Solo Oval. Though not as joined at the hip as the earspeakers proper, the amps turned out to be closer than expected. Assigning sharp/dry vs mellow/warm qualifiers would be factual and in concert with popular notions. Alas, you should know that this arbitrary erection of specific camp sites, on either side of the river called neutrality, here would make for a pretty darn narrow river - with both parties camping at its very edges and shooting cherry pits at each other, for good-natured fun and games (and with very decent hit rates).


"Bosphorus Winds" [Simsim, Ensemble FisFüz, Alula 1038, 2003] is an instrumental track in a Bustan Abraham vein - clarinet, oud, percussion, cello and upright bass in the service of a Middle-Eastern/Jazz hybrid that enjoys parallels in the work of Anouar Brahem and Dhafer Youssef. The 006t was more midrangey, with slightly curtailed cymbal extension compared to the 313. This gave Annette Maye's clarinet more woodiness like a Wurlitzer while the slimmer, drier mien of the 313 suggested a more nasal Müller/Bremen instrument. The plucked strings of Karim Othman-Hassan's oud exuded more snap and initial zing on the 313, the wooden sticks cracked harder, the low bass benefitted from a few added degrees of definition. Most telling? The background hiss on the 313 was entirely masqued by the triode-driven machine.


"Premonition" is a Russian nouveau-folk song with a very emphatic female lead vocalist and rich male chorus, on the album Far Away by Obereg [Alula 1034, 2003]. Concentrating on the silvery Carlie Simon-esque vocals, the 313 struck me as a bit more nimble and resolved, avoiding the subliminal and very pretty but less precise cotton candy effect of the tubes. When the ensemble's three Russian males entered the picture, the transistor piece offered better separation where the triodes homogenized the proceedings and washed out differentiators a bit. I found myself developing a small but persistent preference for the Classic system. Was Swami Salami guilt-tripping me with something along the lines of "bubi, you know what kind of gift the saved $1,000 could buy for momma?" Though I wasn't in the market, I did have to admit that I'd pick the $1,425 Classic setup over the $2,365 Signature.


The justification for said preference comes down to this: You get virtually identical 'phones; one input seems completely sufficient for the task at hand (and switching leads for those rare occasions of source swapping is clearly harmless enough); sonic finesse is every bit on the same level as the pricier spread but offers a more neutral, frequency-extreme honesty which maximizes the awesome detail retrieval and fatigue-free brand of ultra-transparency that seems intrinsic to the STAX ear-speaker recipe. To confirm the truth-of-timbre aspect, I next cued up La Voix de l'Emotion by Montserrat Figueras [Auvidi/Fontalis 9901, 1996], spouse of Jordi Savall, both of Hésperion XX fame and celebrated as two of the most important artists in the authentic Early Music/Medival sector. With Jordi's viole de gambe and soprano, Hopkinson Smith's vihuela, Andrew Lawrence-King's harpe and psaltérion and José Miguel Moreno's guitarra romantique, this would offer ample opportunity to explore the distinct while gentle timbres of pre-amplification/pre-rock-concert instruments; never mind delighting in Montserrat's immaculate soprano and the accompanying voices of Maria Cristina Kiehr (soprano), Francesc Garrigosa (tenor) and Daniele Carnovich (bass).


While the liner notes don't divulge recording location, the 313 unearthed more complete evidence of a spacious environs with modest reverb times than the tubed piece. With its subdued reflectional cues, the latter's atmospherics were drier while the compacted spaciousness added a modicum of warmth in trade for ambient resolution. With the psaltérion, this nudged the zither-like portrayal of the 313 into harp territory, making the transistors more true to life. A listener purely concentrating on Figuera's soprano might have commented on the trace of becoming sweetness the 6FQ7s brought to the party. Another listener focusing on the trading of lines between different vocalist would have spotted that the crisper outlines of the solid-state system made distinction between them easier.


With the highlighted sampling of CDs thus far, the astute reader will have automatically appreciated how the resolving power of the STAX 'phones made music that was far less complex and occasionally outright simple -- when compared to my favored fare in our world music pages -- a natural destination, precisely because this level of detail retrieval transformed material that previously might have appeared bland or boring into something more interesting, sophisticated and enjoyable (unlike my wife, 'prehistoric' music and I usually don't see eye to eye at all). Lest this sound exclusionary, rest assured that the same penchant for disentangling the finest of nuances made these devices equally adept at convoluted raunchy stuff. Granted, electrostatic or planar magnetic speakers don't enjoy a reputation as head-banging rock'n'rollers for good reasons. However, placing the panels within an inch of your ears and thus reducing stroke requirements went a lot further than you might be inclined to believe unless you've heard it for yourself.


That said, the AKG K-1000s outperformed the STAX 'phones in soundstaging due to their off-the-ears + toe-out feature that allows some natural inter-channel cross feed. They were also more energetic and extended on top, for a Triangle-type tonal balance. The bass -- especially with the panels in parallel --had more wallop and punch though the Grado RS-1s went even further. While it seems trite for its obviousness, the sparkly AKGs were more dynamically engaging and thus a good approximation for a hornspeaker adrenaline junkie like yours truly. The STAXs were unbeatable champs at late-night low-level radiance and would appeal to folks who -- surprise, surprise -- fancy full-range non-hybrid MartinLogans, SoundLabs, Magneplanars or InnerSounds: Transparency by the truckload while not the last word in grab-ya jump factor.


Where the Japanese lightweights clearly outclassed the heavier German cans was in long-term wearing comfort. Someone with a big head like your scribe will experience the temple pads of the K-1000s with a significant amount of pressure that also transmit vibrations directly into the skull. I've unsuccessfully tried to bend their resilient red straps outwards to increase the low-pressure space between the contact points - one of those instances where concerns over brute force breaking a treasured possession handicaps ultimate success. I'd characterize the electrostatic earspeakers as slightly warm compared to the Ks, with a different power response in the treble. This fine shading is enhanced by the 006t tube driver pairing. But as the earlier twin-camp simile on the river indicated, the differences between the two STAX systems aren't large and remain in the percentile range of less than 15%.


The 006t's XLR input offers no sonic performance advantages over its single-ended terminals, nor does it incur the expected 6dB increase in gain. The only real advantage the more expensive Signature system enjoys over the Classic in my estimation? Compatibility with balanced sources that do sound better in that hookup or don't feature any RCA outputs at all. The sonic differences are subtle as described and not a matter of quality as pricing might indicate. Rather, they are a mild function of listener bias, with this tube hound actually preferring the 3030. That makes the Classic system the clear winner in my book.


For $1,425 plus a good source, you can acquire an ultra-refined, supremely comfortable, utterly non-fatiguing high-resolution transducer that's arguably the closest thing yet to feeling neurally hardwired direct-to-disc. Devotees of sock'em fare would be surprised how well these designs accommodate it. And, they might find an even closer synergy with a highly dynamic design like the AKGs or the Senn 600s driven by Tyll Hertsens' BlockHead. Aficionados of the human voice, acoustic instruments and classical music will find the STAX recipe impossible to resist - you haven't heard detail sans room interference until it spills into your ear canal with the unforced immediacy of a micron-thick sheet of nothing.


Wearing my old marketeer's hat for a second, I predict that the Classic system will be discontinued soon. It's too darn good to justify spending the extra money on the Signature. Since audio is a business, a diligent company manager will shortly realize -- if he hasn't already -- that unless he deliberately crippled the 3030's performance, the Classic will cripple sales of the Signature. If I were you and the above descriptions indicated that this type of fast, transparent, precise sound was up your alley, I wouldn't wait too long to place my order. There's no $1,425 speaker in existence that comes even close to what the SR-303 does - never mind include the perfectly matched integrated amplifier.


Would I purchase the STAX Classic myself? In a heartbeat - if I didn't already own the more expensive AKG/Unico combo. While the latter's outa-the-head soundstaging and lit-up dynamic excitement rock my personal world of bias and preference, the STAX's supreme long-term comfort without an iota of listener fatigue would outweigh those arguments if headphone listening were my primary mode of ingesting the tunes. With my secondary usage habits, I'm set already - but that doesn't mean that I can't enthusiastically recommend the SR-303/SRM-313 Series II combo to music lovers who are still looking. Consider too that this 65-year old firm by now pretty much owns the market on electrostatic earspeakers. There really is nowhere else to go. The only question becomes which of the four current models to pick. Seeing that today's samples constituted the two most popular ones, our review should have settled that insecurity: Go 3030 - it's an instant classic that's clearly underpriced!


Manufacturer's website
US distributor's website