I'm wondering how compatible these are with Naim equipment. What socket do they feed out of from the pre? What are the positives and negatives of using this type of headphone with its own amp in a Naim system?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Le Chef

Joel B kindly leant me a pair of Stax headphones when my 135s were sick. The energiser unit has phono connectors, and they are happy to run off the preamp tape outputs. A standard tape lead such as the ones available from Chord would enable connection. I just plugged the energiser direct from my CD player (my preamp was out being recapped) and they sounded great.

Stax are fantastic headphones, they are fast, open and clear, though if I remember correctly Joel found them to sound a bit off at higher volumes (I listen to music quite quietly so heard no problems). The downside is that they are really quite uncomfortable and heavy, and make weird creaking noises when you move your head. I have been very impressed with the wooden Grado headphones, I suspect I would prefer them, though they are expensive, and need some form of decent headphone amp.

Tony.

Le Chef

I have recently upgraded from Stax Lambda with energiser to Omega 11's.

The energiser is hooked up to an output on my 52.
Before choosing the Omega's , Ialso reviewed the Sennheiser Orpheus (Gulp!).

Lovely midrange , but completely lost attack and timing.

I then reviewed the Stax Omega with the 007t energiser(valve). Same comments as per Sennheiser.

Idecided to bite the bullet and buy Omega 11's ,
but with the 717 energiser(transistor).

After the relevant warm up period they sound very controlled , with no hint of harshness , rhythym and timing is all there .

They are more controlled and "tidy" then my old phones, and are far more "human" rather than mechanical.

You obviously need an excellent source for them.

Volume is not a problem, the energiser retains control over the sound even at high volume levels.

Friends of mine who know nothing about hifi have said they are superb .

The noises when you move the phones as mentioned in the last post is the diaphragm arcing, the tolerances are very small and the diaphragm is thinner than a human hair!. You are warned about this in the manual with the phones.

My old phones are now up for sale , if you buy some Stax phones, I do not think you will be disappointed.

Hope this helps

Trevor Impett - Nap 1500 Aspirator