BEYERDYNAMIC VS STAX FOR STUDIO USE

[♔Chello]

BEYERDYNAMIC VS STAX FOR STUDIO USE

Listening critically to pre-mixed music with a headset is quite different from doing the same by listening when mixing music from scratch.
The really big challenge becomes apparent when you add acoustics - what you hear in the headset doesn't match what you hear in the speakers.

Now I am in a very special situation, in that I use large horns as speakers - these reproduce the acoustics in a far more believable way than what conventional speakers do; no matter how expensive they may be.

I have now been mixing styles for months, and have used a beyerdynamic T70 headset, which has given very unreliable results as far as acoustics are concerned, which in turn has meant that everything had to be done several times before the sound image was roughly the same with the horns as with the headset.

However, the acoustic experience is very different with this headset and the horns, which simply means that the T70 is not good enough for studio use.
STAX Lambda should be better suited, as this is electrostatic and costs about three times as much (€900).

From now on, I will be doing all my mixing with the STAX headset, and I believe that the results will be far more stable and acoustically credible.

This article will thus be followed up with an after-comment that says something about the differences in using beyerdynamic T70 vs STAX Lambda.

[♔Chello]

A VERY RARE EXPERIENCE

Hooking up Stax is a little different, because these are electrostatic; the sound must be processed through a separate amplifier to be amplified, and the sound is brought to the amplifier as a line signal.

However, I know that in some cases it can be done in a different way, by e.g. pick up the signal from the headset socket on the Pa5X.

Theoretically, this is the wrong way to do it, because the signal is amplified - something that can go well, but also not.

This is a trick I did years ago, when I wanted the subwoofer amp to be controlled by the main amp's volume - I pulled the signal from the headset output of the main amp.

I did the trick by studying the circuit of a Yamaha subwoofer amplifier, which originally took the signal from the main amplifier's speaker outputs.
By retrieving the signal from the main amplifier's headset output instead, the desired volume was controlled by the main amplifier's volume control, and only the power from the subwoofer amplifier was used.

Contrary to all theory, this also worked very well with the STAX headset; the dynamics in the bass area became noticeably greater, without any problems with distortion arising.

The STAX headset is undoubtedly more detailed and dynamic than the beyerdynamic headset, but the most interesting thing is that acoustics are also reproduced better; even small details are made clear.

But the big surprise is that even the STAX can't match my horn speakers, which mercilessly reveal distortion that can't be heard with the headset.

VERY SURPRISING.

[♔Chello]

STAX MUST BE CONNECTED TO LINE OUT

After extensive testing at higher levels, it turned out that the headset's amplifier produced distortion as a result of the connection to the Pa5X's headset output.

I then tried to get the signal from the Pa5X's 1+2 and 3+4 LINE OUT, but did not get a signal, even though I routed the signal to these.

These Line Outs are useless anyway:
It is sent to the internal Insert FXs, but not to the Master FXs and the MaxxAudio FXs.
The MASTER VOLUME slider has no effect on it.

I therefore had to make a Y connection to LINE OUT L+R, and connect the headset together with the signal to the main amplifier.

This setup works just fine.