The green monster has finally arrived!
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Monster indeed! I imagined that it matched the size of your Schiit.
Please provide feedback soon. I’ve been interested myself.
BTW, how much was shipping?
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Killer stuff! Pendant with the May, has got to be insane!
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I will be doing some critical listening later tonight!
Rebel offered two shipping choices, and I went with the $35.00 (cheaper) USPS option. It took one week to arrive from the date of shipment.
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I’m listening to one of these right now!
Let me know what you think!
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With any R2R it needs burn in you can hear it in the micro detail and other magic qualities. I left it on overnight and just keep it on forever to smooth the sound out and other qualities this morning it sounds really good. The Pendant is fun I now have 4 tube amps and 3 dacs. I like all the different tubes to play around with. The May is big but not as big as the reviews make it sound my Cipher is bigger. I’ll have a lot of moving of my amps when the WA33 returns. The Pendant and the May sound killer very liquid in the highs. I’m going to have to try acoustic recorded music one of these days.
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@generic @jthvac I’m not sure where to post this, so I’ll just do it here for now. Mods, feel free to move to the appropriate spot if necessary.
My quick take-away from last night’s listening session with the Rebelamp (in comparison to the THX AAA 789 and JDA Atom), is that the Rebel has a more full bodied sound with a meatier note weight. It’s also somehow more detailed than the THX and JDS amp but without being overly clinical; in fact it’s smoother in comparison, slightly rounding out the leading edge of the notes. I actually tweaked my Focal Elex EQ for the Rebelamp because the treble peakiness is mellowed out and way more tolerable now. Finally, it’s more holographic and does a better job of reproducing the ambience of the venue compared to the JDS and THX; the latter having less depth and just sounding more 2D/flat overall.
I can do a full write-up of the Rebelamp after I’ve spent more time with it - not sure where to post it though. Perhaps an official thread is in order!
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Thanks. That is helpful and can imagine what you describe.
I suggest posting to the general interest amp thread, as there doesn’t seem to be a RebelAmp thread. Or, you could create a new Rebel thread too.
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Congrats dude! Love that name “Green Monster”!
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A new arrival for me:
After liking the Stax SR-5 so much I decided to see what else Stax was up to in 1979. So… original Stax Lambdas, standard bias. I’m pottering around the foothills of a very daunting mountain here - these are a whole lot cheaper than modern Stax (which I haven’t heard). The person I bought them from has done an amazing job of keeping them spotless for decades, and I’m astonished how good they sound.
First impressions:
The most surprising thing, to me, is that these are a radically different sound from the SR-5. I had expected that they might be some kind of incremental improvement on that. But while the SR-5 is wide, midrangey and creamy and with fluffy bass, a well-judged polite treble, and absolutely weird imaging (everything is a little smudged laterally, like there’s a slight mist on the lens), these SR-Lambdas are crisp and sharp, with a more solid midbass, precise imaging, and possibly a slightly narrower effect despite their airiness. They’re much better than I had been led to expect from reviews, and the bass is far less frustrating than reviews would suggest, or than the SR-5.
Contrary to what reviews said, there is sub-bass here. There’s a track called Sex by DjRUM that has these sort of sub-bass glissandi in it. They’re clearer and more consistent on these Lambdas than on the Vérité Closed (my daily driver), where they seem to drift in and out.
I really enjoy the tonality and spaciousness of the SR-5, but its technicalities are dubious to say the least (unless there’s something wrong with mine - one side does take a while to warm up, and it needs balance control to even up the drivers). This one has far better technicalities I’d say, but the tonality is not as delightful - it’s all about crispness and clarity.
Coming to these from my Vérité Closed, these sound wrong. Going back to the VC from these, the VC sounds wrong (something strange in the midrange). Brains are funny. Incidentally, this effect has renewed my appreciation of the ZMF Eikon as a headphone that does a lot right - I can come to it from any of my other headphones and it sounds good - a little bit of the crispness, a little bit of the creaminess, and some solid deep bass to top it off. And the Eikon’s soundstage seems no narrower than some open backs.
The Lambdas seem a bit bright for some pop (1980s stuff in particular can get pretty stressful) and for some 1960s soul. Some jazz sounds good, some sounds thin. What I’ve really been enjoying though, is sticking these on with a Subpac for electronic music. I did not expect them to work for EDM/IDM, but with the Subpac taking care of the low end it’s really exciting. The drums on Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela’s album Rejoice are fantastic with these, as is the guitar tone on Julian Lage’s album, World’s Fair - in both there’s a sense of “liveness” and a realistic resonance that none of my other headphones deliver.
Now I have to tell myself to quit while I’m ahead. By all accounts there’s no perfect Stax, and I’ve found two enjoyable cheap models that don’t require investment in amps. So that should be enough, right? No need to buy more. Right?
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absolutely weird imaging (everything is a little smudged laterally, like there’s a slight mist on the lens)
They call that the Barbara Walters effect.
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Just have to say, I dig this thread! Even if I am not the one doing the unboxing every time, it sure is fun just to see what everyone is buying these days.
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Yes, but it can get a little dangerous…
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Tell me about it… 
Giving people ideas is dangerous for their wallets!
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Haha, for sure. It’s…addictive.
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Thank you sir! I am loving your new site and YouTube sessions. Keep up the good work!
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Sorry @Nuance , @MRHifiReviews …
The real green monster is in Boston
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Lol I know. I may have stole the phrase from that…ALLEGEDLY. 
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Very interesting. I still use my SR-5n which I bought new. I don’t have any concern with the imaging - it seems spot on to me. I think that you may be hearing an artifact of the SRD-6. Mine came with SRD-4, which I upgraded to one of the SRD-6, and there I stayed until about 2 1/2 years ago, when I had been on the forum here for some time, and I upgraded to a Mjolnir-modified SRM-T1S STAX tube amp.
WOW! the difference was astonishing. No, there wasn’t that much more bass, but image tightened up, and everything sounded better. No more fuzzy anything.
I do recall listening to the Lambdas when I was picking out my SR-5n. And then the Lambda-Pro just after that. They do have more bass and a different sound. I also listened to the baby Lambdas. The SR-5n was just about the limit of what I could afford at the time (and remain married). I recall an out the door price of $495. In what, 1981?
You need to listen to the Nectar Hive. I’m very happy with that as a modern pro-bias e-stat. Someday I may try and explore some of the near flagship STAX, but for now the Hives are my go-to.
Others know from my ramblings what other headphones I have, but to give you an idea of what I listen to:
Hive Nectar
Hifiman HE-560
Grado RS1w
Audeze LCDi3
Sennheiser HD-6xx; HD-560
Koss Porta Pro w/YAXI pads
not counting some of the IEMs I use with the iPhone, mostly for casual listening and calls when I haven’t grabbed Porta Pros.
Usual chain is Mac Mini > Schiit Bifrost 2 > [Schiit Lyr/3 | STAX SRM-T1S] (depending on if I go to e-stats or other headphones.
Mobile chain will go from i-something to the LCDi3 with Cipher, or to DFB, or to iFi xDSD …
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Thanks. I think there may be something wonky about my SR-5 since I’m using the same SRD-6 with both. The indistinct imaging is most apparent with male vocals. I’d like to explore other electrostats but the move to anything with pro bias means an amp, which is a big hurdle to get over, especially the Mjolnir-modified ones which aren’t cheap. The Nectar Hive certainly interests me, but the combined price of that and an amp isn’t a casual purchase for me. I wish there were more reviews of it from people who also know other electrostats or even comparisons to other familiar headphones. Maybe one day I’ll make that step. I seem to enjoy electrostats but the price of an SR-007 or SR-009 with a suitable amp is forbidding, and I’m not sure whether the step to a more modern Lambda (plus amp) would be worth the large expense. I feel like I cheated the system a bit by already owning a Subpac for bass.