spritzer

The sound and the smell finally got to me so now they are like this: I believe these are Kennerton earpads and I fitted the dust screens from a set of old 007 pads inside them (as they didn't have anything at all). They are more aggressive now due to the smaller opening but at least the smell isn't killing me. I must say I'm a bit shocked by the stock Stax earpads as they are clearly just made by some Chinese OEM, the look and the feel is exactly like those 20$ pads you can find on Aliexpress. Same elastic material inside as dust cover too and they are not well made at all. The left and right pads don't match up fully with one being about 5mm off. Now knowing Stax these will be sold as replacement parts for 300$...

I think I'm forced to replace the earpads simply because of the foul stench... but they are clearly an issue. Everything sounds too boomy and hollow.

The pads are slighly angled, similar to the older 007 ones and they are perfectly circular on the inside. I'm not thrilled with the quality of them (aside from the smell) and that vinyl back lip does point to a specific OEM in China. The pads simply pull off like the older units but are a bit more of a pain to install even though there is no spring as the housing doesn't rotate. That makes the top next to the headband rather annoying to deal with. Still no 009/X9000 in terms annoyance though. I've taken to doing A-B comparisons against the 007A and yeah, the older unit is much smoother and more coherent. Still the bass on the 007S is tuneful and "fun" plus the bright nature isn't overly annoying.

I don't think this is heat related as they've gone on at least 5 flights to get here and that cools anything right down. They are also factory fresh as they can be so no... this is from the earpads. The smell is bad enough that I've stopped listening to them.

Well, they have arrived: First off, they smell terrible. I don't know what they are using in those new earpads but it smells awful, deep and nasty chemical smell. Might be the foam but yeah... this isn't great. Now for the new arc... ehhh it's alright. The fitment is similar to the old one and it does the job. I have the same problem as with all other 007's though, it's too wide for my rather gigantic head so I'll need to bend it bit to make it taller. Small thing and I'll get to check out how it is to manhandle it a bit. Now for the sound... I'm only a few tracks in but initial impressions were not great. Way too boomy but it settled down when I pressed the top of the drivers towards the head, hence the arc issue I always have. The port is gone though so get the fitment right and the bass should be just fine. In terms of tone they are not as bad as the X9000 or 009S, more forward than the 007A with a port mod though and the excellent depth perception of the older models might be lacking here. Not sure, need to do some listening but the sound is certainly more "in your face" than the older ones. They don't seem to have the resolution of the older one either, this is on my usual Denafrips Terminator and Carbon CC setup, and I have this distinct feeling that something is lacking. Now I know how all of the 007's sound like the back of my hand and detail that should be there... just isn't. It's subtle though. Sound stage is just fine but I have this nagging sensation that it isn't as precise as a nice 007Mk1 or Mk2/A. The sound is also not as smooth and balanced as the older ones. Push it with something demanding (now I'm playing Knopfler - Going Home) and this isn't brilliant. The whole fun bit about this song is to crank it a bit in volume once it gets going and it kinda falls apart, becomes harsh and grading while loosing cohesion. A good 007Mk1 can play this at stupid volume levels on this setup and no problems at all. Sorry for the stream of consciousness but I just wrote what came to mind. Overall... this is a much better effort than the X9000 though and time will tell how I get on with them. Not talking about burn in... that shit doesn't exist. Finally I grabbed the nearest 007 which just happened to be a Mk2.9 007A for comparison: The structure is clearly very different but I'll have to investigate further later on. Finally, that stench from the earpads is driving me fucking nuts!!

I sold both of my X9000's (there is no reason to keep them when they are already plummeting in price so I'll pick up a cheap one in 5 years) and the L500 and L700Mk2's are also gone. I might pickup either of the other two if they show up at a nice price but the cables have never changed much for me

I don't have any of the other cables here so I can't test that.

True, hopefully I'll know tomorrow.

My 007's might be here by Thursday but in the meantime I found these pics: Same cable as the SR-X1 and I really like the all black flight case...

I do find that interesting as the commercially available electrostatic headphones in China are not as forward sounding as modern Stax, EH1, Q1, Q2 and naturally the King Sound models. It will be fun compare them as they might be trying to fix issues with the drivers with the earpads.

I agree, this is not a classy look, mixing and matching colors like this.

Yeah this isn't great but I just bought one... naturally. I'm really worried about the strength of that swivel mount and the driver changes but I'd love to be proven wrong. A bit cheaper than expected and now they just need to make a brown version of the replacement cable so we can fix the old Mk1's. Also new USB dac and phono stage for the T8000 but who cares really.

It's funny how Stax have never managed to get the earpad mounting right, 009 system is just stupid, the L series even worse plus the pads turn to goo in 5 years. The old adhesive did last when the more modern stuff didn't and leaks all over the place The 007 pads are a pain to install (especially the new replacement units which are badly made and 5x the old price) but I like the spring idea to optimize imaging for different head sizes/shapes

That is very plausible as they pretty much have to come up with a new name. The price will probably double so it is terrible PR to make a Mk3 that is 300k+Yen. My fear is that they will use the bloody PEEK membranes so all the issues that come with those.

Looks like the new 007 is inbound, here is the logo for the Fujiya Avic show in July: and Stax just dropped this: New headband with swivel function but the top of the 007 mounting plate there.

The black wire on the yellow looks to be the smallest too which is always what one wants for the ground. Using different color crimps makes no sense at all... I don't even have yellow in stock here.

That's what I'm thinking, there is just not enough gain here. The could compensate with transformers but that introduces other issues. You could compensate with the bias but that is a huge can of worms and will end with blown up drivers.

That's a brilliant idea!! They were always a bit too loose on my melon of a head.

This was introduced at High End 2025 in Munich and here is a blurb about it There are no internal pictures at all but it sure looks like they stole some of our Megatron here. Yeah, if that is the case, that is not okey. At first I didn't know what driver tubes were used and since those look a bit like 6N6pi's... I thought "well that is stupid but it might kinda work if used with some transformers". No... it is far worse. Single tetrodes, likely triode strapped, so are they trying to out compete the Woo WES for the worst all tube electrostatic amp design...or maybe the Triode H1? Time will tell but there simply aren't enough tubes here if the EL34's are used as current sources. Now we get to the proper stupid shit... why have that bias adjustment? It's the same garbage as ifi have been doing and just as retarded. It simply shows a complete lack of understanding at the principles at play here and is a good way to burn up some headphone drivers. Are they switching in different ballast resistors and limiting the output voltage swing to match the bias? No, probably not so let's pump up that X9000 to 720V and burn it up. Yup... what a brilliant idea.

I'm not surprised this happened but it just makes me sad. They just don't give a shit and sell unsafe trash at extreme prices.

We post about anything like this we can find but you can't post anything like this on Head-fi and it's been that way for close to 20 years. Those who pay Jude money can get away with most things. Other forums are not much better.

The verdict is that this is an amp that is worse than anything Stax sell, let alone the aftermarket out there but sold at a premium to generate the illusion it is good. They did claim it was an all tube amp but no idea if they still do. It was obviously a lie then but this is Woo Audio... that is nothing new.

In this role the MPSA parts are just fine

Yeah, those are the first KGST boards I designed back in the day.

Those look stunning!!! If you ever want to sell one those, hit me up. I've been going over your writeup on the Shangri-la as I want to build a clone of them but naturally improved (as the stock ones are pretty terrible). Find a broken HE1000 or a Arya Organic should get me close to the same chassis and go from there.