Voltron Posted September 9, 2011 Report Posted September 9, 2011 I hope you plugged them into an electrostatic amp...
justin Posted September 9, 2011 Report Posted September 9, 2011 andy, i just emailed you because my address is different than it was a few months ago
EphemeralHope Posted September 9, 2011 Report Posted September 9, 2011 I hope you plugged them into an electrostatic amp... , not a BHSE unfortunately... but still at least it works. I'd have to say - I sold the LCD-2s after a week of forcing myself to listen to them and the 007s were mediocre under meet conditions. These are definitely on a different level of clarity and smoothness. You guys will enjoy your pairs when they come, unless you're deaf...
blubliss Posted September 9, 2011 Report Posted September 9, 2011 Too hot here yesterday for tube amps to be on too long, but I fired the T2 up for a bit and the phones do sound very, very good. Remind me of the SR-Omega, but I think the stage is a bit smaller, not sure. I am terrible at descriptions but I will try some more after I listen again.
spritzer Posted September 9, 2011 Report Posted September 9, 2011 I thing Andy should just hand deliver my set since it is bloody freezing up here. The tube amps are just a good way of staying warm.
blubliss Posted September 9, 2011 Report Posted September 9, 2011 Phones shipped to Voltron and spritzer today, should be to both of them early next week, barring any Icelandic customs shenanigans. Spritzer, I would trade the heat. It was 94F yesterday and 100F the day before.
DouglasQuaid Posted September 10, 2011 Report Posted September 10, 2011 Too hot here yesterday for tube amps to be on too long, but I fired the T2 up for a bit and the phones do sound very, very good. Remind me of the SR-Omega, but I think the stage is a bit smaller, not sure. I am terrible at descriptions but I will try some more after I listen again. I might know a guy in the area with a kgss... just sayin'.
mikeymad Posted September 10, 2011 Report Posted September 10, 2011 I like the look of the 009 stack...
blubliss Posted September 10, 2011 Report Posted September 10, 2011 I like the look of the 009 stack... Too bad we didn't get all 12 at once... I might know a guy in the area with a kgss... just sayin'. Heh, funny. I've got them on now. It's cooled a bit here.
blubliss Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 The 009 is the best all around phone I have heard. There are fun aspects to my other phones which I will still enjoy, like classical on the HE90 and R10, rock on the LCD-2, but the 009 is great at everything. No harshness for me at all. It actually is smoother than the SR-Omega I think. On the subject of harshness, after chasing it in my system for a long time, I found it disappeared after I stopped drinking caffeine (due to getting sick, just have not started back up). Maybe I should sell this knowledge as a secret tweak (: 1
spritzer Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 Just got mine and first impressions are quite good. The fit is a bit on the small side for my gigantic head but that should get better with use. The build quality is stunning though, simply a joy to behold after the flimsy SR-Omega and built to a price SR-007's. Now for the sound, I got them an hour ago and the BHSE isn't even fully up and running by now, neither is the APL for that matter. First impressions do remind me a lot of the SR-Omega but a properly built one. Same open nature and the slight forward sound will also bite your hand if you push the volume too far. Just find a good volume setting and stick with it. Now what is different is the control so tiny details and instrument separation aren't lost like in the SR-Omega and the midrange is never edgy and shrill. The bass is tight and controlled but could use a bit more bloom where the material calls for it. As for being better then the SR-007, only time will tell but I'm certainly not unhappy.
monsieurguzel Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 Man if only you guys had some better amps to test out these SR-009s to give us some more proper impressions...hehe
monsieurguzel Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 In all seriousness though its good to hear, especially from Spritzer, who's been quite against the voicing of more recent stax headphones, that these are indeed not overly bright / harsh. Obviously time will tell how they stand up...
spritzer Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 I spent the last couple of days trying to fix the SZ3 version of the Mk2 but with only limited success while only manipulating the arcs/pads. Next step is to strip them down but especially with voices they never sound natural to my ears. The SR-009 has a tiny bit of that same feeling to me but nowhere near as bad.
Hopstretch Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 A better-built, more detailed SR-Omega with smooth midrange and tight bass? Yes. Please.
spritzer Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) The SR-009 will have plenty of fans but I'm starting to miss the SR-007 smoothness and more forgiving nature. This is mostly due me putting Foobar on random and it digging up all kinds of crap... While the uber detail retrieval was cool at first it has started to wear a bit thin. The SR-007 is clearly one of the most detailed transducers ever made but it's true sign of greatness is that the detail retrieval in never flaunted. It is just there for the listener to discover but with the SR-009 it is a bit like a party trick, "Have you noticed this new awesome feature?". Small issue on the grand scheme but I'm known to be just a tiny bit picky... Edit: Couple of other things, the instructions manual is the worst case of Engrish I've seen in quite a while. Stax also have a little clause that says warranty will be void if people don't report what amp they were using their cans with. Presumably this means they won't cover third party units... Edited September 14, 2011 by spritzer
justin Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 Edit: Couple of other things, the instructions manual is the worst case of Engrish I've seen in quite a while. Stax also have a little clause that says warranty will be void if people don't report what amp they were using their cans with. Presumably this means they won't cover third party units... not surprising, and i bet it is based on past experience...earwicker?
Voltron Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 Mine arrived in my office and I was going to try to plug it into my HeadRoom Desktop Amp. Is that going to be a problem?
visualguy Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 I've been listening to my SR-009 sporadically over more than 3 months now... They're excellent, and somehat better than the SR-007 in certain areas (soundstage and level of clarity). However, I find that I like the SR-007 mk1 overall better. The SR-009 are somewhat fatiguing and grating, particularly with sources such as the Benchmark DAC1, the Bel Canto DAC2.5, or the Sony 5400ES. A slightly warmer source like Marantz SACD players helps. Also, the SR-009 sound somewhat less fatiguing with the Stax 727 amp than the KGSS (although the KGSS sounds technically better). Another issue is that the gain on the KGSS is a little too much for the SR-009 with a hot source (4V or 5V). Not much range on the attenuators because of the this, and listening too loud to the SR-009 gets tiring pretty quickly. I started using the unbalanced inputs instead because of this.
mikeymad Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 Mine arrived in my office and I was going to try to plug it into my HeadRoom Desktop Amp. Is that going to be a problem? well give it a try... let us know how it works out.
spritzer Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) I was thinking the same thing, anybody using a Benchmark will have their ears bleeding with this. It's less of an issue at higher volume levels but the higher sensitivity is indeed not a good thing. not surprising, and i bet it is based on past experience...earwicker? Either Rudistor or Ciuffoli spring to mind as people who know fuck all about bias supplies as well... Mine arrived in my office and I was going to try to plug it into my HeadRoom Desktop Amp. Is that going to be a problem? I can make something for you which would make that combo work. Edited September 14, 2011 by spritzer
ujamerstand Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 Mine arrived in my office and I was going to try to plug it into my HeadRoom Desktop Amp. Is that going to be a problem?
arnaud Posted September 14, 2011 Report Posted September 14, 2011 The SR-009 will have plenty of fans but I'm starting to miss the SR-007 smoothness and more forgiving nature. This is mostly due me putting Foobar on random and it digging up all kinds of crap... Similar thing for me. I was mesmerized at the beginning since I was using select recordings. Then was the phase of playing random tunes in my library and trouble started. IMO, there's no free lunch and both Omega 2 and 009 are basically complementary for this type of issue. I went back to doing headphone simulation as it had worked pretty well for the HD800 (to identity the 6kHz peak for instance). I'd like to give it a shot with the 009 and see if the new shape of the enclosure has any bearing with the new forward acoustic signature. But per your message spritzer, you feel it's more of an effect of the newer generation diaphragms (507, O2 SZ3)?
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