Stax SR-009: Best Headphone Ever Made? - Head-Fi TV, Episode 008 - Page 11

That sounds cool

Quote:

Originally Posted by maverickronin 

The bank will give you a loan for that new sports car or boat though.  You've got to drop that 12k in one hit.  Walk in to a bank and tell them you need a loan for your headphone rig and see what kind of stares you get.

As a matter of fact I got a loan when I bought my Rudistor RP-1000 MkII amp and I got no weird stares but then again it all means more money for the greedy banks. For example get a loan for 18,000 and you will probably have to pay back $22,000 or more (+ more if you don't pay it back in time). In other words it's better to just save up for a while because think of all the things you could buy for $4,000. Oh well because of this new STAX headphone I will probably now sell everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuralRelations 

Specs don't tell all, as we know here on headfi!

Specs don't, but real measurements could tell a lot.   Differences in opinions, sound, and how this should lead design . . . all that jazz.

Still, I feel like I did when a friend was giving a presentation mentioning space age polymer for lulz.  It's space age, who gives a crap about the cost?  If I still liked stats I might actually agree with that statement

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake Eyes 

As a matter of fact I got a loan when I bought my Rudistor RP-1000 MkII amp and I got no weird stares but then again it all means more money for the greedy banks. For example get a loan for 18,000 and you will probably have to pay back $22,000 or more (+ more if you don't pay it back in time). In other words it's better to just save up for a while because think of all the things you could buy for $4,000. Oh well because of this new STAX headphone I will probably now sell everything.

Wow.  That's actually pretty amazing...

indeed it is!

Thank you, Jude, for mentioning the superlative build quality of the SR-009 in your review. For headphones this expensive and this exemplary I wouldn't expect anything less from Stax. The SR-009 may go down in history as one of the greatest sounding headphones ever made but add to this that it is also one of the greatest built and beautiful (perhaps second only to the Qualia 001) headphones ever made and, wow, we have something very special indeed...

...with that said, c'mon guys, this headphone is just begging the question; In absolute terms, how does the SR-009 compare to the JH-3A system?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottsmrnyc 

Jude, how come you didn't mention that the new SR009s can always be used with the Stax SRM007t or SRM007ta headphone amp; afterall these are the amps made by the same company???????

The only part of the review that I disagreed with is the need for a $5K+ amp. The SR-009 sound fabulous with the SRM-007ta, SRM-727a, SRM-323S and, of course, the KGSS.

Stax really got it right with these headphones - what an achievement!

Quote:

Originally Posted by visualguy 

 

The only part of the review that I disagreed with is the need for a $5K+ amp. The SR-009 sound fabulous with the SRM-007ta, SRM-727a, SRM-323S and, of course, the KGSS.

 

Stax really got it right with these headphones - what an achievement!

 

Oh really? That would be very impressive. Did you get to hear it through a 323s and KGSS? I would like some links to impressions if you did or if you read it somewhere else. I have a 323s and a KGSS coming in. If the 009 really sounds good out of those, I may see a 009 in my rig in the near future.

If it sounds good through those amps, I don't think it is fair to say the Stax 009 is a guaranteed $10k+ investment like in the youtube review since it seems they are very efficient.

Has anybody tried the SR-009 out of a Woo WEE?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wind016 

Oh really? That would be very impressive. Did you get to hear it through a 323s and KGSS? I would like some links to impressions if you did or if you read it somewhere else. I have a 323s and a KGSS coming in. If the 009 really sounds good out of those, I may see a 009 in my rig in the near future.

 

If it sounds good through those amps, I don't think it is fair to say the Stax 009 is a guaranteed $10k+ investment like in the youtube review since it seems they are very efficient.

 

I own all these amps. The 009 sound slightly better on the KGSS than the 007ta/727a/323S, but they're all excellent. Quite frankly, I find that the difference between amps is highly exaggerated on Head-Fi in general.
 

Highly exagerrated? Well, the upgrade from the 007t to the BHSE is not subtle, they are not even close. Haven't heard those other amps, but that statement sound highly generalized to me

Quote:

Originally Posted by pachku 

Highly exagerrated? Well, the upgrade from the 007t to the BHSE is not subtle, they are not even close. Haven't heard those other amps, but that statement sound highly generalized to me

In what way do the 009 sound different with the BHSE than the 007t? Since you're saying "not even close", it should be easy for you to describe the difference.

There are differences among the KGSS, 007ta, 727a, 323S, but they are subtle. Even though the KGSS is the best among them, it's not by much. I rarely use the KGSS these days because it's too big and inconvenient to use, while not offering much of a sound advantage when compared to the other ones. The BHSE would be even more of a pain to use with its serious space requirements and heat generation.

With dynamic headphones, the differences between amps are even more insignificant, of course.

That's the safer way - with buying dynamic headphones...

I appreciate your review.  Like many are going to mention these headphones are quite simply too expensive.

Has anyone out there compared this combo to the Grace m903 + Denon AH-D2000?  I would be surprised if the cost of any electrostatic amp that includes the SR-009 as the base headphone, surpasses the Grace m903 + Denon AH-D2000 setup by an audible factor of 2 or more; which is the minimum cost factor.