THANK YOU! Finally one review from Steve Guttenberg that I'm actually in agreement with!
http://www.cnet.com/news/new-kings-of-clarity-stax-sr-207-headphones/
The thing you have to understand about transparency, or clarity, is that it's all relative. That is, you might think your headphones are perfectly clear and clean, until you hear a pair that's way ahead of what you have. That will surely happen when you don a set of SR-207s; the clarity gains won't be subtle. There's so much more detail, but I wouldn't characterize the sound as bright.
My review of the SRS-2170 in a nutshell.
As I said; I don't know a thing about Stax but I've been flirting with the idea of maybe trying out stats. I found a buyer for my K812 so I may take the plunge once I've done some homework. (like what does the LE designation even mean?)
E-stat headphones in general have a really unique treble response compared to other headphones. They objectively might have a peak or two in the frequency response, but when you listen to them, it's not something that immediately bothers you and it's detailed without adding grain or being harsh-sounding like planar magnetic headphones from my experience. They're also some of the most transparent-sounding headphones I've ever heard before, even the original Lambda from over 30 years ago still sounds really good in today's era of headphones.
Free downtempo electronic music from Seattle anyone?
https://symbionproject.bandcamp.com/album/immortal-game
Speaking of Seattle, I just spent the last 2 hours putting together one of these since I got one for a Christmas gift.
http://www.fascinations.com/metalearth/360/mms014/index.html
Freaking hard to put together and I broke a piece on the first step of the instructions. I'd say it's harder to put together than a Gundam model because at least Gundam models have sturdy structures made of plastic. One wrong move with this super thin steel and you're screwed. I nearly broke another piece putting together the "clamshell" structure at the top.
^ I didn't think the iPhone was capable of having a depth of field effect like that. That's actually pretty cool, but it doesn't look very good for this photo.