I have no experience with crossfeed myself, but I've read that it can cause nausea/motion sickness in some people. I think the story is that it depends upon the implementation. But that's possibly why it's dismissed out of hand. Same with radical eq-ing and noise cancelling headphones. Icky...

Question: which STAX is most detailed and shows the most separation of instruments and musical threads, the X9000 or the 009S? I'm using the 007Mk.2 now, and I know it's not them, though I like them. I've had both the X9000 and the 009S, but I'd like other opinions. Thanks!

Noise-canceling headphones produce motion sickness in people, too. I don't know what the mechanism might be.

I prefer to call the X9000/Omega 4 the "Dachshund Achoo 7". And the X9000, or the Dachshund Achoo 7 as I call it, sounds best when I sit on the ceiling with my eyes sewn shut.

And this, in me, induces motion sickness. Seriously. I had the X9000. It produces queasiness and confusion the way many video games do. All of those layers, illusions, and "boundless lack of boundaries" can be sickening. So is the X9000/"Omega 4" another example of how tech has outrun human...

darth nut! Thank you!

The Stax Mafia rub me the wrong way because they are lower class and not elite.

I think zolkis has made the best summary of what we know about the X9000 to date. Now we need to know what to do to get the most out of it. And then decide its place in the pantheon of great headphones. (Is "pantheon" the right word??)

Well said. I am finally putting my X9000's up for sale. I prefer the 007mk2 and even the L700mk2 for their more holistic music-making abilities. Interestingly, I'm having the same "separated", "sliced" effect from my Fink Team Borg loudspeakers, and am leaning toward the more musical Harbeth...

Get the x9000 and Stax's T8000 amp. Just do what I say, and leave this forum forever the minute you finish reading this post!:relaxed:

This "overwhelming my senses" at the expense of musical organicity seems to be more and more of a problem as headphone manufacturers increase technical fireworks. I'm coming to the conclusion that less-than-TOTL is more enjoyable, and, frankly, much more realistic. I'm in the process of...

"I ended up strongly preferring the L700 Mk.2." Me, too. They are very good Lambdas.

STAX 007Mk.II. These things are all subjective . . .

Ahh! Good theory, I think.

Good question. I'd like to see this, too, if such info exists.

Yes, I worry about the unsafe electrostatic amps especially. The ones that are "more power", the ones that are "more loud". Most homeowner insurance policies won't cover them if they kill, maim, deafen, or burn down. What are people thinking?? If you make and sell third party amps, how do...

"It is ok to want what we want, just because we want it." Well, thank you. I've been waiting for permission to enjoy myself with nice stuff in this hobby. As opposed to denying myself with cheap crap and measurements (and feel superior because of my Vulcan-like asceticism), because I envy...

I've had both L700, and I think the MK2 is indeed a tad warmer. It's a very good headphone for the price. But the MK1 is perfectly fine, too.

HD800 if you can stand/prefer bright, HD800S, any STAX. HD600 is perfectly fine. So is HD650. I didn't care for the original Utopia with classical, but I assume the newer version would be good. But, in essence: STAX. I use the x9000 and the L700 at the moment with the STAX T8000 amp.

Short cable here, at least so far.

I think the weird soundstages some of us hear - and are bothered by - are a function of the X9000's spectacularly tracking exactly how given recordings are recorded, mastered, and assembled. On Jaco Pastorius' mid-'70's album, the X9000's are terrible. Some instruments come out of left field...

Yes, x9k is not just light, but very comfy. The black amp is beautiful. formyears, what do you think of the x9k so far??

I have an X9000 and T8000 here with an Esoteric K-03XD SACD/CD player. I'm just getting used to the X9000, or else not getting used to it. It's a very different STAX, its very own self. And I have a 007Mk2 and have had everything else STAX in the past it seems. x9k does not fit in the...

Good question. I'm interested in hearing thoughts about that, too.

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