This thing was good although I don't think I'll be using it much because of my B.H.S.E. The 2 volume knobs are an extra as well because what is someone's slightly deaf in one ear. It's fun to play with anyway. Oh yeah and there are these little screens inside of it to adjust the tube bias or something I think it's for. Maybe how much life is left in them or something. I never actually played with the screens or the buttons anyway. PS: Why I paid so much for mine is because when I bought it the Aussie dollar had a really low value.

Sold me Edition 9's because of these because they deliver a bigger sound stage and all that compared to the Edition 9's. Maybe it's because the Edition 9's are closed headphones. Whatever they're my 2nd favourite headphone after the SR-009.

About having to wait a while to get it is not that bad because I ordered mine August (1987) and it finally arrived yesterday (07/08/2012)... I got the Alps RK50 upgrade with it. Only joking I ordered it last year because I was only 5 in "87" but anyways waiting a year isn't that bad because it's here now (it actually came 3 days early). It's not that long to wait at all and in the mean time you can buy things to make the experience even better like a better CD player, D.A.C, cables, more CD's, a better rack and so on. It's best not to listen to every...