[erikfreedom]

i wish stax still made the sr-omega. i'd buy a pair right away.

 

[DreamKing]

  I'd be very suspicious of headphones offered for sale on eBay where the auction page doesn't include a picture of the actual headphones on offer. Something's fishy.

 
There's a bunch of pictures of the headphone actually.

 

[Kokomo O]

There certainly are now. I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure that when I looked the other night there were only the three of the box available, and no arrows to get to the others, because I looked for them. But you're right, and they headphones look real nice. Wish I could afford 'em right now.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

and the price would appear to be competitive with the 009...

 

[Music Alchemist]

  and the price would appear to be competitive with the 009...

 
The SR-009 is available right now from PriceJapan.com for $2,722, brand new.

 

[Kokomo O]

Yes, well, don't think that hasn't escaped my notice. Waiting for a ship to come in right now, so it's not in the cards at the moment, but it might be in a couple of months.

 

[catspaw]

   
The SR-009 is available right now from PriceJapan.com for $2,722, brand new.

Considering how japan is depreciating its currency, and the fact that I live in Poland (where USA cant do QE) I might be able to buy that headphone cheaper than a Senn HD800 at some point.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Considering how japan is depreciating its currency, and the fact that I live in Poland (where USA cant do QE) I might be able to buy that headphone cheaper than a Senn HD800 at some point.

 
I doubt it would go that low. However, the upgraded HD 800 I wanted to eventually get costs more than $3K.
 
Anyway...you need to factor in the rest of the system for the SR-009. The best amps for it are $4-10K+!

 

[catspaw]

   
I doubt it would go that low. However, the upgraded HD 800 I wanted to eventually get costs more than $3K.
 
Anyway...you need to factor in the rest of the system for the SR-009. The best amps for it are $4-10K+!

Thats why my aim is on the 507 rather than the SR 009, but ods are I wont buy any of them as I still have not found something that is an upgrade enough from the HE-400 modded to spend more money on it (including HE-560 and LCD-3, LDC-X).

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Thats why my aim is on the 507 rather than the SR 009, but ods are I wont buy any of them as I still have not found something that is an upgrade enough from the HE-400 modded to spend more money on it (including HE-560 and LCD-3, LDC-X).

 
Might as well just get the SR-207 then. I know one person who likes it more than the SR-009, though pretty much everyone else thinks the SR-009 is on a much higher level. The SRS-2170 system (SR-207 headphones and SRM-252S amp) is under $400 from PJ. (Retails for $790 in the US.) Would cost around $500 after shipping and getting either a voltage transformer or power supply with negative polarity.
 
(But the SR-009 is a huuuge upgrade from the HE-400!)

 

[DreamKing]

  Thats why my aim is on the 507 rather than the SR 009, but ods are I wont buy any of them as I still have not found something that is an upgrade enough from the HE-400 modded to spend more money on it (including HE-560 and LCD-3, LDC-X).

 
From my experience and others, the HE-560 needs more power and decent source to sound its best and I'd assume the rest of those headphones too. I'm saying that because I remember you saying you were using a poor chain, have you listened to them with a decent chain yet? That would be a better evaluation IMO, if you make buying decisions or evaluations based on poor chains then you won't get a clear picture. Unless you want headphones that sound good out of anything. The HE-560's high mids are slightly more forward than neutral but in no way overbearing or "in your face" run from a decent source and amp IMO. It adds a sense of greater dynamics to the vocals, violins, guitars and instruments in general to me. But I guess that also depends on your ear sensitivity as mine isn't based on the upper mids but on the high frequencies.  Did you play them from your Asgard or your portable stuff?
 
Don't take this the wrong way though, I'm just trying to get a sense of your situation. Chances are the differences might actually be subtle to your ears and I've never heard the modded HE-400 so I can't say anything about that. And even if the changes aren't subtle, it seems like the bang for your buck aspect coming from the HE-400 is ultimately the biggest factor for you.

 

[money4me247]

the HE-400 is quite nice, and I've heard great things about its modding potential. however, still sounds distinctly colored to my ears. audeze headphones on the whole also has a substantial amount of coloration to my ears (much darker than my ideal of neutral).
 
something like the he-560 should offer a distinctly different sound signature compared to the he-400 and the audeze headphones. I personally found the he-560's sound signature to be much closer to a neutral well-balanced presentation based on my personal sound sig preferences, and think it is a decent value and good upgrade path from the he-400 if you share similar sonic goals as me. I do think that the he-400's bass has more impact and presence to the he-560, so if you are looking directly for just a bass quality improvement, I personally do not think the he-560 will be the right direction. the lcd-x to me represents a similar sound signature but slightly better tuned while keeping/improving that level of bass quality compared the he-400 and adding some other sonic improvements (soundstage/imaging being the most easily noticeable). It is pretty subtle differences though with the LCD-X and the HE-400 is often referred to as a poor man's LCD-X (an assessment I agree with from my personal experience).
 
What sort of upgrade and whether the additional money spent is a highly subjective thing. I hope the poster finds what they are looking for! feel free to PM me if I can be of any help, I will do my best. cheers!

 

[catspaw]

   
Might as well just get the SR-207 then. I know one person who likes it more than the SR-009, though pretty much everyone else thinks the SR-009 is on a much higher level. The SRS-2170 system (SR-207 headphones and SRM-252S amp) is under $400 from PJ. (Retails for $790 in the US.) Would cost around $500 after shipping and getting either a voltage transformer or power supply with negative polarity.
 
(But the SR-009 is a huuuge upgrade from the HE-400!)

Im quite sure they are!
The question for me is not if the SR-009 are better than the lower stax series but if the difference is so massive that I can rationalize to myself the purchase (and honestly so far I have not been able to do so).

 

[catspaw]

   
From my experience and others, the HE-560 needs more power and decent source to sound its best and I'd assume the rest of those headphones too. I'm saying that because I remember you saying you were using a poor chain, have you listened to them with a decent chain yet? That would be a better evaluation IMO, if you make buying decisions or evaluations based on poor chains then you won't get a clear picture. Unless you want headphones that sound good out of anything. The HE-560's high mids are slightly more forward than neutral but in no way overbearing or "in your face" run from a decent source and amp IMO. It adds a sense of greater dynamics to the vocals, violins, guitars and instruments in general to me. But I guess that also depends on your ear sensitivity as mine isn't based on the upper mids but on the high frequencies.  Did you play them from your Asgard or your portable stuff?
 
Don't take this the wrong way though, I'm just trying to get a sense of your situation. Chances are the differences might actually be subtle to your ears and I've never heard the modded HE-400 so I can't say anything about that. And even if the changes aren't subtle, it seems like the bang for your buck aspect coming from the HE-400 is ultimately the biggest factor for you.

Yeah you are correct, the chain was subpar (cowon i9+burston soloist) if you compare it to high end dacs, but im somewhat skeptical on how good does a dac actually have to be to be transparent (kinda like what Nwavguy mentioned in the past, so its still hard to be certain 100%).
That being said I did hear an improvement over the HE-400 with all of those headphones, its just that the improvement seemed very small (around 8%-10%). The amp was actually burston sololist (2W version).
As an example, The HE-560 did not have that siblance that the HE-400 are known for, yet had the same energy in the treble. That alone is rather amazing, but not twice the price amazing, as the siblance for the HE-400 is not something i constantly hear, its rather rare for it to happen.
 
The LCD2 however for me was not "better" but different. 
I liked it the most from then Headphones that I listened to but I very soon realized I was listening to something I would get bored in the long term due to its lack of energy in the treble and its overwhelming bass (awesome for a few minutes, repetitive later on).
 
Now in terms of LCD-3 and LCD-X both sounded simply put bright. Not too bright, not sibilant bright but bright. it reminded me almost instantly of my Beyerdynamic 660, yet with far better bass.
All of those headpohnes had some magic to them but none were at linear improvement from the HE-400, there were always trade offs.
 
So far, HE-560 are the best HP for my tastes, so I need to investigate more (stax, HD800, HD600) and get to a point where I understand my ears and figure out what is the best for them, but for now, the HE-400 are still enough (if only they did not have that weird ass distortion sometimes at the treble ).

 

[catspaw]

  the HE-400 is quite nice, and I've heard great things about its modding potential. however, still sounds distinctly colored to my ears. audeze headphones on the whole also has a substantial amount of coloration to my ears (much darker than my ideal of neutral).
 
something like the he-560 should offer a distinctly different sound signature compared to the he-400 and the audeze headphones. I personally found the he-560's sound signature to be much closer to a neutral well-balanced presentation based on my personal sound sig preferences, and think it is a decent value and good upgrade path from the he-400 if you share similar sonic goals as me. I do think that the he-400's bass has more impact and presence to the he-560, so if you are looking directly for just a bass quality improvement, I personally do not think the he-560 will be the right direction. the lcd-x to me represents a similar sound signature but slightly better tuned while keeping/improving that level of bass quality compared the he-400 and adding some other sonic improvements (soundstage/imaging being the most easily noticeable). It is pretty subtle differences though with the LCD-X and the HE-400 is often referred to as a poor man's LCD-X (an assessment I agree with from my personal experience).
 
What sort of upgrade and whether the additional money spent is a highly subjective thing. I hope the poster finds what they are looking for! feel free to PM me if I can be of any help, I will do my best. cheers!

For me when it comes to bass, there are two factors I look at:
 
1) Quality: I want this as high as possible.
2) Quantity: At least a certain amount, but dont want more and more. In fact Ill trade quality over quantity most times, unless quantity is so low, that quality stops to matter.
 
I am actually not interested in a sound sig as the HE-400. For that I have the HE-400 .
So neutral is most likely my next interest.
 
I would have gone Senn HD800 blindly if i did not read from some people that there seems to be artificial neutrality to them (no idea, ill check myself).