[goldwerger]

In my time of owning it, my opinion of the X9000 was more variable than with almost any other headphone I've lived with over the years

I own it and still feel it. My chance, after neglecting it for a few months, I put it on again yesterday and feel in love with it again. I usually sell anything that I don't listen to for a few months (and indication I should not own it) but this made me reconsider. I'm using the Mjolnir Carbon amp, and it may well be that a better amp may make the difference (the Grand Caymen has my vote, but I don't have the space for this monster). I simply have too many tube amps, and the Carbon's form factor is easier to handle for now.

Totally respect the point on DCA. Sometimes a brand's house sound just isn't your thing.

I have the exact same take as @BassicScience on DCA. I always want to find what makes everyone love their products, but both the Expand and Stealth, and Corina, simply leave me indifferent to the music. The tuning is consistently not for me. It feels like someone has tuned these headphones to measurements rather than to feel (which, I believe, is exactly in fact what underlines their R&D process). There is definitely a thing called a "house sound". DCA has it, ZMF has it.. an overarching theme, with exceptions. Different brands do tend to have certain ways for tuning that often work well for some vs. others.

I knew the minute I heard the Grand Caymen that it was in that same tier. The T2's bass/timbre was the only slightly differentiating factor. And the Caymen could've been a bit more spacious. Very hard to tell as they both are. I also heard from a LOT of people at CanJam, and many of which I respect, that were blown away by the Viva STX (despite the problems called out against the build). There were simply too many people with this same perspective, I wish I could've auditioned it, but the timing just didn't work out. I'm not trying to start a controversial stat amp war lol, rather pointing out that despite how much I love the T2, once you get to a certain level the general performance is there and the small details and how they match our preferences matter that much more.

This makes me thing of a disrupting idea for CanJams that would be so great for users, but I can't see this commercially ever happening.. have an "estat" room/table, and other themes areas, where various brands bring their best great to be comparatively tested in a section of the show. Now, wouldn't that be wonderful?

 

[buzzlulu]

So with some having mixed feelings on the X9000 which Stax model (excluding the 007) is now their totl?
009? 009S? 009BK?

 

[goldwerger]

So with some having mixed feelings on the X9000 which Stax model (excluding the 007) is now their totl?
009? 009S? 009BK?

for me, still X9k.. since when it's good, it is great

(007 mk1 stilll in rotation for its super fun tuning)

 

[number1sixerfan]

This makes me thing of a disrupting idea for CanJams that would be so great for users, but I can't see this commercially ever happening.. have an "estat" room/table, and other themes areas, where various brands bring their best great to be comparatively tested in a section of the show. Now, wouldn't that be wonderful?

I have no clue how you could make this work, but I think it would be amazing.. especially since stats are less familiar to so many people.

So with some having mixed feelings on the X9000 which Stax model (excluding the 007) is now their totl?
009? 009S? 009BK?

for me, still X9k.. since when it's good, it is great

(007 mk1 stilll in rotation for its super fun tuning)

The x9000 is still easily better than my favorite, the 009. More resolving, more holographic sound, slightly more bass presence. Still prefer the 009's more forward/energetic presentation, as well as at times more cohesiveness. But the x9000 without question is better imo. It just has a really unique sound that doesn't match my preferred presentation (but again totally depends on the music I'm listening to it with). FWIW the same goes for the Omega for me, from which is takes some design/presentation elements from.

 

[oneguy]

So with some having mixed feelings on the X9000 which Stax model (excluding the 007) is now their totl?
009? 009S? 009BK?

Toss up between x9k and hybrid Omega depending on the music choice. Haven’t heard a pure Omega yet.

 

[goldwerger]

I have no clue how you could make this work, but I think it would be amazing.. especially since stats are less familiar to so many people.

long shot.. but I'll pitch this idea to the head-fi folks. who knows. there were some recent top-end estat comparisons recently by reviewers, so it may be a timely marketing theme to jump onto.. at min I'll make the case..

 

[Roasty]

i am of the same opinion with @goldwerger re: DCA headphones. I got all hyped up from reading reviews and looking at measurement charts of the Expanse and Stealth on ASR, only to be really disappointed at what I heard when demoing them. I should have known better LOL. Corina off LTA z10e was also way too sterile for me.

on a different note, I'm actually very surprised at myself mostly because I have somehow held off buying a stats setup, in particular the X9K and kerry T2.. this despite a lot of attempts at persuasion from @nepherte and another one of our mutual friends. I'd like @nepherte to come over and demo my Raal setup one day, and hear what he has to say about it. perhaps he will let his stats go and jump ship to Raal instead heh..

 

[ThanatosVI]

Seems like I'm one of the outliers here.
The recent DCA Flagships really clicked with me while the new Stax failed to impress me

 

[orrman]

I've only had a few hours with X9K on my setup before traveling for the rest of the month but unfortunately I was underwhelmed. When driven from the AIC10 with Woo Wee it doesn't have the top end sparkle and glistening that I know it can have (and also heard when ABing with Z10e at home). I think I need to make a decision if I'm going all in on estats with a T2 or STX or going to sell X9K and stick to Susvara.

 

[goldwerger]

I've only had a few hours with X9K on my setup before traveling for the rest of the month but unfortunately I was underwhelmed. When driven from the AIC10 with Woo Wee it doesn't have the top end sparkle and glistening that I know it can have (and also heard when ABing with Z10e at home). I think I need to make a decision if I'm going all in on estats with a T2 or STX or going to sell X9K and stick to Susvara.

The X9k are definitely very amp picky, and scale very well. The Woo Wee is just not good enough to power them I think, so you’re not getting what you could.

That said, it’s a hard decision to make whether to invest in an estat set up because it is such a specific investment

 

[buzzlulu]

I find the X9000 need more power to come alive. I use a Kerry T2 with mine
Since most of my listening is 2 channel I also subscribe to the theory of - source first. The X9000 scale up with a better source. The accusation they do not do bass is simply not true. While I realize most cannot reach said level, the X9000 run from something like a dCS Rossini shows absolutely NO lack of bass.
Unfortunately a top tier eStat setup is a considerable investment. That is not to say bliss cannot be found with a lower tier setup. My L300LE/353XBK anniversary setup outperforms any other dynamic setup - even those costing 3 and 4 times. I remember laughing that my 300/353 at $1600 cost 1/3 of my OG Utopia headphones (no amp included!).

 

[VandyMan]

Seems like I'm one of the outliers here.
The recent DCA Flagships really clicked with me while the new Stax failed to impress me

Same here. I don't think we are outliers. Lots of happy owners in the Stealth and Expanse topics.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I've only had a few hours with X9K on my setup before traveling for the rest of the month but unfortunately I was underwhelmed. When driven from the AIC10 with Woo Wee it doesn't have the top end sparkle and glistening that I know it can have (and also heard when ABing with Z10e at home). I think I need to make a decision if I'm going all in on estats with a T2 or STX or going to sell X9K and stick to Susvara.

If you already have them, I'd say it's worth taking the leap. As everyone mentions, they scale really well. But I get that it's a hard to decide whether to go with a stat or dynamic/planar system as mentioned above.

 

[Frankie D]

This makes me thing of a disrupting idea for CanJams that would be so great for users, but I can't see this commercially ever happening.. have an "estat" room/table, and other themes areas, where various brands bring their best great to be comparatively tested in a section of the show. Now, wouldn't that be wonderful?

Great idea! The only way I see this happening is if a group of head-fiers ( maybe a club?) got together and brought the equipment. Maybe you can come up with a better way to do it.

 

[orrman]

The X9k are definitely very amp picky, and scale very well. The Woo Wee is just not good enough to power them I think, so you’re not getting what you could.

That said, it’s a hard decision to make whether to invest in an estat set up because it is such a specific investment

If you already have them, I'd say it's worth taking the leap. As everyone mentions, they scale really well. But I get that it's a hard to decide whether to go with a stat or dynamic/planar system as mentioned above.

Yep I already have a TOTL end game planar/dynamic setup and I'm not sure I'd like to continue investing in headphones and might prefer to move to 2ch stuff. I know what the X9K is capable of and what it requires to get the maximum out of it, I was hoping it'd be good enough with my current chain. I also know it might make more sense to make it my primary pair move some of the other chain funds here instead but I like my current system so much and it can also drive speakers. That's the dilemma basically.

Great idea! The only way I see this happening is if a group of head-fiers ( maybe a club?) got together and brought the equipment. Maybe you can come up with a better way to do it.

Mimic Audio have done stuff like that lately and might have even more estat options in different price categories available in the next canjams afaik