- Joined
- Jul 7, 2014
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I'm really intrigued to hear the new focals and I wholeheartly believe these should be great sounding headphones. However I just can't imagine the claims that "they easily bested all flagship headphones". I have been a huge stax fan for long time and owned a bunch of flagship headphones including stax 007mk1, Stax 009, LCD3, TH900, T1, K812, Abyss etc; my IEM collection includes Fitear MH334, MH335DW, Noble K10 all custom version. I've been getting rid of those I don't think worth keeping during the last couple of years and currently I'm keeping only 3 full-size headphones, they are Stax 009, Abyss 1266 and HD 650. Among them Stax 009 is my favorite, the Abyss used to be head to head with the 009 until the arrival of BHSE. Oh man I was thrilled by the pairing of the BHSE and the 009 which blows away any headphone system I've heard. They are easily the most transparent system regardless of the type of the transducer, including all the hi-end speaker systems I've heard. Yes the abyss still has better bass but who cares, the 009 and BHSE just conveys the music in such a delicate way that I finally stop niggling and just want to relax and enjoy the music.
People always mention detail when talking about the 009, however to me the most significant achievement of the 009 is the transparency and beautiful tonality. When paired with the BHSE, all the sheens are gone, the bass and punch emerges, the dynamic is amazing and the headstage and positioning is fantastic. This combo just does so many things so right that I always think this should be pretty much close to the pinnacle of headphone system.
Anyways, look forward to hear the Utopia and I'd happily acquire a pair if it does "easily" best the 009s although it's hard to believe for me as of now.
System:
Source: CH Precision C1 D/A converter with Ethernet card, Synology NAS
Electrostatic Headphone amp: BHSE with ALPS50k
Headphone amp: Mass-Kobo model 394
Accessories:
Power cable: absolute creation x 3; Ceasar x 2
Power distributor: shuyata PS8
Interconnect: Siltech princess XLR
Linear power supply for NAS
Sr 009 and BHSE almost made me emotional it was so good..... I hear ya! (No pun intended)