You beat me to it. We do indeed have this bundle. Know that the SR-X9000 is not in stock, so you'd get the Z10e first and the STAX when they ship (currently in Q2/Q3 of 2023)...
You beat me to it. We do indeed have this bundle. Know that the SR-X9000 is not in stock, so you'd get the Z10e first and the STAX when they ship (currently in Q2/Q3 of 2023)...
My Z10e arrived 2 days ago and the first listens are simply outstanding. I'm driving Stax X9000, Audeze CRBN, and Meze Elite with TARA Omega cables. The source is an Aurender A20 connected balanced with TARA 0.8 interconnects (a pretty neutral front end). The presentation of the Z10e seems to be a near perfect match for the X9000 allowing them to truly shine with a perfect blend of liquidity, resolution, and expansive soundstage. It easily bests the Mjolnir KGSSHV with the X9000 which in my setup pushes them to be a bit thin and in your face. The pairing with the Meze Elite is equally excellent although not in the same league as the X9000. The Audeze CRBN are more of a mixed bag and a unfortunate victim of circumstance. The CRBN sound great with the Z10e but the X9000 beat them across the board by enough of a margin to make them redundant for me. If I didn't have the X9000, the CRBN and the Meze would be a great pair to have as there are things that electrostatic headphones do that no planar will easily touch yet a world-class planar is a must have given their versatility. I look forward to racking up the hours!
Some notes on the build and design. The construction and layout are excellent, cosmetics/industrial design are great, the controls are intuitive, the display looks great and is easy to read, and while a tube amp with 10 tubes, it does not run excessively warm. I love their use of the Apple remote as its a great device to interact with from a tactile standpoint. Big props for having the balance controlled by the left and right arrows of the remote so you don't have to go into a menu to change it. The external power supply does not generate any heat as it looks to house only a transformer and some coils. Mine has the recently added subwoofer output which will be useful for anyone running monitors. I do look forward to experimenting with driving some speakers although I have no intention of using it as a speaker amp. The Tannoy Turnberry and DALI Rubicon 6 Black Series are at the top of the list to try as they are easy to drive and excellent with tubes.
I just picked up a pair of DCA Expanse and have given them a listen on the Z10e - they sound great with the Z10e. As others have commented they really benefit from an amp with more power / current.
The Z10e has always driven my Ether2 very well also - but the Expanse has me turning up the volume more than I have on other headphones to get to the same levels. I am still listening on the LO impedance jack, and still have plenty more to go with only hitting 50-55 normally.
They are also driven well by my Burson 3X GT - there I am using balanced output, and medium gain, and listening is around 45 - 50 on the volume.
I noticed that some people were mentioning the new subwoofer out on the Z10e but looking at the LTA site it still has the pictures of the Z10e without the sub out - although it lists it in the specs.
Anyone able to post pics of how the subwoofer out looks?
The Burson has a headphone + subwoofer out mode you can toggle and I found that very interesting with some genres of music - I brought up an inexpensive sub I had in the basement to try it out. It has me considering adding an SVS 3000 Micro to my listening area ( office ) so that I can add some of that bass that is more felt than heard for a little fun once in a while.
One of the things that the little Martin Logan speakers I added to the Z10e seem to try for is more bass than they can reliably deliver. It would be good to be able to send the bass off to a sub and let them concentrate on the freq. ranges they would be better at. Speakers are not my primary use for the Z10e but were a nice addition when considering the Z10e based on the more limited space here in my listening area.
I noticed that some people were mentioning the new subwoofer out on the Z10e but looking at the LTA site it still has the pictures of the Z10e without the sub out - although it lists it in the specs.
Anyone able to post pics of how the subwoofer out looks?
I just picked up a pair of DCA Expanse and have given them a listen on the Z10e - they sound great with the Z10e. As others have commented they really benefit from an amp with more power / current.
The Z10e has always driven my Ether2 very well also - but the Expanse has me turning up the volume more than I have on other headphones to get to the same levels. I am still listening on the LO impedance jack, and still have plenty more to go with only hitting 50-55 normally.
They are also driven well by my Burson 3X GT - there I am using balanced output, and medium gain, and listening is around 45 - 50 on the volume.
I noticed that some people were mentioning the new subwoofer out on the Z10e but looking at the LTA site it still has the pictures of the Z10e without the sub out - although it lists it in the specs.
Anyone able to post pics of how the subwoofer out looks?
The Burson has a headphone + subwoofer out mode you can toggle and I found that very interesting with some genres of music - I brought up an inexpensive sub I had in the basement to try it out. It has me considering adding an SVS 3000 Micro to my listening area ( office ) so that I can add some of that bass that is more felt than heard for a little fun once in a while.
One of the things that the little Martin Logan speakers I added to the Z10e seem to try for is more bass than they can reliably deliver. It would be good to be able to send the bass off to a sub and let them concentrate on the freq. ranges they would be better at. Speakers are not my primary use for the Z10e but were a nice addition when considering the Z10e based on the more limited space here in my listening area.
Lots of Z10E at various booths at Axpona this weekend - quite a good showing for LTA as I am sure many people had a chance to experience a variety of headphones on the Z10E. While I did not have a ton of listening time, I thought the Z10e did a great job driving the new DCA Corina.
My other revelation was how well the Z10e looked sitting atop a Denefrips Pontus II - as well as sounding nice as well.
Lots of Z10E at various booths at Axpona this weekend - quite a good showing for LTA as I am sure many people had a chance to experience a variety of headphones on the Z10E. While I did not have a ton of listening time, I thought the Z10e did a great job driving the new DCA Corina.
My other revelation was how well the Z10e looked sitting atop a Denefrips Pontus II - as well as sounding nice as well.
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We do indeed have this bundle. Know that the SR-X9000 is not in stock, so you'd get the Z10e first and the STAX when they ship (currently in Q2/Q3 of 2023)...
I'll take a quick photo and post it here on Monday...
