[roofus]

I have a set of Stax 009s headphones powered by an SRM-T8000. The headphones are wonderful but the amp is only average so I am looking to upgrade.

Many people on this forum recommend the Blue Hawaii SE. During the course of my search I came a cross a used Blue Hawaii for sale. This model was made in 2017 and looks quite different. For example, it doesn't have an outboard power supply. It also has fewer input and output jacks.

The seller stated that it has the same circuitry as the current SE.

Has anyone any experience with these two models and the sonic differences? Presumably the current SE is superior. However, there is a huge price difference because the SE is new and since I am in Canada, I would have to pay duty and sales tax on the SE which which would not apply on the used unit (because it is also located in Canada.)

Any comments, advice would we welcome . .

 

[Audio Addict]

I would recommend reaching out to Ray Samuels Audio about the A-10 Thunderbolt II. I purchased one in December and have been very pleased with what it has delivered both as an electrostatic amplifier and a preamplifier for my 2 channel. It is however, tube based and there are only 2 left available to be sold.

 

[roofus]

Thanks for the tip. I was not familiar with this product. It looks very good and it has the feature of serving as a pre-amp as well as a headphone amp.