[Currawong]

Quote:

Currawong, can you elaborate a bit more on what you were told by Sankar regarding the alleged mid-range veil on some units?  You said he felt it had been taken care of, does that mean that he agreed some units had the veil?  And how did they rectify the problem, just by sending replacement LCD-3s from a new batch?
 
Quote:

...
 
No wait. Sankar told me that all new ones have had the issue rectified.

 

The issue I was talking about was one side cutting out.
 
I did the TP mod on my new pair though, which sound ever-so-slightly muffled and now they sure as hell don't sound that way, but, if anything, are a little uncomfortable to listen with.
 

 

[arnaud]

Congrats anakchan! It seems more and more people are getting the 009 with 727 amp. Especially given the good deals in japan , it's hard not to resist . Having said that, I still see the LCD3 as rather complementary (bass emphasis for rock, more tolerant of crap recordings, ...) but it's expensive in lights of the 1kUSD lcd2r2.
 
Enjoy you stax gear !

 

[mwilson]

I too considered getting an SR-009; in fact at one point I even had one on order. However, after a lot of thinking, I decided to cancel that order and stick with the LF/LCD-3 combo. Sure, they're less revealing and more closed in compared to the 009 from what I read, but I happen to really like the sound signature, and for anything else I have my speaker setup.
 
Having said this, I would still very much like to listen to a 009 just for the heck of it. Too bad there's no local place selling them where I could go for a listen.

 

[googleli]

There is no turning back if you have chance to do extensive listening on the 009. I try to separate my two rigs in home and office so I can't directly compare them. I enjoy the great bass and "creamy" approach of the LCD3 LF combo at my office, but listening to the 727II SR009 combo at home with the Smyth Realizer (which emulates a pair of high end MBL speakers at a high end showroom in Hong Kong) makes me wonder whether if anything can get better. I will find out when my BHSE arrives.

 

[Lan647]

This realizer seems very interesting. Are there no compromise in SQ when using it?

 

[googleli]

There must be certain compromises with an added component (and cables) in between, but overall I find the experience outweighs the slight flaws it brings. You feel less intimate than when listening straight from the source, and without a second DAC, your realizer will be doing an A-D-A conversion. The perfect chain will be adding a second DAC to the setup but that would be pretty crazy having two high end DACs, a BHSE and a SR009 in the chain. The LCD3 has its strengths that I prefer over the 009 when I listen straight from the source, but when it comes to use with the Realizer, the LCD3 is simply no competition and the SR009 beats the LCD3 hands down quite obviously to me.
 
For 2-channel music, I think real speakers (good ones) can still top this setup, but the Realizer and SR009 make it real close. With headphone multi-channel gaming and movie watching, I am pretty sure that this combo (Bluray Player / Game Console -> Realizer -> External DAC -> BHSE/SR727II -> SR009) is the ultimate solution surpassing any other headphone / Dolby headphone setups at the moment.  

 

[Lan647]

Quote:

There must be certain compromises with an added component (and cables) in between, but overall I find the experience outweighs the slight flaws it brings. You feel less intimate than when listening straight from the source, and without a second DAC, your realizer will be doing an A-D-A conversion. The perfect chain will be adding a second DAC to the setup but that would be pretty crazy having two high end DACs, a BHSE and a SR009 in the chain. The LCD3 has its strengths that I prefer over the 009 when I listen straight from the source, but when it comes to use with the Realizer, the LCD3 is simply no competition and the SR009 beats the LCD3 hands down quite obviously to me.
 
For 2-channel music, I think real speakers (good ones) can still top this setup, but the Realizer and SR009 make it real close. With headphone multi-channel gaming and movie watching, I am pretty sure that this combo (Bluray Player / Game Console -> Realizer -> External DAC -> BHSE/SR727II -> SR009) is the ultimate solution surpassing any other headphone / Dolby headphone setups at the moment.  

 
A second dac? You mean the realizer's DAC + an external or realizer + 2 externals? 

Wouldn't HD 800 also be a good choice considering the imaging? I don't know if the SR-009 images better but HD 800 is by far the best I've heard in this regard. (followed by T1 and Stax Lambda pro. 

In case of off-topic threats you can PM me if you'd like
 

 

[dagothur]

Quote:

The perfect chain will be adding a second DAC to the setup but that would be pretty crazy having two high end DACs, a BHSE and a SR009 in the chain.

 Adding another DAC doesn't seem all that crazy considering you have a 17k home setup and a ~7.5k office setup.  At that point it's practically a drop in the bucket, if you ask me. 

 

[mwilson]

So let me ask something - the Realiser has a head band clip-on IR device; tiny in-cup microphones, IR device on the unit itself... all this starts looking more like a science experiment and less like something I'd like to use in order to, you know, enjoy music and forget about the equipment. I think for speaker emulation I'll stick with actual speakers, thank you very much.
 
Quote:

There must be certain compromises with an added component (and cables) in between, but overall I find the experience outweighs the slight flaws it brings. You feel less intimate than when listening straight from the source, and without a second DAC, your realizer will be doing an A-D-A conversion. The perfect chain will be adding a second DAC to the setup but that would be pretty crazy having two high end DACs, a BHSE and a SR009 in the chain. The LCD3 has its strengths that I prefer over the 009 when I listen straight from the source, but when it comes to use with the Realizer, the LCD3 is simply no competition and the SR009 beats the LCD3 hands down quite obviously to me.
 
For 2-channel music, I think real speakers (good ones) can still top this setup, but the Realizer and SR009 make it real close. With headphone multi-channel gaming and movie watching, I am pretty sure that this combo (Bluray Player / Game Console -> Realizer -> External DAC -> BHSE/SR727II -> SR009) is the ultimate solution surpassing any other headphone / Dolby headphone setups at the moment.  

 

 

[Lan647]

Quote:

So let me ask something - the Realiser has a head band clip-on IR device; tiny in-cup microphones, IR device on the unit itself... all this starts looking more like a science experiment and less like something I'd like to use in order to, you know, enjoy music and forget about the equipment. I think for speaker emulation I'll stick with actual speakers, thank you very much.
 


 

It's about the sound, not the type of gear you use =) 

 

[googleli]

I don't use the head tracker at all. In cup microphone is used only during the measurement but not actual listening sessions.

 

[googleli]

My home Stax setup is around 26K now, the Esoteric K-01 itself costs around 16K (it was selling for around 20K anew  in US last time I heard). When my BHSE arrives, my SR009 setup will be around 30K including costs of cables. If I add another high end DAC it will be for my office not for the Realizer.

 
Quote:

 Adding another DAC doesn't seem all that crazy considering you have a 17k home setup and a ~7.5k office setup.  At that point it's practically a drop in the bucket, if you ask me. 

 

 

[mwilson]

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't see this mentioned on their site.
 
Quote:

I don't use the head tracker at all. In cup microphone is used only during the measurement but not actual listening sessions.

 

 

[jax]

This realizer seems very interesting. Are there no compromise in SQ when using it?

One huge compromise - total absence of visceral experience of the music. As good as they get they will always be a simulation / imitation. They isolate the experience of music to an illusion which with the sense of hearing. So the big compromise? They are not speakers. That's not to say that some might even prefer the Realiser. As far as actually experiencing the music, for me that visceral experience is a very significant component. It's all an illusion anyway.

 

[OPrwtos]

wth is a realizer