[spritzer]

Yup, sorry about that...

 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I must say I'm a bit worried about the SR-009's brightness after receiving the latest version of the SR-007Mk2 SZ3-XXXX (the mk2.5 as we often call it).  Compared to the Mk1 and early 007A SZ2-xxxx it is painfully bright and far too forward for its own good.  If the SR-009 is anything like this then I'll get rid of it quickly.  The SR-007 I can fix simply my swapping in my spare Mk1 drivers but the SR-009 fix would involve custom fabricating new diaphragm retainer rings and then stretching my own film....
 

I have indeed said quite a bit about this and for me the WES is by no means a high end amp.  It is just a butchered GES where all the fine points of the design are missed so you end up with this mess that is just expensive.  Before I heard the WES I knew there were major problems with the design and listening only confirmed that.  It's a dull, flat and lifeless amp that is embarrassed by much cheaper units. 
 

In direct comparison to my old maxed GES I think the WES has better air and ambience, with a deeper and wider soundstage, and more power.  It's not a giant leap forward, but it's definitely not a step backward for me.  And, I'm not trying to justify my expensive investment, because I got a nice discount on the demo WES that doesn't do single ended input.  Would I rather have a BHSE, yes - Do I think the WES is a bad amp, no.
 

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

HE90, SR009, SR007 MkI, Omeg2 Mk I, R10 (both versions)... Dude...
I am glad to read from your comments that LCD2 lacks bass depth which the other high end phones do have... At least I am not imagining things
A thousand LCD2 legions will point me to the flat response graph again, but I believe in what I hear.

I hear the same thing, although to maybe not the extent you do.  It has a lot of midbass which I think people confuse as bass.  There is low bass too, but I didn't hear as much low bass impact or detail as on the HD800.
 

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

In direct comparison to my old maxed GES I think the WES has better air and ambience, with a deeper and wider soundstage, and more power.  It's not a giant leap forward, but it's definitely not a step backward for me.  And, I'm not trying to justify my expensive investment, because I got a nice discount on the demo WES that doesn't do single ended input.  Would I rather have a BHSE, yes - Do I think the WES is a bad amp, no.
 

 
I heard none of that with them side by side in the same room.  The GES had by far better control while both WES's were muddy and made the SR-007 Mk2 appear slow. 
 
 

 

[kiertijai]

I admit  I am not a good critical listener. Yesterday when I played baroque and early classical music. It seemed that o2 mkI
did not fit at all, so I took it off after a few minutes and gave the impression that th SR009 and SROmega is the best for this kind of
music.  I also cannot do the  A/B comparison with the dynamic headphone because we cannot take the digital out from the Lindemann 820s . So I can only compare for the Stax.  Again I still think the HE90, Qualia and bass light R10 are very good too and should rank as high as SR009.  On more listening this afternoon I also found out that the SR009 in some kind of music especially the very high treble of Chinese audiophile may be too much for me , not all the times but I should say I can notice that while the SR Omega which is more laid back did not have the problem.  The SR Omega is more difficult to drive than the SR009 and you need to crank up the volume high enough , theoretically it may cause distortion but I haven't encountered yet.   HE90 , Qualia
for a short listening of Qualia) does not have his problem and its aristaeus is not that revealing so I expect that will not happen to HE90+ Aristaeus.  I will also use the tube that is more smooth, lush, full , slower and more laidback like the legendary Mullard 10M 12AX7 , Mazda or RTZ 12AX7S ,  Telefunken ECC803S another legend may be revealing to much.  I also have the XF1, XF2, Philips brown base DD getter, Tesla E88CC to help on this regard, so I think my HE90 should be OK and may be for the SR009 too.
   I also spent 4 hours listening to romantic classical and other: Vivaldi Four Seasons : Janine Jansen (who also performed theme from Schindler's list. Beethoven Symphonies 5 by Carlos Kleiber Viener Philharmoniker,Johannes Brahms Symphony no4 by Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by the Carlos Kleiber,   Beetheoven " Eroica" symphony 3 by Erich Kleiber, Gustav Holst : The Planets : Philharmonic orchestra by John Eliot Gardiner, the legendary Mahler symphony 5 by Rudolf Barshai and the lesser known Junge Deustche Philharmonie ( but I think this beats the more hyped Gustavo Dadamel and co with  all their  hands down)  and Mahler symphony no 6 by the most after sought of the young Thomas Sanderling of the St Petersberg Philharmonie orchestra.   I also have a chance to listen to Tchaikovsky piano concerto 1 by Volodos but does not like it much but will try my favourite Peter Donohue and Van Cliburn later.   I am now listening to to the Dvorak Cello concerto by Jean Guihen Queyras, Dumky TRio Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov with the Prague Philharmonia.  I know Pablo Casals, Jacqueline dupre , Janos Starker are  excellent but the Jean Guihen Queyras is such a fresh clean air here.
     All the music listened today I really enjoyed the O2 mkI with 727a modded so much and I have to change that this is one of the best phone for classical music although it is not so airy, but it is very smooth sounding , excellent tempo, soundstage is larger than you thought and very detailed ( you have to listen to Thomas Sanderling Mahler 6 which I think none can surpass this as well as the number 5 Mahler by Barshai).   All Beethoven's symphony are very very good very romantic very deep and thoughtful as well as Brahm's the 4th symphony.   Vivaldi's four seasons is superbly first class , although it is not a big orchestra like of those with Seiji Ozawa but who needs that.  Janine Jansen may not be note perfect but the interpretation, her compassionate her dramaticism and bold playing not to be afraid of the wrong note is what I am looking for, this will be one of the  four season that I would pick to play before other 30's although sometimes I may need the skilful play of Maestro Salvatore Accardo for this piece.
    Dvorak cello concerto by Jean Guihen Queyras is quite a joyful fresh air comparing the other  well known cello player.  The interpretation , tempo , dynamic change, the talented and coherent playing is more than first class and you can feel your emotion flow to a very joyful , sweet sounding wonderful piece of this music.  You need to have this in one of your collection but the SACD version is so rare and what I can get is the redbook version but I don't think I will miss much.
In summary : in this genre of romantic classical music you should seriously consider O2 mkI as the best ,same big soundstage (see Mahler 6
thomas sanderling)   the bass is deep more than enough with excellent dynamic , impact , quantity and PRAT.  The detail , imaging, clarity and
accuracy of the midrange are there and more.   It is one of the best phone for romantic classical music period,
I will try piano concertoes, violin concerto, ballet music(of course by the Russian Evgeny Svetlanov or Anastole Fistoulari), Nathan Milstein for violin concerto, George Szell and Philip curzon + Leon Fleisher for Brahm's piano concerto, Grieg piano concerto by Leif Andness, Schumann  by Radu Lupu or the emerging Martin Helmchen, Ma Viast by Macal, Dvorak number 9 by Kertesz and Rachmaninov : piano concerto and rhapsody of Paganini (of course not by John williams in Somewhere in time) but they will be Stephen Hough and Agustin  Anievas
It seems like a classical music topic rather than the STax, but I was  carried away .  I will be very short next time as it will be Monday

 

[TheAttorney]

Thanks for the impressions kiertijai.
 
In the past, I've found that I can get into a complete muddle if I try to compare too many things in a short space of time. So it's not surprising if you find you change your mind the next day.
 
Overall, from the recent impressions posted by the early adopters, I have to say I'm rather disappointed with how the SR009 is turning out. This new flagship really should have been head and shoulders above all its predecessors. That some head-fiers are saying they prefer the older ones for certain types of music just isn't good enough for such a highly priced item. And then there's this brightness thing.
 
I'll audition it of course when they restart production, but time to get back to thinking about the BHSE instead.

 

[pachku]

Well, I don't know a thing about classical music, but with my kind of stuff, the SR-009 beats every other headphone I know by a mile. Vocals, acoustic, electronic music and any kind of e-guitar are way better than with the O2, Aynsley Lister's 335 finally sounds like a semiacoustic, Ladysmith Black Mambazo finally have a stage earning its name, and Yello's bass is beyond incredible. They are certainly brighter than the O2, but not nearly as high, dry and shrill as the HD800. Beside the much bigger soundstage, bass impact and definition is way better than on the O2. And that's with the XF2 tubes - I'm still looking for a quad of KT77, which should improve the whole thing even further...

 
Of course, YMMV

 

[visualguy]

 
Quote:

Overall, from the recent impressions posted by the early adopters, I have to say I'm rather disappointed with how the SR009 is turning out. This new flagship really should have been head and shoulders above all its predecessors. That some head-fiers are saying they prefer the older ones for certain types of music just isn't good enough for such a highly priced item. And then there's this brightness thing.
 

I've been listening to my SR-009 for the last few weeks, and compared them to my SR-007 mk1. I listen mostly to classical, but also to many other types of music. I find the SR-009 to be superior to the SR-007 on all types of music. The SR-009 has a significantly better soundstage, a clearer and more vivid sound, and better detail resolution. They sound better throughout the entire frequency range: lows, mids, and highs.
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

I hear the same thing, although to maybe not the extent you do.  It has a lot of midbass which I think people confuse as bass.  There is low bass too, but I didn't hear as much low bass impact or detail as on the HD800.

Have to agree w/ you and googleli.  Still have yet to hear the magic in the LCD2's lowend.  Never forsaw picking up the HD800 over any of the orthos.  I also agree w/ kiertijai w/ his picks for kings of low end presentation.
 
Still waiting to hear nerdling's 009.  

 

 

[kiertijai]

I've been listening to my SR-009 for the last few weeks, and compared them to my SR-007 mk1. I listen mostly to classical, but also to many other types of music. I find the SR-009 to be superior to the SR-007 on all types of music. The SR-009 has a significantly better soundstage, a clearer and more vivid sound, and better detail resolution. They sound better throughout the entire frequency range: lows, mids, and highs 
 
After listening over the weekends -6 hours a day.  I must say that it is a very good phone   but not better to other highend especially in all kind of classical music.
It may be too forward or too bright and a little bit on a warm side.   the sould stage is better as you mentioned , detailed and accurate but do we need that for
all kind of music.  I like listen to music to enjoy not to analyze and the romantic classical that I mentioned I prefer the O2mkI .  SR 009 is good and closer
bit I think it may be a little better than the SR omega ( not for laid back music) but not very close at all to the HE90 even driven from a not optimal source.
and this when you compare to the electrostatic only,  you are not comparing to the dynamic or Grado who many loves them much more because it is more fun
Again I listen music to enjoy not to labour to analyze it.   I am way way from being a what we called audidophile.
 
I will compare more but now not  for classical , I have to change to some may be I am thinking of classical crossover and audiophile or some easy listening
classical music like Swan Lake by Svetlanov, Wagner by George Szell, Night on a bald mountain Leiboweitz,  Peer Gynt by Thomas Kuchar  etc...

 

[purk]

 
Quote:

Thanks for the impressions kiertijai.
 
In the past, I've found that I can get into a complete muddle if I try to compare too many things in a short space of time. So it's not surprising if you find you change your mind the next day.
 
Overall, from the recent impressions posted by the early adopters, I have to say I'm rather disappointed with how the SR009 is turning out. This new flagship really should have been head and shoulders above all its predecessors. That some head-fiers are saying they prefer the older ones for certain types of music just isn't good enough for such a highly priced item. And then there's this brightness thing.
 
I'll audition it of course when they restart production, but time to get back to thinking about the BHSE instead.

That's not always true that newer flagship should sound better than the old ones.  For example, Sony MDR-R10 and the Qualia will likely stand the test of time given that they were building during the golden age of Sony as well as the cost-no-object approach. The R10 in particular was created as part of the Renaissance series which also consists of Sony CDP-R1, R1a, and R10 as well as their DAS-R series of DAC together with the TA-ER1 & TA-NR1/R10 series of amplification.  I expect the SR009 to pull slightly ahead of the R10 when properly amp though but this may not be true for all types of music.
 

 

[kiertijai]

I do hope the problem of resurfacing mild overbright treble and mid will real and we also
have to admit that the mild forward nature is there to stay. I would say it if like O2mkI but to
a much lesser extent and degree,   I don't know using BHSE even with Genalex goldlion KT77 
will solve that) BTW I score a set of that nos/nib of an octets with a very good price as well as the Philips
L34 metal base.   I also heard from justin that the deadline for Aristaeus is around  late july ( i hope you hear that
Milod.  I have prepared, TFKECC803S matched quad,  Mazda or ADZA 12AX7S match quad for them as well as the
RFT 12 AX7S quad I am blessed enough to score another Mullard 10M 12AX quad too with Mullard CV 4109 and Mullard
or Brimar CV 4305 for them.   I am also blessed enough not to have the ECL86 drive/power for tube rolling some and I use that
money for 4070 and O2mk2 and some tubes of BHSE like Valvo CCA, TFK CCa, Siemens CCA, Philips miniwatt or Philips Holland PQ
Hope it comes as soon as possible I am most turn turkey now

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I heard none of that with them side by side in the same room.  The GES had by far better control while both WES's were muddy and made the SR-007 Mk2 appear slow. 
 

Well, like I said my WES is not the best amp out there, but I don't think it's any muddier with O2 than my old maxed GES.  I do admit the mid-bass is sometimes a little bloated or prominent with O2 Mk1, and it doesn't have the sheer speed of the BHSE with the O2.  It's a better match with the HE-60, and at RMAF 2010 with my PS Audio PWD as source Iron_Dreamer told me that was the best he's heard the HE-60 sound.  I personally wish the bass was a little stronger for my HE-60, although it's more than enough with the O2.  My WES imparts a rich, warm and full sound, with a nice delicacy, detail and transparency to the treble.    If the SR-009 is indeed brighter than the SR-007, then my WES might actually be a good match for it.
 
Maybe there is something different about my pre-production WES?  Steve Guttenberg loved it too, if that means anything.  I believe that mine was the demo amp Woo sent him to review for Stereophile.  Some of the issue could be tubes - I really want to find my box of winged-C EL34 that I got from Deepak so I can try them out and see how they do.  I have NOS Tung Sol 5U4G rectifiers (I need another one for my WA6) and NOS RCA 6SL7 tubes, but I'm not so sure about these Shugang 50 year Treasure 6CA7 tubes that I have read a couple of complaints about.
 
 
 

 

[arnaud]

Quote:

Overall, from the recent impressions posted by the early adopters, I have to say I'm rather disappointed with how the SR009 is turning out. This new flagship really should have been head and shoulders above all its predecessors. That some head-fiers are saying they prefer the older ones for certain types of music just isn't good enough for such a highly priced item. And then there's this brightness thing.
 
I'll audition it of course when they restart production, but time to get back to thinking about the BHSE instead.

I think your best bet is it to give a listen. No to diminish the extensive posts that kiertijai has made, he has clearly expressed the following:
 
1. He's not so much into "correctness" of the sound as to musicality of the headphone. This means that he will prefer a certain coloration to another. So, from that standpoint, impressions are highly personal and you might not get the same findings as him, especially in terms of headphones ranking.
 
2. He started his evaluation with a "pre-conception" that there is no headphone that can be that much better than any other and that actually, each top dog headphone is better / worse than another in a particular criteria. In a way, this is indeed a more realistic opinion than thinking that anyone headphone can be always better than all others (like I have in my mind...). But also, starting with this motivation, he is bound to find some defaults in the SR-009, even if these might not actually be faults but rather characteristic that kiertijai likes to hide from his recordings (excessive brightness, forward mids, and what not).
 
3. He admittedly said he's not a "critical" listener in the sense he just can tell which headphone makes a particular recording more pleasant sounding rather than actually using quantitative sound quality attributes. This is close to point number 1, the outcome of such evaluation is that you most likely will pick a flavor of sound rather than another while at the same time ignoring many aspects of sound quality which may be key to another listener.
 
4. In particular, I don't see kiertijai doing so much mention of instrument placement in space, sense of room space and such. This is a key thing for me and the 009 is better than anything I've heard in that regards. Another key thing for me is the texture / extension of the treble without sounding artificially brightness. This is where the 009 excels again. kiertijai does not seem to be listening to much jazz or recordings with acoustic guitars. The speed, resolution of the headphone becomes very apparent when listening to guitars and percussions.
 
Now, the one and only caution I have toward the 009 is that it is basically an extremely resolving and revealing headphone (but in no way artificial sounding like HD800 and such). As such, don't expect jelly if you feed it rubbish. If you're listening to good quality recordings (most of Jazz and Classical stuff for instance), it's a safe bet you'll love it. If you're listening to lots of electronic / rock / pop, then it's a crapshoot. Excellent with some recordings, not great at all with others.
 
No, actually, 1 more caution. This one is for people who have deliberately tuned their system (source, amplification) to make the Omega 2 sound perfectly neutral. In which case, I am suspecting they will find the 009 too bright. In my case, the amplification and my D/A made my O2mkII sound very dark / bass heavy such that the 009 is perfectly balanced in my system. So, this point is about synergy, the headphone will make every aspect of the chain reveal itself, including the recording like I said above.
 
 

 

[deadlylover]

Quote:

 
Now, the one and only caution I have toward the 009 is that it is basically an extremely resolving and revealing headphone (but in no way artificial sounding like HD800 and such). As such, don't expect jelly if you feed it rubbish. If you're listening to good quality recordings (most of Jazz and Classical stuff for instance), it's a safe bet you'll love it. If you're listening to lots of electronic / rock / pop, then it's a crapshoot. Excellent with some recordings, not great at all with others.
 

Damn damn damn damn damn, looks like I'm stuck with the measly O2's then, feels so mid-fi now =(, I guess I'll find out in a couple of months when I head to Japan.
Oh well, the O2's are still an absolute ripper of a headphone I suppose......