[wild4sound]

  I have listened quickly and compared my listening between the T1 and the SE Master-1.
 
The T1 are analytical headphones, with great resolution and clarity.
Angled drivers are a strong point (like with the HD800) and the sound doesn't come directly to your ears, like when you are listening to speakers in a room with reverberation on the walls.
But the bass are surprisingly on the dry side, like a 'took-took-took' sound, so quite pointy in sound appreciation.
Fun, but end of notes and decays are cut off quite strictly.
 
The SE Master-1 are also on the analytical side, but the bass are more fuller, more longer.
No angled drivers, and in contrast to the T1, you have a direct rear soundstage from drivers.
The bass are more like ripples destinated to your ears, with a "bang-bang-bang' sound, but I don't think at all that we could classified these as 'boomy'.

Thanks for your impression . In some sense I agree , would like that extra bottom end in the T1 but not to colour the scene . Pioneer  I need to hear.

 

[up late]

Which is a sad point in itself. Same reason I'm limiting my time spent here nowadays btw.
But don't let that scare you away, I think overall ignoring each other in case of known opinion-incompatibilities works quite well here (better than in many other places).
Impressions don't have to be perfect, its not a review for commercial purposes (which may pose its own problems...). It might help to give a few hints about the complete system used of course, it may help to get the bigger picture.

doubt that i'll get to hear this can. how does it compare to your th900?

 

[AppleheadMay]

Thanks. Your impressions are much appreciated, ChatAlors.

+1, really enjoyed reading them and I hope you post more of your impressions here.
I for one prefer head-fiers impressions to commercial reviews, no matter if I have the same taste in phones and amps or not.

 

[thomasfdo]

there is a first test of the Master 1 in the german hifi magazine Test:
 
http://www.audio.de/testbericht/pioneer-se-master-1-test-klang-3079163.html
 
it did get the highest score of 97 points within the headphone section; from remembering: also some other headphones have been scored with 97 points; Stax 009 has not been tested yet
 
I know, it is only a test, but it is close to my own impressions
 
I'm wondering why Pioneer did not label this headphone under the High end label TAD (Technical Audio Devices); maybe it is still not expansive enough
 
to me, the sound/cost relation is excellent!

 

[arnaud]

  For replying to arnaud, my shyness on intervening about STAX amplification and other solid-state/tubes amps is solely because you always have someone to dictate you what you must use, like and dislike.
When you are not with them, you have a problem with your amp, your source or any kind of shenanigans.
So I keep myself for more than 15 feet from those topics.

 
Well, you're criticising two products (BHSE / KGST) and arguing it's not because of your source you did not get a good result with the 009. Here, I went from the SRM727 to the BHSE with good results and I would qualify my 009 as all but thin sounding. I can only hope you will get a chance to hear stat gear under proper light someday. If I can recommend: TotalDAC is not that far away from your place, I bet there are even owners where you live. This is not shenanigans, this is just what myself and several others have experienced. I can accept you trash something but only once you've actually shown you have gone through the effort to backup your words... As of now, I feel like it's a case of shooting the ambulance, as often is with such gear.
 
As I mentioned, the Stax gear, and the SR009 in particular are not the kind of gear you can throw any music / any upstream gear at. If you're listening to horrid music, there's no reason to buy such gear in the 1st place and it's telling it to you loud and clear. I totally get this is not everyone's cup of tea as we're not all after the same thing. The Pioneer did not do it at all for me, esp. in light of the price, I'd take the HE1k I listened to any day if I am looking for a more bassy sound that stat provide. You guys in Europe all seem enamoured, I bet we haven't been listening to the same phone / all I can assume is that I heard a dud...
 
arnaud

 

[plakat]

doubt that i'll get to hear this can. how does it compare to your th900?

 
When auditioning it in Munich I had the impression that the Master-1 has a more pleasurable presentation of bass. To me the TH900 is a bit over the top in that regard, listening for longer is too stressful for me. While still well defined and strong, the Master-1 seemed less fatiguing to me.
While memory is very unreliable, after getting out my TH900 yesterday I'd add that the Pioneer had a smoother treble as well -- but I'll have to check that again when I receive my unit.
 

+1, really enjoyed reading them and I hope you post more of your impressions here.
I for one prefer head-fiers impressions to commercial reviews, no matter if I have the same taste in phones and amps or not.

 
Same here. There's only a few commercial reviewers I enjoy reading, I very much prefer simple assessments by fellow enthusiasts. I do value passion for a subject.

 

[up late]

didn't realise that you don't have the master 1 yet. would be interested in your impressions following a direct comparison between it and the th900 down the track. agree that bass can be overwhelming at times with the th900.

 

[plakat]

didn't realise that you don't have the master 1 yet. would be interested in your impressions following a direct comparison between it and the th900 down the track. agree that bass can be overwhelming at times with the th900.

Yes, there was a bit of a delay, due to holidays I did not yet get around to pick them up although they are already waiting at the shop. Obviously I'm already too old to get in a hurry because of a new toy
 
What I was looking for was a headphone with a bit more dynamic and low bass than the T1 (that I still love), and a bit cleaner treble than the K812, with an overall a bit smoother sound signature than the TH900 and definitely a bit less bass. I'm looking forward to the Pioneer as my impressions as well as those of the ones who already got theirs seem to indicate it might match that quite well...

 

[gurus]

Obviously, using the Iphone as a source is less than ideal for the Stax and is so for SE-Master1 also or any other TOTL HP to get the best out of it or form an opinion on its merits/shortfalls.

 

[arnaud]

Obviously, using the Iphone as a source is less than ideal for the Stax and is so for SE-Master1 also or any other TOTL HP to get the best out of it or form an opinion on its merits/shortfalls.

How about when the iPhone is just used as a transporter, such as a lightning connection to the Pioneer DAC/amp?

 

[plakat]

How about when the iPhone is just used as a transporter, such as a lightning connection to the Pioneer DAC/amp?

Makes the setup less portable if thats important... But the Master-1 is rather large anyway.

 

[thomasfdo]

I managed to get some music (wav files) from my imac on my AK 120 II
 
compared to my iPod Classic/Vorzuge Pure II headphone amp the sound has improved quite a bit, what I had expected anyway, as the iPod Classic soundwise is much below of the Astell & Kern players
 
the bass is more defined now (and less boomy), I can hear more details and treble has improved a lot
 
I'm still very impressed by the very natural sound of the Master 1; voices and instruments just sound the way they should (to me)

 

[gurus]

Audio components
 System                                   Pioneer SE- Master1                              Stax SR-009
 
                                Iphone +USB Cable+ Pioneer U-5   =     Mac Retina+ DAC1 USB Filter/Cable+ D1 DAC+ BHSE
 
Prices                        $600  +   $30      +        $800         =      $2300    +       $350            +            $11000  +   $5600
 
System cost
w/o Headphone                       $1430                                                           $19250
 
The math does not add up and nor  do the components for a fair comparison between the Pioneer  and the Stax. Quite a bit of negativity in your opinion of the Pioneer Master1  and totally different from all the owners who actually own a pair and have some decent systems to drive the Master1.
 
I have no bias against Stax. I was part of the largest dealership of Stax equipment in Canada. Harold Mori****a was a personal friend, the man responsible for bringing Stax to America, who was the distributor of Stax products for 30+ years. I have owned a variety of Stax products over the years including their headphones and the Stax DA-300 Class A amplifier, that most people have never heard of. And BTW, I also love sushi (not the fusion kind).
 
PS. As we speak, I just got my Master1 delivered by EMS from Japan.

 

[arnaud]

Gurus,

That's why I am confused we're even talking about stax gear in this thread. I don't recall making any comparison myself, and I honestly feel we're such on a different plane (except retail price as the pioneer is over 2/3rd the price of sr009 / more expensive than sr007a).

From what I listened, the pioneer is comparable to other dynamic phones like the fostex, it sounds like a sub 1kUSD phone to me. The hifiman he1000 is same price and sounded so much better to me on short listen.

As I said, I either heard a dud or some of you guys are blinded by the price / unobtainum status. Time will tell.

Arnaud

 

[gurus]

I agree. Totally different animals.
 
But I disagree with the Fostex remark. There is no comparison. This is like literally 5 min of Pioneer on my head. And price wise, it cost me a bit over $2000 for the Master1 (including shipping) and the HE-1000 is $3000. So there is a big diff in price.That does not mean that I will not buy a HE-1000 if I like them when I listen to them this weekend.
 
And yes, agreed on the unobtanium status. But only time will tell.  Just like the L3000, that I had two of, and sold them for 50% more than I paid for them. And now they go for twice that!
 
PS I have been doing most of listening on the TH900 for the last few months.