[wind016]

 
Quote:

I appreciate your review.  Like many are going to mention these headphones are quite simply too expensive.
 
Has anyone out there compared this combo to the Grace m903 + Denon AH-D2000?  I would be surprised if the cost of any electrostatic amp that includes the SR-009 as the base headphone, surpasses the Grace m903 + Denon AH-D2000 setup by an audible factor of 2 or more; which is the minimum cost factor.

My current Stax setup, SR323s and 007 mk1, costed me $2300. I don't think even the Denon D7000 which I owned before with any amp came close to the 007 mk1.
 

 

[pachku]

 
Quote:

Like many are going to mention these headphones are quite simply too expensive.

 
That's kind of an absolute statement on a relative fact - doesn't really work. We all know the law of diminishing returns, but when and where your personal balance point is reached is highly subjective. If you don't mind me asking - what are you doing in a thread discussing a headphone that you'll never buy? Are you expecting those who did to feel bad about it? Or to justify ourselves? I don't think so. If you're happy with your AH-D2000, good on ya. Me, I always tend to think that the grass will be greener beyond the next hill, so I have no problem spending money for something I like and want. Times may change, or I may reach a point where I'm content, one never knows. To give you an idea about the level we're discussing here - I have the HD-800 on the Isabellina LVF-P, and the LCD-2 on the Burson 160D, both very good and well reviewed combos - and they see no land against the BHSE / 009, or even the 007t/009. Both of your components have been - sometimes harshly - critized in other threads, so it speaks for you that you go ahead and praise them, but I for myself wouldn't dare offering an opinion about them - about price or quality. So before you've heard a good electrostatic rig, you can't offer an opinion about the value. Believe it or not, you don't have to be a musical genius to hear and appreciate the difference between a mainstream dynamic headphone and a great 'stat setup. Whether you want to spend the money is another thing, but price / value can't be measured objectively.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

 
Has anyone out there compared this combo to the Grace m903 + Denon AH-D2000?  I would be surprised if the cost of any electrostatic amp that includes the SR-009 as the base headphone, surpasses the Grace m903 + Denon AH-D2000 setup by an audible factor of 2 or more; which is the minimum cost factor.

how bout that i would rather listen to my JH-13's out of my iPhone for the rest of my life than listen to the D2000's out of a m903 the D2000's arent even close to what i (or anyone else, or at least most) would consider to be a top end phone. they arent nearly transparent or neutral enough to be that at all.
 

 

[Lunatique]

Quote:

I don't think even the Denon D7000 which I owned before with any amp came close to the 007 mk1.  

When I first auditioned the 007mk2 (with the 717 amp), I brought my D7000 to compare, and I ran it out of the Corda Symphony.2, as well as the SPL Phonitor. The Stax completely and utterly destroyed the D7000 in just about every way possible. The only thing the Denon was good at was having a lot of fun in the bass department, although it was not accurate/neutral--it has this constant resonance in the sub-bass. I ended up selling my D7000 when I got the LCD-2 and the Stax rig.
 

 

[Syan25]

Sounds like a dream set up!

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Great episode. Kudos!

 

[Snake Eyes]

I don't know if I will buy these new STAX's after all because last night I discovered a headphone that's been right under my nose all this time. They're so different than the HD800's in a sense that listening to them you hear things that you didn't hear via the HD800's so you go back to the HD800's just to make sure. The sounds are there in the Sennheiser's BUT... the sounds that stood out in the other headphone sound so veiled and quite via the Sennheiser's. It's so weird because you hear things and to me I get the feeling that it would really sound like that. To me it just sounds right but that's just my opinion so far. More listening will happen tonight although at a sensible time because 1:00am isn't a sensible time (for a working person). Anyway these are my Dad's headphones (he has had them ever since I was a kid) and they're called Alpha Model HP501W 2 Way Stereo Headphone (they've got adjustable volume and brilliance knobs on them). I googled that but I couldn't find anything. Does anyone know anything about these headphones? Anyway about the STAX's apparently a friend of a friend of mine claims he can get them for me a lot cheaper than $6000, $7000 or whatever they're selling for in Australia. The Woo Audio site sells them for $5200 I think. Are theses STAX headphones a limited edition thing like the HE90's were???

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

I don't know if I will buy these new STAX's after all because last night I discovered a headphone that's been right under my nose all this time. They're so different than the HD800's in a sense that listening to them you hear things that you didn't hear via the HD800's so you go back to the HD800's just to make sure. The sounds are there in the Sennheiser's BUT... the sounds that stood out in the other headphone sound so veiled and quite via the Sennheiser's. It's so weird because you hear things and to me I get the feeling that it would really sound like that. To me it just sounds right but that's just my opinion so far. More listening will happen tonight although at a sensible time because 1:00am isn't a sensible time (for a working person). Anyway these are my Dad's headphones (he has had them ever since I was a kid) and they're called Alpha Model HP501W 2 Way Stereo Headphone (they've got adjustable volume and brilliance knobs on them). I googled that but I couldn't find anything. Does anyone know anything about these headphones? Anyway about the STAX's apparently a friend of a friend of mine claims he can get them for me a lot cheaper than $6000, $7000 or whatever they're selling for in Australia. The Woo Audio site sells them for $5200 I think. Are theses STAX headphones a limited edition thing like the HE90's were???

It's very likely that your dad's headphones have a different frequency response to the HD-800s, so instruments that are strong in a particular frequency are being emphasised more by the other headphones and less by the HD-800s.
 
The landed price for Australians on pricejapan.com is AU$4044.
 

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:          

           
It's very likely that your dad's headphones have a different frequency response to the HD-800s, so instruments that are strong in a particular frequency are being emphasised more by the other headphones and less by the HD-800s.
 
The landed price for Australians on pricejapan.com is AU$4044.

Why so cheap? Current exchange rate is USD $5,200.00 = AUD $4,895.80
 

 

[Currawong]

Cheaper because they are bought and shipped directly from Japan.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Oh okay... different frequency response. The thing I don't like about the HD800's is that everything sounds so distant but then again it's probably my CD player, amplifier, both or that I don't have them balanced. Oh well Christmas time and I will have a new source, amplifier + those new STAX headphones and hopefully that will satisy me. If not the search continues

. Anyway about the guy I know who claims he can get them for a lot cheaper I just have to wait for his e-mail. If the price beats the pricejapan.com price I will tell you all about it so we can all get it for cheaper

. Will there be a headphone show in Cairns anytime soon???

 

[rovex]

I assume this headphone is built to order seeing as Stax can't be selling that many. Personally I'd rather invest that kind of money on a complete hi fi system equipped with a very good amp.

 

[arnaud]

Quote:

I assume this headphone is built to order seeing as Stax can't be selling that many. Personally I'd rather invest that kind of money on a complete hi fi system equipped with a very good amp.

Not sure what means "built to order" here. If you imply that Stax isn't going to manufacture 3000 pairs until they realize that only a 1000 are selling in a year, then yes you're probably right. If you imply that Stax builds each unit only after getting it ordered, then it's probably wrong as Stax a) is sold largely through regular stores in Japan who must have stock, b) must be ready for servicing the product with a reasonable turnaround so they must have stock in house eventually, c) like with its other products, does not renew until at least 2 years have past so even if they produced too much at once, they'd have plenty of time to sell afterwards.
 
I think you're probably thinking of a one man operation who can't build some expensive product until pre-orders are partial payment is made (like most boutique amps sold through word of mouth on head-fi). Stax is small, but not that small...
 
Then, if this is in regards to price and thus selling in small quantities, in any case there aren't like millions of Stax headphones sold in a year so no matter how you look at the numbers this is all fairly small production runs, SR009 or not.
 
Finally, for the speaker system, please let me know when you've put the full rig together for say 10kUSD, I want to bring my Stax and compare .

 

[Ocellia]

Quote:

I wonder if I'll have enough money for this when I'm 60 years old...Goal: set.

I AM 60, and still not! And the way the world economy etc is going, you NEVER will! Groan!
 
 
 
 
 
 
I read that the USA is technically bankrupt this week, for example!
 
Let's all move to China then (who own the US?), but......no; wages rather lower there!
 
 

 

[davidhunternyc]

Quote:

The thing I don't like about the HD800's is that everything sounds so distant but then again it's probably my CD player, amplifier, both or that I don't have them balanced. 

When I listened to the HD800's out of a Woo amp at a Head-Fi meet, I felt the same way. The HD800's sounded distant and veiled.