[Trance_Gott]

I heared now from someone that Stax had quality issues with some charges. Maybe that's the problem with low bass vs enough bass? But for the moment only speculation don't know if it's 100% true.
And this guy told me he has tested X9000 on BHSE vs Susvara and Abyss 1266 TC. The bass on TC kicks the hardest but the Susvara (Nimbus) has no chance vs X9000.
Too many different opinions hope it arrive soon.
Unbelievable for me that Susvara has lower kick but let's see.

 

[Chefguru]

We can argue over personal preferences in sound signatures, but to suggest that there hasn't been much innovation in estats and other headphone technology over the last twenty years is insane. Note that I'm not suggesting that every new expensive headphone that's released improves on its predecessors technically, or that some older headphones weren't great, but there have been a lot of significant technological advancements in all classes of headphones over the last twenty years. That's just undeniable in my opinion.

Sennheiser has halted major innovation since the hd800 (10 years ago) which did not surpass the he90 that is 30 years old now. The he-1 (10 years old?) is a repackaged he90 and not a clear improvement.

Grado never innovated after the hp1000

Stax’s 1990 sr-omega is same tier as the srx9000 sonically. The technological innovation is in the suggested durability and manufacturing reliability- not sonically.

Sony’s best creations were the 1989 R10 and the nearly 20 year old mdr-010.

Newer brands have not managed to surpass the mentioned headphones. The improvement is only their ability to be commercially available.

Like it or not the biggest technical innovation to headphones is wireless headphones, software soundstage effects and noise canceling.

 

[BassicScience]

Sennheiser has halted major innovation since the hd800 (10 years ago) which did not surpass the he90 that is 30 years old now. The he-1 (10 years old?) is a repackaged he90 and not a clear improvement.

Grado never innovated after the hp1000

Stax’s 1990 sr-omega is same tier as the srx9000 sonically. The technological innovation is in the suggested durability and manufacturing reliability- not sonically.

Sony’s best creations were the 1989 R10 and the nearly 20 year old mdr-010.

Newer brands have not managed to surpass the mentioned headphones. The improvement is only their ability to be commercially available.

Like it or not the biggest technical innovation to headphones is wireless headphones, software soundstage effects and noise canceling.

Just because SONY, Sennheiser, and Grado are no longer innovating doesn't refute that there has been a lot of innovation in headphones in the last twenty years. And manufacturing innovations are just as important as those in materials and design in my opinion. What good is a great headphone if it can't be manufactured in sufficient quantity to satisfy demand, and at a workable price point? As to whether modern TOTL headphones sound better or worse than the ones you mentioned, that's just personal preference. I'll take the current offerings over those of a generation (or more) ago all day every day. YMMV.

 

[Chefguru]

. What good is a great headphone if it can't be manufactured in sufficient quantity to satisfy demand, and at a workable price point?

… the irony given the sr-x9000’s 50% increase on price from the sr009s (which was already 100% higher than the sr007), 6-12 month wait period and apparently still susceptibility to channel imbalance.

 

[jlbrach]

We can argue over personal preferences in sound signatures, but to suggest that there hasn't been much innovation in estats and other headphone technology over the last twenty years is insane. Note that I'm not suggesting that every new expensive headphone that's released improves on its predecessors technically, or that some older headphones weren't great, but there have been a lot of significant technological advancements in all classes of headphones over the last twenty years. That's just undeniable in my opinion.

20 yrs most definitely...5 yrs no...to me none of the new offerings are as good as the abyss TC or susvara...only the sr1a is anything truly new IMHO and it is special but clearly for a certain audience

 

[Ciggavelli]

Yeah, we might be at a plateau for a while. Maybe Audeze is right and the future is having a pair of headphones that can transform into anything you want it to, with good eq (at least that’s what the lcd-5 people are saying).

The TCs and SR1as are different because you wear them differently. Perhaps there’s an even new way none of us know about that will make a radical change. I hope so.

TC bass works because of the gap between your ears and the earcups. It allows one to better hear the bass wavelengths. You can do the same with the Susvaras by pulling them away from your ears. The SR1as also are not on your ears, which really helps with soundstage. What else can be done like that?

 

[Chefguru]

Yeah, we might be at a plateau for a while. Maybe Audeze is right and the future is having a pair of headphones that can transform into anything you want it to, with good eq (at least that’s what the lcd-5 people are saying).

The TCs and SR1as are different because you wear them differently. Perhaps there’s an even new way none of us know about that will make a radical change. I hope so.

TC bass works because of the gap between your ears and the earcups. It allows one to better hear the bass wavelengths. You can do the same with the Susvaras by pulling them away from your ears. The SR1as also are not on your ears, which really helps with soundstage. What else can be done like that?

Grado did a similar thing by just making the foam of their ear pads wider /longer and then charged an extra grand for the same headphone with drivers tuned to maximize that spectrum.
Hardly a technological innovation when you consider the difficulty Apple has gone through to create the Max’s noise canceling lol.

 

[number1sixerfan]

20 yrs most definitely...5 yrs no...to me none of the new offerings are as good as the abyss TC or susvara...only the sr1a is anything truly new IMHO and it is special but clearly for a certain audience

Only thing I'd mention here is that slow and steady innovation/progress has always been the case in the hobby. Which is why TOTL headphones are able to have such long, successful production runs.

And the Sr1a is essentially a ribbon redesign of the K1000. But it does completely blow it out of the water imo. Just like any tech, it's rare that something is completely new, but the progress is there.

 

[Axel]

Received my SR-X9K a couple of days ago, still in learning/break-in process.
A question to the Stax crowd: Is the Stax limited in SPL compared to, say, planars?
I’m using a high powered amp through an SRD-7 energizer and when reaching high SPL levels I hear distortion.
These are very high SPL levels, but my Susvaras have no problem handling these levels without distorting.

 

[eee1111]

Received my SR-X9K a couple of days ago, still in learning/break-in process.
A question to the Stax crowd: Is the Stax limited in SPL compared to, say, planars?
I’m using a high powered amp through an SRD-7 energizer and when reaching high SPL levels I hear distortion.
These are very high SPL levels, but my Susvaras have no problem handling these levels without distorting.

Shouldn’t be distorted.

 

[biscottino]

Happy with my new Stax x9!

 

[dleblanc343]

Received my SR-X9K a couple of days ago, still in learning/break-in process.
A question to the Stax crowd: Is the Stax limited in SPL compared to, say, planars?
I’m using a high powered amp through an SRD-7 energizer and when reaching high SPL levels I hear distortion.
These are very high SPL levels, but my Susvaras have no problem handling these levels without distorting.

How many WPC output on your speaker amp?

Might be running out of headroom

 

[Axel]

How many WPC output on your speaker amp?

Might be running out of headroom

The amp can drive almost any speakers available, it's a high-power, high-current amp. 150W at 8 ohm.

 

[Torq]

I’m using a high powered amp through an SRD-7 energizer and when reaching high SPL levels I hear distortion.

Depending on how high a dB/SPL level you're hitting (particularly in the bass), you may be saturating the transformers in the SRD-7.

 

[Axel]

Depending on how high a dB/SPL level you're hitting (particularly in the bass), you may be saturating the transformers in the SRD-7.

Interesting, so the transformers may limit driving the headphones to their max SPL?
BTW, I have the Mjolnir built version.