[nepherte]

Stax didn't make an all-new, much more expensive headphone to be "5% better", that is the SR-009S over the SR-009 (and even then people argue that the difference is bigger than that)

To my ears they did

I guess it all matters on what scale you grade, but I’m using 5% to indicate that x9k and 009 have a very similar sound signature. On the 007T the difference is small, even though there is one. I find that this forum tends to over exaggerate. YMMV

FYI, companies release marginally better gear all the time. Law of diminishing return and all that.

These headphones convey so much information that the brain is simply unable to take in all of it that one go, the subtleties regarding sound reproduction can be studied for months.

I fully agree that it takes a long time to fully appreciate them. I know it took me months to really value the 007A for what they are. And for sure, 009 is the king of detail (I suppose now also x9k). It definitely takes time to process all that musical info.

It's very different to quickly comparing on a chain one is unfamiliar with in a noisy environment, no precise volume matching

I hope to get a home demo soon so I can hear them in my own setup. I did hear them in a silent environment though. It was a private listening session. Nobody there but me.

 

[padam]

Just to clarify: I wasn't directing towards any of impressions, more of others taking just one or a few of them at face value. whether they are about being a the new best(est) headphone in the world or something that's just an improvement over what it was.

There are well over 20+ impressions about the CRBN (the vast majority of it were at a recent meet) and I still don't have much sense of how it actually sounds.
I miss reviews that were written more like this or this. I don't necessarily agree with them, but I have a much better sense of what they've observed.
I agree that a lot of things may be overexaggerated.

 

[nepherte]

Well said. And I’ll add: try to hear these yourself if possible. Nothing beats your own opinion. It’s the only one that really matters

 

[thinker]

Here's a repost of my impressions that I shared via some private PMs.

The x9k sounds pretty close to the 009, or put otherwise, I'd say the 009 gets you close to ~95% of the x9k.

Sorry no, take the X9K home and find out

 

[buzzlulu]

Sorry no, take the X9K home and find out

AGREED!

Mine arrived yesterday and I listened to them for about 45 minutes cold out of the box powered by a Mjolnir Carbon and fronted by a totl 2 channel Linn Klimax DS source. Their superiority over the 009S was immediately apparent. Me thinks the X9000 are the real deal.

 

[nepherte]

Sorry no, take the X9K home and find out

I definitely look forward to hearing it on my Tambaqui + BHSE

 

[wsilvio]

I definitely look forward to hearing it on my Tambaqui + BHSE

I too am looking forward to hearing these on my BHSE and Tambaqui

 

[nepherte]

I too am looking forward to hearing these on my BHSE and Tambaqui

I see you're a person with good taste

 

[tabness]

Appreciate you posting this impression, I'm with you on my experiences of the sound quality differences between phones in general being quite minor and not at all commensurate with the differences in prices, which tend to be more related with build to be charitable (marketing to be real lol)

Had months together with the L500, 009S, Omega, thought the sound differences between them were quite minor. L500 and 009S mostly differed in sound presentation/sense of space, 009S and Omega mostly differed in tonality. I guess L500 and Omega were pretty different without that intermediate 009S step but you know what after listening for a while, I at least start listening to the track rather than the phone anyway.

As I am in the boat of snapping one of these X9000s up (was about to a couple of times but got myself into the reality of the foolishness of buying a six grand phone especially without audition) and also really missing my 009S/looking to get the classic 009 (love the look), this has been a nice reality check for me.

In a sense, if the X9000 gets that nice natural Omega timbre but keeps the ultimate clarity/sense of space/similar presentation (larger is ok though hopefully not too large) of the 009S I'm gonna be close despite the massive differences in price.

To my ears they did

I guess it all matters on what scale you grade, but I’m using 5% to indicate that x9k and 009 have a very similar sound signature. On the 007T the difference is small, even though there is one. I find that this forum tends to over exaggerate. YMMV

FYI, companies release marginally better gear all the time. Law of diminishing return and all that.

 

[lsantista]

anyone managed to get an updat re expected shipping dates from headamp this week?

 

[Steve1976]

anyone managed to get an updat re expected shipping dates from headamp this week?

My order was placed on sep 20 and currently there is still no news. There should be about 5 people ahead of me right now.

 

[Mecc]

anyone managed to get an updat re expected shipping dates from headamp this week?

expected delivery tommorow. ordered day it became available.

 

[rzy6cn]

To my ears they did

I guess it all matters on what scale you grade, but I’m using 5% to indicate that x9k and 009 have a very similar sound signature. On the 007T the difference is small, even though there is one. I find that this forum tends to over exaggerate. YMMV

FYI, companies release marginally better gear all the time. Law of diminishing return and all that.


I fully agree that it takes a long time to fully appreciate them. I know it took me months to really value the 007A for what they are. And for sure, 009 is the king of detail (I suppose now also x9k). It definitely takes time to process all that musical info.


I hope to get a home demo soon so I can hear them in my own setup. I did hear them in a silent environment though. It was a private listening session. Nobody there but me.

I would say. X9K and 009 do share similar sound signature (tuning), inherent from STAX's gene But other than that, they are totally different headphones.

I won't say the different is marginal. Compare with X9000, the 009/009S is much forward sounding, with smaller soundstage and more focus on detail performance.

I won't say X9000 outperform at all aspect to 009/009S, but it is definitely a huge step for STAX. They finally focus more on the creating a whole picture of the music rather than force you to listen to a lot of details.

 

[rzy6cn]

Appreciate you posting this impression, I'm with you on my experiences of the sound quality differences between phones in general being quite minor and not at all commensurate with the differences in prices, which tend to be more related with build to be charitable (marketing to be real lol)

Had months together with the L500, 009S, Omega, thought the sound differences between them were quite minor. L500 and 009S mostly differed in sound presentation/sense of space, 009S and Omega mostly differed in tonality. I guess L500 and Omega were pretty different without that intermediate 009S step but you know what after listening for a while, I at least start listening to the track rather than the phone anyway.

As I am in the boat of snapping one of these X9000s up (was about to a couple of times but got myself into the reality of the foolishness of buying a six grand phone especially without audition) and also really missing my 009S/looking to get the classic 009 (love the look), this has been a nice reality check for me.

In a sense, if the X9000 gets that nice natural Omega timbre but keeps the ultimate clarity/sense of space/similar presentation (larger is ok though hopefully not too large) of the 009S I'm gonna be close despite the massive differences in price.

If the difference between 009S and OEMGA is minor then a fair condition pair of OMEGA wouldn't worth $9000+............. plus OMEGA is very easy to fail due to its age.

 

[number1sixerfan]

For me, its good to continue seeing that the x9000 sounds a bit similar tonality wise to the 009. At least that's what it sounds like, although more relaxed and open. Will be interested in seeing how people's opinions evolve over time with the comparison of the two.