[Sandro Sena]

Yes, these are the humidity conditions I have here, so just a CPC-1 is fine and I have STAX headphones since >30years and still all functioning very well

These are the climatic conditions in my city. Relative humidity is around 75%! A dangerous environment for electrostatics. The dry cabinet is a necessity for me.

 

[csl67]

Oh not to forget that: in you unplug your STAX headphones and put them away "as is" the rest charge will attract dust/dirt! A good idea is to moisten ones thumb and shortcut the five pins on the STAX plug for a second to discharge the phones completely. Also great to avoid the "sticky membrane poblem" some had.

Yep, lots of people who have to spank their membranes back into place

 

[nepherte]

Guys, putting the precious STAX-Headphones back into their (dense) box is not a good idea, as the accumulated moisture has then no way to escape

Stax actually does recommend storing it in the included box. The foam is purposely designed to absorb the moisture. My units are stored that way in environments of 70-75% humidity. 6 years and still going strong.

 

[Phil95]

Although I dont own the 009S anymore as i sold my 007mk1 and 009 when I ordered my X9000 to cover the cost, I had AB demo both X9000 and SR009S in show room , and the X9000 is much better in many aspect.
>bigger soundstage (more presist and accurate)
>higher resolution
>more midbass (007Mk1 style but not as much?)
>subbass extended way below then 009
>treble remain largely very similar to 009BK on showroom but the 009 have more spike(on my face effect)
>speed is roughtly the same

Thank you very much, elton! What amp was used during the AB demo? A BHSE? (This is the one I have, with Philips Miniwatt metal base tubes).

 

[elton7033]

Thank you very much, elton! What amp was used during the AB demo? A BHSE? (This is the one I have, with Philips Miniwatt metal base tubes).

On the shop I usr the STAX T8000 and at my home when I lisen to my own pair I use my mjolnir Carbon, I sold my BHSE long ago, would like to have one to test how the X9000 sound like on those.

 

[lsantista]

The ultimate solution for protecting your electrostatic headphones: dehumidifying dry cabinet, the primary use is for protecting photographic material.

I adopted this solution many years ago and strongly recommend it for those living in humid regions.

Looks like a professional solution! I always leave it under plastic bags covering the whole body and with small humidity bags when not using, and every week or so I leave some of the headphones on the wardrobe with one of these on for a couple of days, much cheaper and smaller, hopefully efficient enough to take any remaining humidity away from the HPs

 

[elton7033]

howabout air conditioning room? in air cond room hidmidity should be around 47?

 

[arnaud]

Japan’s super humid in the summer, I’ve never had an issue with any of my stax phones. I don’t buy into the mold build up either as there would be so many failure reports (it gets a bit sweaty when listening in summer again). I was using the box the 009 and 007 came in as storage and the room was air conditioned but not 100% of the time. The climatized box surely is a piece of min but may be overkill for most.

 

[Tachikoma]

Not sure if it is better or not as it really depends on the amp(s) you use with it. In my case, a single Benchmark AHB2 would have its clip light come on momentarily when driving the CRBN, so I needed a second one (running them in bridge mode/mono). No clip lights anymore. Some measurements of the AHB2: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-and-measurements-of-benchmark-ahb2-amp.7628/

I have heard that the CBRN is quite insensitive, but I wonder if you're saturating the transformer in this case... saturating the transformer will momentarily cause their AC impedance to go to zero, which will cause the amp to clip. There is no way you need more than one 500W amp to drive a pair of electrostatic headphones, its more likely that running in mono simply allows the amp to brute force the current demands of the transformer when it goes into saturation.

Check the amp for DC offset, ideally it should be less than 10 mV. If that's not the issue, then maybe the iESL's transformers just aren't big enough for the CBRN. If the transformers are constantly being driven to saturation, they will die eventually.

Another thing you can do is to add a high-quality 5W-10W 2 ohm resistor to the transformer's inputs (drop to 1 ohm if HF rolloff is significant). This will keep the amp from clipping at least, and it will reduce whatever effect DC offset has on the transformer. I would assume that iFi already has resistors on the inputs, but the clipping implies that the iESL has very little DC resistance.

 

[eee1111]

Japan’s super humid in the summer, I’ve never had an issue with any of my stax phones. I don’t buy into the mold build up either as there would be so many failure reports (it gets a bit sweaty when listening in summer again). I was using the box the 009 and 007 came in as storage and the room was air conditioned but not 100% of the time. The climatized box surely is a piece of min but may be overkill for most.

climate change has made humidity in my area sky rocket

it was nowhere near as high and has been getting higher and higher to the point its oppressive High humidity and dew point

 

[arnaud]

climate change has made humidity in my area sky rocket

it was nowhere near as high and has been getting higher and higher to the point its oppressive High humidity and dew point

In that situation, it feels like A/C on 24/24 is the solution, in which case humidity level can be kept reasonable (not sire I’d stand wearing headphones otherwise anyhow)

 

[Lee Junming]

really like the review and the tube style watch on the background. thanks

I listen to a lot of genres but my concern is manly regarding orchestra, particularly strings session. In that regard your review compared a lot the HE90 and X9, but not so much with the other stax; judging by the soundstage description I feel the x9 is the better stax for classical in general, would you agree with that?

For reference, Ive heard only the 009S and have the L700ii and 007A and would agree 100% about the 007 (never heard the mk I though) and definitely prefer the L700 for large symphonic music (more precise, transparent, more focused bass - even if less present, it is not anemic at allsp

really like the review and the tube style watch on the background. thanks

I listen to a lot of genres but my concern is manly regarding orchestra, particularly strings session. In that regard your review compared a lot the HE90 and X9, but not so much with the other stax; judging by the soundstage description I feel the x9 is the better stax for classical in general, would you agree with that?

For reference, Ive heard only the 009S and have the L700ii and 007A and would agree 100% about the 007 (never heard the mk I though) and definitely prefer the L700 for large symphonic music (more precise, transparent, more focused bass - even if less present, it is not anemic at all)

X9000 does well with symphony but 009S does better with chamber and quartet with much better depth .

 

[elton7033]

X9000 does well with symphony but 009S does better with chamber and quartet with much better depth .

By all respect I disagree as my 009 do not have the sense of deathdepth compare to my X9000 with Carbon, atleast not on my setup.

 

[Audio Addict]

By all respect I disagree as my 009 do not have the sense of death compare to my X9000 with Carbon, atleast not on my setup.

Do you mean "depth" instead of "death"?

 

[Steve1976]

Do you mean "depth" instead of "death"?

What a legendary typo.