Stax SR-X9000
Apr 3, 2022 at 2:50 PM Post #1,096 of 3,260
Thanks to @Audio Addict for the heads up. I went over to The SourceAV yesterday to finally give the SR-X9000 a listen. The team was very friendly and provided me plenty of time (I was there over an hour) to listen to the SRX9K and several other headphones on various setups. They also have some fantastic speaker demo setups for anyone tempted to move into that land (eyeing a two channel myself). There was only one other couple there; the show room was dead silent.

IMG_3931.jpg



My home setup right now for estat is Audeze CRBN > Mjolnir Carbon > Denafrips Pontus 2.
Setup at The SourceAV was SR9x / CRBN > BHSE > Chord Dave (I asked not to use the m-scaler)

I considered bringing my Carbon but have done some extensive testing against the BHSE and find that they're mostly similar but with the Carbon having slightly better dynamics/bass and the BHSE opening up the mid-range more.

Before getting into the SRX9K I listened to their CRBN to calibrate how different it was from my system. To my dismay, the Chord Dave./BHSE was a step better than my Denafrip/Carbon combo. One example was on Diana Ross's "Coming Out" there is excellent drum build-up before the song hits - on my CRBN setup at home, I've always felt that it doesn't capture the right drum sound (especially in comparison to my dynamic setup). There was a noticeable improvement on the Dave/BHSE and better spacing between where that hovered vs. Diana's voice. Given my previous comparisons between the amps, this likely reflects the Dave being a truly superior DAC to the Pontus. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, given the price differential, but I suppose a part of me was still in the dacs don't matter crew. Sadly, my revised thesis is that they can count, but it takes a tremendous amount of money to crystalize those jumps.

Onto the impressions... I like the build of the SR-X9000, especially the headband over the SR-009 series. The weight feels fantastic on the head, although I'm spoiled because the CRBN is also a wonderful fit. Part of my ear was touching the driver, which I thought was odd. Small pet peeve is I don't particularly appreciate how the Stax headphones cannot swivel to a down-facing position. The SRX9K includes two cable lengths in-box for those who don't know. The shorter one is laughable—no idea the purpose of it.

I owned the SR-009S for about a year up until two months ago, when I migrated over to the CRBN. My first impressions were that the SR9X sounded like the Sr-009s at first. However, as I started settling into it I found that the soundstage did open up more, and there was a noticeable improvement in the lower end. Despite what's being said on here, I don't think the CRBN has much of an edge in the low-end, especially on a top-tier system. This was already evident to me in my impressions on the CRBN, where I was surprised to find the CRBN doesn't have much more than a 1 click advantage over the Sr-009S in low-end off a Carbon. The SR9X manages to narrow the gap further.

The clarity and separation that the SR-X9000 provides is the best I've heard of any headphone. There is a slight dimming of the Sr-009S energy, but it's not as dramatic as expected. This is not, in my impression, a combination of the Sr-007 & Sr-009. This feels a lot more like a V2 of the 009 line. Overall, every type of song I listened to was impressive. Only on one song did I find a passaged that felt a bit fatiguing. My previous experience with the Sr-009S is that they provide a great first listen, and then a few tracks in, you're exhausted from the brightness and can't relax into the music. The CRBN has been the opposite. Finally, the SRX9k’s soundstage is bigger than the Sr-009, but it is not as noteworthy as people have stated.

The big takeaway here is that the SRX9K sounds and looks like a refined Sr-009, but I will need to sit down for 2+ hours uninterrupted to understand how fatiguing it is. I look forward to my pair whenever it decides to arrive (July?). I also have to give some new consideration to DAC upgrades which feels more like a chore than anything else...

Other note: The CRBN unit they had there also had the same sticking driver/farting noises my two units have had - proving this a universal issue with the CRBN and not a defective batch.
 
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Apr 3, 2022 at 3:07 PM Post #1,097 of 3,260
funny note, listening to headphones in my room, sitting on my working desk while I work from home, I always hated the long 2.5m (8feet) cables. they just like to strangle in the floor. I loved when I first read of the short cable coming with the X9k, and sitting next to my head-fi setup rack, sometimes I wish it was even a foot shorter
 
Apr 3, 2022 at 6:14 PM Post #1,098 of 3,260
Love my shorter X9000 cable
 
Apr 4, 2022 at 8:14 AM Post #1,101 of 3,260
People, who are not used to work but do have a lot of money, buy Sennheiser HE1 because it is expensive.
People who love music, buy the X9000 no matter if they have the money or not.
 
Apr 4, 2022 at 2:17 PM Post #1,104 of 3,260
What kind of metal? Thin sounding like Darkthrone, meatier and bassier like Dimmu Borgir, or just your regular hard rock that's being called metal by a lot of people? Also what do you go for when listening to rock?
 
Apr 4, 2022 at 2:21 PM Post #1,105 of 3,260
What kind of metal? Thin sounding like Darkthrone, meatier and bassier like Dimmu Borgir, or just your regular hard rock that's being called metal by a lot of people? Also what do you go for when listening to rock?
Trivium, Dream Theater, Fates Warning. I like to feel the drums and CRBN gives this feeling like 1266 TC.
 
Apr 4, 2022 at 2:49 PM Post #1,107 of 3,260
Thanks to @Audio Addict for the heads up. I went over to The SourceAV yesterday to finally give the SR-X9000 a listen. The team was very friendly and provided me plenty of time (I was there over an hour) to listen to the SRX9K and several other headphones on various setups. They also have some fantastic speaker demo setups for anyone tempted to move into that land (eyeing a two channel myself). There was only one other couple there; the show room was dead silent.

IMG_3931.jpg


My home setup right now for estat is Audeze CRBN > Mjolnir Carbon > Denafrips Pontus 2.
Setup at The SourceAV was SR9x / CRBN > BHSE > Chord Dave (I asked not to use the m-scaler)

I considered bringing my Carbon but have done some extensive testing against the BHSE and find that they're mostly similar but with the Carbon having slightly better dynamics/bass and the BHSE opening up the mid-range more.

Before getting into the SRX9K I listened to their CRBN to calibrate how different it was from my system. To my dismay, the Chord Dave./BHSE was a step better than my Denafrip/Carbon combo. One example was on Diana Ross's "Coming Out" there is excellent drum build-up before the song hits - on my CRBN setup at home, I've always felt that it doesn't capture the right drum sound (especially in comparison to my dynamic setup). There was a noticeable improvement on the Dave/BHSE and better spacing between where that hovered vs. Diana's voice. Given my previous comparisons between the amps, this likely reflects the Dave being a truly superior DAC to the Pontus. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, given the price differential, but I suppose a part of me was still in the dacs don't matter crew. Sadly, my revised thesis is that they can count, but it takes a tremendous amount of money to crystalize those jumps.

Onto the impressions... I like the build of the SR-X9000, especially the headband over the SR-009 series. The weight feels fantastic on the head, although I'm spoiled because the CRBN is also a wonderful fit. Part of my ear was touching the driver, which I thought was odd. Small pet peeve is I don't particularly appreciate how the Stax headphones cannot swivel to a down-facing position. The SRX9K includes two cable lengths in-box for those who don't know. The shorter one is laughable—no idea the purpose of it.

I owned the SR-009S for about a year up until two months ago, when I migrated over to the CRBN. My first impressions were that the SR9X sounded like the Sr-009s at first. However, as I started settling into it I found that the soundstage did open up more, and there was a noticeable improvement in the lower end. Despite what's being said on here, I don't think the CRBN has much of an edge in the low-end, especially on a top-tier system. This was already evident to me in my impressions on the CRBN, where I was surprised to find the CRBN doesn't have much more than a 1 click advantage over the Sr-009S in low-end off a Carbon. The SR9X manages to narrow the gap further.

The clarity and separation that the SR-X9000 provides is the best I've heard of any headphone. There is a slight dimming of the Sr-009S energy, but it's not as dramatic as expected. This is not, in my impression, a combination of the Sr-007 & Sr-009. This feels a lot more like a V2 of the 009 line. Overall, every type of song I listened to was impressive. Only on one song did I find a passaged that felt a bit fatiguing. My previous experience with the Sr-009S is that they provide a great first listen, and then a few tracks in, you're exhausted from the brightness and can't relax into the music. The CRBN has been the opposite. Finally, the SRX9k’s soundstage is bigger than the Sr-009, but it is not as noteworthy as people have stated.

The big takeaway here is that the SRX9K sounds and looks like a refined Sr-009, but I will need to sit down for 2+ hours uninterrupted to understand how fatiguing it is. I look forward to my pair whenever it decides to arrive (July?). I also have to give some new consideration to DAC upgrades which feels more like a chore than anything else...

Other note: The CRBN unit they had there also had the same sticking driver/farting noises my two units have had - proving this a universal issue with the CRBN and not a defective batch.
We have seen so many crbn users have had that. What is audeze doing… they also released the lcd5 which has its fair share of issues at its price point. Prices of everything are absurd and getting worse


Anyway I agree with most of this. The X9K are not a middle ground between 009 and 007
 
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Apr 4, 2022 at 7:56 PM Post #1,108 of 3,260
Apr 6, 2022 at 12:17 AM Post #1,109 of 3,260
I hate Wes and I think even GES has better image and resolution
My Woo WES2 (gen 2) has been having issues the past few weeks (feeling very underpowered - I need to turn the amp up to a crazy high level to get the normal loudness), so I am going to send it in to Woo for them to look at in. (please note that I have SR9 and SR9S, along with redundant DAC, cables, source, extra set of tubes etc and the power stayed low during swapping everything...hopefully it's a quick fix). I've been using Sennheiser HD800S as a 'backup'.

In the meantime, I just ordered the BHSE with the stepless volume. Hopefully it will arrive soon and, in the future, i'll be able to 'review' the Woo WES 2 as compared to BHSE.
 
Apr 6, 2022 at 12:26 AM Post #1,110 of 3,260
Order placed on 11/5/21 from woo audio. Not yet received. Was advised early January.
Update: Still no STAXSRX9000. Was advised by Woo that sometime in April is looking good!
 

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