[musicman59]

Measurements are not the be all end all when it comes to great gear.
Some things measure great however are
not involving or enjoyable to listen too

Exactly my point. My measurement instruments are at the sides of my head…

 

[yaps66]

Exactly my point. My measurement instruments are at the sides of my head…

That's what we call analog measurement!

 

[Dynamo5561]

Does anyone know how to change the ear pads?

 

[Kiats]

That's what we call analog measurement!

The best mode of measurement… If not, we might all be sitting down in a quiet room reading graphs.

 

[Chefguru]

Looks like Mjolnir dropped the new Novem. Curious to hear how it sounds to the OG.

 

[goldwerger]

Looks like Mjolnir dropped the new Novem. Curious to hear how it sounds to the OG.

Interesting!

this is only tangentially relevant, but I've been playing yesterday with chaining some tube amps to the iESL and driving the X9k off that. I wrote about it last evening in that thread (see here, and another post further below this one: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-pro-iesl-the-official-thread.852364/page-48#post-17472387)

 

[musicman59]

Anybody with first hand experience with the Carbon CC and X9000 combo?

How would that compare to the T2/X9000 combo?

 

[Chefguru]

Anybody with first hand experience with the Carbon CC and X9000 combo?

How would that compare to the T2/X9000 combo?

I had the opportunity to compare the CC to the regular mjolnir carbon with an 009s and couldn't really tell them apart. I suspect that with the 007 and CRBN perhaps this difference is more noted, but as I understand it the CC is just a blinged out part ver of the carbon. Lovely that it has two jacks though.

As I've mentioned multiple times on this thread, I don't find the carbon a good amp for the x9k at all. For some reason it just sounds way to sterile and for some reason the midrange sounded recessed. I ended up selling my carbon (although later rebuying one for the 007). I almost gave up the x9k, but the novem amp has really changed my mind about issues I had with the headphone. That said, the carbon is absolute top-tier for me with certain headphones (crbn,007,lambda nova signature) - the x9k however loses all magic imo.

Mjolnir/Birgir seems to have found a similar relationship with the Novem. His initial critique of the x9k over on HC is related to his pairing of the CC/Carbon. From the Mjolnir website, " Now the Novem is a major departure from the other amps, as I normally strive for a neutral presentation with as much performance as is possible for the given design but here, it’s designed to have a certain sound. It is a very simple amp, just four tubes in total, two ECC83’s and two ECC99’s but each part is handpicked to get the right sound. That sound signature was designed to match and compliment the newer Stax sets such as the SR-009 and SR-009S. It is not a neutral amp but tames the overly forward nature of these headphones and works with what they do well. As a pure coincidence, this also works really well with the new X9000 (which wasn’t out by then). As a result of the deliberate design restraints, this amp is no powerhouse. Voltage swing is roughly 1150Vppss and it is all AC coupled and driven by resistors. I would not recommend this as an amp for the SR-007’s or other hard to drive models, it’s not what it was designed to handle."

 

[austinpop]

In case anyone's interested, I have listed a Mjölnir-Audio Carbon CC in the classifieds.

 

[Kiats]

Return of the prodigal son from the Land of the Rising Sun. Amazing that it left my hands on 3 December and it has only come back. Not sure who is more at fault here: Stax or Project Perfection (owned by the Dita boys) the Singapore AD. There were also false starts. It was supposed to have come back in early March.

Big thanks go out to Jeremy of AV One who never gave up my cause and who never stopped chasing after news when I lost patience with the interminable wait with nary a word from Stax or the Singapore AD. No one else seemed to care… Hence, kudos to Jeremy!

Now enjoying the reunion off the KGST.

 

[Beachfloyd]

Does anyone know how to change the ear pads?

To the X9K owners here, I am pretty convinced there is an easy mod for getting rid of the slight fatigue (or rough, slightly aggressive edge) it might cause on the long term, which I think is the main reason why quite many people don't like them or sell them off after a few weeks. The pads are mounted with a mounting ring that goes in the pads and has pins sticking through the earpad flaps and the housing.

Pull off the pads (or use a plastic pry tool), get that mounting ring (on the last pic) out, use some patches of double sided adhesive tape in a few points to mount the pads to the housing, and report the changes you hear.

In addition, you can try taking off the outer back grill (on the first pic), and report the changes you hear, together with or separately from the earpads mod.

This was from June 2022 about modding them. It didn't get much endorsement from others but it's the most I've seen anyone say about earpads in this thread (but maybe there are other mentions of it?).

Also, looks like stax is now selling replacement pads for the x9000. I'm interested in replacing mine soon because one earpad is noticeably bigger on one side than the other.
Curious if anyone has replaced their pads yet, or plan to now that they're available?

 

[zolkis]

Stax pads last a long time, I don't expect anyone changing pads out of necessity.
As for the sound, the uncertainty of it probably keeps away people from touching such expensive headphones. Makes sense to me.

The only thing I wanted to say there is that in my experience, with all headphones I tried, that method of ear pad mounting destroys the sound. Without it, the sound tends to be far more cohesive, more focused, with better tone, color, nuances.

Based on the linked pictures, the white plastic mounting ring that goes inside the pads is not necessarily needed, one can use the pins without that ring. Or if you stress the pads too much, make a similar ring from a piece of thinner material (metal or plastic). The ear pad mounting of the 009 is far better (with a thin metallic inner ring), i.e. far less intrusive to the sound. But I say that in each and every case so far, direct mounting with adhesive patches brought the best sonic results, and has been used by Stax for decades. Not to speak about the price of the mounting solution... This is the most (over)complicated ear pads mounting I have ever seen.

 

[Kiats]

Been listening to Roon on the X9K. I will say that this album sounds excellent with the X9K, which is nimble and nuanced enough to bring out the recording.

 

[kiling92]

I don’t know if this respect the rules,but I have my 9000 like “new in box” in my classified,if you’re interest check

 

[Trance_Gott]

So many X9000 sales hm...
Or has @Nomax posted the measurements somewhere?