These are my STAX notes to myself from CanjamSocal 2016. Comments?
* Stax L700 versus 507. The 700 was definitely significantly superior. About 40% greater soundstage. You could hear the hall ambience better. The 507 sounded muffled, small, and definitely not as much meat on the bones, significantly so. In addition, the L 700 had very satisfying bass, Which is supposed to be one of the 507's best attributes. The 700 is one of those cases where the more than doubling in price is almost also a doubling in the quality of the overall listening experience. This is something you will want to get some day. You heard two people say that it is really not worth getting the 009, because the difference is not enough. In addition the 700 strikes an outstanding tone balance between the 009 and 007. The hall ambience and Resonances of the instruments is what really came through and changes the experience on the 700 versus the lesser lambdas. In summary your 207 is "Small." Smaller tone smaller detail, smaller hall ambience, smaller soundstage. Listening at home the same day, the 207 sounds veiled, distant, less detailed, less distinct, less meat on the bones than L700. The 507 and the 700 were both being driven from an 006 tube amplifier. Wyred4sound DAC was being used.
* 009 versus the L 700 was not a huge difference. The bass in the 009 was better. Soundstage a bit bigger, Hall ambience a bit better, but were much closer together then the large gap between the L 700 and the 507 at Canjam Socal and 207 at home on the 323S amp.