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The Stax Thread III
ahmedie
100+ Head-Fier
I just notice that there are another patch of stax l300 limited in-stock in various shops it is great headphone for price !
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When I bought mine last month, it was only #249/800.
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Ah... just got my KGSSHV Carbon. First time listening to Stax in over a year (using an SR-009). Right away I am blown away by the realism and transparency. I don't think any headphone from any other brand comes close. Not the LCD-4, not the Code-6, nothing. Glad to be back!
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Congratulation! And again welcome to the Stax Club ! Stax On!
Trance_Gott
Headphoneus Supremus
When it would have the punch and slam of the LCD4 the only way would be Stax!
Yeah, then it'd be perfect. Or if the LCD-4 had Stax-like treble. But I'm guessing both are impossible.
What mildly surprises me is that I prefer the SR-009 over all the planars I've owned for rap (therefore for every genre). I just can't give up its clarity/transparency for more bass slam and more sub ~30 Hz bass.
...and I still can't get over how Birgir's KGSSHV Carbon is at least as small in overall dimensions as my previous KGSS.
Going from top tier dynamic or even planar magnetic headphones like the LCD-4 and LFF Code-6 to the SR-009 is a bigger upgrade to me as going from a Sennheiser HD 598 tier headphone to the likes of the HiFiMan Sundara or HE-500. To my ears, a top notch Stax system just makes all other headphone systems sound muffled (to varying degrees) and fake in comparison.
Even the worst quality files in my collection sound better. Veils have been lifted, hearing things I never heard before in literally every song. SR-009 is good enough to me, goodbye all other headphones lol.
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At CanJam London I compared today the 009s and the Mr speaker Voce, and I believe I prefer ... the 009s.
But booth are very good. To me the Voce sound like a « better 007 ». So it depend on your taste.
Any one want to tell which he prefers ?
But booth are very good. To me the Voce sound like a « better 007 ». So it depend on your taste.
Any one want to tell which he prefers ?
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VRacer-111
1000+ Head-Fier
Here's my STAX L300 Ltd system in action - of course the audio quality is not what it actually sounds like...but hey, just a system 'demo'...
And I'm using the FLAC download of this track:
And I'm using the FLAC download of this track:
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statfi
100+ Head-Fier
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Vielen Dank. Did you mean the SRM-009 or SRM-009s? (I have used "009s" to mean the SRM-009, for years, but now, that Stax has usurped my nomenclature I personally am struggling to adapt !-)
VRacer-111
1000+ Head-Fier
Wouldn't the new flagship be SR-009S (capital 's') ? ... '009s' would mean multiple or that version of the previous generation -009.
Aurlieus
New Head-Fier
Hi!This is continuation from my earlier post sometime back on Oct when I compared few Stax amps here , still part of the journey to try other Stax amp, this time round is the
VE Amp Enterprise E Lite
Short Impressions on VE Amp Enterprise E Lite
https://imgur.com/a/uRBbH
This VE amp is loaned to me from my friend for the purpose of this review, and it has been with me for few weeks, so I kind of understand how it runs and sounds. Most of my impressions below would be based on comparison with my Stax SRM-717 amp.
So let me start with the physical build first.
The build of this amp is beautiful, solid build and quite heavy.
And I really like its black colour, combines with its printed logo in gold color makes it look elegant.
The tubes placement is also very neat somewhere in the middle on the top chassis, the tube hole is almost fully covered - not much exposed.
I like its simple volume knob design compare to stock Stax amp which has 2 knobs - one for the volume and the other one for the L/R balance, which sometimes it is rather difficult to keep L/R balanced if accidentally turning the wrong knob, sigh…
It only has single Stax Pro Bias headphone out with only XLR in from its rear body - unfortunately no Analog input like stock Stax amp. The power switch is located on the rear part as well, but it is very near to the power cable, one needs to fiddle a bit to turn the unit on - something that VE might need to consider to better reposition it, its just too close to the socket.
Another minor thing is on the cosmetics part specifically the printed Venture Electronics logo and the model below it, somehow it looks bit blurry, perhaps choice of brighter, solid gold text and better, precise printing will make it look more premium.
Despite all of those minor things, in overall, I am quite satisfied with the build.
For the purpose of this short review, I am comparing it with my 009 and L700 headphones.
The amp was fed with Gumby (Gungnir Multibit), using Audioquest King Cobra XLR cable. The Gumby itself was fed from my iMac, using basic Chord C-USB cable. Tracks were TIDAL FLAC lossless, played through Audirvana Plus.
One thing to note that I am using pure copper power cable instead of silver or silver plated copper.
Personally I feel this amp is very bright (aggressive) and rather shouty when using silver power cables, hence I switched to pure copper power cable to be able enjoy its sound.
SR-L700
Plugging my L700 into this amp, the first thing I realised was the power of this amp, it has more than enough power to drive it.
I just need to keep it at 8 - 9 clock position and it was already quite loud to my ear, compare to 717 which I need to turn all the way up to 10-11 clock position to have similar experience.
The second thing I realised was the soundstage, definitely better than my SRM-717 amp, it was wider and taller.
Clarity also very good with this amp, vocal is really good, and more natural than 717 amp which was quite dark and muddy. On top of that this amp has good speed, the pace is just right not slow sounding kind of tube amp.
Listening to Diana Krall tracks, was quite enjoyable, her voice was clear and every notes was also very clear. The bass hits deeper when listening to RHCP Dani California - but somehow the trebles were quite piercing to my ear.
The trebles is more piercing than to my HD800 SDR pairing with my Auralic Taurus, thus I prefer my HD800 SDR on this track.
There’s something that I feel bit off in terms of its trebles is it feels bit metallic sounding, especially when playing rock tracks.
However, listening to vocal oriented tracks, this pair is wonderful.
SR-009
Okay, for this one I started playing with the track that L700 earlier was bit struggle to play, Dani California from RHCP.
I need to turn up the volume bit more to enjoy it, 009 needs bit more power than L700.
009 has more clarity and brighter than L700 but the trebles didn’t pierce like what L700 did.
However, I still feel this pair can’t very well play this track, although it is no longer piercing, but somehow it still feels bit bright to my liking.
I once heard this track with Abyss Phi, I immediately fell in love with that phone. So, I can’t really enjoy this pair so much to play this track - compare to what I heard with Abyss Phi last time.
But still, I prefer and enjoyed this pair then L700 - to play this track.
009 with this VE amp also has wider and enveloping soundstage compare to L700.
It has very good dynamic, rich details, amazing vocal and airy presentation.
Playing Diana Krall tracks again was really enjoyable experience
When I listened to these tracks using 717 amp - for both phones L700 and 009, there was apparent gap in terms of details and clarity between L700 and 009.
But pairing both phones now with this VE amp somehow brings L700 bit closer to 009 in terms of clarity.
Personally, I feel L700 pair with this VE amp has its primary weakness on the treble presentation - compare to pairing with 009.
In overall, I believe 009 pairs better with this VE amp than L700.
Before I end this review, I also want to share about this audio plugin called ToneBooster Morphit that can be used with Audirvana Plus or other player that supports Audio Unit (AU), VST and VST3.
Look it up at https://www.toneboosters.com/tb_morphit_v1.html
All my above impression was done without using the audio plugin, and if you think 009 is quite bright and you want to tone it down a bit, try out this plugin, it will make it tad warmer without losing its details hence making your big investment on 009 more enjoyable
This Morphit plugin comes with built in Stax SR009 profile which you can use immediately.
I am waiting for my Carbon to be shipped soon.. will share more once it comes...
A very interesting and different review of an amp no one really knows much about, so, naturally my interest in piqued. Do you still have the amp or have you returned it? If so, how does the Carbon compare with your short time with the Venture electrostatic? Really interested to try this out as a (gulp!) budget amp with my SR-007 Mkii and, hopefully, a new pair of SR-009.
Cheers!
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Congrats! Now you fully understand our disease, and the need to spread it!
statfi
100+ Head-Fier
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Thanks for correcting my typos (the 'M's). And, yes, capitalization could be the distinguisher: subtle but effective.
‘tis a virulent strain that take over your life.
Now for a robot chicken analogy. (Replace heroin with non-stats)
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