[protoss]

Sell the 009 and get yourself 007mk2 late 2017 version, and be done with all this crap of buying and wasting money for nothing. I see one problem in your set up and it is so obvious its the 009 ( I am saying this because you seem to like Bass ). When I heard the 009 I immediately knew I would never fathom this sound at all, as I am used to planar bass and 009 is way way behind

It's like someone telling me go buy the HD800 and when I get home i hook it up to my gear and I say where is the audeze bass

LOL! That's a little harsh. LOL!

007 is the best stax headphones they ever made imho.

007mk1/mk2
Omega
009S
009
L700

 

[AzmiAN]

I have L300 and SRM-007tA.
Which upgrade from L300 is the best ?
L500, L700 or 007mk2?

 

[Trance_Gott]

I had the chance to demo a Carbon built by Soren and then I bought a Carbon by Mjolnir. My impression is that they do not sound the same even out of the same DAC and both using the 009.

The Soren build while it has strong and fast bass, treble was a little harsh and soundstage is narrow and intimate.

The Mjolnir build on the other hand had similar kind of bass but the treble is not harsh and soundstage is wider. So it is overall more musical.

As I understand it, when Spritzer worked with KG on the Carbon design, that is the version that is publicly released. Later iterations of his Carbon was never publicly released. This could have resulted in the difference in sound.

Have you test them both ont the same day with volumen adjustment?

 

[Trance_Gott]

Thank you for this. I will try some EQing and see what that does for me.

Forget the 009/s. It has no bass vs. an LCD4. And it will never get bass out of any amp. I don't belief it will be a lot better of the T2.This amp then has to fetch +5-7dB more bass out of an 009/s to get the bass level of an LCD4. How?
I had twice the 009 and then the 009s. I sold all three and the only Stax headphone I own to today is the SR007 MK2 (first edition!) bass port mod. That's the only headphone I never critized for the sound. Just perfect from bass to treble and I hear 95% Rock & Metal!
All my experiences with EQs and the 009/s does not satisfying me. I get more volume in the bass but the 009/s failed in the kickbass area. The diaphram has never the hard kick bass like the 007 has.

 

[pegasus21]

Have you test them both ont the same day with volumen adjustment?

It wasn't side by side but the owner of the Carbon made by Soren tested both Carbons side by side on another occasion before he bought and his impressions match what I observed.

 

[Dan Lee]

Sounds like I will be trying out the 007. I have heard a lot of people praise the 007 and a great many people say they prefer it to the 009. I always thought I would be the type to prefer the more analytical 009, but it would seem that is unlikely at this point.

Is there any reason to avoid a new 007MKII? Seems there are a lot of suggestions for different models and different years.

 

[Sound Eq]

LOL! That's a little harsh. LOL!

007 is the best stax headphones they ever made imho.

007mk1/mk2
Omega
009S
009
L700

yeah my friend, but i could not hold it anymore, I go by the following rules, i can go to a shop and audition things, or go to a friend and audition things, all gears must be stock not modded or tempered with, if I can see myself liking what I hear, from bass, mids and highs and are to up 90% of my liking preferences then I will buy the thing, and this gives me 10% to tinker with by adding different gears or mods.

time for diplomacy is over, its time for action

 

[Sound Eq]

Sounds like I will be trying out the 007. I have heard a lot of people praise the 007 and a great many people say they prefer it to the 009. I always thought I would be the type to prefer the more analytical 009, but it would seem that is unlikely at this point.

Is there any reason to avoid a new 007MKII? Seems there are a lot of suggestions for different models and different years.

mine is 007 mk2 late 2017 and I love the thing to death

 

[jcn3]

Sounds like I will be trying out the 007. I have heard a lot of people praise the 007 and a great many people say they prefer it to the 009. I always thought I would be the type to prefer the more analytical 009, but it would seem that is unlikely at this point.

Is there any reason to avoid a new 007MKII? Seems there are a lot of suggestions for different models and different years.

dan, i know you're getting an awful lot of opinions here, but i'll throw in my two cents worth.

(1) i would certainly check how things sound with your dac going into the carbon only, disconnecting the ifi amp. in my experience with a kgsshv (not a carbon), i got additional clarity without the daisychaining. if you get better bass when you do this, then the output of the ifi dac may not be that robust.
(2) i would look at a better dac vs. new headphones. the 009s and the 007s are all fabulous headphones -- i can't imagine your 009s are holding your back.
(3) listen to everything with the bass boost off -- you should be comparing things in as controlled an environment as possible. you can eq after you've got a clear assessment of each piece.

 

[Dan Lee]

@Sound Eq man you have no idea how much I wish there was a shop I could go to near me. My god would my life be easier if I could just test some stuff out first. Its a pain in the ass having to buy to try and then resale if I hate it. Or the other part that sucks is if I get something that sounds good to me like the ifi Pro stuff I kinda have to stick with it rather then purchase every possible amp and dac combo I can think of in hopes of being able to navigate returns and other variable before shops just cut me off. Where Im at here in Florida Ive never been able to even find a show near here that I could go to. But thanks for the tips on the 007.

@jcn3 I really appreciate your input my friend. So far I have been running the Carbon right out of the Dac without the ican connected at all. So thus far I have not used any eq at all. The pic I sent was more of a curiosity thing to see if there was a way to keep them all in the chain so I could continue to use all headphones without having to switch connectors. I did figure that part out, but havent tried it yet. I do however appreciate your input and will likely weigh some options after I've spent a little more time burning my ears in as was suggested. I do believe I need to do this as way to much time was spent with the planars waiting for this unit.

I think I may have jumped to conclusions a bit early also as I have had a head cold the last two days and think my ears were a bit outta whack as a result. I can say this. I know the Carbon is a fantastic amp because when I went back to listen to the lcd-4 and the e2 It was as though all dynamics to the sound and power had completely disappeared. This leads me to the conclusion that my amp and dac may well have outlived the level of the headphones I have. It is crazy how things changed so dramatically with this amp. Right now I don't even want to listen to the planars as all of a sudden they just sound dull. There is a richness to the sound of the Jr and 009 that is incredible. I think the bass thing will change as my ears adjust. Typically I have been more a fan of the audiophile bass sound quality over quantity and impact. I will likely still get some 007's as well.

Appreciate the input guys.

 

[ctemkin]

It may be worthwhile mentioning that Bob Katz, the recording engineer, who owns a Mjolnir Carbon and Stax SR-007 Mk II headphones with port mod, actually preferred using a touch of bass boost and treble cut. One may disagree with his tastes but he does have a good pair of ears - that is how he earns his living, after all. I haven't heard the SR-009S but the consensus seems to be that tonally, it fits somewhere between the SR-007 MkII and SR-009.

Not that I put myself in the same league as Bob Katz, but this reminded me of a comparable experience.

Recently I decided to try Schiit's Loki tone-control unit with my SR-009 and BHSE. I found the bass without the Loki pretty good, but I was curious whether it could be improved on. I found that the Loki did make an improvement--not night and day, but I could hear the difference and thought that the overall sound was better with the Loki. The only control I adjusted was the bass; I tried playing with the other three, but decided that they were not helpful. I thought that the Loki worked better for classical music than it did for classic rock; I have no idea why.

 

[nazrin313]

dan, i know you're getting an awful lot of opinions here, but i'll throw in my two cents worth.

(1) i would certainly check how things sound with your dac going into the carbon only, disconnecting the ifi amp. in my experience with a kgsshv (not a carbon), i got additional clarity without the daisychaining. if you get better bass when

This mirrors what I found out as well. When I first got my KGSSHV 2 months ago I daisy chained it via my GS08 amp with the Theta Dspro Gen V(a) feeding it. While it was really good but didnt wow me. But when I took the GS08 out of the chain and hooked up the HV directly to the DAC, I was floored. It was night and day and from that day on, my other gear has been just sitting there not getting any ear time at all. Using the SR007Mk1 btw.

 

[FangJoker]

@Sound Eq man you have no idea how much I wish there was a shop I could go to near me. My god would my life be easier if I could just test some stuff out first. Its a pain in the ass having to buy to try and then resale if I hate it. Or the other part that sucks is if I get something that sounds good to me like the ifi Pro stuff I kinda have to stick with it rather then purchase every possible amp and dac combo I can think of in hopes of being able to navigate returns and other variable before shops just cut me off. Where Im at here in Florida Ive never been able to even find a show near here that I could go to. But thanks for the tips on the 007.

@jcn3 I really appreciate your input my friend. So far I have been running the Carbon right out of the Dac without the ican connected at all. So thus far I have not used any eq at all. The pic I sent was more of a curiosity thing to see if there was a way to keep them all in the chain so I could continue to use all headphones without having to switch connectors. I did figure that part out, but havent tried it yet. I do however appreciate your input and will likely weigh some options after I've spent a little more time burning my ears in as was suggested. I do believe I need to do this as way to much time was spent with the planars waiting for this unit.

I think I may have jumped to conclusions a bit early also as I have had a head cold the last two days and think my ears were a bit outta whack as a result. I can say this. I know the Carbon is a fantastic amp because when I went back to listen to the lcd-4 and the e2 It was as though all dynamics to the sound and power had completely disappeared. This leads me to the conclusion that my amp and dac may well have outlived the level of the headphones I have. It is crazy how things changed so dramatically with this amp. Right now I don't even want to listen to the planars as all of a sudden they just sound dull. There is a richness to the sound of the Jr and 009 that is incredible. I think the bass thing will change as my ears adjust. Typically I have been more a fan of the audiophile bass sound quality over quantity and impact. I will likely still get some 007's as well.

Appreciate the input guys.

I believe that Music Direct has a 60 day return policy. You could buy a Chord dac and see if you like it better than the ifi. I prefer chord, but the ifi has a crazy amount of features that many other dacs don't have which seems like a huge plus.

 

[VandyMan]

IMO, buying a new DAC to get more bass is a waste of money. Take a look at the frequency response and distortion measurements for you current DAC and whichever you are considering. Tell me how that will give you a boost in low frequencies? The vast majority of DACs are within .5 dB (or less) of flat in the bass. Differences in bass between DACs are extremely subtle.

 

[powertoold]

My 2 cents: don't use DACs that mess with the sound. Don't equalize, don't add spatial effects, don't enhance the sound. Upsampling is fine. I find when you mess with the sound, it will work for some songs/genres but sound bad for others.