[padam]

Yea, that's why I included 'neutral' there as well. I haven't heard anyone mention them as bright, but also haven't seen them described *as warm as* (or dark as many say) and syrupy smooth as the 007 is described (fyi, keep in mind I actually love the 007). Would definitely like to know your thoughts there if you've heard both*. Anyways, I've always wanted to own a pair, but it was just so hard to find them.

They have less bass and more treble but the overall tone and voicing is just as smooth as a 007.
That's exactly the weakness as well: feeling too bland at times. As I wrote, "perfect" sound simply does not exist and it is just a question of which "imperfect" sound the user is satisfied with the most, and of course the right amplification might also exploit the maximum out of it.

 

[number1sixerfan]

They have less bass and more treble but the overall tone and voicing is just as smooth as a 007.
That's exactly the weakness as well: feeling too bland at times. As I wrote, "perfect" sound simply does not exist and it is just a question of which "imperfect" sound the user is satisfied with the most, and of course the right amplification might also exploit the maximum out of it.

Really appreciate the explanation here. That also aligns with much of what I've read. Seems like a good balance between the strengths of the 009 and 007. I'd absolutely be here for it if the new offering is along the same lines.

Also, cannot agree more with the last statement. There is no such thing, just depends on how close to perfection we can get.

 

[nagi8404]

Well imported products are always more expensive. On the other side foreign brands are 20-30% more expensive in Japan. Chord's DAVE for example retails for 1.6 million JPY (~$14.5k) in Japan. I'm envious of NA prices. The new stax is 700k JPY in Japan and HeadAmp's listing price is close to the current exchange rate

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

I fully agree. I'm just doubtful you can have the MK1's timbre/smoothness w/better resolution than the 009/S. Almost all of the most detailed and transparent headphones trend more towards the brighter/neutral side of things. That said, I've not heard the original Omegas and again I agree with you, if that happens I'm all for it.

The sad thing is that it is possible, but I'm sure it won't happen. IMO, someone needs to gift Stax with proper equipment, something among the lines of a BHSE and a Rockna DAC, so they can voice their headphones properly. IMO, it's impossible that they can voice somethig right with their amps and a Luxman SACD player (I'm pretty sure that combo's bland, drowned in mud, inferior lo fi sound exmplains the brightness and 1-2khz bump of their headphone designs despite their technical superiority).

@padam I'm also pretty sure that's why most people prefers the Omega and describes it as perfectly voiced despite being the older headphone, it was developed side by side with the T2 and their DAC X1T, which is true TOTL equipment and a whole different ball game compared to what they are currently using.

 

[padam]

@padam I'm also pretty sure that's why most people prefers the Omega and describes it as perfectly voiced despite being the older headphone, it was developed side by side with the T2 and their DAC X1T, which is true TOTL equipment and a whole different ball game compared to what they are currently using.

It wasn't developed alongside the T2, they had the T1 and they've made the T1S with balanced outputs when it came out. The T2 came during the middle of the production and discontinued earlier than the Omega (T1W came towards the end).

 

[lsantista]

Yes, when the gentlemen from Stax said at the video something in the lines of “now we have a phone that lives up to the potential of the T8000”, that was a not exactly the selling point I was hoping to hear..

(I’d still like to hear the t8000 though)

 

[lsantista]

I was actually optimistic they would announce a srm-t9000x or similar so, but that statement made ir less likely in the short term at least

 

[Trance_Gott]

I bet X9000 would not be the bass wonder we hope. Long live the SR007 MK2 bass port mod.
Edifier has not the money to produce a gamechanger imo.

 

[arnaud]

The sad thing is that it is possible, but I'm sure it won't happen. IMO, someone needs to gift Stax with proper equipment, something among the lines of a BHSE and a Rockna DAC, so they can voice their headphones properly. IMO, it's impossible that they can voice somethig right with their amps and a Luxman SACD player (I'm pretty sure that combo's bland, drowned in mud, inferior lo fi sound exmplains the brightness and 1-2khz bump of their headphone designs despite their technical superiority).

@padam I'm also pretty sure that's why most people prefers the Omega and describes it as perfectly voiced despite being the older headphone, it was developed side by side with the T2 and their DAC X1T, which is true TOTL equipment and a whole different ball game compared to what they are currently using.

I think they use accuphase player these days and the age of the ears making final decision is probably orders of magnitude more influential than the actual brand of cd player used upstream. In my understanding (and visible in the interviews) stax today isn’t exactly stax of 2010.

I bet X9000 would not be the bass wonder we hope. Long live the SR007 MK2 bass port mod.
Edifier has not the money to produce a gamechanger imo.

you must be joking about edifier, they certainly have more cash than most boutique headphone makers out there!

 

[Tugbars]

I bet X9000 would not be the bass wonder we hope. Long live the SR007 MK2 bass port mod.
Edifier has not the money to produce a gamechanger imo.

the reason why 007 sounds so powerful in bass range is because their midrange is recessed. Relatively there's too much bass power compared to the frequency areas where human hearing is most sensitive(2-3k). Such sound sig. shifts spectral balance towards low-mids and bass. Our ears pick more detail & differences there. LCD-4 does the same trick. Basically 007's bass exists because they can't really deliver proper ear resonance compensation in the midrange.

 

[greenhorn]

HE-90

greenhorn said:
The best one being…?

HE-90

—-
I believe you. I once had the opportunity to listen to the HE-90 and I doubt anyone could ever make a headphone better than it. It was simply in the stratosphere.

Not even Sennheiser with that bling bling retractable tubes amp… at 50000€ the system

 

[eee1111]

I desperately need the 9000 here with me. lol

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

It wasn't developed alongside the T2, they had the T1 and they've made the T1S with balanced outputs when it came out. The T2 came during the middle of the production and discontinued earlier than the Omega (T1W came towards the end).

Thanks for the correction! Still, it is around the same time line. There's also the possibility of silent revisions, I wouldn't be surprised if they "tweaked" the Omega once they heard it with the T2. Still, would be very, very difficult to know due to unit to unit variations and the Omega being such a rare, vintage item.

I think they use accuphase player these days and the age of the ears making final decision is probably orders of magnitude more influential than the actual brand of cd player used upstream. In my understanding (and visible in the interviews) stax today isn’t exactly stax of 2010.

Nice to know! Btw, I've been out of headphones for a couple of years, do you know if Stax did a silent revision of the 009 and the 007 in the last 2-3 years? I mean, if the new units sound different to the old ones, like the "007 MK2.9" sounds different from the "007 MK2.5" (despite the official model name being "007 MK2"). The source change (Luxman to Accuphase) may explain the sound change (if it happened, of course).

I know for sure that the new headphone will be technically better than everything else available in the market, I'm just unsure about how much they will mess up the tonality due to their tastes and weird sources/mediocre amps.

 

[walakalulu]

Well imported products are always more expensive. On the other side foreign brands are 20-30% more expensive in Japan. Chord's DAVE for example retails for 1.6 million JPY (~$14.5k) in Japan. I'm envious of NA prices. The new stax is 700k JPY in Japan and HeadAmp's listing price is close to the current exchange rate

UK price seems to be £5395.

 

[ThanatosVI]

UK price seems to be £5395.

That's surprisingly cheap