[Pokemonn]

you have to admit that 009 is not perfect. if its perfect Tyll do not remove it since Tyll is Tyll is not Katz.
maybe only God is perfect so far.

 

[Whitigir]

There is nothing perfect, the world and universe exist due to imperfections and so everything inside it. However, 009 and T2 is the system with the Least weakness . There is no God, because if he is a god, he gotta be perfect, and perfection can not exist in this universe we are in, and if he exist, then he is not perfect, and hence God status doesn’t apply.

 

[kylev]

Short Impressions on 3 top tier Stax earspeakers - using Stax Amp SRM-717

In summary, I like L700 more among of all 3, I feel personally it sits in between 007 and 009 - not too warm like 007 and not too analytical like 009.

I'd suggest redoing this with a better amp....you might be very surprised.

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...

 

[sonics]

IMO the Innerfidelity WoF is not supposed to be a static collection of the absolute "best" gear. It's about featuring and marketing new contenders based on quality or value. The 009, for example, should be gracefully called "retired" instead of "removed".

 

[paradoxper]

Who cares if Tyll removes x headphone. It's simply one man and his subjective rankings.

 

[mtoc]

What/Why Tyll is good is that he always will realize the truth, gradually, and no hesitation to speak them out, bravely. He trusts human nature besides those scientific fact(asy)s, plus improvement and improvations.

 

[mtoc]

forgot to add: world is such a cruel world, that indeed

 

[Ali-Pacha]

It strongly depends on your own tastes and sensivity.

Many people complain about 009 being bright because of the forwardness in high-mids. I personnaly feel this coquetry adds just a little presence which I like a lot.
Many people complain about 009 having sometimes fatiguing treble. To me, they're mistaking with high mids, and could be on the other hand perfectly fine with strong peaks in 8-10 khz region, very common on most cans other than estat, and sometimes particularly screechy to my ears (think Beyer, Fostex, almost all available orthodynamics)
Many people do prefer 007 to 009 generally. To me, that's precisely because 007 have recessed high mids (not Sennheiser's level but still), peak on 8-9 khz which is easily tolerated (even sought), slower and lesser bass than 009 (and low mids hump in 007mk2's case), so it hits the midrange sweetspot of lots of ears...somehow, 007 are dynamic cans done right.

I'm no "all about midrange" guy, I kinda like some high mids forwardness, I'm strongly displeased by peaks in 8-10 khz region, I value impactful and precise bass over slow bass which lures you about quantity...no surprise I strongly prefer 009 over 007 and did end up with selling my 007mk1. Even if I've waited for my BHSE to do so, but the level of awakening such an amp has over 007 wasn't enough for my tastes.

Ali

 

[Whitigir]

007 is best with carbon and not with tube amps, 009 is the opposite

 

[JimL11]

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...

So, Not much out there on the VE amp, however, based on its description and the internal photo, it appears to be a variant of the SRM-T1 for its front end, but presumably with BJT inputs rather than FETs. For the output stage, it appears to be a variant of the SRX-Plus with cascode constant current sources and using the same 6SN7GTB tubes as the SRX-Plus. May not have the SRX-Plus tail current source, though. Better than the T1 in terms of output tube and output stage design, however, not as powerful as the Gilmore designs.

 

[catscratch]

Tyll's word has far more weight than most other reviewers to me, but at the same time, you gotta use your own head, and ears. He thinks the Clear is the best out there currently, well I have the Clear and it's very far from that, at least to my ears. Nevertheless, while I don't agree with Tyll in a lot of cases, I do trust that he writes things how he hears them, or measures them, and that is very valuable.

Basically, it's not a matter of "Tyll's the best, therefore his word is gospel" but he's a significant data point, to me probably one of the most significant data points. Which is to be used as a data point, no more, no less. Sadly, many other reviewers are less data points and more marketing, and are worth less than the time it takes to read them.

 

[joseph69]

I've always noticed a overanll fuller sound with added warmth, depth, sound stage and openness when I pulled my ear cups slightly away from my face just below my temples and just above my jaw muscles (breaking the pad seal) with my 009. Yesterday I decided to place 2 felt dots at these points on each ear pad (for trial purposes) and listened last night, and I really enjoyed what I was hearing.

My goal was to break the pad seal in the areas mentioned above and keep the position of the pads slightly (and I mean slightly) angled away from the front of my face. Today I very carefully removed the center Torx screw of both the L/R gimbals (don't remove the 2 phillips head screws on each side of the Torx screws, there's no need too at all, they don't thread into the headband) which hold the gimbals to the headband assembly with a #5 Torx head screwdriver, while keeping the shouldered part of the screw inserted into the gimbals (so you don't lose the 2 thin bottom washers which are on the shoulder of the screw.) Only remove the top beveled metal spring washer (which sits between the gimbals and the headband) and replace them with a 3/32" x 15/64" x 9/128" rubber O-rings. This was the smallest size O-ring I had, which gave me the tightest fit on the screws. I then very carefully re-assembled the gimbals and headband compressing the O-rings just to create enough friction between the gimbals and the headband so they wouldn't move from my desired angle.

I'm now able to place my 009 on my head and very slightly angle the cups away from the front of my face just enough to break the pad seal to my liking and I'm very much enjoying the results! I know everyone always says "get the best seal you can get" but I feel differently about this just for a change of sound. @zolkis I know you're into modding your ear pads and I would love for you as well as others who may be interested in hearing what reminds me of a beautiful mix between the 007mk2 & 009 (depending on the angle and of course your hearing....or maybe not even? Some may like it, and some may not, but I'd figured I'd share my positive experience this simple mod has given me, and if it doesn't work for you, just simply remove the O-rings and replace the beveled metal spring washers (concave end upwards facing towards the headband) and you're back in business with where you started!

Here are a few photos of my 009 (on their stand from the back) showing my desired angle. Keep in mind that when I place the headphones on my head, the angle is much less than it appears in the photos due to the contour of my head and face.

 

[purk]

Tyll is entitled to his opinion, and this isn't the first time I disagree with him, but removing the 009 is a joke.

hate admit but i do agree with u. the sr009 is one fine sounding headphones deserving of the WOF spot.

that @Whitigir is one lucky but capable dude. I am really happy for him.

 

[zolkis]

@joseph69 There can be good seal even with relatively loose fit.
However, I also noticed that a slight leak under the pads might help the sound become more relaxed and more realistic at the expense of diminishing measured bass extension around 25 Hz. The 007 falls in that category, together with the Fostex and Denon, but I also noticed the effect with the Phenomenon. So it should also work with the 009, regardless of the means you achieve that effect.
However, with the 009 I kept coming back to the factory configuration, all tunings sound nice and different, but I like the 009 be THE reference headphone.

#WoF. IMHO the 009 not only deserves the Wall of Fame, but it is still the reigning reference there (for me) that also sounds very musical (if it doesn't for you, upgrade your system ), unlike e.g. the Focals, which to my ears are references too, but in a technical, rather than musical way. It is fine that Tyll challenges Stax, though. There are more and more electrostatic contenders to the throne.

 

[joseph69]

@joseph69 There can be good seal even with relatively loose fit.
However, I also noticed that a slight leak under the pads might help the sound become more relaxed and more realistic at the expense of diminishing measured bass extension around 25 Hz. The 007 falls in that category, together with the Fostex and Denon, but I also noticed the effect with the Phenomenon. So it should also work with the 009, regardless of the means you achieve that effect.
However, with the 009 I kept coming back to the factory configuration, all tunings sound nice and different, but I like the 009 be THE reference headphone.

Good bass description of what I'm hearing even though I've never heard any of the headphones you've mentioned. I agree that a loose fit gives basically the same sound I achieved, but being the headband is plastic I didn't want to heat it and stretch it out. And yes, it is a more relaxed sound, just something different to appreciate with the 009. I too also love the 009 in stock form as well, and who knows if I'll return to that configuration. The nice thing is, if I want to, all I have to do is angle the cups now to create a full seal. Again, just messing around with different tuning of the 009 and enjoying it.