More or less discordant with some of my former impressions, one of the most important factors in reproducing a natural timbre/tonality of the instrument is the source.
You agree on that with Ivor Tiefenbrum of Linn and I also subscribe
But is the Theta Gen V an absolute source? People could argue, and cite good sources "for" the 007 too. The question really comes down to everyone's most reasonable context, which is both subjective and cost sensitive. Given a "reasonable setup", I think most people would say the 009 reproduces piano better, with a considerable amount still preferring the 007, but I would bluntly say that neither of them is really that good as their hype would suggest. We just happen to have this choice at this point of time, but when new stats will come to strike a better compromise for our personal context, we will treat both the 009 and 007 closer to reality. And I don't think we'll soon get to the point we won't assemble our "dream" headphone from 2-3 other headphones, e.g. the bass of Audeze, the mids of Stax Omega and the treble of R10 - pick your own choices.
Back to the choice we have now, the question for me is similar to whether preferring higher lens resolution with some color fringing and coldish color balance to a tiny bit less resolution but more coherent lines with a slight sepia color shift. Or look elsewhere? Moving back to audio domain, our brain tries to correct both kinds of distortion, the slight treble haze of the 009, and the dark caramel sweetness of the 007. I think my brain corrects more easily the 007, at least for me, and with a wider range of sources, so that gets the gap somewhat narrower, but still leaving the dilemma of hard choice. The 007 Mk1 was good enough to convey a sense of realism that touched me the same way as the 009, it's twice cheaper, and I could further close the gap by making my own "voiced" ear pads. So far, so good. If the 009 costed $2K (used), that would be closer to the comparative reality, but for now I will agree the 009 is the better one in piano reproduction, at least it strikes a faster satisfaction curve, i.e. you like it more at the first hearing... But then you get unsure about it when you spend 3 weeks with them because the 007 grows on you. Funny thing, this high end audio: most of it is about our brain, which fools/satisfies us in different ways over time.
