[tigon_ridge]

Equalize. Always equalize. That's my 2 cents. No matter how perfect you think your system is, it isn't. Equalize. Always. If certain settings don't work for certain songs, you can always change it. I also prefer software EQ by a wide margin to any hardware.

 

[Dan Lee]

I am pretty sure at this point that it was the head cold causin me issues cause I have been listening tonight and everything sounds just incredible. I am hearing the bass that I thought was in the 009 the whole time. The richness of the Jr's is just overwhelming at times. I will likely upgrade my dac at some point, but dont think I am in a huge rush to do that unless I just cant make the planars sound good again at which point I will be selling those and getting a better Dac and some 007's or an 009S.

Again thanks for all the helpful input guys.

 

[franz12]

I am pretty sure at this point that it was the head cold causin me issues cause I have been listening tonight and everything sounds just incredible. I am hearing the bass that I thought was in the 009 the whole time. The richness of the Jr's is just overwhelming at times. I will likely upgrade my dac at some point, but dont think I am in a huge rush to do that unless I just cant make the planars sound good again at which point I will be selling those and getting a better Dac and some 007's or an 009S.

Again thanks for all the helpful input guys.

As a similarly priced DAC, you may consider the yggy 2. I had ifi Pro iDSD 2 months ago, but I was not impressed, so I sent it back. It is known that the yggy 2 has a bit more bass thumb with holographic imaging. It is unlikely for you to lose money further if you are able to swap it from the other.

I know that you consider Hugos strongly, but whenever I tried them (I never heard the Dave though), it always made me think that this is a snake oil industry. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mach3]

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.

There been's heaps of 007 sold in the sales thread. One at an absolute bargain 007 mk1 with the carbon case (Best version without modding) $1450 These are rare as now.
Some as low as $1200-1300.

Base on bass on the top end Stax currently.
007/Mk1&mk2 > 009S > 009BK > 009

LOL! That's a little harsh. LOL!

007 is the best stax headphones they ever made imho.

007mk1/mk2
Omega
009S
009
L700

Bit pointless including the Omega, man that damn thing is so expensive 8k-10k at the moment. Not to mention they so rare, I've seen more unicorn and mermaids.

 

[powertoold]

Equalize. Always equalize. That's my 2 cents. No matter how perfect you think your system is, it isn't. Equalize. Always. If certain settings don't work for certain songs, you can always change it. I also prefer software EQ by a wide margin to any hardware.

Using an equalizer is like putting A1 sauce on a steak

 

[tigon_ridge]

Using an equalizer is like putting A1 sauce on a steak

Depends on the user. Obviously, if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to have a hard time achieving satisfying results. I've never owned any headphone that didn't benefit from EQ. You can have A1, or with some skill and knowledge make your own special sauce.

 

[protoss]

Bit pointless including the Omega

To me it is not. And because of the rarity and close to 0.1% of people heard it. I placed it in 2nd place. If not I would of placed it 1st place as staxs greatest I ever heard. No wonder the CEO of stax announced he wanted to revive the 1993 Omega. He and I know it's amazing.

My rank is still the same:

1. 007mk1/mk2 (mod)
2. Omega
3. 009S
4. 009
5. L700 / l300lte
6. Lambdas pro
7. 404tle
8. Sigma pro

 

[Dan Lee]

As a similarly priced DAC, you may consider the yggy 2. I had ifi Pro iDSD 2 months ago, but I was not impressed, so I sent it back. It is known that the yggy 2 has a bit more bass thumb with holographic imaging. It is unlikely for you to lose money further if you are able to swap it from the other.

I know that you consider Hugos strongly, but whenever I tried them (I never heard the Dave though), it always made me think that this is a snake oil industry. Just my 2 cents.

I have considered the Yggy a lot over the years, but I enjoy the sound of MQA and thought I would prefer something that decodes it fully. Not sure at this point how much of a difference it makes. I was also hesitant to get it because of its massive size, but now that I have this Carbon that could easily double as a table of some sort the Yggy may well seem small in comparison.

Also its not that I prefer the Chord's or Hugo's specifically but that they get so much praise I've just always assumed they were somewhere at the top of the heap. But if they Yggy is better I would sure as hell prefer to save myself $2.5K. How do people feel about the Holo Audio Spring DAC? I've heard a lot of good things about it. I'm not in a huge hurry to upgrade at this point, but then again I have said that before and had something new the following week. The iDSD does have a lot of options, but if sound can be much improved I would consider the upgrade for sure.

@Mach3 How is the 009S? Anyone care to chime in on the 009S vs 009 and Jr. as far as overall musicality goes. The Jr. has an insane richness to the sound with a wonderful soundstage while the 009 seems a bit more intimate and analytical without as much musical tonality. They both sound great, but the 009 seems to be able to competently do everything, but if the 009S does that while adding musicality and or soundstage that may be the best headphone in the world. I'm still gonna get an 007 as well. I gotta try em all now haha.

 

[Sound Eq]

can I ask which has more power stax 323s amp or stax 007tII amp.

 

[JimL11]

can I ask which has more power stax 323s amp or stax 007tII amp.

If you read the Stax specifications, the SRM-323 is listed as putting out 400VRMS at 1 kHz, vs SRM-007 is listed as putting out 340VRMS at 1 kHz. The difference is mostly due to the fact that the 323 has constant current output loads and the 007 uses old-fashioned resistors.

 

[VandyMan]

Using an equalizer is like putting A1 sauce on a steak

Audeze provides EQ presets for their headphones. I have an LCD-4 and the EQ makes a very worthwhile difference (and works for all genres). I wish STAX and other headphone manufactures would follow Audeze's lead on this.

 

[mulveling]

@Mach3 How is the 009S? Anyone care to chime in on the 009S vs 009 and Jr. as far as overall musicality goes. The Jr. has an insane richness to the sound with a wonderful soundstage while the 009 seems a bit more intimate and analytical without as much musical tonality. They both sound great, but the 009 seems to be able to competently do everything, but if the 009S does that while adding musicality and or soundstage that may be the best headphone in the world. I'm still gonna get an 007 as well. I gotta try em all now haha.

You'd really like the 009S on your Carbon. It's a bit tonally richer / warmer than the 009, which is a needed and welcome change with that amp pairing. However on the BHSE things get much closer - still with a slight edge to the 009S overall. On a DIY T2 it flips back to favor the old 009 as they just open up and "breathe" better while having a perfect tonality in that pairing.

The Yggy and Yggy2 do match very well with Stax headphones, I have to admit. My files are mostly PCM so that's not an issue here.

 

[catscratch]

Eh... EQ is a tool. You don't say "I never use screwdrivers" you use them when you have to. Same thing here. If there are no glaring FR issues, you don't use it. If there are, you do. And there is definitely some skill to using it correctly, which I'm still in the process of learning.

 

[jcn3]

I have considered the Yggy a lot over the years, but I enjoy the sound of MQA and thought I would prefer something that decodes it fully. Not sure at this point how much of a difference it makes. I was also hesitant to get it because of its massive size, but now that I have this Carbon that could easily double as a table of some sort the Yggy may well seem small in comparison.

Also its not that I prefer the Chord's or Hugo's specifically but that they get so much praise I've just always assumed they were somewhere at the top of the heap. But if they Yggy is better I would sure as hell prefer to save myself $2.5K. How do people feel about the Holo Audio Spring DAC? I've heard a lot of good things about it. I'm not in a huge hurry to upgrade at this point, but then again I have said that before and had something new the following week. The iDSD does have a lot of options, but if sound can be much improved I would consider the upgrade for sure.

chord, schiit, and holo audio all don't support mqa. however, the player you're using needs to be taken into account. for instance, roon does the first unfold up to 24/96, so i do get that benefit before the file is sent to my yggy.

 

[florence]

Does srm353x enough power to drive sr007s?