Hi everyone, newcomer to the forum and the hobby.
After a lifetime of playing and collecting music, but without putting money on Hifi equipment, I decided to get myself a high-end headphone set.
I have been educating myself for a couple of months online about this world, and yesterday was the first day I went to try headphones. Luckily I live in a country that have great shops with a good selection of them. The people of the two stores I visited was super helpful. I could try all the headphones comfortably with my music ( a mix of rock, metal, pop, classical, jazz, blues and folk that I made with this purpose) and for all the time I wanted, no interruptions.
I made two stops.
In the first shop I tried the Abyss 1266 Phi TC, Audece LCD-5, Focal Utopia, and Meze Elite. The amp for all headphones was the Formula S from XI audio, and the DAC the Chord Dave. These were my PERSONAL impressions:
-Abyss: Bass was amazing, the best one I heard all day. You can feel in your body like if you were using speakers (that was a surprise). The spacing and soundstage were great, the timber of all instruments very natural. Almost everything was great BUT in some of the pieces I played I found that certain parts that should be prominent became recessed in the mix (normally lead voices, or instrument in the mids section), making the songs sound weird. I found this defect in enough tracks to be bothersome.
-Audece LCD-5: Bass was great but I didn’t like the soundstage (every sound seemed to came from inside my head, too close) and the timber of the instruments was not natural at all, especially on guitars.
-Focal Utopia: Timber of all instruments sounded very natural, but I didn’t like them very much. Music seemed to lack energy with them. Just the opposite of the Audece, everything sounded too far.
-Meze Elite: a nice surprise, since I wasn’t aware of their existence, and I found that they did everything quite good. Timber, Bass-Midi-Treble, spacing, soundstage… everything was good and nice. But nothing truly outstanding or superb (like the Bass or the soundstage with the Abyss)
The construction of all 4 was amazing. Very very high quality on all the parts.
But to be honest I walked out of the first shop a little disappointed. What I heard, to me it’s not worth the price of admission, and I think I can do better with a good chosen speaker system that would cost the same of any of the headphones.
Second stop: STAX retailer.
They had the 009s, the new X9000 (only the one for audition, not examples to sell for at least another month), the 007 mkII and a bunch of older ones for audition. Only Stax amps, but with good variety. Apart from the 700s, they had all the rest of the current Stax offering.
So I choose the T8000 as an amp, and reproduced the music through a PS Audio Direct Stream DAC.
After 30 seconds of listening to the 009s, I knew why you guys are referred as a cult. In 30 seconds I have completely forgotten all previous headphones I tried during the morning and knew that it’s going to be a Stax. That’s it. This things sound celestial to my ears, it’s really something else. I really wasn’t expecting something as great like this. Pure Bliss.
I only tried the 009s and the X9000, but since I know the new ones aren’t widely available yet, I think you might like to read a small comparison.
Construction wise, I found the X9000 to be much better. Every part was made with good steel, no cheap plastic parts apart from two small pieces used to adjust the height of the headphones (not the whole pieces, only the part you have to press). It’s way prettier in real life that in photos. The 009s in comparison, although good looking, seemed somewhat “cheap” because all the plastic parts used (the cheaper feeling of all the headphones I tried during the day).
Sound-wise, both earphones sounded AMAZING to me. Timber:10, soundstage:10, spacing:10, on both.
The 009s is kind of light in bass, but that allows to discern a lot of details of the meds and treble parts of the music without any effort. Music doesn’t sound busy at all with this one even with full orchestras. I would say Highs 10, Meds 9, Bass 7 resolution 10. Very ethereal sounding, I just loved them.
The X9000 has much more bass (sorry I didn’t tried the 007 for bass comparison, but I was mesmerized with he two I was already using) which changes the character of the headphone. It’s a harder to drive earphone than the 009s, you need to turn up more the volume. Things seems to have more weight to them in this one, and that seems to rest just a little bit of resolution in the highs. Just a tiny bit. Bass 9, Meds 9, High 9, Resolution 9. Also heavenly sounding.
If I were to buy only one, right now I think I would go for the X9000, because the construction is that much nicer, and overall I might prefer how it sounds. But that’s not the plan.
The new plan is to get both, and the amp. I might need to save money for a little more time, but I don’t care.
About the amp, I found the T8000 fantastic. I have read a lot about the BHSE, the Carbon the HGSSHV, T2 etc, and how Stax amps fall short in comparison, but to be honest, I wont buy anything of that price without trying first when I have available an option I have tested and that sounds this incredible. I loved that it allows to connect both headphones at the same time, so I would be able make listening sessions with a friend or with my girl.
Stax earphones definitely make the cost of admission worth it. The music was presented to me like I have never heard in my whole life. They have floored me, I have seen the light, and now I’m a convert.
What I heard yesterday was lovely. Simply perfect.
