[El_Doug]

it was their high-end normal production, however Stax went out of business within a year of the Omega's release. 
 
Quote:

was the original SR-Omega a normal production model? It went away and is now a collector item.

 

 

[hentai]

Quote:

I'll wait until the FOTM phase is over and get a used pair for a few hundred.

On the other hand, one of these and a high-end amp will run you close to $10,000.

That's high-end speaker territory. Have you looked into speakers? I think you should. As the Headphone Price War kicked off a couple years ago, I decided to get out. In my opinion, speakers begin to surpass headphones around $1,000. No, not every $1,000+ speaker will, but the good ones around that level are better.

Ask yourself why you're into the audiophile game. If you're in it to maximize your listening experience, then speakers might be the more cost-effective choice.

Speakers are out for me , not in a year or 2 but 10 years or so ( unless i get married). Its because I am  a young working adult living with parents and housing in my country is small and very expensive. There's no living space , pirvacy nor sound proofing stuff for speakers. Every time i turn on the volume, my parents will ask me to shut the hell up
 

 

[arnaud]

Quote:

I'll wait until the FOTM phase is over and get a used pair for a few hundred.

On the other hand, one of these and a high-end amp will run you close to $10,000.

That's high-end speaker territory. Have you looked into speakers? I think you should. As the Headphone Price War kicked off a couple years ago, I decided to get out. In my opinion, speakers begin to surpass headphones around $1,000. No, not every $1,000+ speaker will, but the good ones around that level are better.

Ask yourself why you're into the audiophile game. If you're in it to maximize your listening experience, then speakers might be the more cost-effective choice.

 
Yeah right . I don't agree with you about the speakers things, especially not in the 1k range! Well, unless your measure of sound quality limits itself to chest thump with ultra bass and sharpness of the cymbals. Conventional electrodynamic speakers with multiple non-collocated drivers, mismatch of paper and metal cones depending the frequency range, use of complex passive filters, presence of cabinet resonances, effect of cabinet diffraction, effect of listening room resonances, effect of listening room reflections are simply a loosing proposition against an electrostatic driver free from room effects...
 
 
 

 

[visualguy]

Quote:

 
Yeah right . I don't agree with you about the speakers things, especially not in the 1k range! Well, unless your measure of sound quality limits itself to chest thump with ultra bass and sharpness of the cymbals. Conventional electrodynamic speakers with multiple non-collocated drivers, mismatch of paper and metal cones depending the frequency range, use of complex passive filters, presence of cabinet resonances, effect of cabinet diffraction, effect of listening room resonances, effect of listening room reflections are simply a loosing proposition against an electrostatic driver free from room effects...
 
 
 

You can get a pair of Focal Solo6 or Twin6 powered studio monitors for significantly less than the price of the SR-009 (not to mention the amp that you would need for the SR-009).
 
The Focals are magnificent speakers, and they sound much better than any of my headphones, including the SR-007. They're great both near-field and at a distance.
 
Headphones have inherent serious problems with soundstage - sound coming from inside your head just doesn't sound right. Also, their bass obviously isn't comparable to speakers.
 
Headphones have their merits and uses, but $4-5K is really steep for headphones unless you can't use speakers, or money is so plentiful that it is not a concern.
 

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

I'll wait until the FOTM phase is over and get a used pair for a few hundred.

On the other hand, one of these and a high-end amp will run you close to $10,000.

That's high-end speaker territory. Have you looked into speakers? I think you should. As the Headphone Price War kicked off a couple years ago, I decided to get out. In my opinion, speakers begin to surpass headphones around $1,000. No, not every $1,000+ speaker will, but the good ones around that level are better.

Ask yourself why you're into the audiophile game. If you're in it to maximize your listening experience, then speakers might be the more cost-effective choice.

Not everyone lives in a place where they can use speakers.  If you do, great, speakers are certainly an option.  But if you don't, I see nothing wrong with having a top of the line stat or dynamic rig if you can afford it.  I would love to own a pair of SR-009 and a great amp to match, but they are way out of my price range in the foreseeable future.
 

 

[arnaud]

Quote:

The Focals are magnificent speakers, and they sound much better than any of my headphones, including the SR-007. They're great both near-field and at a distance.

Wow, JM Lab must have drastically changed house sound then! One of my first pair of speakers were Profil 7 with kevlar mid-bass drivers and reversed tweeter dome. It turns out it made me buy several amps until I realized the tweeter simply sucked . For a long time, Focal speakers have not been that great in terms of house sound imo, especially the tweeters sounded particularly metallic or treble was tilted up to increase the wow effect. Ironically, I believe this tendency to sound hyper detailed / bright is what made them popular overseas (like in the US).

 

[spritzer]

 
Quote:

it was their high-end normal production, however Stax went out of business within a year of the Omega's release. 
 


 

It was actually two years later (1993-1995)  but it simply isn't clear when the last SR-Omega was shipped out.  I have a hard time believing Stax produced 600 of them in just two years so production may have lasted until 1997. 

 

[Happy Camper]

Shroom God, go for it.

 

[kiertijai]

I will definitely also go for it.  I will try the pricejapan.   It is not a misquoted ,  the price of 309800Y  (less than 4100$) is the correct one.
It may be somewhat late but it is a very good price especially  when the Thai Stax distributor does not provide it at the first shipment
as advertised.
 

 

[TheAttorney]

Yes, go for it, especially if that pricejapan quote is not a misquote. Then you can feed back your impressions to help me make my own choice

 
PS. I'm with arnaud regarding the loudspeaker option. Also, I do find it peculiar that anyone on a high end headphone forum should be extolling the virtues of value-for-money loudspeakers.
Irrespective of what those virtues may be, it's something of a diversion.

 

[customcoco]

 
Don't count on it.  That's what people said about the HD800 too, to which I had responded if anything it will go up, which it has.
Again, I will say the same thing here.  With the SR-009, if anything it will go up in price eventually.
That's what happens when the dollar keeps falling.

correct me if i am wrong but the price of hd800 has decreased. it was at 1.4k at the release and now you can find for less than 1k.

 

[Amarphael]

Quote:

 now you can find for less than 1k.

Please enlighten us...

 

[TMoney]

Quote:

Please enlighten us...

He means you can find it for less than 1K used. MSRP on a new pair, when last I checked, is 1.5K.

 

[Alex_O Rules]

Yes.  Purchase them.  I would put money on them becoming the best electrostatic headphones at any cost.  I strongly suspect they will wreck the Omega II and HE90.  I e-mailed Stax about the 007 vs HE90 a few years ago.  Stax replied stating (and I'm paraphrasing) that they wish for the Omega-series to be considered the best bar none.

 

[kiertijai]

I will go for it. I will go with the pricejapan.  I have several head-fiers who confirmed that the pricejapan is reliable.
A moment ago Kaneda Sensei from pricejapan confirmed that the price is 309800Yen and it is equal to 4000+ $to Bangkok,
Thailand which is the same for US.  But we will get it later, probably one month or more but I am in no rush.
I highly doubt that SR 009 will beat the HE90.  I have the HE90 with the setup that is not optimal driving with the energizer or SRM300.
I have the O2mkI, SR Omega listened via 727A.  I prefer SR Omega more than the O2MkI  but I still think
the HE90 is still the best.  If the SR007 can beat the O2mkI but not much, I  think that it is  only on par with
the SR Omega  .  So I think it is difficult for the SR009 to be the best.  I haven't heard the HE90 in the optimal
setup yet because I am waiting for my Aristaeus amplifier.