New Stax: SR-X9000 :)
- Thread starter JTC
- Start date
lencotweaker
Mostly dreaming of record players
I should have bought them 007s back off you. Bugger.
As for the new ones, I dare not even look.
As for the new ones, I dare not even look.
Darmok
pfm Member
Listen to STAX's amazing electrostatic headphones "SR-X9000"
https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/review/review/1355511.html
https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/review/review/1355511.html
I recently traded in a pair of original sr-009 for a new sr-x9000 . Ordered in August but only received just before Christmas ( about 4 months waiting list ) . I'm driving them with a Mjolnir KGSSHV I bought from a guy on pinkfish who lives in the next county to me and was able to deliver personally .
My initial impressions are -
The tone is less bright but that took away some of the sense of air and space .
Imaging is less LCR with more accurate positioning of instruments and more speaker-like soundstage .
There is still some occasional hint of glassiness - but a lot of the brightness of the sr-009 settled over time ( or I got used to it ) so this may also settle .
There is much more upper bass giving a more conventional tonal balance but I'm less convinced that they go as low as the sr009.
I needed to up the volume somewhat to get what I thought was a similar listening level to the sr-009 so I suspect they benefit from a more powerful amp .
Not convinced they give any more detail than the sr-009 but that may need a better amp - next year maybe move to a mjolnir KGSSHV carbon .
Overall it's a nice easy listen a bit like a HD650 with much more detail and a proper soundstage but maybe a bit less low end kick .
Probably a return to the sound balance of the original sr007 mk1 with more detail .
As I say the sr009 seemed to improve over time so it's still early days to be definitive.
My initial impressions are -
The tone is less bright but that took away some of the sense of air and space .
Imaging is less LCR with more accurate positioning of instruments and more speaker-like soundstage .
There is still some occasional hint of glassiness - but a lot of the brightness of the sr-009 settled over time ( or I got used to it ) so this may also settle .
There is much more upper bass giving a more conventional tonal balance but I'm less convinced that they go as low as the sr009.
I needed to up the volume somewhat to get what I thought was a similar listening level to the sr-009 so I suspect they benefit from a more powerful amp .
Not convinced they give any more detail than the sr-009 but that may need a better amp - next year maybe move to a mjolnir KGSSHV carbon .
Overall it's a nice easy listen a bit like a HD650 with much more detail and a proper soundstage but maybe a bit less low end kick .
Probably a return to the sound balance of the original sr007 mk1 with more detail .
As I say the sr009 seemed to improve over time so it's still early days to be definitive.
Update
now had these for approx 2 months . Sense of air and space seems to be there - perhaps just got used to less brightness . No hint of glassiness / hardness in treble . Seem to be at least as detailed as the sr-009 .
Still seem to need the volume a little higher than the sr-009 . Occassional sibilance on female vocals on a digital source - but maybe only one in 50+ tracks - not sure if this is actually revealing a slight problem in the digital source .
The vast majority of the time you just forget they are there and enjoy the music .
now had these for approx 2 months . Sense of air and space seems to be there - perhaps just got used to less brightness . No hint of glassiness / hardness in treble . Seem to be at least as detailed as the sr-009 .
Still seem to need the volume a little higher than the sr-009 . Occassional sibilance on female vocals on a digital source - but maybe only one in 50+ tracks - not sure if this is actually revealing a slight problem in the digital source .
The vast majority of the time you just forget they are there and enjoy the music .
JTC
PFM Villager...
I think that was me
. You still enjoying the Mjolnir? I miss it and my 007mk1s from time to time...I was trying to remember - the strange man offering me cake ? The mjolnir is better in terms of dynamics , detail and bass than a stax 717 ( which is actually very good in its own right ) but I suspect the higher current delivery can emphasise the 6khz peak in the sr-009 ( and lesser extent sr-z9000 ) causing occassional sibilance . I think the mjolnir guy redesigned the KGSSHV and carbon to cater for this so I might treat myself to a carbon next christmas .
I didn't realise the Mjolnir guy had published the circuit diagram - I know the chinese have tried to produce some clones but they had poor reliability as they tried to cut corners on the parts spec . While my soldering skills are reasonable I don't think I would want to risk spoiling several thousand pounds worth of components so would probably just buy direct from Mjolnir although the VAT would be a bit annoying.
synthesia.
Member
It brought tears to my eyes when I found out the price
If I remember correctly the amp was designed by KG (Kevin Gilmore) and the board design was essentially a group project by talented DIY'ers. I bought the boards from one of the people who had surplus boards from a group buy. Building it wasn't too difficult but with the voltages involved you need to be very careful for your safety.
Interesting, I'll have to look through my notes, but certainly the 'carbon' design was in the public domain with quite a number of group buys for circuit boards etc. I note that Mjolnir say 'we have designed' but it seems to me that its the 'royal we' as the KGSSHV Carbon circuit designs are in the KG archive. The actual board layout that I used was a design from a group of folks at Head-Fi, which had gone through a number of iterations. The Mjolnir build probably used different layout etc.
