New Stax SR-009

[PlanarSpeakerFan]

I've owned Stax SR Lambda's for 20 years. They are terrific headphones. Before I started building my current system, I contemplated a headphone only system. I was interested in the SR-009 headphones with SRM007tII amplifier but the word is the Woo WES amplifier sounds significantly better but at a much higher cost. Ultimately I ended up with floorstanding speakers and now I can walk anywhere I want and not run out of cord

Cheers,
Ken

Originally Posted by jdandy

Julian.......I hear you on the price. BIG GULP!!! That doesn't even take into account the electrostatic amplifier you will need, so figure another $5K. You can bet a $10K headphone rig is not in my future. My Sennheiser HD600 and Musical Fidelity X-Can V8P tube amp suits me very well, and all for less the $1K. Color me happy.

Yeah I pretty much share the same view Dan. I'll still be busy for the next 18 months finishing my system, but at the end of that process if I had a spare $10kUS to spend on my system, i'd rather put it into further improving my front end.

[Portugal]

My STAX system is on the same room as the speaker system and I'm doing 95% speakers 5% headphones.

The idea now is to move the STAX system to the office where I'll be able to listen several hours a day (I've been doing that on Grado RS1 headphones). The music the STAX system delivers is so beautiful that it deserves to be heard and not be overshadowed by the speakers.

I'm probably just warming up to have 2 STAX systems, one at home and another at the office

[New guy]

I just got a pair of Stax SR009 the other day. I am driving them with a stax Sam 007tii. It sounds pretty good. Has anyone tried the 009 with blue Hawaii SE. Any other suggestions for amps?

Thanks,

Rich

[The Attorney]

I moved from the 007T mk1 to BHSE, driving both SR-009 and 007. The BHSE is a substantial improvement in SQ, plus a certain Wow Factor in build quality and presentation - you can get various colour face plates, but black is the new black for me.

I go against the general Stax Mafia trend of sneering at most current Stax amps - I think the 007T does a fair job (for the money) with the 009's.

For upgrades, you could read through trillions of posts in the usual headphone websites. Or just read the following broad conclusions:

Assumimg you are not mad enough to be considering the overkill "T2 DIY" (and if you have to ask, then you're not mad enough), then the best tube amp is the BHSE, and the best SS amp is the KGSSHV Carbon (both broadly equal in SQ with slightly different sound signatures). And at a lower price the KGSSHV is a good compromise.

Bear in mind that the BHSE does respond well to tube rolling. To save you reading trillions of pages, go for the vintage Phillips Metal Base if you can stomach the insane prices. Or vintage Dutch DD getter xf3/4 at almost-sane prices. Plenty of other vaild options.

And if you've gone that far, then you must try the Herbie Halo tube dampers (the all titanium ones look best). So it all depends if you enjoy playing about with tubes and want the wow factor looks. If you don't, then Carbon is best best bet.

[Weirdcuba]

Originally Posted by The Attorney

I moved from the 007T mk1 to BHSE, driving both SR-009 and 007. The BHSE is a substantial improvement in SQ, plus a certain Wow Factor in build quality and presentation - you can get various colour face plates, but black is the new black for me. I go against the genral Stax Mafia trend of sneering at most current Stax amps - I think the 007T does a fair job (for the money) with the 009's. For upgrades, you could read through trillons of posts in the usual headphone websites. Or just read the following broad conclusions: Assumimg you are not mad enough to be considering the overkill "T2 DIY" (and if you have to ask, then you're not mad enough), then the best tube amp is the BHSE, and the best SS amp is the KVSSHV Carbon (both broadly equal in SQ with slightly different sound signatures). And at a lower price the KVSSHV is a good compromise. Bear in mind that the BHSE does respond well to tube rolling. To save you reading trillions of pages, go for the vintage Phillips Metal Base if you can stomach the insane prices. Or vintage Dutch DD getter xf3/4 at almost-sane prices. Plenty of other vaild options. And if you've gone that far, then you must try the Herbie Halo tube dampers (the all titanium ones look best). So it all depends if you enjoy playing about with tubes and want the wow factor looks. If you don't, then Carbon is best best bet.

What's a KVSSHV? Sorry for the newb question.

[Weirdcuba]

Found it. ~$4000 addiction that I don't need ....

[The Attorney]

I've now corrected my typo. Should have been KGSSHV. The first bit stands for Kevin Gilmore who has desgined most of the favoured non-Stax amps, including the original Blue Hawaii. Then other people build them.

A $4k amp is not an unreasonable match for a $5k headphone - particularly if you've moved 100% from loudspeakers to headphones (as I have done)

[Weirdcuba]

agreed. If I moved to phones only, this (or something like this) would make perfect sense (to the extent that any of these things make sense). Right now though, the phones are just a bedroom thing that I listen to for a couple of hours a week, so no need for something this serious.

[Weirdcuba]

Well sh!t, why did I engage in this thread? I've been thinking about these things all day (and reading about them)

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