High-end Speakers V Headphone - you kidding me....

[Gregadd]

So even though I have just had a glass of wine I find Dave Brubeck phnomenal.
You have were my appetite for a cable upgrade.

 

[LL21]

Hey Gregadd,

I have been reading and talking with people for a few weeks now. I am intrigued by Moon Audio Dragons (their Black Dragons particularly given that we have the HD800S), the Lazuli Reference...Lazuli Nirvana sounds mindblowing but at the length we need, the price will be too! Interestingly, the cost increase for more length in the TA cable is a very small % of the cable...something that Franc Kuzma (Kuzma Turntables) once mentioned to me when we were discussing Transparent which he distributes/uses himself personally.

Plus since the length starts to change the impedance of the cable (25 feet is longer than any cable any of the 3 manufacturers I have spoken with have ever produced), that is where TA specifically adjusts the cable to reflect the impedance as part of manufacturing it.

 

[LL21]

BTW, the EAR Yoshino HP4 arrived via Fedex...and literally minutes later, the UPS courier for EAR arrived and took it to the factory...should arrive on Monday morning for a healthcheck. If all goes according to plan, and the unit is in good shape, then the target is to have it back by end of the week...but it could be the following week. Stay tuned!

 

[padam]

Is there any reason to get the the Stax sr 009 over sr 007a given there is about a $1300 price differential?

They are a different kettle of fish.

You either love the 009 for it's clarity, detail, openness
Or you hate it because it is thin, bright, excessively forward and fatiguing
I am on the 007 side, I would love to hear a 009 set up properly, but from what I heard, it would need plenty of work for me.

But just to see how controversial this is, take a look at these varying opinions.

Alek JK74
Jonathan
Bob Katz
Roy Romaz
Pyrates
Aaron (ab_ba)
HeadRoom Jamie & Mike
Brian
Tyll Conclusion


I think the modified 007A Bob Katz owns is a superior sample to the one that was tested by most and the current 007A is a better version.

 

[LL21]

They are a different kettle of fish.

You either love the 009 for it's clarity, detail, openness
Or you hate it because it is thin, bright, excessively forward and fatiguing
I am on the 007 side, I would love to hear a 009 set up properly, but from what I heard, it would need plenty of work for me.

But just to see how controversial this is, take a look at these varying opinions.

Alek JK74
Jonathan
Bob Katz
Roy Romaz
Pyrates
Aaron (ab_ba)
HeadRoom Jamie & Mike
Brian
Tyll Conclusion


I think the modified 007A Bob Katz owns is a superior sample to the one that was tested by most and the current 007A is a better version.

Fascinating...I had read about the Bob Katz shoot-out with the 007 vs the Focal Utopia and the Tyll rebuttal. I had not realized that perhaps the version Bob Katz was using was different. Are you saying the current 007A is better than the 'normal 007'...or better than the 007a modified which Bob Katz was using at the time?

As for 009 and clarity vs stridency...the 800S we just bought has a similar reputation...and its lesser sibling the 650 is of course the one pretty much most listeners can easily 'luxuriate' in. That said, I also ready pretty consistently that the 800S is just super-finicky about its pairing source, amp and cable...and when properly sorted it is magic. Particularly when many of the headphones to which it is compared cost more and sometimes 2-3x more. I imagine the Stax 009 is likely a similar situation...get the system right and magic.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

They are a different kettle of fish.

You either love the 009 for it's clarity, detail, openness
Or you hate it because it is thin, bright, excessively forward and fatiguing
I am on the 007 side, I would love to hear a 009 set up properly, but from what I heard, it would need plenty of work for me.

But just to see how controversial this is, take a look at these varying opinions.

Alek JK74
Jonathan
Bob Katz
Roy Romaz
Pyrates
Aaron (ab_ba)
HeadRoom Jamie & Mike
Brian
Tyll Conclusion


I think the modified 007A Bob Katz owns is a superior sample to the one that was tested by most and the current 007A is a better version.

how refined is your whole system?

how perfect is your power and how great is your source media?

009S will take you furthest with the best sources. garbage in garbage out. not everyone can handle the truth. certainly there are matter of musical tastes and simple preference too....but many times it's the context confusing that.

10 years ago i owned 007 Mk 2's and 009's. now i own 009S's.

 

[K3RMIT]

I think stax did what senn 800 did tame it down a bit. That’s not a bad thing either at my age I want the stock sound over the 800s or 009s. one could get the changes in picking the amp to give the sound one may want.

 

[padam]

how refined is your whole system?

how perfect is your power and how great is your source media?

009S will take you furthest with the best sources. garbage in garbage out. not everyone can handle the truth. certainly there are matter of musical tastes and simple preference too....but many times it's the context confusing that.

10 years ago i owned 007 Mk 2's and 009's. now i own 009S's.

Sorry but simply I don't agree.
I have tried it with multiple systems and I accept that a lot of people like it, but for me it is just unnatural sounding to start with (I hear detail in a forced manner and not music) and so it would be quite a challenge to change that. I have owned the Smyth Realiser A8 before and I can image an A16 would do a great job of totally changing the character of the headphones without changing the technical abilities.


The best pair of headphones I've heard are the Sennheiser HE90s and the SR-009s sounds nothing like it. I have not heard the SR-009S version yet, but it can't be that different.

 

[padam]

Fascinating...I had read about the Bob Katz shoot-out with the 007 vs the Focal Utopia and the Tyll rebuttal. I had not realized that perhaps the version Bob Katz was using was different. Are you saying the current 007A is better than the 'normal 007'...or better than the 007a modified which Bob Katz was using at the time?

There are three versions, Bob has an early SZ2-xxxx copy and there have been changes to the SZ3-xxxx version which weren't very good, I think that could have been the version that was on display, I think it was also a version that I heard a few years ago and it was underwhelming.
And they have made changes again and the current version is good but determining the version is impossible based upon the serial number as I've seen the SZ2-xxxx designation on later production as well.

I have owned multiple copies of the SR-007Mk1 before and they seemed to sound quite different as well, but I didn't have two copies at the same time. But I do have multiple copies of my favourite vintage Lambdas and there are notable differences between them (A new old stock copy being the best one, probably the only pair I need)

 

[LL21]

I think stax did what senn 800 did tame it down a bit. That’s not a bad thing either at my age I want the stock sound over the 800s or 009s. one could get the changes in picking the amp to give the sound one may want.

That is my sense as well...just getting to know the 800S now in the past 72 hours...the entire system is yet to come together. 2nd hand EAR Yoshino has arrived and gone right back out the door to the manufacturer for a healthcheck, and cables, subject to reconfirmation of price have been ordered...stay tuned! But so far so incredible.

 

[LL21]

There are three versions, Bob has an early SZ2-xxxx copy and there have been changes to the SZ3-xxxx version which weren't very good, I think that could have been the version that was on display, I think it was also a version that I heard a few years ago and it was underwhelming.
And they have made changes again and the current version is good but determining the version is impossible based upon the serial number as I've seen the SZ2-xxxx designation on later production as well.

I have owned multiple copies of the SR-007Mk1 before and they seemed to sound quite different as well, but I didn't have two copies at the same time. But I do have multiple copies of my favourite vintage Lambdas and there are notable differences between them (A new old stock copy being the best one, probably the only pair I need)

Thanks! And yes, interestingly, what you describe in detail is actually mentioned by Bob Katz in the video: specifically, that he has heard Audeze LCD3s that sound like his LCDX at home, and vice versa...where his best professional guess was that despite manufacturing tolerances, the slightest difference in manufacturing can affect the sound of the headphone ever so slightly.

 

[Jake Purches]

Personally I am not a headphone fan. I have to tollerate them when mastering the music I publish. For that I use a set of STAX electrostatics and a tube based energiser/amplifier, the Trilogy F1. It gives me a reference sound which is more accurate than any loudspeaker can possibly be, simply because you don't have the room to mess up the audio. They are also a good match for the Vivid Audio G2 loudspeakers I use, and I always prefer to listen to the speakers as the bass is more palpable, and you get to feel it, which you can't with headphones. In the same way you can have a reference 4k monitor to master your videos it always looks better when projected on the big screen. As for limited bass, yes. Its not because there isn't any bass, the STAX just plays it very accurately, and with almost no distortion. What you hear with speakers is the room effect amplifying the low frequencies, and other colourations that may be coming from the woofer cones. That is also why Reggae has more oomph when played on huge jamacan sound system speakers. Coloured as hell but it sounds great. Put a bit of Bob Marley on a reference system and be very disappointed.. ! On the other hand, if you listen to classical music a lot, on reference speakers, the bass is about right - plenty of extension and effortlessness.

 

[Thieliste]

I have both and my opinion is that headphone rigs just cannot compete with very good speaker systems period.
I'm still very happy to have my headphones for late night listening.

 

[Gregadd]

I have both and my opinion is that headphone rigs just cannot compete with very good speaker systems period.
I'm still very happy to have my headphones for late night listening.

Not that it matters. But given the chance I could change your mind.
Just as vinyl v.digital, viny still winds,etc. However the competition is stiffer than ever.
If we could just get binaural off the ground...