Stax SR-009S Earspeakers Now On Demo, The Wait Is Over!

[HiFi Lounge]

Hi Everyone,

Well Christmas really has come early for me this year, as a Stax SR-009 user myself when Stax announced the new and supposedly improved SR-009S a few months ago I must admit I got a little excited, well the wait is finally over as our demo pair have just arrived, this will be a short blog as I can’t wait to compare these to the SR-009′s, it will be fascinating to see how Stax have improved what many consider to be the best headphone in the world.

Now then what energiser do I use? the Stax T8000 or the Trilogy H1, decision, decisions

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/stax/stax-sr-009s-electrostatic-earspeakers

Here’s a few unboxing pictures -

















Cheers,
Paul.

[HiFi Lounge]

Stax SR-009S 1st Listening Impressions, So SR-009 or SR-009S?



Hi Everyone,

So I was here last night till 10pm listening to the new Stax SR-009S’s, to be honest I could have stayed a lot longer but I got hungry

So the million dollar question, how do they compare to the Mighty SR-009? well firstly the new SR-009S’s are definitely a SR-009 Earspeaker if that makes sense, I had heard that the S was going to be a bit smoother and I thought it may be closer to the SR-007 but I am happy to say that you get all the detail, insight and separation that I love with the 009 so the S is basically a different flavour of 009, but is it better?

Well after lots of back and forth with both Earspeakers and also using the Stax T8000 and Trilogy H1 Energisers what I found was that the SR-009S is definitely more refined at the very top end and luckily not at the expense of any detail, also the overall presentation is definitely slightly fuller which is very noticeable with vocals, they just have a bit more texture and warmth making them sound more natural, when you go back to the SR-009 they sound a tad thinner, as for bass weight, there is a little more but nothing like the SR-L700’s but it is noticeable, but for me as the overall balance is a little weightier which really helps with the transients, you can hear everything stop and start better which seems to give more definition and separation which in turn seems to make the music flow better and more rhythmic, you just seem to get into the music a little more, well I did last night, once I put Radiohead on I just couldn’t take the SR-009S’s off

So if you’ve got SR-009’s should you upgrade to the SR-009S? Difficult really as these improvements are definitely noticeable, personally I would have to change now I know I prefer the SR-009S and will be listening to these going forward but all I can say really is that if you have SR-009’s I would definitely recommend coming in to spend a few hours with the SR-009S’s and see what you think as the improvements are there it is just if you think the cost to change is worth the step up you are getting.

Good job though Stax, for me you have just made the best headphones in the world even better which really is an amazing achievement.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/stax

Cheers,

Paul.