It's much warmer sounding (more bass, less mid/highs)ģ) As a result of this, the x9000 needs about 1 click more than 009 to sound as loud (I was at 12PM on the T8000, it certainly felt we're driving this amp to its very limits.). Wrong fit and the bass goes loose (litterally boomy).Ģ) The x9000 is clearly voiced differently from 009. However, after going over different tunes (Charlie Byrd - Jitterbug waltz, Miles Davis - Will'0 The Wisp, some more obscure French and Brazilian music), I started to hear recurring patterns which sum up to the following:ġ) Just like other models, the fit is pretty critical to get the bass tight on x9000 (I have a smallish head, I was using the headpad at minimum size setting and had to pay attention to the headphone sitting). Well, the x9000 sounded warmer (more bass, less treble) but it was about it, I could not sense a difference in resolution, headstage, detail retrieval etc To be honest, in the first track I played (Avishai Cohen Trio - Eleven Wifes), I could not even tell the difference between 009 and x9000 right of the bat I did have my own CD and I did compare to 009 but am not so familiar with the T-8000 amp + the 009 pads of recent generation aren't same as my original pair so I bet the 009 actually sound different: I always thought the earpad is key part of estat (and any headphone in general), this seems to confirm it (the x9000 pads today looked gorgeous btw)Īs for the sound, please take the following for what it's worth, e.g.
He was saying that from 1000 pads received for the x9000, they returned 800 back to the manufacturer as it did not meet their (high) quality standard. He gave me some interesting pieces of information:ġ) The x9000 pre-orders are overwhelming, they're now booked until the end of the year and pretty much any new order will slip into 2022 deliveryĢ) The x9000 is pretty much handmade like the 009/S so there's only so many they can ship in a batchģ) Some parts are getting hard to source, no a problem for the x9000 phones but they may have troubles shipping amps in 2022 (for instance there's apparently global shortage of nylon connectors used to connect boards together through wire ribbons)Ĥ) The earpads supplier for the 009/S and x9000 was indeed changed after Japanese company historically making pads for Stax went out of business (retirement). It was nice as, after maybe 2 years lapse, I could have a conversation with sales director of Stax Japan. However, I did go to e-earphone and listened to the x9000 (and compare with 009) when driven by T-8000 amp with AD2-RMA source itself fed by macbook usb. I have a feeling my present job is way more stable and financially healthy than any audio related work
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