STAX SR-X9000 Review

[@richardgrumbine4867]

Huge STAX fan... but beyond my means as an educator... a man can dream!

[@Leon-lg7zm]

By far the best headphone channel on KZbin. Michael can articulate the sound of the headphone and ways to improve the positioning of the headphones like no other. I did try the HE1 for a couple of hours and then i did try the X9000 for a bit. The HE1 has that planar slam that the X9000 did not have however, the X9000 has the soundstage which was lacking in the HE1 although the instrumental timbre was the best I have ever heard with the HE1.

[@DirectorsGarage]

Great observation! But that breaking the seal would really surprise you. It changes the headphone. I hope Dekoni or ZMF or JM comes up with a modded pad. It’s worth exploring.

[@DirectorsGarage]

Sorry you asked for the sound- If you’ve ever owned or heard the Abyss 1266 TC, it’s a bit like that bass thump. Maybe not quite as extreme, but the soundstage gets even wider and the bass kicks much more than with the headphone sealed. I think a pad that opens up the seal (like Abyss did for the Diana) would be a great mod for the X9000. Ya feel a little goofy sitting there holding the headphone off your head a bit, but it produces a great effect.

[@Leon-lg7zm]

@@DirectorsGarage Thanks for the detailed response. I am more than satisfied with my LCD 4 & HEKSE for now. They compliment each other nicely as they are two completely different sound signatures. I will not get a Susvara until they release a new flagship which will lower the cost of 2nd hand Susvara's or I will wait for a power power efficient version of the Susvara as Hifiman's most recent releases have been more power efficient versions of their previous models.

[@DirectorsGarage]

@@Leon-lg7zm Both the LCD-4 and HEKSE are OUTSTANDING. Great choices. Congrats!

[@pertsonvelts1699]

Had a very good time watching this, thanks for sharing!

[@flex-cx9bi]

Great notes about the harmonics of an instrument. Sooo necessary for the best most life like sound.

[@Nephilim-81]

Michael. Your Videos are getting better and better. I also share your enthusiasm for the SRX9000. ❤

[@paulpavlou9294]

Micheal I love my Stax headphones/ears speakers and I really liked you review. Thirty minutes reviews I don’t normally watch, but you kept my attention for the whole video. Nice job an very entertaining. I’ll keep an eye out for the next review. Ps I’ll have to save up for these SR-X9000’s after watch this.(Don’t tell my wife).

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

I auditioned these today and found them to be superior to Susvara, except for the pianoforte timbre. Maybe one day....

[@malihajji2870]

Great Review Sir 👋👋👋

[@Jootn2kx]

Stax lambda signature owner here, bought it for 400 bucks. Best thing I ever bought for the money this thing just blew my away. Big stax fan ever since it detroned my beloved hifiman HE6 and also sold my Susvara after owning a Stax. Nothing can compete with it tbh the speed and effortlessness, insane seperation of instruments and detail retrival and probably the most qualitative bass I ever heard. just wondering how much better a Stax X9000 can be compared to a Stax lambda signature (SR407-507)?

[@tuanlinhdo7244]

Have you tried STAX L700 mk2? If so, how do they compare?

[@alenotta]

Are you announcing the Director's Garage Limited Edition Stax Foam Ear Spacers?

[@davidpetersen7091]

When I need to perk up my day I watch one of your videos. You bring a smile to my face and PAIN to my......wallet! Mr. Pete-------------> aging hippie

[@goldwerger]

Great review (have the X9k and love them). But what is this alphabet amp you are referring to?

[@DirectorsGarage]

Long running in-show joke: Mjolnir KGSSHV Carbon CC is the amp. It’s a mouthful.

[@goldwerger]

@@DirectorsGarage ahhh! approrpiate :) I have the Mjonir Carbon (essentially same amp, some less fancy wiring) and agree this combo is just sublime. To get more out of the X9k the jump from here is very substantial. The Carbon has incredible synergy with it, and best in this price range (and form factor) for my ears. I recently had a Shang Jr on loan, and it was simply far behind. Also agree on Susvara comparison. Only headphoe on my estat bucket list is Shang Sr which is outstanding but criminally mispriced... keep up the good content..!

[@qauau]

How does the X9000+Carbon compare to the 'Sennheiser HE-1', the 'HifiMan Shangri-La Sr' and the 'Warwick Aperio'? In case you had the chance to listen to one of these contenders for the king of headphones. Especially in case of (non-electrically-amplified or processed) acoustical music, Jazz/classical chamber music/classical orchestra music? Thanks a lot 🙂

[@ansel111]

Thanks for the review. Another thing to hunt down for a listen at the Dallas Canjam...

[@DirectorsGarage]

If you get the chance, tell me what you hear when you pull them off your head a bit. I’d like to know I’m not crazy! Cheers! Thanks for watching.

[@PhilipHeath-l7s]

Great review Michael, entertaining and informative and with interesting modification opportunities thrown in for good measure. I agree the x9000 sounds stunning and looks great to my eye. Looking forward to future insightful reviews like this. Top work by the resident idiot.

[@Peace_Guard]

Great review! Favourite reviewer along with Lachlan! Will you be able to review Solitaire P and the two-sided Modhouse Tungsten before your next shootout? For amps it seems that you still need to check out Holo Bliss & Enleum 23R. And then higher level tube amps, from Feliks Envy & Cayin HA-300 MKII, through Trafomatic Primavera & Woo WA23 Luna, upwards. And among DACs for starters for comparison against Lina - Holo May (with HQP), Mola Mola Tambaqui, Rockna Wavedream BAL/Sig BAL and MSB Discrete.

[@MuhammadKharismawan]

There's a prominent high freq hum on all the talking shot analogue before 16:50 transition, I wonder what that is.

[@sztruharrobert]

Do you like the cable with silver?

[@orangemoon1708]

How does it compare to the empyrean 2(yes, different type of headphones) and dca corina?

[@barbarapearce7323]

Great to get a review from a long time owner. Always prefer to hear these over first impressions

[@GARYCOLEIV]

If you pull the SUSVARA and HE1000se drivers away from your ears (1/4 - 1/2 inch space from ears)... you also get larger staging, base punch, pistonic excursion and sub-bass depth as what you mention on these Stax headphones. This is the trick ABYSS does for their 1266 TC headphone.

[@latle111]

I love your videos. Meze should have a Collab with Stax. Meze has the build quality down, Stax has the SQ.

[@rogerhuston8287]

After hearing the X9k on the Blue Hawaii, I came close to selling my Susvara and Nautilus combo. But then, I'd only have one headphone. So close.

[@amaya897]

Wonder how it competes with Bravura and Caldera

[@qauau]

Great Review as always, congratulations and a big Thanks! And so well prepared (not a quick test only), so an in-depth analysis and fair comparison to other top headphones. I have a question: What do you mean by "paired with the LINA and the Mjolnir Alphabeth Amplifier"? The LINA DAC (without the LINA extra clock I expect) and do you mean the "Mjolnir Carbon CC" with the "alpha animal". Or what did you mean by "Alphabet", i.e. which amp did you apply for the listening sessions?

[@DirectorsGarage]

Sorry, it’s my little joke. Mjolnir KGSSHV Carbon CC is stressing the limits of my patience as a name for an amp, so I call it the alphabet amp for short. It’s an incredible combo.

[@qauau]

Cool 🤣👍🍻@@DirectorsGarage

[@JTB--]

+5 Bonus Points for the Zeppelin Swan Song T-Shirt

[@NoKNOTsense]

Awesome review! I hate it when my ears touch the inside grill of the headphone. You're the first reviewer I've heard complain about this on the X9000. I've owned or auditioned all of the following headphones: Focal Utopia (OG and 2022), Meze Elite (with hybrid pads), Hifiman Susvara, Hifiman HE1000se, and DCA Expanse. The inside grill touches my ears on the Elite with hybrid pads (barely), the HE1000se (barely), the Susvara (fully), and the Expanse (barely). I have no problems with the Utopia or the Elite with any of the other pads types. How does your experience compare?

[@arthurhaywood2184]

Damn…..😢. Missed the live.

[@kevinstarski1598]

I haven't watched the video yet but would like to share my impressions of Stax with Mjolnir CC when I had it. Wasn't bad overall, but dry sounding (had 30-40 hours or so perhaps) and main difference was to me that Stax presented soundstage like you're sitting in front of speakers. Completely different than any other headphone I heard...it was less immersive than I'm used to and I thought Audeze Carbon was on a completely different level. My 2 cents...

[@qauau]

Hi Michael, oh, I think my last post has not been saved here, certainly as I had inserted a link to a website (to headfi). Maybe this is not allowed at YT, I don't know. So, I repeat it in short form without the link. Today there was a comment on your review at headfi, at the X9000 thread. Someone (not me) brought the amp for the Susvara into discussion. As you know, the Susvara is hard to drive and thus quite amp picky to unfold its full sonic proficiency. Therefore, which amp did you use to drive the Susvara for your listening comparisons?

[@DirectorsGarage]

Well that's the subject of about 12 Director's Garage episodes! My pursuit of an amp to drive the Susvara has led me down through different amp combinations. I don't care to count the thousands I've spent on finding the right Susvara amp. Currently the amp driving it is the Bakoon 13r, which is a 25W headphone amp that is just as happy driving speakers! But I've auditioned and tried many amps with the Susvara over the years at this point.

[@qauau]

​@@DirectorsGarage Hi Michael, thanks for the clarification. This is good to know that you tried many different amps to find the most appropriate combination with the Susvara. This shows that you can assess the best possible sound quality very well that can be pulled out from an optimized Susvara system. And the Bakoon is indeed an extremely powerful amp and it is recommended by many Sus aficionados for being paired with the Susvara. I also had seen your review on the Bakoon+Susvara those days (last January). So, your comparison Bakoon+Susvara vs Carbon+X9000 seems to be a summit combo comparison and thus a very fair test constellation. Well done and thank you again for these valuable insights!

[@DirectorsGarage]

You might consider me extremely foolish to go down the Susvara rabbit hole! It's a moneysuck, and I'm not sure I'm done yet. I'm sort of torn between pushing the Susvara further and selling the damn thing to move on with my life!

[@astorbeijer9424]

I really don't like Michael's new short format videos. A good review takes at least an hour or 90 minutes. Where's the effort Michael? Kidding! Great review. You've made me consider selling my car and putting the kids up for adoption. And maybe even getting this Stax headphone. When you compare 10k ,all in, vs. 50k for the HE-1, the Stax is a bargain.

[@datdudeinred]

Imagine of someone makes a vented pad for these. 🤔🙄 Something akin to the pads dms designed for some abyss

[@BobAndersen-v2q]

I wouldn't treat my Stay like this 😮

[@marcinchojnaify]

Which AMP have you used with X9000?

[@DirectorsGarage]

Both the Blue Hawaii and Mjolnir KGSSHV Carbon CC. Mainly the Mjolnir for this review.

[@marcinchojnaify]

I have T8000 and Ifi Phantom for it@@DirectorsGarage

[@syntheticnoctis898]

your microphone makes a electrical noise. can you try fixing it?

[@DirectorsGarage]

It's been addressed in later episodes! You're hearing fan noise from the equipment and I've replaced the fans with quiet fans. World of difference! Thanks for watching!

[@AndrewLimCM]

Seriously, for detail, soundstage & speed, heard Raal SR1A ribbon? It's about 3-4 years old. What about Shangri-la? not it's younger bro. Whether a person can articulate what they heard, somehow reviewers like to dramatise their description to gain viewership from a seas of youtubers & media presenters.

[@DirectorsGarage]

I haven't spent much time with the Raal-- I think I only did one demo with them at a show. But I'd love to review one some day. It just takes money or someone willing to send me one. The Shangri-La and HE-1 are terrific, but unobtainable for most of us. I also think they are products people buy to say they have them. There is no way they are worth the asking price, in my opinion, but it's up to the individual to make that decision for themselves. More on-topic, the STAX SR-X9000 is tremendously resolving (the best I've reviewed) and has decent bass for an electrostatic headphone. I stand by that comment. Is the Raal better? Maybe. But I won't know until I spend time with them. I'm not a reviewer. I don't do this for a living. I do a show that's (hopefully) entertaining and invite you all to join me on my audiophile journey. I'm way more into the music than I am the gear. I tell people what I hear on camera, and I am definitely an acquired taste! The show started out of boredom, and I was tired of everyone posting stuff with jump cuts every 4 seconds. I wanted to bring my production sensibilities to a KZbin environment. We hit the pandemic and I built a small studio in my home (directing television is how I make my living-- hence-- Director's Garage). I started posting my thoughts on some of this stuff I was trying, and people started watching. OK. I made more. This show loses money by the thousands. I give away anything gifted to the show. I don't take this stuff seriously. I do this because I enjoy sharing and hearing what others think. If that's not for you, I totally understand. There are many other places to visit, and I thank you for hanging out for a few minutes.

[@masterazlan6999]

1stly, its not fair to compete diff transducer.. Cuz i'll compare ur e stat system with just he1.. n now u r tellin not fair..Urs its like comparing airliner to jet fighter.... Now u say its not fair, y bro its e stat category or it just made urs as a child flagships? At least, all other capables of usin same system to valuate but dis jet fighter Find a topgun field bro.. At start u touched premium design against cheapo, wait untill u touch he1 4 honest view Cheaps! But the functionality of it causin a fluffy fits numero uno, correct.. lights against fatigue while usin.. In dis case, u wont wanna take it off..u said urs r 7K imagine the investment of 50K..sory carry on comment.. Again 1266 is in susvara etc categories.. Let me makes a short list of ur category, aperio frm warwick n so on is their fighting rings.. ops sory go on.. hm u touched bout sound signatures Of course it'll sound expensive dun be radiculous Investor.. ops go on. ha3 wanna talk bout 2ch Expensive speakers sumore.. I'll just push u pair of TAD n AGD of classD, then u done.. ops again sory.. go on.. Again compare to an airliners ha4.. go on.. Only now u mentions he1.. U r below dat child flagships hm try aperio 1st then he1 ha5..N very funy when u point out by pulling out those cans ables to changes sonic Who the h... gonna wears like dat.. U?.. ok go on.. audeze corbon kids n u r grown up Compares?.. go on. Hm songs.. nice beach boys tracks there.. Pls bro e stat kings of details of course the tiny winy can be heard.. go on.. U touched bout harmonics.. Is it instrument Timbre dat u means? Pls dun mixed up audiophiles vabs..go on 1/2way already.. Wow the way u define the song, in dis case Music just rite up the directors Quality..nice!.. sory continue.. Hm makes it simple just try aperio the uve got urself only 2 to compare, othera just KIV.. almost done go on.. Lastly pls stop the unfair comparison. Conclusions, im done with headphones Cuz not as sensitive as iem.. N in dis alternate ideology may srm d10 cuz im a OTG music lovers with sr003 mk2 Will do Or just my choices of futures of e stat.. anyway nice reviews..keep up the gd werk.. Peace!

[@matthewhilty4209]

?

[@kevinstarski1598]

lol

[@Njinx_]

Nice coherent sentence

[@kevinstarski1598]

Drugs...@@Njinx_

[@matthewhilty4209]

First