Stax SR-009S Electrostatic Headphone Review

[sealman]

• you have something really different
• certain aspects of the sound which are really excellent
• conversation piece
• pride of ownership

What owners and non owners value above all other things actually determines what one thinks (or only suspects) about the actual headphones or the measurements.
For sure... price and build quality are the biggest downsides. For some certain sound quality aspects they have might be worth that though. Most can not look past this elephant.
Those that can easily afford these headphones without even making the smallest dent in their wallets might appreciate the differences in sound quality with some other higher end headphones. These same people generally are not interested in $ 50 IEM's that also can sound great.

Choose your poison.

All of the positives you listed have nothing to do with "value" or performance of the actual product and everything to do with the "hey look what I bought" crowd with disposable income.
It is no different than buying a Rolex or a Louis Vuitton handbag. In fact in the audio world this is approaching the realm of the 5000.00 dollar AC cables with the exception that it actually does have measurable differences.

 

[brandall10]

All of the positives you listed have nothing to do with "value" or performance of the actual product and everything to do with the "hey look what I bought" crowd with disposable income.
It is no different than buying a Rolex or a Louis Vuitton handbag. In fact in the audio world this is approaching the realm of the 5000.00 dollar AC cables with the exception that it actually does have measurable differences.

I find this a wild take given the conclusions the person who runs this very site holds. And I quote:

"I was stunned at the sound quality post EQ. There was this melt in your chair spatial quality that was beyond just about any headphone I have heard. It seemed to so nicely separate instruments with uncanny precision. I know, I am talking like a subjectivist but I can't help it. Track after track sounded just amazing. The sound was detailed, spacious and just beautiful."

A Rolex is essentially just jewelry, which is orthogonal to its primary function of telling time. In fact, a more expensive mechanical timepiece will do it less accurately than a $20 digital wristwatch.

An analogy could be sure, a $50 earphone has a much better FR, which is absolutely true. But that's not the key thing to focus on here. To say that there is not inherent value in the technology or execution of it when it pertains to how it conveys sound means that people being duped by the idea of it rather than what it actually does.

And yes, getting circular here, that is the point of this site, but again, this review. This is the beast eating its own tail kinda stuff.

 

[Kevinfc]

Maybe one of these days I’ll get into headphones, but for now they don’t really interest me, especially wired. I don’t like to be tethered.

 

[keiron99]

I used to own a pair of Stax Lambda Signature "earspeakers" years ago, and sold them when the kids came along as I wasn't listening to music much.

I still remember first hearing them at a hifi show; I was simply astonished. You simply get lost in the music in a way you cant with bog-standard headphones.

I was thrilled when at a local hifi show a few months ago there was a headphone room with a Stax display so I could experience them again. None of the other headphones, even though they may have been more "accurate", came close to the Stax as a listening experience.

I bitterly regret selling them.

 

[solderdude]

All of the positives you listed have nothing to do with "value" or performance of the actual product and everything to do with the "hey look what I bought" crowd with disposable income.
It is no different than buying a Rolex or a Louis Vuitton handbag. In fact in the audio world this is approaching the realm of the 5000.00 dollar AC cables with the exception that it actually does have measurable differences.

Yep. It is a luxury item. Fortunately they do have some desirable qualities in sound though ... but that comes at quite the cost.
I know the VFM crowd does not want to hear it (this includes me) but it certainly has some desirable sound qualities.

 

[soundwave76]

Which are better, these or your Dan Clarkes @amirm?

 

[sealman]

I find this a wild take given the conclusions the person who runs this very site holds. And I quote:

"I was stunned at the sound quality post EQ. There was this melt in your chair spatial quality that was beyond just about any headphone I have heard. It seemed to so nicely separate instruments with uncanny precision. I know, I am talking like a subjectivist but I can't help it. Track after track sounded just amazing. The sound was detailed, spacious and just beautiful."

Unfortunately the huge glaring issue is this part of your reply!
"I was stunned at the sound quality post EQ"

This is the main issue I have as well as the price. For this kind of money they should not need any EQ!
Obviously Amirm really liked them "after" applying some EQ to them. However that is his subjective opinion and while I do value his opinion it does not always jive with mine.
Lets not forget that he also said this about the headphones.
Out of box the response of the SR-009S is OK (not offensive).
I can't recommend the Stax SR-009S without EQ.

To use a stupid car analogy, it is like buying a Shelby Mustang brand new but being told you will have to customize it in order to get great performance out of it.

 

[Aperiodic]

Forgot to ask: No waterfall?

 

[amirm]

Forgot to ask: No waterfall?

I don't run that for headphones.

 

[amirm]

Which are better, these or your Dan Clarkes @amirm?

Going back to my everyday Stealth the sound was tonally more balance with better bass. But it was much more closed in. I didn't get a chance to compare to Expanse.

 

[Madlop26]

Thank you guys for all your responses about the distortion properties of these particular headphones; now I got it, but make me wonder; most of headphones required EQ to get to the target curve (average population frequency response taste), but also to get a frequency response of your liking if you don't care about the average. I don't want to give Amir more work, but how important do you think is to test distortion levels once the headphone has been EQed after all this is where people who EQ will use the headphones anyway.

 

[DearSX]

"I was stunned at the sound quality post EQ. There was this melt in your chair spatial quality that was beyond just about any headphone I have heard. It seemed to so nicely separate instruments with uncanny precision. I know, I am talking like a subjectivist but I can't help it. Track after track sounded just amazing. The sound was detailed, spacious and just beautiful."

This makes me want to save up for a long time and get the high end speakers subjective reviewers talk about. Funny thing is I have heard similar sounds from Kef speakers, but I have not been able to replicate this at my house with the same speakers, which sucks.

 

[solderdude]

how important do you think is to test distortion levels once the headphone has been EQed after all this is where people who EQ will use the headphones anyway.

It will not change much if at all. One should also realize that most people don't play very loud anyway and in that case distortion will not be there anyway. A kind of 'pure' translation from electrical signal to acoustic signal (aside from the tonal issues which all headphones have).

 

[Robbo99999]

Going back to my everyday Stealth the sound was tonally more balance with better bass. But it was much more closed in. I didn't get a chance to compare to Expanse.

You still own the Expanse? I didn't realise you'd bought one? (I know you've measured one)

 

[amirm]

You still own the Expanse? I didn't realise you'd bought one? (I know you've measured one)

I did buy that one as well. I don't use it as much since it doesn't block equipment noise.

 

[solderdude]

The Staxes block even much less than the expanse which actually attenuates outside noises quite a bit.
The Stax offers practically no attenuation of outside noises.
Similar to what a window is to the eyes. The sound from the headphone is kind of 'mixed' with the natural sounds in the room.

 

[Madlop26]

I did buy that one as well. I don't use it as much since it doesn't block equipment noise.

You are lucky Amir, I cannot imagine what my wife would do to me if she hears me saying that, when the thing cost 4K, haha

 

[DearSX]

@amirm any speakers that you heard that do what these headphones do?

 

[Soria Moria]

Can someone theorise why electrostatics might sound a certain way? I'm skeptical, as are you I suppose. But if you had to guess what would you think is the reason?

 

[JohnnyHonda]

I have owned several Stax Lambdas, L700, and currently own the 007s. Given enough amplification, they provide a sound that I do not hear from non-electrostatic headphones. I have owned various Sennheiser, Bose, Audio Technica electret, Grado headphones and owned and really tried to like the Dan Clark Stealth and Audeze headphones (with eq) but….they didn’t sound as good as the Stax. The Stax are terribly expensive and the amps are even more so. I had a KGSSHV amplifier and it did fine with the L700 but not the Stax 007. Only with a Blue Hawaii, with tremendous voltage swing, did the 007 come to life. I do use an RME for some digital parametric control and a big amp and I haven’t heard anything (yet) that beats it. I wish the Dan Clark would have been better for me…would have saved money and convenience for not using such a big outboard amplifier. For many, an electrostatic is not the solution but they do sound different (and much better to my ears). Value wise, they are terrible. For me, they take me to the music like no other headphone combination. Your mileage will vary.