Please find the excuses for me not to buy Stax 009S headphone

@ richopp

Hi Richard

I agree with your opinion that it is not easy to listen to headphone or earphone for long time.

Out of curiosity I had pulled trigger for Stax 009S but I do not want to go into rabbit hole.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/sennheiser-he-1.21120/reviews

Oh my god, this headphone and amplifier combination cost 70K$.

I have to stop pretty soon.

Thomas

@shking78 Wow!  That is some price point.  A couple of people just bought $100,000,000+ houses--one here (Palm Beach) and one in CA somewhere.

My point is that there are customers for pretty much anything today, so while this is patently ridiculous in every possible dimension, if a person has the funds and wants and likes these, by all means go for them.  For some around here, that is simply lunch money.

For that price, I could probably fly in a couple of artists, record them live for myself, and be happy forever just to shake their hands and be in the same room with them.  (Thinking Yo- Yo Ma and Eric Clapton here...).

I still love quality headphones, but my Maggies sound so good, even with my junky front end, that they would only be something I would use every now and then.

Better get a grip, Thomas! (Ha!)  Hey, if you can afford it, go for it.  Just be sure to listen for a while before signing the check...

Cheers,

RIchard 

Thanks Richard for your kind word.

After trying out Rall Sr1a, if I like it I may keep it in addition to Stax 009S.

But that is going to be the end of it.

I will not go into  Sennheiser He 1.

I also had been happy with Lansche 4.1 with plasma tweeter since 2007.

It will be speaker for my life.

Headphone is kind of side attraction and I will not spend too much money on it.

@richopp’s experience reminds me of when I heard 009 from a Stax 727 amp - yuck.The 009S with Carbon, or 009 with BHSE or T2 will be in a completely different zone - highly engaging, never boring, and probably the least fatiguing headphone setups I’ve heard. Dynamic headphones like Utopia are far more fatiguing than a well-amped Stax Omega.

Stax have an exceptionally flat and linear response from top to bottom - free of the peaks, aberrations, and ringing of dynamic drivers with their metal coils getting whacked about. I believe these issues of dynamic headphones contribute to hearing damage at higher levels, compared to Stax. 

The Raal headphones really do look awesome. They remind me of a futuristic version of the AKG K1000, which I once owned. Sadly I’ve not heard the Raal’s yet. Glad you’ve got your forever speakers too! It’s not fun upgrading two systems at once...

SHKong if you decide on the Stax let me refer you to Bob Katz recording engineer who highly recommends an amplifier designed and manufactured in IceLand of all places ,.
Theres a Worldwide following of Birgir Gunjonsson’s amplifier  design Mjölnir Audio. Amplifiers for electrostatic and dynamic headphones. I would also like add Birgir is a pleasant man to chat with .
However I don’t think you will find much about it on the main stream sites . 
My own interest in using headphones I couldn’t make much sense of of the members of headfi , I stumbled across Katz’s Corner , Bob Katz who knows what the heck he’s talking about and purchased a Mjölnir amplifier, fabulous.

Anyway after less then a year I realized headphones are not for me .
Good luck