stax 009 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Sat, 09 Apr 2016 10:11:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png stax 009 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Flagship Headphone / Amplifier Round Up https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-announcement/zardon/flagship-headphone-amplifier-round-up/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-announcement/zardon/flagship-headphone-amplifier-round-up/#comments Tue, 05 Apr 2016 20:08:55 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=288609 As a publication KitGuru places a lot of focus on ‘gaming grade' headphones priced between £60 and £150, however from time to time I like to delve into the high end ‘audiophile' market to see what is available, particularly if money is not a concern. In 2014 I wrote an article about the best headphones …

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As a publication KitGuru places a lot of focus on ‘gaming grade' headphones priced between £60 and £150, however from time to time I like to delve into the high end ‘audiophile' market to see what is available, particularly if money is not a concern.

In 2014 I wrote an article about the best headphones that money can buy (HERE) and in recent years I have also reviewed the Abyss 1266 (HERE), as well as other high end headphones from brands such as Sennheiser and Grado.

This article today is focused around the synergy between amplifier and headphone and the four setups I have chosen for this article are to my mind some of the best that money can buy.

Hopefully after my use of the words audiophile and synergy in the opening paragraph you haven't closed the webpage. Reviewing audio equipment costing thousands of pounds and using phrases such as ‘you will hear things you have never heard before' can alienate a lot of people immediately.

I am going to try and keep this article real world (well as much as a £4000 headphone can be considered ‘real world') while also minimising the flowery, self indulgent descriptions. Yes, buying a £235 Sennheiser HD650 on Amazon (HERE) with a quality £399 Chord Mojo headphone amplifier (HERE) will net excellent results, however there is without question an audience of music enthusiasts willing to spend upwards of £7,000 on a pair of headphones and amplifier. People will comment on the law of diminishing returns but chasing that last 15% of audio quality has been a priority for me and many others over the last 30 years.

When I get a break from running KitGuru, I help companies such as Sennheiser test their products by offering feedback on ‘as yet' unreleased and new products. I have amassed a lot of audio equipment over the years, including a garage of NOS and very collectable valves (tubes to our American readers).

This article today is not created as a direct ‘head to head' battle between these headphones and amplifiers as each of these configurations exhibits a certain sound signature that will suit specific, and various styles of music. Therefore I will be offering my own recommendations based on a variety of factors and hopefully this will make sense as your read the content over the following pages.

The fact these configurations are in this article at all means they are worthy of some serious consideration. These are four of my own favourite headphone configurations, and all are rather expensive. I would also like to thank my good friend Gary Penska over at Analogue Seduction for his help. Thanks to Justin Wilson at Headamp as well.

On this page, I will give a very brief overview of the four systems I have selected, based on their synergy, followed up by a list of partnering equipment I use throughout his article.

Abyss 1266 Headphones with Cavalli Liquid Gold Amplifier

abyss 650px

The first system in this article today is the Cavilli Liquid Gold Amplifier which we have paired up with the Abyss 1266 headphones. This amplifier is created in America by Alex Cavilli and is only available in the UK on direct import via Cavalli. The Abyss 1266 headphones are also created in America, however they are available in the UK from dealers such as Analogue Seduction. The Abyss 1266 may look like a medieval torture device but the sound is invigorating and visceral.

Cavalli Liquid Gold Amplifier. Price $4,000 (be aware of Customs importcharges). Buy HERE.
Abyss 1266 Headphones. Price £4,254.00 inc vat. Buy HERE.

Total Cost: £7,049.

Hi-Fi HE1000 Headphones with Luxman P700u Amplifier

hifi man he1000 650px

The second system in this article today is the Luxman P700 Amplifier which we have paired up with the HiFi Man HE1000 headphones. This amplifier is manufactured in Japan. The headphones are created by HifiMan's Fang Bian and they not only look and sound stunning, but are extremely comfortable to wear.

Luxman P700u Amplifier. Price £2995 inc vat. Buy HERE.
HiFi Man HE 1000 Headphones. Price £2,199 inc vat. Buy HERE.

Total Cost: £5,194

Audeze LCD 4 Headphones with Chord Hugo TT Amplifier

audeze LCD4 650px1

audeze lcd4650px2

The third system in this article is the Chord Hugo TT Amplifier, alongside the Audeze LCD 4 headphones. Unfortunately Audeze have had some serious issues with the LCD 4 headphones resulting in a bit of a global recall. You can tell by the serial number, if you have an LCD4 with a serial number before 4142270 then this is the first 100ohm model which had a tendency to fail. My own set failed although I got a replacement without any problem. The new LCD4 features a revised 200 ohm set of drivers. These are a little more difficult to drive.

The Audeze LCD4 work well with the Cavalli Liquid Gold however the single ended performance with the Chord Hugo TT is also exceptional. Audeze are known for their mid range performance which is both seductive and captivating.

Chord Hugo TT Amplifier. Price £2995.00 inc vat. Buy HERE.
Audeze LCD 4 headphones (serial 4142340 – 200ohm Revision 2). Price £3,299.00 inc vat. Buy HERE.

Total Cost: £6,294

Stax 009 Headphones with HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE
(with Alps RK50 and upgraded Mullard British NOS EL34 (XF4) valves/tubes).

BHSE 650px

The fourth and final system in this article is the HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE, paired up with the Stax 009 headphones. The Stax 007A Mk 2 can also been seen in the picture above.

This amplifier is simply an exquisite piece of artisan workmanship – individually hand made by HeadAmp's Justin Wilson, based on a design by the renowned Kevin Gilmore. The waiting list for the Blue Hawaii SE is at best 6 months, often longer. It is worth pointing out that the Stax 009 are the only electostatic headphone on test today. These headphones are capable of resolving an incredible level of detail which at first can be almost overwhelming for some people.

Blue Hawaii SE (BHSE) with Alps RK50. Price $6596 (before Customs import charges). Buy HERE.
Stax 007a Mk 2. Price £1,995.00 inc vat. Buy HERE.
Stax 009. Price £3,695.00 inc vat. Buy HERE.

Total Cost: £10,300 (or £8305 without Stax 007A Mk2).

Companion equipment:

companion 650px

Astell and Kern AK380 Limited Edition Copper. Price £3,195 inc vat. Buy HERE.
Kimber XLR cables. Price £500.
Naim HDX Player. Price £5,305 inc vat. Buy HERE.
Cary CD303T SACD Professional CD Player. £2,500.
CHC-XPS Mundorf CAP upgrade power unit for HDX. £2,500 inc vat. Custom made. More info HERE.
Ps Audio P3 Power Plant Mains Regenerator. Price £2,100 inc vat. Buy HERE.
Astell & Kern AK380 Cradle (XLR). Price £400. Only available on import from China right now.
Astell & Kern PEF21 with Crystal Cable rebalanced (XLR). Price £1000.

Moon Audio Silver Dragon Premium Balanced 3 pin XLR Cable for HiFiMan HE1000 with Furutech Carbon Fiber/Rhodium CF-601 connectors. $585, buy HERE.
Alo Audio Reference 16 3 Pin XLR cable for Audeze LCD 4. $754. Buy HERE. Standard 1/4 cable for single ended.
QED Reference Optical Quartz Digital Cable (1 metre). £89.95. buy HERE.

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Abyss 1266 Headphone Review https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/abyss-1266-headphone-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/abyss-1266-headphone-review/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2014 19:35:57 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=227670 If you were given the task of creating the world's best headphones how would you do it? American cable experts JPS Labs proposed the same question but took it a stage further by taking the lofty challenge head on. Targeting the wealthy audiophile audience, money was firmly a secondary factor for consideration. After many years …

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If you were given the task of creating the world's best headphones how would you do it? American cable experts JPS Labs proposed the same question but took it a stage further by taking the lofty challenge head on. Targeting the wealthy audiophile audience, money was firmly a secondary factor for consideration. After many years of research and development their planar magnetic Abyss 1266 headphones are the end result.

Just be sure to check your bank balance beforehand, because the price of admission is a heart stopping £4,254 inc vat.
first page

The Abyss 1266 are not a new headphone, they have been on the market now for more than a year- however I have spent a long time testing them with a variety of sources and amplifiers. Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

For most of my life I have been chasing the ‘perfect' sound, only to find it always just a little out of reach. In recent years I moved most of my audio hardware from loudspeaker oriented configurations to headphone related systems. Any free time I get from managing the KitGuru website and team, I will often be found in the corner of a room, sitting behind a wall of sound, lost in the music. It is a stressful life at times, and this is my chosen form of release.

For most ‘normal' people, the Abyss 1266 will remain firmly out of reach. If I told you they cost £4,254 inc vat (UK), I can picture the response. It has happened every time I have mentioned the price to colleagues, friends and fellow enthusiasts. People give me a look of horrified amazement – I am confident if I said I was going to give birth to triplets, the reaction would be similar.

There is no doubt it is a lot of money, but many audiophiles (I hate this term, it just sounds so self indulgent) have spent upwards of £100,000 on source, amplifier and speakers over the years. Let's not even get into the subject of cabling and isolation surfaces, thats a whole new subject for a different day. Suffice to say it is a painful, expensive hobby and often the rewards are not even close to the money invested. Achieving perfect audio reproduction is a life long dream for a very small percentage of people, myself included. If you don't fall into this category consider yourself fortunate.

Before I progress any further into this article, I would like to thank my good friend Gary Penska over at Analogue Seduction. Gary has often been on hand to let me trial and test amplifiers, headphones and source hardware. Gary doesn't advertise on KitGuru, so I feel ethically just giving him a shameless plug here. You can buy the Abyss 1266, along with the best audio hardware available, over here.

JPS Labs are an American company who have for years, specialised in high end audio cables. This move into headphones was seen at the time as a rather unusual decision. Abyss owner Joe Skubinski and his son Eric developed the AB-1266 from the ground up over a period of almost five years. This has been a long project driven by a desire to create something truly special. We would imagine to maintain long term funding of the 1266, they had to sell a lot of cables. Skubinski held a previous job as the service department manager in Bowers and Wilkins – a respected company renowned for high grade loudspeaker development. His pedigree isn't really in question.

The Abyss do not use a traditional ‘dynamic' driver. The planar magnetic driver consists of an exceptionally thin, almost film like planar membrane covered with a specific pattern of very thin conductive metal traces. These metal traces handle basically the same role as the voice coil wires will do in a traditional dynamic driver.

This membrane is formed to a fine tolerance of tension and then attached to a perimeter frame. This has the affect of positioning the diaphragm and the conductors into a finely tuned alignment with the array of magnets. When an audio signal is sent then the entire membrane structure is attracted to, or driven from the magnet array. This subsequently moves outward or inwards in reaction to the signal.

Other companies who have great success with planar drivers to this point, are Audeze and HiFi Man. I love the Audeze LCD3/LCDx headphones and the HiFi Man HE-6 – both class leaders at their respective price points. Along with the Sennheiser HD800, I could think of no better way to spend around a grand. An interesting point to make is that Magnepan, a US loudspeaker manufacturer use similar planar driver technology.

The Abyss 1266 are not an extremely difficult headphone to drive – unlike the iconic (and wonderful) STAX 009, which require special electrostatic capable amplifiers. There is a caveat however, as I will detail later in the review … while the Abyss can be driven by many cost effective amplifiers, they only sound at their best with a select few.

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Best Headphones money can buy – 2014 https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/best-headphones-money-can-buy-2014/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/best-headphones-money-can-buy-2014/#comments Mon, 05 May 2014 13:33:32 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=191147 KitGuru invest plenty of time into analysing and reviewing headphones, but they are generally ‘gaming grade' products, priced between £30 and £100. But what if you have a lot more cash on hand and want a set of headphones that will reveal every single detail from your precious vinyl, compact discs or high resolution audio …

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KitGuru invest plenty of time into analysing and reviewing headphones, but they are generally ‘gaming grade' products, priced between £30 and £100. But what if you have a lot more cash on hand and want a set of headphones that will reveal every single detail from your precious vinyl, compact discs or high resolution audio files?

Buying a set of ‘audiophile' grade headphones can be a very expensive undertaking. Not only do you often need to part with a grand (or more), but you need to ensure they are partnered up with serious amplification, otherwise it is a complete waste of time. We won't delve too much into dedicated headphone amplifiers today, but I will mention specific partnering equipment I have had great success with when talking about the headphones.
900x900px-LL-be3d5498_P4152050

Before I get into my top 10 headphones, I thought it would be worthwhile looking at a couple of pair of headphones which even today would challenge for the top position.

Gone but not Forgotten!

When I am not running KitGuru, I do take audio very seriously, I have probably spent hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years on audio equipment and have owned probably every single pair of exotic headphones you could buy, from the iconic Sony R10 to the Sennheiser Orpheus HE90. Both of these headphones actually make a serious claim to being THE best headphone ever made — however for the purposes of this article today, we have a problem – they are no longer in production.
900x900px-LL-e4a4bcc0_8841fd84_P5152401

The Sony R10 headphones were based around a 50mm ‘Bio Cellulose Dome Diaphragm' and only 2,000 of them were ever made. At the time they cost £2,000 per pair, and prices now on the second hand market are often in excess of £5,000 – especially if the seller still has the original box and documentation. Sony tweaked the headphones over their short run period and owners have classified them into two categories. ‘Bass Light' and ‘Bass Heavy'. The headphone had real lambskin covered ear pads and the ear cups were made from aged wood from Zelkova trees. Sony did make other headphones with Bio Cellulose drivers, but the R10 are still seen as the best headphones they ever made. I own a pair of both bass light and heavy and while delicate to handle, they have a sound signature quite like no other.

I have had great success pairing these headphones up with the Ray Samuels Emmeline II B52 amplifier. They aren't particularly hard to drive, but will become more focused with well matched partnering equipment.
1310564396

The Sennheiser Orpheus HE90 is another headphone that is no longer in production. In the early 1990's Sennheiser asked their engineering team to create the best headphones they could – regardless of price. This is how the Orpheus HE90 came to life. Only 300 of these were ever made. At the time the asking price was around $16,000. I bought a pair of these for around £10,000 a decade ago and sold them two years later for £15,000. You may find a pair on ebay today for around £20,000-£25,000.

Each pair of He90's came bundled with a dedicated valve amplifier by Sennheiser – called the HEV 90. The amplifier had six valves, each protected by a steel casing.

This headphone setup apparently had a range of 7 to 100,000 hz, well beyond the rating of the human ear. There is a lot of debate on this subject, as many experts have argued that Compact Disc will never sound as good as vinyl due to the inherent roll off of red book digital discs at 20,000hz. Frequencies above this are argued to enhance the audio experience and this is part of the reason why a select audience still buy high grade vinyl discs. Super Audio CD has never really taken off, but I use a Cary CD303T SACD player and the difference between a standard CD and Super Audio CD is incredible. The only downside is the price of a SACD – they can often cost in excess of £50.

The Sennheiser Orpheus HE90 in my own humble view is the best headphone that money can buy, but like the Sony R10 headphones, it is no longer in production. If you listen to a complex, well recorded orchestral piece you could close your eyes and be transported to the actual event, when it was recorded. I don't think anything I have ever owned since then has came close.
grado HP1
Thanks to Joe for the use of his picture.

GRADO are a small family run business, who have a huge worldwide following. Before Joseph Grado handed over the company to his nephew John Grado, he created one of the best headphones that money could buy. The Grado HP1 is an iconic headphone that you may see listed on Ebay from time to time – as they are no longer made. They often sell in excess of £2,000 – depending on the condition.

Joseph Grado called these headphones ‘Professional Recording Monitor Headphones' and a percentage of them were sold to professional recording engineers and equipment designers who needed to analyse material they were mixing. Grado's design goal at the time was to control resonance which can plague headphones with a plastic housing. The earpieces are crafted from Machined Aluminum alloy parts, which are then brushed to improve the appearance. The company used a stainless steel spring rod which was padded with genuine leather. Every pair of these headphones were assembled by hand – by Joe Grado himself. At the time they cost $600 and their value has increased significantly.

I never found these headphones very hard to drive although as always, a high grade headphone amplifier would help to improve and tighen bass frequencies. They are a great pairing for rock and pop music and are very forgiving of poorly recorded material and compressed MP3's. The polarity switch was an interesting addition only featured on the HP1. The HP2 was the same headphone without the polarity switch and the HP3 was a lower grade version, not as closely matched.

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