Twenty-five years after their debut, the SR-007 are nonetheless some of the maximum enduring summit-fi headphones ever made.
A legend used to be born when the Stax SR-007 (or Omega 2) have been first launched in 1998.
Simply 5 years previous, the Eastern electrostatic audio producer had pulled an Icarus-like stunt and launched the SR-Omega, whose mesh stator rendered them virtually not possible to fabricate reliably.
Even supposing the SR-Omega have been regarded as the producer’s best-ever headphones on the time, the hassle drove the corporate bankrupt.
After which, like a phoenix emerging from the ashes, the corporate resurrected and launched a successor to the SR-Omega – the Omega 2, or SR-007. They have been a direct hit, some even taking into account them higher than their predecessors.
A successful aggregate of improbable answer, highest imaging, and stellar software separation with an exquisite, heat, intimate timbre and presentation lead them to a novel product available on the market – oft-imitated, hardly ever matched. Those that are occupied with purchasing a couple will have to, after all, deal with the truth that the most important amplifier is a will have to. Finally, the Stax SR-007MK2 are in reality glorious. Best 5-star score I’ve ever given.
- Unequalled technical talent, a long way above anticipated for his or her value level
- Improbable vocal presentation
- Punchy but very detailed bass
- Clean, non-fatiguing, however very detailed treble
- Lush, inviting timbre
- Real looking staging and laser-sharp imaging
- Awesome construct high quality
- Calls for tough amplification
- Rotating earcup device is just a little bizarre
- Withdrawn higher midrange
No longer most effective may just they be manufactured reliably, however they boasted a heat sound signature unparalleled from a producer identified for freeing basically analytical, ultra-detailed headphones.
Since then, the SR-007 have persisted as some of the few designs from the Nineties nonetheless regarded as related. The SR-007MK2, unveiled in 2007, offered some slight adjustments, however the general design used to be the similar.
I reviewed the unique SR-007 a couple of years again, and so they briefly become my favourite pair of headphones ever. So when Stax introduced a loaner unit of the fashionable manufacturing model, I used to be over the moon.
In This Article
Corporate Assessment
Eastern headphone producer Stax used to be the primary corporate to fabricate electrostatic headphones commercially. This , they have fun their eighty fifth anniversary.
This corporate has an extended historical past and hasn’t ever strayed from its core trade style. Since freeing their first merchandise, they’ve maintained an undisputed place as a marketplace chief referring to sonic qualities like element and coffee distortion.
Technical Specs
- Shape: Over-ear, open-back
- Driving force: Electrostatic
- Impedance: 170 kΩ
- Capacitance: 94 pF (together with cable)
- Sensitivity (dB): 100 dB / 100 V r.m.s. @ 1 kHz
- Bias: 580 V DC
- Detachable Cable: No
- Supply Plug: 5-pin Stax pro-bias
- Weight (g): 366 g with out cable, 499 g with cable
Design
The SR-007MK2 are a trendy all-black affair, however the SR-007A, the similar in Japan, deliver a marginally of silver to the steel a part of the earcup.
The SR-007MK2 are constructed excellently, with top rate fabrics – aluminum for the earcup, leather-based for the earpads and headscarf arc – and a strong building.
The cables aren’t detachable, however it is a not unusual function of electrostats, the place the prime running voltage makes a detachable cable an iffy prospect, particularly as it will harm the headphones.
The headphones are available an overly official-looking flight case (pictured under). Past this, there’s necessarily not anything in the way in which of equipment – no longer that we want a lot more than the headphones themselves.
Convenience
As an organization, Stax turns out incapable of constructing common headphones.
So, whilst the SR-007 would possibly glance rather standard, their design is relatively unconventional.
New customers will take a little time to get used to the rotating earcups. That’s proper: in contrast to standard headphone earcups that rotate at the Y and Z axes, the earcups of the SR-007 most effective rotate at the X-axis (i.e., they spin round your ears).
This permits for some adjustment, as you’ll be able to position the thick portions of the pads in the back of your ears, or anywhere suitable to get a just right have compatibility, however adjustment is proscribed. That is nice for me, because the headphones conform smartly to my head, however some have convenience problems and lodge to aftermarket equipment to get the correct have compatibility.
Equipped one will get a just right have compatibility, the SR-007MK2 are slightly mild, and the delicate clamp drive makes them very relaxed to put on for hours.
SR-007MK2 Sound
Like lots of the largest headphones, the awesome sound high quality of the present model of the SR-007(dubbed the MK2.9 by means of lovers) isn’t straight away glaring while you put them on.
Whilst Stax’s different headphones stun with an ultra-clear sound, an infinite soundstage, or element that’s driven into the foreground, the SR-007 sound relatively extraordinary.
Then you definitely start to understand the technicalities.
The SR-007 are as resolving and technically succesful as any pair of headphones available on the market.
Their true energy is printed over the years. When the gimmick of different Stax headphones wears off, they may be able to sound washed-out, synthetic, excessively ethereal, or imprecise. This isn’t the case for the SR-007, that have an amazingly life like sound that in reality by no means will get previous.
In comparison to the SR-007MK1, the MK2 sound extra cohesive and even-keeled, with relatively awesome treble tuning and a extra provide, realistic-sounding midrange.
Then again, the SR-007MK1 have extra of the airy “electrostat magic,” and lots of desire the sooner model. The diversities are slight, however they’re there.
Bass
Bass is understood to be a vulnerable level of lots of Stax’s headphones. This isn’t the case with the SR-007MK2, which will ship the products in the case of bass have an effect on, weight, and element.
The MK2 model does percentage its bass ports with the latest-gen Lambdas. This slight hole within the earpads manner the bass extension isn’t as highest as within the MK1 model. As an alternative, we get a slight midbass hump that provides heat on the expense of element and extension, even though it isn’t as exaggerated as with the Lambdas.
Even with out the mod, despite the fact that, the SR-007 boast unbelievable bass. They nail the steadiness between bass have an effect on and element. You’ll pay attention the entirety occurring within the decrease registers, but it by no means turns out skinny or overly sharpened like any other headphones can.
Whilst headphones just like the LCD-4 or the ZMF Caldera would possibly be offering extra impactful bass with an similar degree of element, the SR-007 bass is more than likely the most productive that may be present in any pair of electrostatic headphones wanting Stax’s personal SR-X9000 (or even that can most effective be on par).
Midrange
Although the SR-007MK1 midrange used to be unbelievable in its personal proper, the higher mids (above ~2 kHz) have been surely just a little muted. This lent the headphones a superbly heat tone however every so often robbed tools of important chunk, rendering acoustic tools relatively boring.
Within the present model of the SR-007MK2, the higher midrange is only a hair extra distinguished, and this makes an enormous distinction.
On one hand, they’re nonetheless heat, and the higher midrange is about again relative to the decrease midrange. Whilst the SR-007 are relatively flexible, classical and acoustic track can sound muted, particularly if one isn’t used to the SR-007’s sound.
Not like headphones just like the Audeze LCD-2, despite the fact that, the SR-007 are most effective simply at the heat/muted facet of impartial, bridging the space between heat and realism.
The SR-007 (each variations) boast the most productive vocal efficiency I’ve ever heard in a couple of headphones.
Their tonal steadiness and headstage permit for the easiest unity of intimacy, grandiosity, heat, soul, and breath.
What of the vintage Stax 1-1.5kHz resonance top? The SR-007, like any different Stax prior to the SR-X9000, nonetheless have this top, however it’s rendered most commonly inaudible by means of a cautious tuning selection (or in all probability some roughly driving force wizardry). It most effective every so often manifests as a slight glassiness in piano timbre or throatiness in woodwinds.
Treble
The SR-007MK1 will have been some of the largest pairs of headphones of all time, however they weren’t highest, and the treble used to be certainly one of their few imperfections. That they had a pointy top at round 10 kHz that caught out like a sore thumb in comparison to their general heat tuning.
This factor is fastened within the SR-007MK2. The treble this is a lot more even, composed, and stylish.
The decrease treble is heat and laid-back, becoming the SR-007’s common downward-sloped tuning. Consequently, tools would possibly not have the “chunk” they might have in a extra impartial pair of headphones.
The upshot is that those headphones are very delicate and fully freed from any sibilance or harshness. You’ll play just about the rest thru them, and it’ll by no means harm your ears.
The higher treble is extra distinguished. Beginning at 8-9 kHz and proceeding upward past the bounds of human listening to, there’s a gradual upward push in quantity. That is the place the MK2 model in finding their largest benefit over the MK1: there’s no harshness right here, not anything that stands out.
As an alternative, the air frequency spice up is helping to make small main points (like room atmosphere, pages rustling, and so on.) extra out there, however no longer overbearing, to the listener. It’s additionally why the SR-007 hardly ever, if ever, sound “too” heat, the way in which Audeze headphones just like the LCD-2 continuously come off to me.
Technicalities
As a couple of top-tier electrostatic headphones, it is going with out pronouncing that the SR-007MK2 be offering one of the most greatest element that you’ll be able to pay attention. It’s how this element is gifted that makes the SR-007 particular.
Whilst many top-tier headphones deliberately push element to the foreground, the SR-007 take a extra comfy method. On account of their heat sound signature, element doesn’t sound artificially accented.
Nevertheless, all of the element within the recording is straight away out there when one listens for it. Similar to in actual lifestyles, the element is just there.
The stereo symbol of the SR-007 is impeccable. It’s continuously mentioned that the SR-007’s headstage is moderately small, which is right to an extent. In comparison with the 2 different kilo-buck headphones at my disposal, the Hifiman Arya Natural and the ZMF Auteur Vintage, the SR-007’s level sounds much less expansive than each those headphones.
However, the SR-007 supply a really perfect illustration of the spatial dating between tools. It’s arduous to create a couple of headphones with highest middle imaging; issues are typically too diffuse or indistinguishable. The SR-007 permit for terribly nice gradations of spatial difference between tools within the middle.
Additionally, the soundstage has a really nice frontal projection. The level does no longer prolong a long way past the top, however it is rather realistically formed in comparison to maximum headphones, like a tiny room that extends simply past the top.
The one house the place the SR-007 would possibly lack somewhat is dynamic answer and aggression. When amplified smartly, they have got extra dynamic pep than maximum electrostatic headphones, however the general presentation is delicate and comfy, no longer competitive or exhilarating.
The place to Purchase
Conclusion
Even supposing I haven’t heard all summit-fi headphones in life, I’ve been afforded the chance to hear many fabulous headphones. The SR-007 (each variations!) are my favourite.
A successful aggregate of improbable answer, highest imaging, and stellar software separation with an exquisite, heat, intimate timbre and presentation lead them to a novel product available on the market – oft-imitated, hardly ever matched.
That’s mirrored of their endurance: the sector has forgotten maximum flagship designs from the 90s, however the SR-007 are nonetheless right here and display no indicators of going out of manufacturing quickly.
I’d argue that the age of the SR-007’s design is the one reason why for his or her low value in comparison to different top-tier headphones. If launched as of late, the SR-007 may just simply command up to two times their present MSRP.
Those that are occupied with purchasing a couple will have to, after all, deal with the truth that the most important amplifier is a will have to.
The out-of-production SRM-717 (the present successor is the dearer SRM-700S) is the everyday advice for a starter amplifier, which will have to be enough for many use instances. However some customers have long past as far as to spend over two times the cost of the headphones on an identical amplifier.
Finally, the Stax SR-007MK2 are in reality glorious. Best 5-star score I’ve ever given.
Allow 48h for review and removal.