Kabeer

my vote is for the Audeze Maxwell. Very good sound for a closed back. I far preferred it to the DCA and Hifiman closed offerings. I haven't heard the latest Sennheiser 630 yet though.

https://staxaudio.com/earspeaker/srs-x1 Maybe im wrong on the colour thing, this site shows a blue lined cable at the bottom. but that could just be an error. My X1 also had the bronze painted cable. But the strange thing is the sound....Unfortunately i sold my X1 so i cant compare to the 007S now. If you have both, are you able to switch the cables and try? I am going by the following: 1) I swapped X1 and L500mk2 cables and it was 100% sure , the L500 cable brought out a bit more in the upper trebles, and was a hint less bright 2) X1 is not present. but swapped 007S and L500mk2 cables onto the 007S, and the L500 cable was significantly less bright up top. Anecdotally there was an 007S X9000 owner in USA who swapped their cables and found they sounded the same.

So, after doing some experiments with a friend. I don't believe the 007S cable is the same OFC cable that the X1 has... It has different colour paint lines on it now. And it sounds BRIGHTER than the L500 HiFC cable. Whereas the X1 OFC cable sounded a little warmer than the L500 cable. With some other anecdotes: it is likely a SPC cable either the same or similar to the L700 cable. It is also contributing to the 007S brightness up top. The L500 cable makes the 007S better.

Great video for all you Stax fans. Very rare insight which actually shows proper parts of the factory

Are most of the modern failures (X9000 etc) attributed to the driver coating too? RE X1: interesting it's wired out of phrase from the factory! i did feel my X1, whilst sounding good, had a strange soundstage - it was like two walls of sound - and quite different than the other Stax I had. Did you try swapping these connections and did you notice the headphone sounded better?

Thanks. I'm going to guess the larger inner diameter opening vs the 007mk1/A is contributing to the increase in brightness. If it fits, i have a sneaky feeling that putting the 007A earpads on this may get you back a lot closer to the tuning you usually love...worth a shot

thanks for the early impressions. Are the earpads angled like the 007mk1/A? and is the inner opening circular (unlike the D shaped usual 007 pads openings)?

It is a strange decision. Would have been much better to use the HiFC cable. The X1 cable sounded very slightly duller vs the L500 cable. At first I thought the 007S uses a different connector, but upon inspection, the connector is the same. So I would suspect upgrading to the L500 cable would be worthwhile.

Very best of luck Gary! If you need a review section, then apart from the ones from headfi, if you need any quotes of appreciation from people who have owned your TPs before id be happy to. and im sure a lot of others would be too.

Which Fostex are you reffering to?

Thats a very odd hole pattern on the drivers? :S seems random Beautiful phones though

How about the sound of it?

its about double the price of USA

K3cT, are you going to but THAT particular NAD? (I think I used to own the pair your reffering to). Anyway unless its that specific pair, I think youlll have a near impossible time finding another Mylar NAD again. Most of the pairs you will find will be the standard Kapton ones (super bassy). Even if it IS the mylar one, the LCD2 IS superior. But how much it is worth it to you? That is only answerable if you hear a LCD2 and make that judgement.

Well, ok it will probably be a bit like the v1 you heard. Even if you felt that wasnt extended enough for you, you have to admit its a whole different sound to the kapton NAD.