I am planning to buy the Stax x9000, but my friends say that the x9000‘s driver is easily to be malfunctioning, and the cost of repairing it outside of warranty is very high as we know. Therefore, I want to do a survey to see what the failure rate of the x9000 really is.

Thanks in advance for participating in the survey

My first pair suffered the imbalance issue within a year. The replacement pair have been solid for over three years. My dealer was astonished that Stax sent me a new pair. I chose to interpret this as meaning they knew they'd manufactured a faulty batch of headphones.

6 minutes ago, velomane said:

My first pair suffered the imbalance issue within a year. The replacement pair have been solid for over three years. My dealer was astonished that Stax sent me a new pair. I chose to interpret this as meaning they knew they'd manufactured a faulty batch of headphones.

Thx for replying. So you mean the early batches of x9000 may have some durability issues and stax have fixed that. That's good news I think

1 hour ago, Asphodel said:

Thx for replying. So you mean the early batches of x9000 may have some durability issues and stax have fixed that. That's good news I think

The durability issue was only my interpretation of what happened. I may be wrong. Let's wait for more results before drawing that conclusion. Still, these things make me so happy. Such a great set of cans.

@velomane did your dealer or stax inquire about the amp you were using? I am debating whether to go grey market or US dealer, because of what happened to my japan-purchased SR-009 just before COVID. It developed a hum on the right channnel just after two years of use, so I just shelved it. I tried contacting Stax USA last month if they can repair it, and radio silence so far. I am worried that even If I get the X9000 from a US dealer this time, I might not be able to get service from Stax USA if I use my KGSS-HV.

Edited September 1Sep 1 by PATB

1 hour ago, PATB said:

@velomane did your dealer or stax inquire about the amp you were using? I am debating whether to go grey market or US dealer, because of what happened to my japan-purchased SR-009 just before COVID. It developed a hum on the right channnel just after two years of use, so I just shelved it. I tried contacting Stax USA last month if they can repair it, and radio silence so far. I am worried that even If I get the X9000 from a US dealer this time, I might not be able to get service from Stax USA if I use my KGSS-HV.

I don't know the situation of the US dealer, but my friend in China confirmed that the Chinese dealer offers warranty service only when you use a STAX amp, and they don't provide cross-regional warranty services. Considering STAX is theoretically a Chinese company now, maybe this goes the same for the US market.

12 hours ago, PATB said:

@velomane did your dealer or stax inquire about the amp you were using? I am debating whether to go grey market or US dealer, because of what happened to my japan-purchased SR-009 just before COVID. It developed a hum on the right channnel just after two years of use, so I just shelved it. I tried contacting Stax USA last month if they can repair it, and radio silence so far. I am worried that even If I get the X9000 from a US dealer this time, I might not be able to get service from Stax USA if I use my KGSS-HV.

No, neither the dealer nor Stax inquired about the amp (a @GeorgeP DIY T2). BTW, I'm in Canada, so a different service network. I can't comment on any of your service concerns.

Stax is going to raise the price of its products by 10%. Thank U Trump🤬

I think it is mostly just greed but yup, 10% on almost everything. The X9000 is up to 770KYen which is just stupid.

6 minutes ago, spritzer said:

I think it is mostly just greed but yup, 10% on almost everything. The X9000 is up to 770KYen which is just stupid.

There is greed indeed, but the rise in oil prices caused by war is also an objective factor, and every aspect of modern industry is influenced by it. At least it provided an irrefutable reason for the price increase.

Already bought the x9000 at e-earphone with a 5 years warranty. The price increase left me no time to hesitate😅

That's a good move. I might see if I can find a broken set somewhere and make my own version that I might actually want to use, as I did with the 009's.

On 9/1/2026 at 4:53 AM, velomane said:

My first pair suffered the imbalance issue within a year. The replacement pair have been solid for over three years. My dealer was astonished that Stax sent me a new pair. I chose to interpret this as meaning they knew they'd manufactured a faulty batch of headphones.

I think it is mostly just greed but yup, 10% on almost everything. The X9000 is up to 770KYen which is just stupid.

Was this an early batch X9000? I was wondering if they fixed the imbalance issue with X9000 that are produced now :)

On 9/4/2026 at 11:04 AM, spritzer said:

I think it is mostly just greed but yup, 10% on almost everything. The X9000 is up to 770KYen which is just stupid.

Do you know when the price increase will go through? Is there a date?

9 minutes ago, HegoDamask said:

Was this an early batch X9000? I was wondering if they fixed the imbalance issue with X9000 that are produced now :)

Do you know when the price increase will go through? Is there a date?

The price increase will take effect on October 1st. The imbalance issue is the most common failure for x9000, because the mesh electrodes are not robust enough. I guess that's why most stax amps can adjust volume for each channel independently

21 minutes ago, Asphodel said:

The price increase will take effect on October 1st. The imbalance issue is the most common failure for x9000, because the mesh electrodes are not robust enough. I guess that's why most stax amps can adjust volume for each channel independently

i would have assumed they installed a fix for that by now if not its a no no...

18 minutes ago, HegoDamask said:

i would have assumed they installed a fix for that by now if not its a no no...

The imbalance issue is a common issue with all electrostatic headphones, as they are highly sensitive to dust and humidity. As for the X9000, according to feedback from the friend above, his X9000 that had a unit replaced after repair has been operating normally for 3 years so far, so it can be inferred that Stax is also improving its manufacturing process. A more likely scenario is that the products of the majority of users who remain silent are all problem-free—it is just that those who have encountered problems have spoken out, coupled with manufacturing issues in early batches. I consulted a local dealer who has sold more than 10 units of the X9000, and none of them had problems within the warranty period. Of course, he does not know the situations after the warranty expires.

Of the current day Stax electrostatics that I've opened up, all of them will fail eventually. They are making stupid design decisions which are just a net negative and they should switch back to mylar for the film as the PEEK just doesn't work.