The Kevin Gilmore designs are going to provide a lot more power to the headphones. This is night/day different for the 007, and less important for the x9000 but still very apparent. You'll hear the biggest difference in clarity and lower-frequencies. On a headphone like the 007 this presents a soundstage difference. On the x9000 it will help create more "blackness" between things.Hi, I’ve had the x9000 for a few months now and was thinking of upgrading my energiser, a Stax 700s. I know the stax amps don’t get a lot of love but can anyone tell me what improvements say a Blue Hawaii SE would bring over the Stax 700s. I’m based in the UK and there doesn’t seem to be any way to hear anything other than the Stax range so, given the substantial cost, it makes it a difficult decision to buy a BHSE, for example. I’m very interested to hear anyones experiences of comparing the two amps or even the differences between switching from solid state to tubes through the x9000. Also very interested to hear from UK buyers of the BHSE on how they found the experience and whether they felt exposed not having a uk distributor in case of problems. Thanks in advance for any insights you can provide.
The x9000 sounds better on tube amplifiers in my experience since it has a naturally thin sonic signature. The BHSE is only a hybrid design and while excellent, not the best pairing. Not a fan of the x9k on the carbon or any of the kgss derivates.
My suggestion would be reach out to Soren or Dukei for a megatron, which is another kevin gilmore design, but made with both input and output tubes. Both builders are highly vetted and based in EU so it'll cost you less.
Megatron is typically built with the same power supply as the BHSE but comes closer to the T2 performance.
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