Pros:

  Excellent Mids

      Excellent Highs

  Extremely Comfortable

  Better Bass Than Expected

  Excellent Imaging and Soundstage

  Nice Carrying Case

     Swivel Ear Cups

Mediocre:

  Non-detachable Cable

     Needs a Special Energizer/Amp

     Missing a Bit of the Low Frequencies

BULL:

  Nothing of Note

BLUF:

  The SR-007A is not just a good E-stat, it’s a good headphone in general. It’s mostly let down by an overall lack of bass and the need for a non-standard Energizer/Amp. These are typical E-stat problems, but they’re worth nothing since the SR-007A is so good everywhere else that it’s worth your time getting one despite a couple of weaknesses.

Up for review today is the STAX SR-007A electrostatic headphone. STAX is a Japanese headphone brand that needs no introduction as they’ve been making some of the best headphones on the market since 1938. The original company went under in 1995 but was quickly revived in 1996 and has been making excellent headphones since, though it was purchased in 2011 by Edifier. Their first E-stat was built in 1960, so what does 60+ years of refining the same tech look like in a modern headphone? Great – the SR-007A is an evolution of the 1998 model that was revised in 2007 and is also known as the SR-007MK2. Even the 2007 version has been consistently revised with multiple versions and the one I have in today is basically brand new. So how does a $2,200 headphone this historical, some might say dated, hold up against modern headphones?

Comfort/Build (Can you wear it for long periods, or will it fall apart after 1 use?): Well, to start with, the SR-007A is one of the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever worn – just don’t use them when your hair is wet unless you like being shocked (no judgement if that’s your thing.) Each earcup is built to rotate so that the cable, which is not detachable, is always facing at a comfortable angle. The headstrap is very comfortable for long periods and the ear pads are super comfortable as well. The SR-007A only weighs 365g, making it one of the lightest full-size headphones I’ve used. Oh, and the build quality is about as good as it gets with just enough clamping force to be comfortable but remain on your head.

The stock cable is a very nice ribbon cable, though I found it too long for my desktop use, which makes it great for people needing a longer cable. Unlike most headphones these days, the cable is not detachable – you’re stuck with the stock cable for the life of the headphones. Also, don’t damage the 5-pins or you’ll have to send the entire headphone back to STAX in Japan for repair. While the stock cable is pretty inconvenient, it is also of good quality, just treat it carefully. Still, the SR-007A easily earns a 5 (Among the Best) for comfort and build quality.

I am powering these headphones off of my home theater desktop setup which consists of an EverSolo DMP-A8 Streamer/DAC that feeds into an iFi iCAN Phantom AMP through 3-pin XLR connections. This combo eliminates the need to be hooked up to my computer as a source and the Phantom can power anything from sensitive IEMs to E-stats to power-thirsty planars – allowing me to use the same setup for every review going forward. The SR-007A is not that easy to drive, requiring medium gain at around 50-60/100 on the Phantom to run at a good volume level – and that’s with the resistance set at 16 Ohms from a normal 580V input.

Below are the test tracks used to test each headphone we review. The songs are in order to test sub-bass (bass you can feel) first, followed by mid-bass (bass drums and bass guitars – bass you can hear), then a spectrum of mids evaluating different instruments and vocals (where most of the music is presented), then highs (higher pitched instruments and cymbals) and lastly sibilance (sharp S sounds).

Lows (Sub-bass/bass quality and quantity): E-stats are not known for bass. I’ve heard the HiveX and it absolutely destroys that perception. Unfortunately, it has a slew of other issues tied to that bombastic bass. The SR-007A, on the other hand, does not have those issues and still comes pretty close to the bass put out by the HiveX. I can characterize the SR-007A bass as being of great quality if a little lower in quantity. The sub-bass is less prevalent than a bass monster like the JMA XTC2.5 or the Abyss Diana MR. You’re going to feel the bass less than either one of those, but the SR-007A still impresses with more bass than you would expect from these headphones. Of course, if you have an iFi amp, you can just turn on bass boost – a 20Hz boost really bumps the SR-007A into some excellent bass while 40Hz makes it compete with just about anything out there – and is honestly a bit much. The SR-007 achieves a 4 (Above Average) on the bass score.

Mids (Vocals/Instrument clarity and presence): Arguably, mids are highs are what E-stats are best known for. The SR-007A is no exception with excellent detail, full voices, and excellent separation. The female vocals in “Liar” come through clearly and aren’t overshadowed by the male voices with excellent delineation. The guitars and vocals in “Landing In London” are expansive and with a full presentation. There’s no muddiness or sharpness anywhere in this song. The distorted guitars in “Narrow Mouth” sound fantastic while the vocals are close to the ears without feeling claustrophobic. Even the Piano from “Wide Awake” and “Appalachian Wine” are pitch-perfect and just beautiful. This is where every top-tier headphone should be in the mid-range. The overall presentation brings you into the song and it wraps around you. The SR-007A easily achieves a 5 (Among the Best) for mids.

Highs (Cymbals/High pitched vocals or instrument quality and presence): The highs come in neatly on both Chilli Peppers songs. Cymbals and snares can be easily heard in the background, and are separate from the other instruments. That’s a very good presentation of highs that very few IEMs can even reproduce. Additionally, the SR-007A avoids a lot of the sibilance that an increased emphasis on highs often brings. Sure, “Adventure of a Lifetime” can sound a little sharp on occasion, and “The Sound of Silence” has a ton of “S” sounds, but it’s incredibly inoffensive considering how good the treble presentation is. Beautifully tuned, and easily a 5 (Among the Best.)

Soundstage/Imaging (How big and accurate the song sounds): This surprised me more than anything else about the SR-007A. Everyone talks about how E-stats can sound ethereal and have excellent mids and highs, but the Soundstage and imaging on the SR-007A blew my mind. They truly have the ability to make it feel like the music is surrounding you on all sides. It’s one of the most 3D soundstages I’ve ever encountered. The imaging is excellent as well with each instrument placed around you in a circle. The SR-007A feels intimate (unlike the Sennheiser 800s), but still feels like it has a massive soundstage. Definitely a 5 (Among The Best.)

Value (Cost vs Performance): This is a tough headphone to assign a value rating to since the headphone itself performs very well for the price, but requires a special amp/energizer to drive it. Topping makes one for $400 now (EHA5), but you’ll still need a DAC to go with that. That’s another $200 at least, making this headphone almost $3k all in, and pricing it close to the Diana MR. The MR needs a DAC/AMP as well, but you can use the same DAC/AMP with a lot of different headphones while still running the Diana MR. Overall, it’s up to you what ecosystem you want to support – maybe all you own is E-stats so it’s not a big deal to you. Still, since these are ranked at #2 on our headphone ranking list, and a lot of people prefer these over the more expensive SR-009, the list price of $2,200 puts the SR-007A at a score of 4 (Above Average.)

Conclusion: My first E-stat experience was the Nectar Audio HiveX. They were about a third as expensive as the SR-007A and had some excellent sound, but had constant sticking issues. I had to return them and research a better alternative and ended up with the SR-007A since the SR-X9000 is stupidly expensive and has driver reliability issues. I don’t regret that choice one bit – the SR-007A is a delight if you can get the right gear to run them. If you’re looking to get into the e-stat world, a used SR-007A is an amazing starting point, especially with a little bass boost.

Bytes & Bull Overall Score: 5 (Among the Best)