STAX Stories

Stax SR-L300 Electrostatic Headphones Reviewed

Stax is known primarily for one kind of component: electrostatic headphones. Its first headphone/amplifier combination, the SRD-1 and SR-1, were released in 1960 and are legendary today. Currently the company has nine models ranging in price from the $455 to $6,200, and rather than referring to their offerings as headphones, they market them as “ear speakers.” This time out, we’ll dig into their least expensive ear speaker, the SR-L300 (buy at Amazon). Like all Stax headphones, the SR-L300 requires either an adapter (which Stax no longer makes) that lets you use any power amplifier, or one of Stax’ dedicated ear-speaker amplifiers, which range in price from $6,825 for their top-of-the-line SRM-T8 BK to $1,299 for the SRM-400S, which Stax sent along with the SR-L300.