The 10 Best Gifts for the Serious Audiophiles in Your Life - Robb Report

With more than one million headphones sold per day throughout 2018, it’s a shame that a mere few thousand listeners will ever enjoy the sonic experience of a pair of Stax SR-009S. Probably the best headphones on the planet, these Japanese electrostatics may offer the most revealing and accurate sound of any transducer, including price-no-object, six-figure loudspeakers. They’re that good. All of a recording’s inner detail, subtle nuances and spatial cues come alive over the big Stax, which are equally revealing of upstream source components like cartridges, tonearms, and digital processors. Power them with Stax’s flagship SRM T-8000 amp ($5,800), or HeadAmp’s Blue Hawaii ($6,000), to make these Stax ’phones sing.