About The Stax SR-L500 MK2 Headphones
The STAX SR-L500 MK 2 Earspeakers offer a listening experience well beyond that of conventional headphones and really do need to be heard to be believed. The first SR-Lambda series was introduced in 1979 and it has further developed into a new-generation SR-Lambda with its newly designed enclosure - the new SR-L500 MK 2 advanced Lambda series Earspeaker!
The MK 2 now features a removable headphone cable as well as an upgraded & strengthened aluminium head band assembly.
Top Quality Sound Element: Hand selected thin-film diaphragm as well as tough stainless fixed electrodes has been employed for the SR-L500 MK2 sound element. Thus, rich deep bass response, delicate high frequency and soothing mid-range has been achieved in a balanced manner.
10-Click Type Headband Assembly: The headband (ARC) assembly of the SR-L500 is equipped with 10-click slider mechanism for head pad height adjustment adopted from the SR-009. Once adjusted, the slider always maintains its optimal position to make readjustment unnecessary. This enables you to enjoy hours of pleasant music listening with utmost comfort.
New Low-Capacitance HiFC™ Cable: High performance pure copper HiFC™ developed by Hitachi is used in the core wires. HiFC has a similar sonic characteristics to the wire used in the SR-009 with 6N high purity 99.99999% copper wires. The entire cable is arranged in a flat, wide format configuration to lower the capacitance between each wire and finished with the most suitable structure to drive the earspeaker. This cable is now detachable for added convenience.
High-Quality Synthetic Leather Earpads: The carefully hand crafted, flexible synthetic leather ear pads contribute greatly to the wearing comfort and allows for hours of listening in absolute comfort.
Why Electrostatic Headphones?
Electrostatic headphones operate on a different principle than conventional "dynamic" or "moving coil" designs. In a conventional headphones there is a coil of wire inside a magnet, generally glued to a stiff cone or dome that's held in place with a springy suspension. This makes in more difficult to re-create detail in playback due to mass. Or to put simply there are more heavy moving parts.
Pioneered by STAX in 1959 – an electrostatic design works by placing a static (non-moving) electric charge on a film that floats between two perforated metal plates. When audio voltages are applied across the plates, static cling and repulsion causes the entire film to move by itself. This film is so thin, it effectively weighs less than the air around it, and has no resonances or energy storage which leads to distortion inherent in moving coil speakers.
These factors are one of many reasons why STAX electrostatic Headphones sound so much better than conventional designs. During play back the listener is experiencing minimal interference from the headphone speaker itself, in turn bringing you that much closer to the original artist's performance.
Main Features & Specifications
- Design: Push-Pull Open Back Oval Electrostatic Earspeakers (Requires STAX PRO series amplifier to operate)
- Recommended Amplifiers: STAX SRM-D10 Portable Amplifier/DAC & STAX SRM-500T Valve Headphone Amplifier
- Frequency Response: 7 - 41,000Hz
- Electrostatic Capacitance: 110pF (including cable)
- Impedance: 145k Ω (including cable, at 10kHz)
- Sound Pressure Sensitivity: 101dB / 100V rms 1 kHz
- Maximum Sound Pressure: 118dB / 400Hz
- Bias Voltage: 580V DC
- Left & Right Identification: "L" and "R" indicated on the arc assembly Left channel cable is marked with a solid line. Right channel is marked with a dotted line.
- Ear Pads: High quality synthetic leather
- Cable: HiFC™ parallel 6-strand, low-capacity special wide cable, 2.5m full length
- Weight: 340g without cable / 454g with cable
- Manufacturer's Warranty: 1 Year
Note: Features & Specifications Subject To Change Without Notice. E&OE.