One of the best ways to enjoy music is without a big stereo system. No speakers to clutter the room, no heavy receiver and no entertainment center to hold it all – just a pair of very high quality headphones and a disc player. This ‘system’ takes little space and is ideal for private listening when playing a system at high volume or late at night would disturb others. Apartment and condo owners who enjoy loud music can crank it up whenever they like without fear of disturbing a neighbor. Another advantage is that headphones are not affected by the acoustic characteristics of the listening room and since the headphone is right next to your ear, every nuance and detail in the music can be heard with crystal clarity.
The finest personal stereo system I’ve heard is a pair of Stax Earspeakers , an electrostatic headphone system connected to a CD player. The Stax Earspeaker system is used by audiophiles, professional musicians and recording engineers to monitor sound in a studio. An electrostatic system (speakers or headphones) uses a polymer film instead of a paper or polypropylene cone for a speaker diaphragm. Polymer film is much lighter than a cone and as a result, transient response is significantly better, which allows an electrostatic system to reproduce music with much better fidelity. The Stax system consists of a pair of headphones and a separate small amplifier. Stax offers several models of headphones and amplifiers so you can mix and match or buy a pre-packaged system with headphones and amp together. The Stax system combined with a CD or DVD player is one of the best stereo systems for personal music enjoyment.
