Been listening to several TOTL models for the past few months - Caldera, Elite, Empyrean 2, and others. And today I received the HE1000 Stealth. And I do not hear a valuable difference against these other models that cost over double the price. I am sure there is one probably at $4k or 6k or whatever. But for the moment, I am definitely returning these other phones and keeping the Hifiman.
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That awesome. What chain are you using for these? Sometimes you find what you like and it just works out. Sometimes your initial impressions change after some time. So if you can, give it a week at least.
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Yes totally agree. My current chain is Ares 12-1 > A70 Pro, but Iāve ordered the Mjolnir 3 already so weāll see what that does. I just know from all the time Iāve had with the more expensive phones that the Stealth has enough of what I care about, and Iād rather explore the amp upgrade pathā¦
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How soon are you getting the mj3? Maybe wait a bit and try the other headphones on the new amp.
If you get the mj3, try to run it balanced in and out.
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Well it could be a few weeks, itās one of this ālimited runā kinda things. The thing is Iāve still got a Tungsten on order as well, so itās not like I wonāt have any toys left 
And yes, Iām running all balanced all the time 
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Yeah, I didnāt know how far out they quoted you. Well Iāll be interested to hear what you have to say about the Tungsten. Keep me updated. I have the MJ3 too so Iām curious how itāll pair. You get the double sided?
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Iām guessing March at the earliest. Yes I got double sided. And I ordered MJ3 based on posts on Head-Fi and elsewhere that it does drive them wonderfully.
How do you like your Mjolnir so far?
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I think itās a really good ss for the money. Punches up very well.
Very good pairing with the Diana MR, Caldera, D8KP, Utopia isnāt bad either if you can control how hot your dac voltage is.
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If we are talking excellent performance and value, nothing will ever top the 6XX for me. Yes itās not TOTL but itās embarrassing how close it gets to what are considered the best headphones for only $200 USD.
Next up would be the Arya Stealth for me and for Bluetooth, the Audeze Maxwells
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I have come to the conclusion that the best value headphones are the ones that I reach for most often, regardless of cost.
For instance, I have some great value IEMs (ie600s), but I hardly ever reach for them as I am aware of them in my ear canals.
Secondly, it is not just the headphone alone that creates a great value, it is the value of the entire chain (streamer, DAC, Amp, headphone) .
Finally, I believe that the headphone I reach for most gives me the greatest value, as the time that I devote listening to music is the most precious thing I have, much more than the dollars I invest in equipment. It is finite and irreplaceable .
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^THIS. āValueā and ācheapā are not the same thing.
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My value for money award winners are:
Beyerdynamic DT880 black (250 ohm) edition for $80 in open box condition from Focal Camera. Wearing them now and channel balance is fantastic and donāt need to equalize. Better than the Amiron Home as the bass doesnāt bleed into the mids. Even this Apple 3.5mm to USB adapter powers them (with zero headroom). The Topping EX5 is plenty with room to breathe.
7hz Salnotes Zero:2 and Truthear Zero Red which show off how good the IEM technology has gotten.
Hifiman Arya Stealth Ive had a couple of times for the business and the only higher end priced ones that I feel are really worth the money. Get one open box direct from Hifiman and extends to an 18 month warranty if you like them on Facebook.
Sennheiser HD650 and I like the HD600 tuning even more. Both easy to work on and some decent aftermarket pads out there.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: General headphone discussion
I just now discovered this thread, and find it interesting, something Iāve been thinking about. Since buying the Arya Organic Iāve been playing music through that and also my other headphones: Sundara, HD 6XX, Dt 770, DT 1990, and the Beyer Amiron Home.
Going back and forth through these headphones (in 20 minute increments), I found that the Arya Organic was easily the ābestā sound overall, but I still enjoy the DT 770 and Amiron a lot, in different ways. The DT 770 was a recent purchase and this $140 headphone is very satisfying with itās deep bass, really good vocals and midrange, and the accurate highs. And for a closed-back it renders good soundstaging and imaging. For some music it works better than the Organic, for my taste. The Amiron has a larger sound, larger scale overall, and itās great with the wide soundstage, great bass, midrange and highs. The Dt 1990-- well, I prefer the Amirons.
So, I think that most of my headphone selections were ācost effectiveā, except for the HD 6XX. Iām just not a fan of the Sennheiser sound. To me the DT 770ās are the better choice, and cheaper.
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After ten years in his hobby, buying and selling tons of stuff, I would have to say that the best value right now is the Focal Elexās through headphones.com for $399.00. Depending on your goals and budget they could be an end-game headphone for most people.
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Does it need to be playing music, too, while itās on?
Ha, funny you should ask. I initially thought it didnāt, but additional experience has shown me that this is not a question of simply having them plugged in and sitting idle, itās how much time theyāve spent actively playing music (or whatever). So it seems the durations needed arenāt really that long, theyāre measured in hours of playback, not in days of staying plugged in doing nothing.
After realizing this I started experimenting with playback times to see how much is really needed for absolute peak performance. So far Iād say theyāre not worth using over cheap planars like the HE-400i without a good 2 hours of warm-up, but I donāt know where the audible improvements stop. Whatās thrown a big wrench into my experiment is that the original vinyl earpads finally became unusable and the only replacements I had on hand were very different, full un-perforated leather, deeper, no wrinkles, very different sounding, and unfortunately bringing a loss of air and detail, of all things. I have to sort out the pads issue first, to make sure those arenāt preventing me from hearing the supreme performance I had got before with the old pads and the long power-on times, then maybe I can figure out how many hours of active playback it really takes to reach the same performance summit. (As a potential fix without buying yet another pair of pads for them, Iām thinking of trying a āGriesinger tuningā for them first, see the other thread about EQ-ing to your own HRTF.)
Iām reading good things about the Verum MK2. Get onto the Kickstarter:
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I tried leaving them plugged in but not playing and I didnāt hear any difference. With them in my office, I canāt have them playing back all day but Iāll try an overnight session.
I actually prefer them with the Yaxi pads, even though Iām using oratory1990ās EQ preset for the stock pads. Come to think of it, it is highly unlikely that oratory1990 let them play for hours before measuring them. So I doubt that the above experiment will yield an improvement for me, even if there is a difference.
They are already pretty darn good except thereās no punch. With the right type of music, like live jazz or classical, I donāt have any complaints. Itās just that I usually listen to rock, metal, and EDM.