General purchase advice: Ask your questions/for advice here!

I need advice!
3635

Hey guys!

I could really use a hand.

I’m BIG into home theater, and run a pretty high end system (upgraded Trinnov, 9.5.8 system w/ Legacy Audios, new JVC NZ9 on order, Lumagen, DCR lens attached to my NX9, etc, etc). I spend a lot (6 figures this year alone), and upgrade often. And, what I’ve learned about myself, is to save the money and jump to the end (vs buying a mid tier, and upgrading while selling the existing gear at a loss)…

That said, I’d like to get into headphones. I own a company and work remotely. Most days, I’m wearing Apple AirPod Max headphones for 6+ hrs a day, and I’d like to transition in something higher end. The AirPods are comfortable, and are a great option for me. But I know how they stack up in overall sound quality.

That said, here’s a bit about what I’m after:

The type of headphone/amp/DAC I am looking for is: open-back TOTL. Amp would likely be upper mid tier. DAC is also open. I’ve read the Chord Qutest is great, but I’d like something with streaming options if possible. Or, I could always hook up another device I suppose.

My price range is: $10k+ for the headphones, amp, DAC, etc.

I like to listen to: Spotify Weekly mix which includes - AJR (and similar music), acoustical (unplugged), John Mayer type, but will move to pop, and anything with great female vocals, to something like Marshmallow, then Macklemore, and so on. Fact is, is that when I look at my “Liked Songs” on Spotify, I don’t recognize most of the names, and it’s really all over the place. So, a very well rounded headphone, that’s comfortable, is important.

I will be using them for: Home listening, conference calls are also an option

An option that I was looking at was (as I’ve read they’re amongst the best out at this point),

I like the fact that it’s a bundle, that the amp can also drive Planner’s, and comes with a bundled rate. However, I was originally considering the Abyss 1266 TC’s. But, those likely can’t be daily driven comfortably, and would look silly on a conference call, and so this limits the use.

And finally, I’m looking for a great dealer. If this were home theater / high end home audio, I have amazing connections to anything I could desire, and all for amazing prices. My dealers do so much business with me that they all take very good care of me, and this would be no different. So, if anyone knows of anyone, please PM me.

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3636

I love how the Sundara sounds EQ’ed to Oratory1990 Harman preset!

How clear everything is and the impact i was missing from the HD660s are amazing.

But… unfortunately my ears touch the drives quite badly, compared to the HD660s the difference is staggering in comfort, what other planar should i look into with that in mind friends? Impact, Separation and Comfort

3637

You could try different earpads for the Sundara.I know some people replace the stock pads with ZMF pads.

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3638

As I’m sure you have learned from home audio, there is more to it than price tags and brand names. System synergy is incredibly important, as is personal preference.

Maybe you could tell us a little bit about your preferences by describing what you like about your home theater system. Maybe give us an idea of what qualities you want out of the sound of your headphones, based on that.

We could recommend all kinds of fancy stuff that I’m sure would wow the neighbors, and sound like complete s***. Probably best to avoid that, yeah?

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3639

@Adam_Z Welcome to the forum!

The easiest answer to your questions is that headphones.com is an excellent dealer. Full disclosure: they sponsor this forum, but I have bought various headphones from them and it has been a pleasure each time.

If you end up buying a Holo DAC, then you’ll end up talking to Tim at Kitsune.

And then the wonderful thing about headphone audio is that there are a few small businesses that create masterpieces that you can’t get through a dealer, for instance (and this is just a subset of what’s out there):
ZMF headphones
DNA amps
ampsandsound amps

Now the hard answer. I understand your reasoning but I really don’t recommend jumping straight into the deep end straight away unless you know exactly what you want. Buying audio equipment doesn’t just mean getting a list of what’s best and buying them. You need to figure out which pieces of equipment have synergy and which don’t, and more important, you need to decide out how much “flavor” you want in the sound vs absolute neutrality. It’s very hard to know what the world’s best headphone, amp and DAC are for you without trying stuff yourself. Everyone will give you a recommendation, but all that means is that it worked well for them.

It can take a while to figure out if you like music sounding bright, warm or neutral, or perhaps you want one of each. And as the recommendations start pouring in, you also need to figure out if that person has similar sonic preferences to you, because there’s a good chance that I tell you what I think is the best thing since sliced bread, but you hate it because I like a little warmth and you may not.

You might buy another headphone and find that it doesn’t sound that great on one amp but sounds amazing on another amp. You might discover tubes, as many of us have, and want to add a tube amp to your solid state amp.

Edit: I guess @ProfFalkin and I both posted at the same time, as I just realized we gave you the same response, except I was more verbose.

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3640

Wow, your entire post is a flex. :smiley:

Seriously though, I’d strongly urge you to throw together a top-tier headphone audition list and check out every one that you can. The CRBN is a great choice based on everything I’ve read, but there’s no substitute for hearing something yourself. I do not recommend buying based on someone else’s opinion, even though it happens all too often in this community. All dealers will let you audition, and some online vendors have a generous return policy with maybe you just having to pay a restocking fee if you return a fully functioning product (more than worth being able to try something yourself, though).

Have you heard planar and electrostatic technology? If not, I wouldn’t go buying blind (I know, I already stated that). There are honestly differences, so best to hear it and decide which you prefer.

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3641

Calling @elliot for guidance on diving into the headphone pool headfirst and not smacking into the concrete.

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3642

yeah, agree…

@Adam_Z
I’d recommend, if you’re trying to just do “one and done” buying, you find the nearest store that carries high end headphone/home audio equipment go demo as much as possible. Get ideas of what you like and don’t like and play around with combos of equipment. And/or find the next CanJam, RMAF, Capital Audio Fest, etc and go listen to as much as possible. Figure out what you like and work with the vendors to either buy or demo further.

I think asking a forum for the best is going to get you a different opinion from just about everyone and they’re all right… for them not necessarily for you. If you’re just looking for general list of “good stuff” there’s probably loads of posts in this thread already that’ll get you 99% there for the use case you described.

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3643

Youuuu rannnngggggg?
Well, I’ll be as honest as I can, based on my own opinions of course. This is a completely flawed way of thinking… and I’m quite aware. That being said, I’ve learned to appreciate and make peace with my own traits and faults. I am who I am.

As for the question at hand, I likely have ZERO authority to making recommendations with all the wiser folks here… but……I have already seen some degree of diminishing returns in a n of 1 case study. I prefer the Sundara to the Stealth Magnet Arya! While I never intend to abuse or take advantage of this, the vast majority of my headphone equipment has been purchased from headphones.com for just this reason.

Now, as for cracking the skull at the bottom of the pool? It’s a matter of character yet again. We don’t take any of it with us when we’re gone.

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3644

Pretty easy to do when you go DNA!

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3645

With a 10k+ budget, I would just take a small part of that and take a trip to whichever store I feel has the most things that interest me, spending time with everything I can before buying.

The good thing about headphones, that is not the case with speakers and home theater, whatever system you try and like will sound exactly the same when you get it home.

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3646

Yes, my old HE-560 had terribly uncomfortable pads. I bought some replacements described as “thicker pads,” and it solved the problem. Check Amazon and Ebay. They are inexpensive.

3647

Definitely. Just be aware that they will change the frequency response @Ruffus

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3648

Anywhere near NYC? Audio46 is a must-visit.

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3649

First, I really do appreciate all replies on this all.

And, I apologize if anything came across as a “flex” (or does in the future). I am simply hoping to convey my (likely flawed) approach to buying high end things, and how I justified to myself the direction I usually take. I know how I operate based on lessons learned, and my hope was that if people had some insight to this, they could better assist me. I’m more than happy to spend money on things that I find value in (this being one of them), and I’ve learned that if I start with the low or mid tier, I always have the “what if” regret and seemingly always wind up at the same place having spent more to get there. I believe that this will be no different, and my budget allows me to do this. High end audio is something I’ve always loved, I’ve just mostly always focused on speakers (except that I did buy some HD650’s like 15 years ago from remembering how amazing I remembered them being when I first heard them).

While I understand that hearing all of these headphones would be ideal, due to where I live, there’s simply not a lot of options (none in fact that I’ve found). And, allocating time to travel to experience these would be difficult to carve out (as a priority over other things in my life that are scheduled) at this point. So, this would then likely take me well into next year, and I feel as though I could have already learned so much by then, even if it’s cost me the difference of restocking, or reselling product.

Additionally, coming into this as cold as I am, finding similarities in reviews has been incredibly helpful. For example, the 1266 TC’s are widely praised, so I’d imagine that I’d be very happy with them. As with home audio, I leveraged people I trust to point me in the right direction. And, if there’s enough of a buzz around a specific product, there’s likely merit to it.

I guess what I’m getting at, is that if I’m going to get a useful level of exposure to these headphones, I’ll likely need to own and use them to be able to spend an extended period of time with them, and might even need to play w/ the equipment, etc BEFORE I fully appreciate them and begin to refine things from there. And, starting with a headphone+amp combo that lots of others have praised, seems like it’d yield a better initial result. My thoughts are, how could so many smart people be wrong (my guess is that they’re likely not). Sure, there’s the chance that I might disagree with them in some areas, but it seems unlikely that I’d be considerably disappointed. And if I am, I can later swap.

I also want to point out that this isn’t a one and one approach for me, just a starting point. I’m hoping to start with something that’s well regarded as incredible, and learn from it to personally evolve further. How many here have multiple sets? And, they likely were sitting where I am now - looking at new options they haven’t personally heard, and possibly trusting the feedback of others. Had they hated them, they’d return or sell them. Everyone that currently has the CBRN right now, likely never heard them in a proper environment before buying them.

I know that no one can tell me what to buy and be 100% guaranteed to be accurate, and that’s absolutely not what I’m asking anyone to do. I felt like I need start somewhere, and after engaging on this forum as an initial place to begin, then moving forward with options that are commonly believed to be the among the best all around options seems like a good place to start. Asking about great dealers also seemed like more of an objective question that I also needed help with.

So, I agree, listening to options for extended periods of time would be best. It’s simply not an easy thing to do at this point. And, from what I understand, if I was interested in the CBRN (as is my initial example), no one has one to demo anyways.

But, none of what I’ve said invalidates the great advice provided. Everyone is being far more logical about this than I am. And for most cases, I think it’s the best approach.

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3650

I’d definitely look at ordering from headphones.com—one year return policy.

If one was so inclined, you could buy a higher-end dynamic driver headphone (Utopia for example) and a higher-end Planar (LCD-5, Susvara, etc.) and make at least some level of discovery on preferences. You could also look at A/B-ing a “warm” tuning vs. something more reference. Just to start narrowing down the sounds you like. Now… with some audio experience in your background, perhaps you already know these things… which would certainly help.

The CRBN sounds (no pun intended) like it’s a lovely piece of equipment and I imagine you wouldn’t be dissatisfied. I have stayed away from that one because I actually enjoy having multiple headphones so having one set that requires a different amp seems like something I wouldn’t enjoy.

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3651

I noticed you didn’t follow my suggestion. Honestly, it sounds like you just want us to do the homework for you. I am not in this hobby to spoon feed the privileged my decades-in-the-making hard earned experience and knowledge just because they yearn for fancy things.

You need to pay a salesman, not exploit hobbyists.

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3652

Honestly sounds like you have to figure out what you like. Your use case is pretty standard so there are plenty of recommendations in the entirety of this thread. Also search for torq’s top ten lists, if you want to start with higher end stuff and want recommendations. Will you like those? Who knows but if you’re looking for a start, don’t really know what you like, and got cash to burn, it’s a start. :joy:

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3653

If auditioning isn’t an option or you want to get down to trying stuff out, I wouldn’t necessarily rely on one recommendation but see if patterns emerge from reading this community’s and others’ posts/reviews. I had a pretty precise idea of what the Utopia would sound like and I wasn’t surprised or disappointed when I bought it blind (deaf?), albeit from a vendor with a generous return policy.

See if people give examples of how music you know is presented - that’s also a good indicator for me.

And I do think there’s some sense in a strategy of going big out of the box. You will likely make mistakes but you’ll also likely get something of quality.

I know this goes against the smarter advice you’ll get here and elsewhere, but I wasn’t interested in a long process of education (I’m too old and while I don’t mind big purchases I hate taking a loss!), and wanted to hear what all the fuss was about when it came to products people raved about.

Bottom line - with your preferred approach and with a little homework, you may not hit on the perfect purchases that come from earned wisdom, but you’re probably not going to go terribly wrong.

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3654

Appreciate the suggestions. The amp I was originally looking at, the Z10e, is capable of playing both. It seemingly checks a lot of boxes. So, I’m not limited to one vs the other.