Is the Fulla 2 your current and intended future DAC and amp? If yes, you might benefit more from upgrading your electronics as opposed to the Ananda. Better cans would likely still be constrained by the Fulla 2.
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You have a very good memory. No, the Fulla 2 was really just a “let’s try some thing to get started”.My intention is, or at least was until I thought about upgrading beyond the Ananda, to get an Asgard 3 which was recommended on this forum. If I do upgrade further I’ll reevaluate as appropriate. Thanks again.
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“Wow” factor can take on different forms: abundant detail, dynamics, visceral slam, seductive decay, driver/woofer speed, air up there in the higher frequencies, massive soundstage, pinpoint imaging, feeling like “you are there” at the performance. Fulla 2 is good for its intended use case, but it sounds like you are wanting to advance things.
Some possible cans based on the info you provided: ZMF Aeolus with Universe or Verite pads, Focal Clear. There are sometimes open-box, B-stock, or used deals to be had.
I have an Asgard 3 and it’s a great all-around solid state amp. However, your favored music might benefit slightly from a more energetic and detailed presentation. It would be important to thoughtfully pair the cans and amp. I would add the Schiit Jotunheim and Lyr 3 for consideration. Perhaps choose the (immediate or eventual) cans first before deciding on an amp.
See comparison here:
Possible DACs: Schiit Modi and Modius.
The performance of the Ananda is at a level where if it were me I’d upgrade the electronics first before getting new cans. Enjoy your audio journey.
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Just finished my ES 1A review, I’d say it’s a pretty enjoyable and musical headphone if you are in the market and have a system for electrostats
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thanks so much for all the input, good suggestions for me to go some googling about.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard good things about the Loki, fwiw.
I’m definitely curious about the ZMFs. From what I heard the most ‘musical’ is the Atticus, despite the Aeolus being a little more ‘hifi’. Is that right, or is are there folks who think the Aeolus is more musical?
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Lcd 2.2
Listen 
FKJ - “Open the Door”
Daft Punk - “Too Long”
Wax poetic - “Angels”
The Doobie Brothers - “Listen to the music”
The Beatles - “I should have known better”
Feist - “The Water”
Billie Holliday - “Stars fell on Alabama”
Best brass :()
Fleetwood Mac - “Dreams”
Now I’m drinking Cranberry juice…
Stevie Ray Vaughn - “Chitlins con carne”
Diana Krall - “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
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It’s seemingly not a widely held view, and it won’t be a popular one with headphone dealers, but my experience has been that Oppo Digital were doing something special with their PM series until they ceased production in 2018. There’s something about the combination of their intimate presentation and dark tonality that I find really beguiling. I’ve heard technically better headphones - my Focal Clear Professionals probably fall into that category - but none that I actually prefer.
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I agree, their PM 3 was rather dark and intimate I enjoyed it enough for what it was
An their PM1 is quite nice, I’ve a friend up state who really enjoys his for it’s fairly linear response but more tonally rich presentation.
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Great to see some love for the ES-1A! I think ES Lab in general is widely unknown, but that’s what makes it special in a way 
What a nice pic… now you are on the same vibe as Doggface208 
Excuse me, but can we have more photography like this instead of headphone hanging from the trees… 
?
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I’ll answer a somewhat different question, and just list the headphones I actually use regularly and why
ZMF Verite Closed (Iron Wood) - Just a really nice relatively forgiving fun listen
D8000 Pro - the Bass presentation and overall Clarity, really make this for me
Kennerton Gjallarhorn - Not even attempting to be Neutral, but the sound stage and dynamics coupled with the elevated Bass make this a unique very enjoyable listen
ZMF Eikon Camphor - Another fun listen
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After having given all this some more thought, here is where I come out and wonder whether it’s a good result: Currently owning the Ananda and planning to purchase the ZMF Aeolis (And maybe eventually the Grado RS 2e’s), I would get the Schiit Lyr 3 amp and the Schiit Modius dac.while the comments about the Bifrost dac make it sound great with the Lyr, the difference in price with the Modius is significant and what I’ve always heard is that the impact of the quality of the deck on the overall sound is nowhere as important headphones and amplifier. Having said all that, does the pairing of these particular headphones work with the clear and modus? Thanks.
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Sorry, the last sentence of my just-now post should have asked whether the Ananda/Aeolis would be good pairings with the Lyr3 and Modius?
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Yes, the Lyr 3 and Modius stack should provide you with great sound, including for those cans. The Lyr 3 is a tube hybrid with low output impedance and high power, which makes it versatile to use with different types of cans - e.g., high impedance dynamic cans such as the Aeolus and low impedance planars/dynamics such as the Ananda/RS2e. You can further customize the sound by trying different tubes, if desired.
You’re right, headphones and amplifiers generally have more of an impact than the DAC. Enjoy.
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I was originally concerned with messing with the eq curve of what’s going to the headphones, but I started, and I see the benefits. Makes a huge difference. It’s common to take a sharp slice out of mixes at 4k cause that’s where harshness lives, hadn’t thought of doing it with listening environment. In another thread 1.7k and 7k were mentioned as similar culprits. I’ve been experimenting using linear phase eq in my daw on very flat (and at times grating) reference headphones with gentle sloping shelf, sharp cuttoff shelf, combining a few parametric dips at those freqs of varying width and depth, haven’t really found the winning combo yet, each seems to have ups and downs.
I did find, however, that a very wide dip centered around 800Hz works wonders for perceived warmth and body of nearly everything around it. This is the U/V shape, and it seems counter-intuitive to center it so low. I find if I center the dip at 4k, it removes too much of the clarity the higher end treble provides. I would’ve figured boosting low-mids (200-300 or so) would provide the benefits of warmth, but usually it tends to muddy things a bit (and in terms of mixing, I know all sorts of mud lives in the low mids, so boosting it too much isn’t great anyway). I’m kinda surprised cutting around 800Hz works such wonders in this regard, but it does.
I’ve now saved several presets on my eq software, some for flat analytical listening, others more U shaped for pleasure listening, though both have pleasures.
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agreed (about wanting to avoid eq when others are involved with mixing, mix translation, etc.). But so long as I can match the eq of a set of cans to what my reference tracks sound like on my monitors, I’m not worried that much. It’s when that’s difficult that it becomes an issue.
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So my understanding is that the ZMF Atticus is warmer and more U-shaped than the Aeolus, so it has my interest piqued more at the moment than the Aeolus, as I have a rather flat hp for work purposes and I’m looking just for enjoyment. I still wonder if the Audioquest Nightowl might not the be as good or even closer for what I’m looking for (though ZMF looks way better!).
Regarding Oppo PM-3, the Drop Panda is due to come out soon, it’s a PM-3 clone that is supposedly better in several respects. I’ve never heard a planar, but I have spent some significant time with the new HEDD AMT driver Heddphones. I wonder if that’s similar to the planar sound. I’ve heard planars are warm in lower mids and slam bass in comparison to dynamic headphones, is that right? what’s the downsides of planars?
I’m also using the DAC I use in the AD/DAC I use to record audio in my mixes, audio out on my regular DAT to headphone amp. Would a dedicated headphone DAC do anything better or different than this?
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I recently picked up a pair of LCD 2.2 PF and man, are they a good set of headphones. Just enjoyable. Especially for the used price you can find them at now.
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From the usual suspects in the $1k range between LCD-X, Focal Clear, Hifiman Arya, Sennheiser HD 800s, and HEDDphone I’d tip my hat to the Focal Clear being the most musical.
All those headphones are fairly comparable with the with the LCD-X being the warmest of the bunch between them. I think the LCD-X could probably win out if you use EQ (makes me shudder 
) but out of the box the Clear is the winner for me.
Now in terms of most enjoyable / musical for any price bracket, it would be the Rosson Audio Design RAD-0 for me. There’s just something so intoxicatingly enjoyable about the sound of them for me that being apart from them for so long while @TylersEclectic gives them a spin is causing separation anxiety.
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Cool. Maybe more headphones should be tuned with Rupert Neve equipment (if I’m not mistaken about the RAD-0)?
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The Aeolus in my experience is a chameleon that changes it’s colors depending on the pads.
With the stock Aeolus pads it’s pretty warm if that’s what you mean by musical. As musical as the Atticus I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I’ve had an Atticus.
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