Your Top 5 Favourite Headphones

Headphones General Headphone Discussion
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Well I have been wandering thought the current headphones, here are my current top five keepers ( Alphabetical )

  • Audeze LCD-4
  • Hifiman HE-1000SE
  • Hifiman Susvara
  • Rosson Rad-0
  • ZMF Vertie

Two more which are staying in the collection

  • Focal Stelia is my Closed headphone of choice
  • Sennheiser HD-650 is for reference
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  1. Sennheiser HD650 w/ Schiit Yggdrasil + Eddie Current ZDS. I think this is the perfect example of HD650ā€™s ability to scale with better gear. You think HD650 has no stage? Not with this setup! I was doubtful as well, but was amazed at how resolving and grand the setup sounded. Sure the 650 may not be the best in bass extension, but mids and onward itā€™s still an amazing headphone.
  2. Aurorus Borealis w/ Schiit Bifrost 2 + Eddie Current Black Widow. Just super punchy and pure fun listening experience. Currently taking most of my listening time, but I need to live with it a bit more before I can officially declare it my #1.
  3. ZMF Auteur w/ Bifrost 2 + ECP 3F Ravenswood. This has some killer synergy. The 3F was originally intended for Focal cans, but I found that the Auteur just works beautifully. 3F helps ameliorate the Auteurā€™s weakness in macrodynamics and presents the music in fast, effortless, and grippy way.
  4. ZMF Atticus. This one doesnā€™t have a particular setup because Iā€™ve only heard it at meets and the store, but itā€™s probably my favorite closed back. It doesnā€™t even try to be neutral. Itā€™s colored af but has excellent macrodynamics and throws a pretty immersive stage for a closed back. Itā€™s not the most technically proficient in the lineup, but probably one of the most unique headphones out there.
  5. ZMF Verite w/ Gungnir Multibit A1 + Eddie Current ZDS. The headphone that brought me back into this hobby, but recently fell out of love with. with the ZDS and Veriteā€™s strengths in staging, you are in for a treat.
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Some stuff will be lower on the list, not because I didnā€™t like them as much, but because I only had several minutes with at camjam.

  1. Gotta be my beloved daily driver, HD650 - my ear and this headphone were made to go together.

  2. Ether Flow 1.1 - Surprisingly people donā€™t say much about these cans, but I think they are underrated.

  3. Monoprice M1060 - I actually loved this little devil when I had it and never had an issue with the supposed 6k peak.

  4. HE1000 - Probably my favorite TOTL Iā€™ve heard. Each time I hear them (I think 3 times) Iā€™m astounded by how liquid and transparent they sound.

  5. RAAL SR1a - The only reason these arenā€™t higher on my list is that Iā€™ve only heard them for about 3 minutes, but boy howdy were they a good 3 minutes.

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Stax SRD-34: First decent headphone from back in the early 80ā€™s and to this day with some mods they are still really good IMO.

HD650: first ā€œgoodā€ headphone when I started to use headphones more (2015) but needs a decent amp (BH Crack for me)

HD800: just so different sounding from most other headphones and about as cheap as you can get for something with a grand sound stage but like the HD650 it needs a decent amp

Audeze EL-8 open: I just think mine is a freak since its great with almost any genre and so easy to drive that it actually even sounds good out of my phone

Grado RS2e: Some tunes just need a Grado to ā€œsound rightā€ and to me the RS2e (with a few mods) is the sweet spot

Others:
HD700: great for watching movies and gaming
Ypsilon R1: Grado clone of GS2000 IMO for 1/4 the cost
SR009: love it but its so unforgiving

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Thatā€™s 3 close matches with my picks, 4 if you count the first name.

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I would love to hear many more headphones, so I will say my top 5 favorite headphones I have listened to so far or currently own.

  1. ZMF Aeolus.

Incredibly engaging sound, plenty of detail, these cans pull you into the music, awesome tonality, beautiful to look at and hold as well. They are truly art. A true step up from the HD650/6XX IMO. These beauties play well with every genre I have thrown at them. My only wish would be for the stage to be slightly larger or more open sounding, which may be achievable with a pad swap to some extent. (ZMF has made me a customer for life, and I would like to audition the VC/VO and Orri one day)

  1. Hifiman Ananda.

I could listen to them for hours. Tonality is spot on, treble is just right, one of the best midranges IMO I have heard in a headphone. The large drivers and extremely open ear cups are really very pleasing and different from my other headphones. They sound amazing for most genres. I grab these for classical, some electronic, acoustic, rock, soundtracks and more. Build quality is definitely lacking and even though they are lightweight they can give me a little bit of a hot spot over time on my head, likely do to the shape of my dome. (The Ananda has peaked my curiosity, and now I want to audition the Arya)

  1. Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 C.

Sleek design, (the most comfortable headphone I own) extremely portable, my go to closed back headphone for pop, electronic, rock, Metal, modern produced music, and more. The are very current hungry and perform their best on the proper amp. I really have no issue with them so far and if I want a different sound signature, I can use the provided internal filters to change the sound for certain genres. I would love to audition the Aeon 2 Open!

  1. Sennheiser 650/6XX.

The headphone that truly pulled me into the hobby. Vocals are very special on these headphones. Very intimate and beautiful mid range. Easy to listen to with a fatigue free sound signature. They also make for a great reference headphone that I compare all other headphones I have heard to. They have a very small sound stage however and the bass may not always play well with certain genre of music. However both the bass and the stage can be improved some with the proper amp pairing.

  1. Koss Porta Pros with Yaxi Pads.

Exceptional for the price, they pair great with the BTR3 for Bluetooth playback. No nonsense kind of headphones that are a great companion for working outside in my yard, the garage, working out and even taking phone calls.

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Focal Elegia getĀ“s most(over) 90% listening time, shared with Tin Hifi T4(morning walk with the dog out of the Earstudio ES100 Bluetooth dongle with balanced cable) and the Samsung Galaxy Buds+(gym)

Sennheiser 6xx are quite new for me, prefered my 600s, which got sold for the 660s(least interesting), which also got sold for the 6xx - waits for a Tube or Tube Hybrid

Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro with analytical pads, AKG 240 foam inserts and some EQ works somehow ok with a Burr Brown DAC implementation and a SPL Tube2 DSP running in Foobar2k - also waits for a tube or tube hybrid

Koss KSC 75s with Yaxi Pads over my Porta Pros with Yaxi Pads and the third backup in the office, the KPH 30i, which is the worst Koss(out of the 3) in my humble opinion
the Koss are more of nice to have and take pictures of vs really longtime listening - for me, at least.
It feels wrong, to use em, but they are so much fun! Connect a warmish BTR3 to a PP and do your laundry or clean the car ā€¦ my wife loves her PP set for the garden work
the 75Ā“s are really great for the budget and I love to put them on someones ears, if I get asked why I have tons of audio equipment and where to start

Sennheiser 58x is the open back office headphone, which also getĀ“s no use, while I do like it everytime as suggested entry into this rabbit hole

honourable mentionsā€¦

I auditioned a ton of TOTL or mid tier headphones in the last 2 to 3 years, except ZMFĀ“s portfolio, the RAAL SR1a, the MySphere or the 1266 TC
at the moment I tend to stay sub 2k or even 1k for the next purchases, so I have no realistic interest in the Utopias, Stellias, SusvaraĀ“s, Abyss Diana PhiĀ“s Gen1 or LCD 3 over 4Ā“s ā€¦ all auditioned and highly respected

what got me coming back a few times, was the Hifiman Ananda, which I prefered over the Arya or the Focal Clear, Ether 2, HD 820 over HD 800s (not my cup of tea)
still holding back my money, cause there is the HEDDphone on my list - had a bit of time with the prototype at munich high end, read ALL the reviews and wait for it to arrive at my local dealer, to audition it, after these crazy times are over

what I do enjoy everytime at my local dealer, is the Empyrean and kudos to everyone, who is ok with paying full msrp for it - for sub 2k, I could get weak. The build, the look, the comfort and the sound using the non leather pads ā€¦ in general not my cup of tea, cause I like it a touch brighter, though this one works just fine for me everytime and the one time using a Cayin N8 in tube mode with it, was glorious

beeing more of a closed back headphone user, I also did like the Dan Clark Audio AEON 2C and could see me adding it for the office/backpack instead of carrying my Elegia everyday around

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Sadly, I sold that LCD-2 for upgrade funding. It was pretty darn great though.

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What do you plan upgrading to with the Funds?

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That was actually a year or so ago and used the money to buy a ZMF Atticus. I didnt have a solid closed back at the time and the Atticus fit the bill.

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  1. Abyss 1266 TC:Huge sound-stage, hardest hitting bass
  2. Audeze LCD4: Fantastic bass, rich detailed mid-range
  3. Dan Clark Voce: Incredibly fast and detailed, great bass for an estat.
  4. HEDDphone: Fast, even sound. Fantastic detail retrieval, Best value in high-end.
    5.Sony Z1R: Very fun, easy to listen to. Most enjoyable closed back I have heard.
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Sent you a PMā€¦

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Edit: Forgot the part about a ā€œshort 1 line description.ā€ Oops.

In order:

  1. Hifiman Susvara (with a pad swap) - Measurements. Matches my preferred tonal balance almost perfectly (after a bit of sub-bass boost), though Iā€™m not really a fan of the frequency response with the stock pads. Treble quality is superb without being fatiguing nor feeling recessed.
  2. Hifiman HE-6 - Measurements. I think these headphones still have a place in todayā€™s market, albeit, I havenā€™t heard many of todayā€™s high-end offerings. Excellent resolution and highly detailed. The bass response is very tight and punchy - I think I prefer the punchier bass response on the HE-6 than on the Susvara.
  3. Hifiman Arya - Measurements. Honestly, I prefer the tonal balance on the HE-1000v1 but it has a very sharp peak in the treble that I think is highly detrimental to the sound as a whole. The Arya seems to tame that peak a bit though the upper midrange is also a bit more lifted. I typically dislike this sort of response but it is rather mild here on the Arya. What I really like about these Hifimans with the long earcups is the huge sense of space. The sub-bass is also really nice - I think with the huge diaphragms displacing air, it really gives a more visceral sub-bass response compared to the smaller diaphragms. I think the bigger diaphragms may come with some drawbacks though, such as sounding a bit more ā€œbloomyā€ in the bass, or at least thatā€™s the impression Iā€™ve gotten from trying the Ananda, Arya, and HE-1000v1.
  4. Hifiman HE-1000v1 (loaned) - Measurements. Pretty much what I said about the Arya above. The very sharp treble peak just being my biggest caveat.
  5. Fostex T50v0 - Measurements. The vintage model from the 1970s. This is a bit unfair as Iā€™ve modded and EQā€™d them to my liking (when I had them), but it just had a very nice sounding midrange response. The treble is a bit behind today in terms of detail and resolution; and the bass isnā€™t very articulate but with the mod and a bit of EQ, the sub-bass rumbles like no other headphone (well besides one other that I can think of).

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):

  1. Sony MDR CD900ST - Measurements. Surprisingly detailed and very resolving in the midrange. The tonal balance is also very good. I didnā€™t have much expectations having listened to its other siblings but this model has been tuned very well. Its successor, the M1ST, is 1 step forward in build quality but 3 steps back in sound quality.
  2. JVC HA-MX100 - Measurements.This is a bit of an obscure one being a Japanese exclusive headphone. A couple of my online buddies recommended me to check them out. I actually donā€™t know how these sound with the stock pads as I got them used at a low price without the pads. My buddies recommended these knock-off MDR-ZX700 earpads that made out to be a surprisingly good pairing - although I got the wrong pads, the pairing was still very nice sounding. Warm sounding with a down-slope into the upper midrange while the treble climbs up a bit just under neutral. Thereā€™s quite a good amount of ā€œairā€ up top as well. Very detailed and resolving headphones. Thereā€™s also some interesting dampening and acoustics going on inside that Victor Studio has done. Something about a bass tube delivering some of the bass energy to the front IIRC. Iā€™m not quite sure how effective that is in practice though.
  3. Hifiman HE-500 - Honestly, I havenā€™t heard these in 2-3 years so Iā€™m not exactly sure how they sounded. All I know was that it sounded good or at least good enough for an honorable mention.
  4. Sony IER-Z1R - I like how they sounded fairly wide for an IEM, although Iā€™ll say that some peopleā€™s impression made me thought it would be wider than it was. Itā€™s still an IEM at the end of the day. I think the tonal balance is pretty nice overall. However, I really dislike the treble response, or at the very least on the unit I had. It is very peaky. I tried a deeper insertion and it helped just a tiny bit but the treble still painfully sharp sounding. Over time, I came to not really like the bass response. The bass impact seems rather dampened, and the response seems mushy with its elevated response and the aforementioned dampened impact. Iā€™ve tried multiple sources and still came to the same conclusion. I think this may be because Iā€™m used to a punchier and more linear bass response from planars. Despite my complaints, I think theyā€™re still note-worthy in its technical performance.
  5. Sennheiser HD580/HD6X0 series - Theyā€™re just tonally very good. I havenā€™t had all at the same time to really say which is my favorite. Maybe the HD580 just because Iā€™m a hipster at heart whether or not I like being one.
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Excellent post with great content and impressions. Your definitely a Hifiman fan, not meant in a derogatory way either. I also followed your posts on Reddit and understand you like the retro gear too. There seems to be quite a resurgence in retro gear these days.

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I have one pair of HiFiMan - HE6se. Dandy headphones. Great sound. One of my favorite pairs of cans.

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@prfallon69

Excellent post with great content and impressions. Your definitely a Hifiman fan, not meant in a derogatory way either.

Thanks, yeah Iā€™m a bit of a Hifiman fan though just purely in sound. Build? Not so much :slight_smile:

I also followed your posts on Reddit and understand you like the retro gear too. There seems to be quite a resurgence in retro gear these days.

Thanks for reading! Yeah, some of the old vintage stuff are enticing to me since thereā€™s so little information on them. Also, the rarity of some makes it fun to find and possibly collect as well.

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@angstorms, impressive collection. Mind if I ask, if you had to pick one of the two planar magnetics above, which would it be?

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You are making him proclaim his faith. Then he should renounce all others to me promptly via usps expedited shipping.

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Donā€™t do it, they might wind up losing your valuable packageā€¦go with either UPS next day air or FedEX priority overnight, much more reliable services in my experience.

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For right now I think you picked my two top Planners.

  • Audeze LCD-4 these are great headphones once you eq them. You do feel the weight when you lean your head.
    But if you do not want to spend Susvara money * Hifiman HE-1000SE this is still a very good headphone
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