Which company makes the best headphones in your opinion?

They all make some winners and losers.

If I had to guess based on what is said here, I'd say Stax.

double post, oops.

STAX

Which makes the best headphones for what?

Headphones are used for different purposes like for portable use, use with additional amplification, mixing, noise canceling, isolation, different genres of music, gaming, low volume listening, etc.

'best' is so subjective , depending on what youre listening to and through what gear and cables and what mood you're in at the time and what you had to eat prior and etc. etc . etc .
a lot of headphones could be said to be the best at different times ... thus, all the widely varied opinions being dished out here everyday/night .

It depends on everyone's opinion and taste i guess.
I own both DENON AH-D5000 and GRADO RS-1 and they are both equaly good imo. I use the denons for electrical music and also some good, smooth rock recordings, and the grado for metal and some other rock..but never for electric music! but i can't say that the grados are less good than the denons.
each headphone has it's own speciality especially when taliking about so different sounding cans like the denon and the grado.

but when i started my audiophile jurney a few years ago, i thought that sennheiser and akg are the best(i was told by a local audio store seller ) and i didn't know other manufacturers.

Different brands fill different niches. I think a lot of hardcore rock and metal fans would say Grado suits their needs more than any other brand.

That said..........I think the brand which has shown themselves to be the all-round winner for a variety of styles would probably be Sennheiser. Sennheiser has long been one of the greatest headphone companies and their HE90 is still considered by a large amount of Head-fiers to be the greatest headphone ever made, or at least one of the top tier Electrostatic headphones.

Today they are manufacturing what could very well be one of the few truly astounding Dynamic driver headphones (HD800). But also their HD600/650 line is still very highly esteemed and rightly so. Sennheiser's lower end models, and closed headphone models (HD25, HD280, HD380) are also very formidable for their pricepoints.


In second place, I would say Sony is very close to Sennheiser as the greatest of all headphone brands in the Dynamic Category: They have manufactured what is largely considered the prime example of dynamic driver headphones: MDR R10. But in addition they have a large following regarding their Qualia 010, and the SA5000. The CD3000 is also very highly revered. Their lower pricepoint headphones such as the MDR7509 and 7506 have long been standards of the their market.

I think Stax also deserves a mention here, but Stax specializes in Electrostatic Headphones. Some claim these headphones are the best in the world, the Omega 1 and Omega 2.

And lastly, I find that AKG deserves a mention here, BUT i also see them as a very polarizing brand, as I also see Grado as a very polarizing brand. AKG has many headphones at different pricepoints and like Sennheiser, is largely a microphone company. The interesting thing about AKG is that there's never a consensus that newer improvements on older designs are necessarily better than the original and OOP models. I think the K501s are largely considered the best AKGs of their pricepoint, largely prefered to the K601 and K701 by people who have heard all 3. Similarly the Sennheiser HD600 is often prefered to its later embellishment the HD650. The AKG K1000 has a special place in the history of Headphones as it is designed to emulate speaker sound as best a headphone possibly can.

The top tier headphones in the world are the following in No order:
SENNHEISER: HE90 (Orpheus)
SENNHEISER: HD800
AKG: K1000
SONY: MDR R10
SONY: MDR 010 (Qualia)
STAX: Omega 1
STAX: Omega 2
GRADO: PS1000
AUDIO TECHNICA: L3000
ULTRASONE: Edition 9
DENON: D7000

How'd I know this thread was made by a new member?

And to echo the other replies in here: the "best" is very subjective. If there was a "holy headphone," then there wouldn't be so much variety around this site!

This thread is like the one and only question to a final psychology exam.

The question: Why?

The correct answer: Because.

Can't help myself but expand out this a bit

Also coming in the indefinate future, which will I am certain be of considerable worth and attention are the ribbon headphone products from two companies.

Please add Hp-1000 and Ps-1 to the grado section and maybe forget the qualia.

edit: i'm so slooow...

Cheap tier : Koss

KSC 75s, Portapros, and everything else with that 60ohm driver in it. One of the best gateway drugs into all of this audiophile stuff.

Portable NON IEM tier : Yuin

Well, I've yet to see anyone say that they have found earbuds better than the PK1/OK1, and I've yet to find anyone that says they found better clip-ons then the G1A. I don't think they will make any IEMs since head-direct makes some, but if they do I'm sure they will be darn good.

Looks like a grado tier : Alessandro

They look like grados.

Looks like a shoebox tier : Stax

AKG had a close runner up here with the K1001.

Junk tier : Skullcandy

Nuff said

Also junk tier : WeSC

Skullcandy knock offs

Expensive junk tier : Bose

Buy
Other
Sound
Equipment.

That's all of the tiers I can think of that encompass an entire manufacture without much competition. Feel free to add on.

thank you for the additions, I added some myself..... I'm sure there is about 25 truly world-class headphones.....I can't think of them all, I appreciate it