Most engaging headphones

get the most expensive one you can afford.

My Grado SR60 is very involving. It only costs $69. If you need more involvement, then Grado RS1i is the key. My AKG K701 is good in giving in details, more pricey than SR60, however, it will not involve you more in the music unlike Grado. Based of most comments I've read in this good website, Grados belong to the group of most involving headphones.

 

Go get a Grado now and be involved with the music you love!  

 

From what I have read the T1's will be more engaging than the 800's.

AKG K 240 DF. It has very good reproduction across the spectrum, which translates to excellent presence. It's even better with a dedicated amp, which would likely cost more than the headphones themselves.

 

Totally agree.

 

XD

 

"engaging" is so subjective. I find a slight V FR engaging and a friend of mine finds a slight hill-shaped FR as engaging.  I prefer vocals boosted from the high mids and my friend prefers it boosted from the mid to low mids.

 

Anyways, all the headphones you posted are different.They can all have good vocal expression from one person to another...

 

I might add that I hate the GS1000i and I plan on selling my Denon D7000, though I would agree that it is a great headphone. However, I like my sound very colored and I prefer the coloring in Ultrasones.

Also the soundstage and imaging is awesome. I had the chance to audition them for a bit. 

What source and amp are you intending to run them from?

Dont you think the HA-160 could handle better hard to drive headphones, specially sennheisers? 

What type of music do you listen to? 

If you want accurate bass, the HD-800 is the best on that list. Everything else has artificially enhanced bass, especially the T1. I had planned to buy the T1, but Beyerdynamic turned up the bass as a crowd-pleaser, so that cash will instead go towards the JH13. Keep in mind that exaggerated bass is the norm today. Consumers demand it and most headphones deliver it. If you go to the orchestra, you will hear deep bass but it won't have the impact that the stereotypical "good" bass has. This is the way bass should sound. If the live event doesn't thump, neither should the headphones. The HD-800 gets this right while the others add artificial bass flavoring to impress the prevailing consumer taste. Most aren't going to agree with me on this, but I give a huge amount of credit to Sennheiser for voicing the HD-800 accurately instead of adding bass where there shouldn't be any added. Go see a live acoustic performance and try to find bass impact - it won't be there. Live, you'll get accurate, tuneful bass all the way down. The HD-800 does this and the others don't.