Headphones with the greatest detail?

I think the Sony-MDRCD900ST's are really impressive with detail not just because the amount of detail, but the fact that they are able to achieve such great detail without having a harsh sound.

 

The mid range in particular is incredibly detailed.

The KRK KNS-8400 come to mind instantly. They squeeze out every final drop of a note til it seems theres nothing left to fade away and then some. It does the same for games like FALLOUT 3 and SKYRIM etc where the environment suddenly comes to life with so much audio detail.

 

I also think the Koss Pro-4AA are amazing in the same way but the KRK KNS-8400 has a bit more bass.

There is no "one", and I think most would agree on that (high end stax obviously might be the place to start there). But Orthodynamic/planar and electrostatic sets will give you a pretty good edge over dynamic speakers in detail reproduction.

Outside of Stax I would say a HD800. SR009 wins however if talking about Stax.

HD800s or the SR-007. I'll give a slight edge to the HD800s as they're a bit more accessible amp-wise and price-wise. If I ever find a SR-009 to listen to, I'll probably never let go 

From my limited experience so far with the HD800, the amount of detail is tremendous. In tracks where the detail is present, everything is laid bare.

 

I haven't spent a long time with STAX though so not sure how they stack up.

Edited by Gamerzhell - 10/7/12 at 11:20pm

You can readily pick up vintage Stax sets for less than the price of a new pair of HD-800s, or even NEW Koss 'stats if you want to get an idea what they are like. 

Sony MDR-SA5000 and MDR-F1 (especially vocals), Koss ESP/950, Grado RS-1 (and likely RS-2) and GS-1000, AKG K701, Ultrasone PRO2900 (especially bass), and probably some others I'm forgetting.

Best price/performance would probably be MDR-SA5000 if you don't mind the somewhat cold tilt and can still find a pair. Then K701. Also realize that depending on what music we're talking about, all of the above might be terrible companions or matches - most of them are also brutally unforgiving of garbage (Sony and Ultrasone especially), and few of them are bass tilted. This means they are likely not a popular choice to mate with modern bass heavy, highly compressed music. That doesn't mean you can't listen to such music, it just isn't "popular" (for example I've seen people post repeatedly that the ESPs are "incapable" of playing electronica or hardcore, and are "only" for classical music and light jazz - of course this isn't true, but it's out there). So basically if you don't have good quality rips or recordings, I wouldn't bother with a "brutally revealing" headphone - it'll be more headache than you want. (And yes, I would honestly say get a different headphone as opposed to replacing your music library).

+1 Can't agree more.  I love my pair.

I would not consider an open headphone like the HD 800 for mobile use.

Anyways, the Koss ESP include an amplifier, which has a battery pack (it runs on like 6 C Cells). There's also the STAX mobile energizer, SRD-7 I think (might be off on the model #), similar idea: lots of batteries. So those are certainly transportable systems at least (you can't go jogging with them or whatever, but if you're traveling by car or bus or train, should be no problem).

If you want true portability ++ detail, try the Beyerdynamic T70p. They aren't my top pick by any means, but they're probably about as close to any of the cans mentioned above in a true portable. You might also try various studio monitor cans (like the CD900ST).

I think some IEM's will give you that analytical and detailed sound, but you have to think of an budget like USD 800, I guess. By analytical I don’t mean harsh or something like that, but just one that give you all you need and don't need kind of detail. Some have 8 drivers per side, so, go for it and forget the rest.