Love my Maggies. Looking for cans that will satisfy my Maggie loving ears.

Do I need to look beyond Audez'e?

Rich

I would also give the Hifiman HE-500 serious consideration.

Deciding what planar magnetics to get primarily depends on your budget. The two main brands are Hifiman (with their HE400, HE500, HE6) vs. Audeze (w/ LCD-2, LCD-X, LCD-XC, LCD-3).
 
You'll find that you don't really even have to pick between ortho headphones. Your budget will pick for you   
 
I have the budget HE400, which I would highly recommend. Another option are modded closed T50RP such as Mad Dog/Alpha Dog vs Paradox. However, I have heard that the HE400 beats all mods. But they are worth considering if you are looking for a closed pair of orthos as the 1,800 LCD-XC is the only other closed planar mag option.

I don't know which sounds most like them. The three most popular firms--Audeze, Fostex, and Hifiman--don't sound alike. Even models by the same firm don't sound so similar to me, such as HE400 and HE500.
 
I bought Fostex based on my preference for the fairly mid-centric sound, and you'll want to mod it or buy modded (LFF Paradox, MrSpeakers, ZMF). I liked the Audezes I've listened to more than the Hifimans, except for HE400 which I liked more than the Audezes.

goaliedad39 said:

I would also give the Hifiman HE-500 serious consideration.

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money4me247 said:

Deciding what planar magnetics to get primarily depends on your budget. The two main brands are Hifiman (with their HE400, HE500, HE6) vs. Audeze (w/ LCD-2, LCD-X, LCD-XC, LCD-3).

You'll find that you don't really even have to pick between ortho headphones. Your budget will pick for you   

I have the budget HE400, which I would highly recommend. Another option are modded closed T50RP such as Mad Dog/Alpha Dog vs Paradox. However, I have heard that the HE400 beats all mods. But they are worth considering if you are looking for a closed pair of orthos as the 1,800 LCD-XC is the only other closed planar mag option.

Click to expand...

claritas said:

I don't know which sounds most like them. The three most popular firms--Audeze, Fostex, and Hifiman--don't sound alike. Even the models within a firm does sound so close to me, such as HE400 and HE500.

I bought Fostex based on my preference for the fairly mid-centric sound, and you'll want to mod it or buy modded (LFF Paradox, MrSpeakers, ZMF). I liked the Audezes I've listened to more than the Hifimans, except for HE400 which I liked more than the Audezes.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the replies! I have heard (read, ha ha) good things about all of the options that you listed. Now the challenge is to be able to compare them - without buying them all of course!

husker27 said:

Thanks so much for the replies! I have heard (read, ha ha) good things about all of the options that you listed. Now the challenge is to be able to compare them - without buying them all of course!

Click to expand...

your best option here is a head-fi meet in your area. the high-end planar magnetics are usually not available in many stores.
 
i would just get the one that fits in your price range & you should be fine. the differences between the high-end equipment is really just a matter of subject taste rather than one pair clearly out-performing the other.
 
this is a useful read: http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-58-headphones-compared-update-audeze-lcd-2-revision-2-6-4-13
it helped me pull the trigger on my HE400.

Thanks for the tip. I will look into the meet idea to see if that is even possible. Otherwise I will just pull the trigger on something and trust that I will be pleased. What the heck - I will probably end up with more than one pair eventually anyway.

money4me247 said:

  your best option here is a head-fi meet in your area. the high-end planar magnetics are usually not available in many stores.
 
i would just get the one that fits in your price range & you should be fine. the differences between the high-end equipment is really just a matter of subject taste rather than one pair clearly out-performing the other.
 
this is a useful read: http://www.head-fi.org/t/634201/battle-of-the-flagships-58-headphones-compared-update-audeze-lcd-2-revision-2-6-4-13
it helped me pull the trigger on my HE400.

Click to expand...

 
And it is done! Pulled the trigger on the Audez'e LCD-2. I am anxious to see how they sound with my Oppo BDP-105's head amp before I think about getting a dedicated head amp. And I am going to try and attend a meet in Minneapolis in January. All good!
 
Thanks for all the replies!