N0sferatu
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2008
- Posts
- 781
- Likes
- 211
I must say I was pleasantly surprised to have so many great headphones to listen to. Most people were there for the speakers so it left the headphone stations pretty well open. Some of them I was surprised scoffed at the headphone stations and moving on to jam speakers. I love my speaker setups but this was great for me and my buddy. We love headphones. They had a ton to check out and not a lot of interest. This left him and I alone for hours to just jam away.
Over the years, I've kept my headphone hobby at bay. I haven't really changed much at all since 2011/2012 except for one swap of my Denon D7000 for a Fostex TH900. Otherwise, I've had the same AMP/DAC (Audio-GD FUN) and my Sennheiser HD600 for almost 10 years. Dedication to not upgrade was strong...until now. My friend and I were like kids in a candy shop with all the headphones and amps to try out.
Focal - I'll list my favorite at the end but I felt the Focal Clear were a close second in my book. Enjoyable to listen and rather dynamic. I like them much better than my HD600. For the money I think they were impressive. I preferred them over the more expensive models by Focal. The Stellia felt closed and didn't care for it. My Fostex feel more open and of course have the bass that none of the Focal could match. I got to listen to them via the Benchmark HPA4 and Focal's Arche. The Utopia were nice too but for the price difference the Clear is the clear winner!
The Massdrop model my friend enjoyed the Elex more. I felt the Clear was better but $600 vs $1500 it's a tempting pick up. Focal Elear wasn't bad either.
Meze Audio - Empyrean can't say much. Listened to it for a few minutes and didn't care for it's sound so I moved on.
Benchmark - HPA4 - Oh my what an amp. Pricey but dynamic.
Headamp - For $500, I might buy the Gilmore MK2 if my Audio-GD FUN can't drive my new headphones on order. Very impressive for the money. Also, in purple, the Hawaiian Electrostatic amp they had there was a work of art to look at.
Audeze - Honestly I don't know all the models that well. The naming scheme makes it tough to remember them all but I'm fairly certain they had just about every model there to demo out, including the ear buds. I made a point to recall trying their flagship (LCD-4 I believe) and came away with a similar opinion I had of them back in the day. Great sound but man are they heavy. I walked away liking the LCD-MX4 the best over the LCD-4.
Stax - They had the SR-009 there. This is really the second best to me not the Focal. However, given the price bracket these are in, they are not attainable for most. I remember back in the day I used to live close to Jude and had the opportunity to listen to these in person. Doubt he remembers me but I remember saying to myself these were the best headphones I've ever heard. I had my friend try them out and I amped them up to him telling them your mind will be blown etc etc etc. I put them on my ears and sat there for 10 minutes remembering how much I loved these. The resolution...the dynamics...heaven. I then switched over to Hifiman they had a pair of Arya's there.
HifiMan - We both took a shot at the Arya. After listening to them against the Stax, to both of our ears, powered by that little Headamp Gilmore MK2 I found the sound more enjoyable. The Stax has that extra 10% that I can't put into words but in terms of actual enjoyment the Arya's are better to our ears. So, in short, I bought a HifiMan Arya. He bought the Arya as well. That headphone is simply....ridiculous. I can't wait for mine to arrive. I may buy the Headamp Gilmore MK2 it was plugged into. For $500 man does that amp make the Arya sing. I'm hoping my Audio-GD FUN can because if it doesn't there goes some more cash. The Benchmark HPA4 was impressive but for me it's overkill.
Enjoy the photos!
Over the years, I've kept my headphone hobby at bay. I haven't really changed much at all since 2011/2012 except for one swap of my Denon D7000 for a Fostex TH900. Otherwise, I've had the same AMP/DAC (Audio-GD FUN) and my Sennheiser HD600 for almost 10 years. Dedication to not upgrade was strong...until now. My friend and I were like kids in a candy shop with all the headphones and amps to try out.
Focal - I'll list my favorite at the end but I felt the Focal Clear were a close second in my book. Enjoyable to listen and rather dynamic. I like them much better than my HD600. For the money I think they were impressive. I preferred them over the more expensive models by Focal. The Stellia felt closed and didn't care for it. My Fostex feel more open and of course have the bass that none of the Focal could match. I got to listen to them via the Benchmark HPA4 and Focal's Arche. The Utopia were nice too but for the price difference the Clear is the clear winner!
The Massdrop model my friend enjoyed the Elex more. I felt the Clear was better but $600 vs $1500 it's a tempting pick up. Focal Elear wasn't bad either. Meze Audio - Empyrean can't say much. Listened to it for a few minutes and didn't care for it's sound so I moved on.
Benchmark - HPA4 - Oh my what an amp. Pricey but dynamic.
Headamp - For $500, I might buy the Gilmore MK2 if my Audio-GD FUN can't drive my new headphones on order. Very impressive for the money. Also, in purple, the Hawaiian Electrostatic amp they had there was a work of art to look at.
Audeze - Honestly I don't know all the models that well. The naming scheme makes it tough to remember them all but I'm fairly certain they had just about every model there to demo out, including the ear buds. I made a point to recall trying their flagship (LCD-4 I believe) and came away with a similar opinion I had of them back in the day. Great sound but man are they heavy. I walked away liking the LCD-MX4 the best over the LCD-4.
Stax - They had the SR-009 there. This is really the second best to me not the Focal. However, given the price bracket these are in, they are not attainable for most. I remember back in the day I used to live close to Jude and had the opportunity to listen to these in person. Doubt he remembers me but I remember saying to myself these were the best headphones I've ever heard. I had my friend try them out and I amped them up to him telling them your mind will be blown etc etc etc. I put them on my ears and sat there for 10 minutes remembering how much I loved these. The resolution...the dynamics...heaven. I then switched over to Hifiman they had a pair of Arya's there.
HifiMan - We both took a shot at the Arya. After listening to them against the Stax, to both of our ears, powered by that little Headamp Gilmore MK2 I found the sound more enjoyable.
The Stax has that extra 10% that I can't put into words but in terms of actual enjoyment the Arya's are better to our ears. So, in short, I bought a HifiMan Arya. He bought the Arya as well. That headphone is simply....ridiculous. I can't wait for mine to arrive. I may buy the Headamp Gilmore MK2 it was plugged into. For $500 man does that amp make the Arya sing. I'm hoping my Audio-GD FUN can because if it doesn't there goes some more cash. The Benchmark HPA4 was impressive but for me it's overkill. Enjoy the photos!
Attachments
Last edited:
