It's good that you brought up the SubPac, I've actually looked at it once earlier, but it's starting to get more and more interesting. I think for me it probably would be a good investment, the S1 that I put in my computer chair that can be run with adapter. I don't think it would help me a lot further than what my setup already brings but it may give a slightly further accurate judgement, kinda like using a spectrum analyzer plugin to see at which levels the frequencies are at but this would give me it in form of vibrations. Also I think I might actually enjoy gaming with it (I don't watch so many movies but I imagine that being more immersive too). For me feeling the bass has always giving me an additional level of satisfaction. I really should consider it, thanks for bringing it up, I've nearly forgot about it. I see they also allow up to 30 days money back and they even pay back any shipping costs (fortunately for them shipping from Finland to US would probably be like $40)!
The headphones that I think comes closest would be:
- Ultrasone Signature DJ -- my concern is the mids vs highs balance, I have a feel the mids aren't up-front enough, there's both a measurement + some experienced user review suggesting the mids are slightly bit recessed, not much but it's not quite in-level with the highs). Although the rest seems good, the soundstaging may not offer a big upgrade from my Q40, but I'd expect some. The design is to my taste, it's more simple, industrial look, it clamps hard enough (I prefer a reasonably tight clamp) and the bass looks spot-on for my needs.
- Final Audio Design Pandora Hope VI -- The timbre (mids/highs balance) is praised to death, it seems very natural what I'm looking for. It's a well balanced, clear sound but it doesn't seem to have quite the bass quantity I look for but it seems to have that punchiness I'm looking for but the bass quantity seems to be close to neutral from how users compare it to their other headphones, I want roughly 8~10dB or so boost peaking ideally around 80Hz and rolling off a bit down deep and in the upper end past 150Hz or so (it also helps to get the bass impactful/punchy and fast).
- Dido Perfect Sound D901 -- Actually might be slightly north of the bass quantity I look for, people's description/reviews have me picturing a boost past 10dB, some people have guessed it may well be like 13-15dB even, this is an extreme basshead can even if it's roughly at the price of a Ultrasone Signature DJ. The mids and highs do seem like "decent" not the best detail/resolution out there especially for the price (there's been a "tour" that gelocks sent his pair for others to try). I'd still imagine it comes quite close, a little bit too bassy and maybe not the ideal detail retrieval but another problem would be the low clamping force and creaking noise the metal headband does which I don't think I could withstand, especially for my headbanging/nodding needs.
Shure 1540 -- Great timbre / mids vs highs balance, very even with not huge varieties throughout the entire range. However the bass is slightly bit too subbass skewed peaking at 50Hz when I'd need it more closer to 80Hz.
Audio Technica ATH-WS99 -- I think mids and highs should be quite to my liking, they seem to have a quite neutral tonality and particularly good midrange from all the user reviews I've read but the bass is not quite as strong as I'd need when people compare them against other headphones I've got/tested.
M-Audio Q40? -- I have a feeling these $120 phones may actually already be the holy grail for me. The only aspects I find there's pretty large room for improvements would be soundstaging and highs extension. The soundstaging is particularly important for my gaming needs. The Q40 have decent imaging though, not great but not bad but the soundstage is pretty narrow, a bit better depth perception than width possibly but yea I'd especially want a bit more width. The highs also start rolling off sharply already above 14kHz so this headphones lack "airiness" bigtime. But there's so many things I like about them, the mids vs highs balance, the bass response quantity & quality, the subbass vs midbass balance, the not ideal punchiness but decent amount punch still. The highs also have more of a soft than rough character and I find this softer character more natural sounding and I can't spot any annoying upper-mid frequency resonance peaks like I sometimes do in other headphones around the 3-4kHz range especially.
Then I'm constantly on the lookout for new ones, one particular headphone would be the new Focal Spirit One "S" which is advertised as a "bass boosted" but even mids/highs for "on-the-go" use. They have used same structure and secrets from the Focal Spirit Pro/classic for this new model but it's cheaper than those and it's probably more meant to be an improved Focal Spirit One than an "on-the-go" Focal Spirit Pro/Classic so not having too high hopes due to the 179€ pricetag (probably $219 or something the US).
