I can listen to these for about 15-30 minutes. At first all seems well, great clarity, space. Then the treble goes kinds of scratchy character, a sort of roughness around maybe 5-6k? And I can listen to different recordings and it applies this character to them all. Silver Dragon cable helps a...

So, where are they?

I notice a warmth in my heart when some new affordable upstart cuts the overpriced flagships down to size. It is my opinion that we need more of these. People are becoming smarter and starting to notice the cracks in the ceiling of 'high end' and ridiculous the price points are for variable...

I would like gel-filled diaphragms, in order to alleviate any potential harshness.

Gear is never boring. Music can be, though. And people's state of mind.

Average beats crap any day of the week and there's a lot of crap out there. And going for what most would consider outrageous prices too. But I haven't heard the ORA.

Agree 100%. The bit of 8-10k treble favouring lends itself to an airy presentation, as opposed to spikes into the ear around 5-7k (K812/HD800).

Perhaps. But if you think they are going to compete with their more expensive offerings, think again.

I would not put any faith or trust in reviewers, they often are way off from what I'm hearing. They often spin their findings in a negative way for one headphone (no recommendation) while indicating "it might be just for you" with another one and recommend that one. They appear to have an agenda...

I ws going to try the X3 but have read that the highs can be harsh, grating and strident. Anyone hear this on theirs?

That's pretty sad isn't it? But then, the recordings today are just as buggered up sonically so who could tell anyway? I like the musician in this thread topic who knows how things should sound and has his own reference.

Apples and oranges. A Fiat could never compare performance-wise to a Ferrari and they wouldn't have similar engines..

I couldn't agree more. You may tart something up to look elegant but at the end of the day it's still variations on wiring, magnets and diaphragm designs that have been used before.

These have a rather grainy top end I find.

Why is one $1500 and the other $6000? Makes no sense.