INTRO   Planar magnetics sound awesome. When I first heard the LCD-2 I instantly noticed the difference to the somewhat mechanical sounding Beyer T1 or HD800.   Fostex-900 sounded more relaxed and musical for a dynamic driver than any other model I had before, but the bass was overwhelming and the absence of mids were more than dissapointing, they are a no go at that price range.   The LCD-2 sounded nice and thick, but also was non-consistent with playing high notes and it lacked a lot of detail. Also comfort a let down. Hifiman Ed. X choice of...

Mids are recessed with this one, oh boy they are. Where the Fostex convinced me was musicality, drive/spirit, and fine detail as well as a nice dimensionality. But - the mids were underemphasized in addition to the overblown bass response, a pity, because the TH900 could have been great.   YMMV, but to my ears, the Fostex felt rather helpless with music were mids are important. That is a lot of music.   Comparison with Beyerdynamic T51i   I A/Bed them with my 200 USD Beyers T51i on-ears and the Beyers shone with Jazz and Classic. Mind you, the...

Comparison with Fostex TH600   I had the TH600 and now the 1770. Both are outstanding headphones and for me the 600 eur range is the most expensive I listened to. I listened to about 30 headphones in my life. In my opinion the Fostex TH600 are more engaging and have the better sound, but the bass is too much, and I like strong bass, yet the bass is definitely too much with them. (albeit being very controlled, dark and deep) Equalize them with software and it sound not as good as unequalized. The TH600 has a lovely, dreamy and beautiful overall...

I have bought both the 20i in Ears from Bose and the QC 25. The 20i in ears Noise Cancelation eats the QC25 NC for breakfast. Seriously, they are in another ball park. The 20i NC works like on pro-levels and let the NC in the QC25 seem like a Kindergarten toy across the whole frequency spectrum, the 20i cancelled noise better, a lot better, let it be water, clicking, birds, wind, voices, knocks, doors slamming. Whatever I threw at both of them, the QC25 did let through about 50% of the sound and the 20i about 25% of exterior sound, yes the 20i it is...

Long-Term Usage Update July 2015   After using the headphone for 3 months i need to do a revision of my original rating, and ameliorate my rating from 2.5 stars to 4 stars. I am coming to the conclusion that due to their extremely good noise cancellation these are the best day-to-day in-ears I owned so far. That feeling when you are on a bycicle in rush hour and don't hear enourmous trucks or loud engines from old cars rushing 3 meters next to you is almost undescribable and must be experienced. It is a lot like if sitting in a well-isolated BMW...