[Steven31]

My advice would be not to think of things in terms of a "technology preference". Certain technologies have POTENTIAL, but how well each example executes on that potential comes down to each individual product. A few examples:

Solid State versus Tube amps. You can't really make a blanket statement and say that solid state amps will always sound better than tubes. There are thousands of examples of each technology and there will always be some worse than others, and vice-versa.

Single-ended versus balanced. Balanced does have some inherent advantages giving each channel its own ground signal, and that can lead to greater separation and cleaner (and often more) power. But similar to above, you can always find examples out of the many, many amps out there of single-ended amps that sound better than cheap balanced amps, with some of the cheaper ones not even being truly balanced internally.

Open versus closed-back. Open has its advantages, for sure. Less reflections and resonances usually leads to better decay, wider soundstaging, tighter bass, etc. But there are plenty of examples of crappy open-back headphones that are stomped all over by quality closed-backs, and in recent years there are quite a few god-tier closed backs out there that hold their own.

So yeah, driver technology is much the same as any of the above examples. They may have their inherent advantages, and really what it comes to, potential, but when shopping for any given headphone, it still depends on your timbre preference and your taste in music, and ultimately each headphone should be evaluated individually based on that criteria, and other practical considerations (price, sensitivity, comfort, etc).

Like, don't get me wrong, I find all the different headphone technologies really fascinating. I'd like to own at least one headphone with every different driver technology (there's at least six that I know of, plus hybrids). But when I just want to sit down and listen to the music (or play a game or watch a movie), the ears don't really care how the sound was made.

Again, this is some great advice, thank you. I try to be open minded with most things, but I can't see myself buying another tube amp at any point in the future at all (i've only owned one and didn't think much of it, I don't quite understand the appeal of tube amps). Don't they just colour the sound of headphones? I would much rather buy a really high end expensive solid state amp than a tube amp, but I guess this is just my preference.
Thanks again for your comments, and thanks to everyone else too, some great advice here, much appreciated.

 

[Shane D]

Again, this is some great advice, thank you. I try to be open minded with most things, but I can't see myself buying another tube amp at any point in the future at all (i've only owned one and didn't think much of it, I don't quite understand the appeal of tube amps). Don't they just colour the sound of headphones? I would much rather buy a really high end expensive solid state amp than a tube amp, but I guess this is just my preference.
Thanks again for your comments, and thanks to everyone else too, some great advice here, much appreciated.

I hear you on the tube hunt chase. I spent a few years, specifically when I had the HD600's and HD6XX's. People said you need an amp. Okay, I bought one. Flat and boring to me. People said you need a better amp. Okay, I bought a better amp. Still sounded flat and boring. People said you need a tube amp to really hear them sing. Okay I went through several hybrid tube amps with no luck at all. I was beginning to think that I just didn't like these headphones. But people again spoke up and said you need an OTL tube amp. Then I will hear the magic that is Sennheiser.
Guess what? I still didn't like them.
I bought the HD600's and HD6XX's twice each with the mistaken belief that I just wasn't getting it. bull. I just don't care for the Sennheiser sound. I wasted a lot of time chasing the "conventional wisdom" and wasted a lot of money.

We all hear differently and you really have to poke around and try different things out and see what you like.

 

[bagwell359]

Thank you for your comment. I guess you are right. I agree 100%. I can't make up my mind which driver type I prefer, I have a ton of experience with dynamic type drivers but not as much experience with planars. I do really like the sound they are capable of, I think they have mysterious euphonic quality that doesn't exist with dynamic type drivers and thus can sound very addicting, but I remain on the fence as to which type of headphone driver I ultimately prefer. Time will tell I guess.

Forget the technology, what music do you like, how many watts do you have? Those are the sorts of questions you should ask.

I think estats are the best, ribbons next, then planers. My 3 main cans? 2 planars and a dynamic. Affordability matters too.

 

[Steven31]

I hear you on the tube hunt chase. I spent a few years, specifically when I had the HD600's and HD6XX's. People said you need an amp. Okay, I bought one. Flat and boring to me. People said you need a better amp. Okay, I bought a better amp. Still sounded flat and boring. People said you need a tube amp to really hear them sing. Okay I went through several hybrid tube amps with no luck at all. I was beginning to think that I just didn't like these headphones. But people again spoke up and said you need an OTL tube amp. Then I will hear the magic that is Sennheiser.
Guess what? I still didn't like them.
I bought the HD600's and HD6XX's twice each with the mistaken belief that I just wasn't getting it. bull. I just don't care for the Sennheiser sound. I wasted a lot of time chasing the "conventional wisdom" and wasted a lot of money.

We all hear differently and you really have to poke around and try different things out and see what you like.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Yeah I must confess i'm not a big fan of Sennheiser. This might sound funny and illogical but it's my honest opinion; the best Sennheiser's (or rather, to sound less harsh (I know there are allot of Sennheiser fans and I don't want to cause offense) I have ever heard are the cheapest! lol. I much prefer the HD206 to the HD600, HD558, HD558 and HD700. I admired the HD600 for what it was but didn't think it was remarkable, and the HD558 and HD598 where far too bright for my liking,- good headphones especially for the price, but the tuning was odd. And I didn't like the HD700 because of it's tuning; again very odd, in my opinion, except instead of being too bright sounding for me (like the HD558 and HD598) I thought it was the opposite; too dark sounding. And that brings me to my point; I think it is extremely difficult to find a Sennheiser that sounds right. Whereas with most other brands, this problem doesn't exist, in my opinion. I agree that we al hear differently and we really need to try things out for ourselves. I don't think any amount of convincing could convince me to purchase any kind of tube amp! lol. I just don't see the point in them, to be honest. I understand what they do and appreciate that in some cases, they may be able to improve the sound of a particular headphone, but I would much rather buy a high end Marantz integrated amplifier or a Pioneer or Denon AV receiver that comes with an endless list of functionalities. Thanks for your comment.

 

[Steven31]

Forget the technology, what music do you like, how many watts do you have? Those are the sorts of questions you should ask.

I think estats are the best, ribbons next, then planers. My 3 main cans? 2 planars and a dynamic. Affordability matters too.

Yeah I should probably focus more on the music and such. I would love to hear a Stax system someday in the future, although I am not sure I like the price of them, lol. Not sure I could bring myself around to paying a few thousand dollars for the experience.

 

[hottyson]

I hear you on the tube hunt chase. I spent a few years, specifically when I had the HD600's and HD6XX's. People said you need an amp. Okay, I bought one. Flat and boring to me. People said you need a better amp. Okay, I bought a better amp. Still sounded flat and boring. People said you need a tube amp to really hear them sing. Okay I went through several hybrid tube amps with no luck at all. I was beginning to think that I just didn't like these headphones. But people again spoke up and said you need an OTL tube amp. Then I will hear the magic that is Sennheiser.
Guess what? I still didn't like them.
I bought the HD600's and HD6XX's twice each with the mistaken belief that I just wasn't getting it. bull. I just don't care for the Sennheiser sound. I wasted a lot of time chasing the "conventional wisdom" and wasted a lot of money.

We all hear differently and you really have to poke around and try different things out and see what you like.

I hate my Sennheiser HD6XX. I am still waiting for them to sound good. They sound horrible on ALL of my amplifiers (I have tons of amps) and they sound best but still bad on my tube amps. I do however enjoy Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee paired with tubes. $130 HD58X paired with $200 Darkvoice 336SE tube amp and $20 upgraded Russian tubes = Very good and fun sound at $350.
.
However, my planar setup costs more. $600 Hifiman HE6SE V2 paired with $500 RebelAmp = Better sound but at $1,100.
.
I should have a budget Planar vs Dynamic driver shootout. It could be Sennheiser HD58X on Darkvoice vs $350 Sundara paired with $25 Lusya Fever DAC.

 

[bagwell359]

Single-ended versus balanced. Balanced does have some inherent advantages giving each channel its own ground signal, and that can lead to greater separation and cleaner (and often more) power. But similar to above, you can always find examples out of the many, many amps out there of single-ended amps that sound better than cheap balanced amps, with some of the cheaper ones not even being truly balanced internally.

Please do not hold the performance of ersatz balanced equipment against legitimate equipment. BTW some of the fake stuff isn't that cheap.

Open versus closed-back. Open has its advantages, for sure. Less reflections and resonances usually leads to better decay, wider soundstaging, tighter bass, etc. But there are plenty of examples of crappy open-back headphones that are stomped all over by quality closed-backs, and in recent years there are quite a few god-tier closed backs out there that hold their own.

So yeah, driver technology is much the same as any of the above examples. They may have their inherent advantages, and really what it comes to, potential, but when shopping for any given headphone, it still depends on your timbre preference and your taste in music, and ultimately each headphone should be evaluated individually based on that criteria, and other practical considerations (price, sensitivity, comfort, etc).

Still there are few closed backs that are really good and some very pricey. Best function is when isolation is necessary.

 

[bagwell359]

Yeah I should probably focus more on the music and such. I would love to hear a Stax system someday in the future, although I am not sure I like the price of them, lol. Not sure I could bring myself around to paying a few thousand dollars for the experience.

TOTL estat plus amp? $10k (Amp is $7k+).

An open box Susvara (planar) and used Rag 1 is about 4.6k. Gives about 97.8% of above.

 

[Reputator]

I hear you on the tube hunt chase. I spent a few years, specifically when I had the HD600's and HD6XX's. People said you need an amp. Okay, I bought one. Flat and boring to me. People said you need a better amp. Okay, I bought a better amp. Still sounded flat and boring. People said you need a tube amp to really hear them sing. Okay I went through several hybrid tube amps with no luck at all. I was beginning to think that I just didn't like these headphones. But people again spoke up and said you need an OTL tube amp. Then I will hear the magic that is Sennheiser.
Guess what? I still didn't like them.
I bought the HD600's and HD6XX's twice each with the mistaken belief that I just wasn't getting it. bull. I just don't care for the Sennheiser sound. I wasted a lot of time chasing the "conventional wisdom" and wasted a lot of money.

We all hear differently and you really have to poke around and try different things out and see what you like.

This is a great summary of the audiophile journey in a nutshell. It's so deeply personal. Part of why I don't care about "objectivity" in audio testing, unless you're working in a lab or something. Listening purely for enjoyment is a wholly subjective experience.

I hate my Sennheiser HD6XX. I am still waiting for them to sound good. They sound horrible on ALL of my amplifiers (I have tons of amps) and they sound best but still bad on my tube amps. I do however enjoy Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee paired with tubes. $130 HD58X paired with $200 Darkvoice 336SE tube amp and $20 upgraded Russian tubes = Very good and fun sound at $350.
.
However, my planar setup costs more. $600 Hifiman HE6SE V2 paired with $500 RebelAmp = Better sound but at $1,100.
.
I should have a budget Planar vs Dynamic driver shootout. It could be Sennheiser HD58X on Darkvoice vs $350 Sundara paired with $25 Lusya Fever DAC.

I never tried the HD6XX but I did have the 58X briefly. I thought the tuning was excellent and it had a nice, tight, punchy sound, but I didn't keep them because there wasn't a single thing they did better than my other headphones, and I find I tend to get bored when there's little-to-no soundstage. Still a great entry point for people getting started in the hobby.

Maybe that's getting too off-topic though.

 

[tjlindle]

If you had two equivalent, expert engineering teams in each respective technology and they both designed a headphone, I think that you could not differentiate the headphones in quality beyond subjective stuff like tuning preference.

So in that sense I disagree that planars are fundamentally better and I think that's reflected at TOTL levels where there are indeed very well-regarded dynamics like 800s and Utopia.

I will add though that I wish more hybrid IEMs had planar drivers for bass rather than dynamic. But I think there are a lot of technical limitations at that small size.

EDIT: For what it's worth I feel this way about electrostats too and I'd argue the technical differences in sound quality with 'stats are even more pronounced than with planars and dynamics.

 

[Shane D]

This is a great summary of the audiophile journey in a nutshell. It's so deeply personal. Part of why I don't care about "objectivity" in audio testing, unless you're working in a lab or something. Listening purely for enjoyment is a wholly subjective experience.



I never tried the HD6XX but I did have the 58X briefly. I thought the tuning was excellent and it had a nice, tight, punchy sound, but I didn't keep them because there wasn't a single thing they did better than my other headphones, and I find I tend to get bored when there's little-to-no soundstage. Still a great entry point for people getting started in the hobby.

Maybe that's getting too off-topic though.

I don't "hate" all Sennheisers. I think the HD58X's are a Great economic headphone for a beginner or someone really strapped for cash. I found that they didn't scale up much and sold them.

I still own a pair of HD660's, but I use them as a "Palette cleanser". I find them very clear, transparent and neutral. Not the qualities that I look for in a headphone, but they serve a purpose. They will NEVER be a favourite though.

 

[Blackrao]

I hear you on the tube hunt chase. I spent a few years, specifically when I had the HD600's and HD6XX's. People said you need an amp. Okay, I bought one. Flat and boring to me. People said you need a better amp. Okay, I bought a better amp. Still sounded flat and boring. People said you need a tube amp to really hear them sing. Okay I went through several hybrid tube amps with no luck at all. I was beginning to think that I just didn't like these headphones. But people again spoke up and said you need an OTL tube amp. Then I will hear the magic that is Sennheiser.
Guess what? I still didn't like them.
I bought the HD600's and HD6XX's twice each with the mistaken belief that I just wasn't getting it. bull. I just don't care for the Sennheiser sound. I wasted a lot of time chasing the "conventional wisdom" and wasted a lot of money.

We all hear differently and you really have to poke around and try different things out and see what you like.

sad story. I bought a GL2000 according to some reviewers praises of it....I should of just bought a He6sev2 instead, but was scared of buying it initially because of the "NEED A SPEAKER AMP" crowd.

 

[bagwell359]

If you had two equivalent, expert engineering teams in each respective technology and they both designed a headphone, I think that you could not differentiate the headphones in quality beyond subjective stuff like tuning preference.

So in that sense I disagree that planars are fundamentally better and I think that's reflected at TOTL levels where there are indeed very well-regarded dynamics like 800s and Utopia.

I will add though that I wish more hybrid IEMs had planar drivers for bass rather than dynamic. But I think there are a lot of technical limitations at that small size.

EDIT: For what it's worth I feel this way about electrostats too and I'd argue the technical differences in sound quality with 'stats are even more pronounced than with planars and dynamics.

Interesting. I find the treble purity drifting down to male voices in elite estats and ribbons stand apart and well above other technologies (I have not spent enough time with the HEDD to be sure if it is possibly also a member of that club) - that includes the Utopia (overrated) and 800S and a pile of planars including the Susvara (pretty close but not there).

Problem is they are expensive and require insanely expensive amps. The RAAL dealer around here says the Rag 1 is the absolute lowest quality amp to use. Sadly those elite cans do not produce a lot of dynamics and push into the lower bass. Like the HD-600 they are fast, clean, and tonally correct under 90 Hz, but like the 600 lacking iron in the boots. Unlike the 600 they are cleaner and less smudged in the 100-200 Hz range with rollicking bass.

 

[FullBright1]

Are Planars better then Dynamics?

It depends on what you prefer.
It also depends on the model's being compared.

No headphone sounds like speakers, and no speakers sound like the performance when it was created.
Its all trickle down and some models trickle better and some models trickle best, via Dynamics or Planars.

 

[bagwell359]

sad story. I bought a GL2000 according to some reviewers praises of it....I should of just bought a He6sev2 instead, but was scared of buying it initially because of the "NEED A SPEAKER AMP" crowd.

When the HE-6 debuted 11+ years ago that might have been true. These days lots amp amps can handle any 6 ever made. But lots cannot. As always what works for you is best.