Just got back from a audio store with pretty much every major mid to high end headphone available for demo'ing .
Everything was run through a Chord Hugo TT2 so there should have been no issues with underpowering anything.
I compared mainly the Focal Elear against the Audeze LCD2 Classic because I'm a bit of a bass-head albeit one who likes open back headphones. I had read lots about the apparently astonishing dynamics of the Elear and had read some comparisons between it and the LCD2 Classic where the LCD2 Classic was made to seem 'soft' and 'laid back' in comparison. That's not what I heard.
I compared these two against each other mainly listening to Tool's latest album because I think it has extremely well mixed drums so the dynamics should be brought to the forefront. Yes the Elear was quite dynamic sounding (in terms of hearing a sharp attack characteristic from an aggressive drum hit), but it was not anything like it is hyped up to be. Comparing it to my HD650, it was possibly 5-7% more dynamic (if such a thing can be measured) - it was noticeable, but not night and day. This was similar to the difference in dynamics between my HD650 and my DT 1990 Pro, so though I did not have the DT 1990 Pro handy for direct comparison against the Elear, I would bet they are similar in terms of dynamics.
The LCD2 Classic was not soft and laid back sounding next to the Elear; they thump just as hard as the Elear. Perhaps Elear has slightly more sharpness of transients in the higher frequency ranges, but the LCD2 Classic has more depth to its punch down low so just sounds a bit 'bigger' in the low end. But I also heard forceful attack, for example in higher pitched drums. Again, these are relatively subtle differences. The combination of a more laid back frequency response with gripping dynamics makes for an enticing listen in the LCD2 Classic.
But really the HD650 is not THAT far behind either in low end extension, slam or dynamics, and still has its magic midrange, so is not an objective downgrade from either.
I also got to compare the Sundara to the Ananda. Again, not huge differences here - both sound well extended, but I got a touch more midrange presence and (to my ears) midrange tonal accuracy from the Ananda in addition to slightly better separation of instruments within the soundstage (as if each instrument is contained in some sort of airy 'pocket' within the soundstage). I'm not good at gauging the size of a soundstage generally, but there didn't seem to be massive differences from Sundara to Ananda - both were plenty big.