I fell into some good funds and can finally afford a flagship.
I want a flagship that connects to human soul and emotion. The kind that make you enjoy your music so much they make you cry or have goosebumps.
I like to be surprised by dynamics in the midrange and highs, like Wilson audio speakers. Or Mercedes burmester car audio. I like that expensive sounding sound. I want a Stradivarius to sound full bodied with proper timbre. Organic
.. And I want to hear the forest instead of the trees. Sometimes headphones can be very detailed and correct yet somehow cluttered and challenging to listen to unless you focus.. I want mine to be psychoacoustically correct and easy to comprehend. Refined... cohesive, polished.
Measurements should be an afterthought. I prefer bioscience and unicorn piss. But tonal balance is still important (no range or feature should be noticeably highlighted)... And Imaging cues of distance and positioning accuracy are much more important to me than soundstage room size or seating position...
My Opinions of flagship headphones I’ve tried at meets over the years:
HD800: great micro detail. Impressive but artificial imaging/soundstage width. Too thin and no emotion. Cant get into the music
hd600: good overall balance (not thin, pleasing bass quantity) but cloudy, hazy overall. Smoothed out with every track. Socially acceptable high end reference sound of yesteryear. More refined than HD800 IMO (and I’ve heard the S). Fairly emotional
Random Planar headphones: weird wall type soundstages, “hard” brash sound, a little too in your face. Maybe good for metal. Great bass extension. High end ones gave same impressions but more natural soundstage and cleared up veil...
Denon AD-H7200: great musicality and fun, engaging imaging cues. But too much bass bloat and limited micro detail. Bloomy.
Focal Stelia closed: refined luxurious polished sound but noticeably closed/boxy effect. Sort of boring overall like all Focal I’ve heard
My current rig is AKG K371 which I came to love after finding an amp that controlled the bass and made the mids “pop” (liquid spark).. I enjoy the setup a lot but it’s treble extension and detail is low, and overall sound veiled. Reminds me of HD600/650 or QC35.
Now, I have also heard the 1266 and HE-1, and found them to be next level. The HE1, like Wilson audio speakers, could be so delicate sound then next moment smack you over the head with power...
The $5k Abyss is financially attainable but I’m not sure I wanna spend that much when these $200 AKG headphones can still impress me.
Was considering blind buying the T1 v3
(or boring old hd800s, just to own a modern “reference” and learn to appreciate it). Maybe it takes a quiet room? The meets always made this stuff hard
I have an Aquila II coming for Christmas, and my source is raspberry pi with volumio, and coaxial pcm streaming flac into an smsl su-8...
Any suggestions for pairing some nice cans to the new amp/Dac?