[whereas]

I'm looking for something where the placement and stage / imaging is such that I can close my eyes and it sounds like the person is singing in front of me in the room, rather than inside my head.
 
My experience is limited to the Denon D5000 and "lesser" headphones, so I haven't heard HD800s, planar magnetics, etc. Do you have to go up to that level to get that 3D quality, or would something like the upcoming EL-8 fit the bill?

 

[Music Alchemist]

Not many headphones would compete with the HD 800 in that regard. Plenty of headphones can give you at least a portion of what you seek, but how it sounds to you (and others) is a personal thing.
 
Your thread title is so amusing, because...well...
 
https://fongaudio.com/out-of-your-head-software/

 

[kramer5150]

Ear-speaker designs are what you want... AKG K1000, Sony PFR-V1 and MDR-F1
 
I'm listening to Jethro Tull live at Montreaux as I type, makes my K701 sound like an in-ear monitor.   I am surrounded by crowd cheer, venue ambiance and natural reverberation unlike any headphone I have heard that's not a K1000.  Theres a sense if "delicacy" and airspace to tones and sounds... because it literally is ambiant air thats in open space, surrounding the outer ear.  It gets BETTER with volume too.  The louder you listen the more there is a sense of natural acoustic cross-feed that's completely missing from traditional headphones. The K1000 is King of crossfeed IMHO, no traditional headphone can match this acoustic aspect of its open design.
 

 
 
Look up in the sky!! its a bird!! its a plane!!  Its a soundstage!!
 

 

[Claritas]

The few e-stats I've tried and/or owned really do sound "out of head." The humble ESP950 sounds more out of head than all of the expensive planars and dynamics I've tried, which is almost everything currently in production.

Other things to try if you want to achieve this effect are:
1. amps with crossfeed functions (e.g., some Meier amps)
2. software (e.g., Darin Fong's programs).

 

[kramer5150]

The few e-stats I've tried and/or owned really do sound "out of head." The humble ESP950 sounds more out of head than all of the expensive planars and dynamics I've tried, which is almost everything currently in production.

Other things to try if you want to achieve this effect are:
1. amps with crossfeed functions (e.g., some Meier amps)
2. software (e.g., Darin Fong's programs).

The ESP 950 is a planar I have always wanted to try... curious are you using the OEM amp?  Is your source balanced?
 
thanks!! 

 

[Claritas]

The ESP 950 is a planar I have always wanted to try... curious are you using the OEM amp?  Is your source balanced?

thanks!!

For now, I'm using the amp that comes with it. Nothing balanced.

Marantz CDP > Beresford Caiman II DAC > E90 amp > ESP950 e-stat.

 

[av15]

Claritas, what other headphones do you find incredible after your ESP950?

 

[Claritas]

Claritas, what other headphones do you find incredible after your ESP950?

Only e-stats give me the out of head experience. But several headphones have something about them that wows or a genre they play especially well.

HE560, HD800 with mods and tubes, K340 only with tubes, SR80/225 and RS1 (original and i series) for organ music and metal, K501 for solo vocals, HP1k for strings.

Just as different composers create different soundworlds, so do different headphones.