incredible guide, congratulations for the great work, awesome!!!
I have some doubts and I would like you solve them if it is possible:
First of all, I won't buy an amp and I will only use my cans with my one plus 3 and my motherboard without sound card dedicated.
I'm looking for portable closed back circumaural wired headphones. Actually I'm testing sony mdr 1r-a, but how much is the difference between this model and previous mdr-1r?? I have also read in this website the possibility of mod this headphone with dynamat, do you think it is worth the time and extra money?
I have also tested v-moda m100 but I experimented clamping force of headband and also heat in the earpads. So by the way I prefer sony ones.
Nevertheless, reading your guide, I think there are better options. Comfort is the most important value for me, and also the easy of drive them. After that, obviously the sound they provide.
Filtering by these conditions, I found my best headphones are:
- Momentum over-ears 2.0 and oppo pm-3. I could buy momentum for 170€ but oppo is much expensive. So between these two, I'd choose momentum obviously.
Final question:
I bought on black friday sony mdr-1a for ridiculous 90€ as new in amazon uk, but as I said momentum costs 170€. Really it worths the extra price???
Many thanks in advance. I'd appreciate other recommendations (but no wireless, bluetooth or NC)
Thanks! With regards to an independent amplifier, I purposely tested all the headphones here with just my iDevice as I wanted a truly "portable solution" as you mentioned. But for those on a budge, the Cayin i5 DAP and Chord Mojo offer outstanding value and sound great! Between the Momentum 2 and Oppo PM-3, you can see which I rated higher (and why). But that's quite a bit of financial difference between them. The Momentum 2 is a more earthy, bassy headphone and the PM-3 is incredibly transparent and neutral. Great pick up on the MDR-1a...great headphones too.
I'm curious if Meze 99 can be added to the rating? Interested in how it compares to the leaders.
I really liked them when I heard them at RMAF, but I'd need a much closer listen to post them here. I've asked for a loaner and that kinda fell through the cracks...I'll ask again after the holidays.