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More of this mid-fi mumbo jumbo....
So what price point buys you "high-end"? It just seems like so many are focussed on the status of their gear instead of what's really important. I prefer my HE-500 to the LCD2, the HD800, and even the T1...I briefly tried them all and ended up deciding on the HE-500 because to my ears they did more of what I wanted out of a set of headphones than the others. The HD800 just didn't pull me into the music the way I was wanting, the mids on the LCD2 just didn't compare to the HE-500, the T1 was the closest to what I was looking for but in the end I just felt like the T1 in a way too similar somehow to my RS1i sound. The HE-500 met my needs, my budget, and my tastes.
OP: You have several great cans and I think it would be foolish to sell them all in order to buy one headphone as I really don't believe there is such a thing as one headphone that will work for all genres and tastes. Maybe consider which two you love the most, keep them, sell the others, and explore some higher end (performance not price) models and see what excites you. It should really be about what headphones make you sit up and pull you into the music. If it's a pair of 325i's or the 009 shouldn't matter. I was planning on spending up to $1400 on headphones and surprised myself when the winner turned out to only run $699.
I thought the LCDs were perfectly comfortable by the way. I do agree that the pads somehow seemed too thin on the HD800 (I also think they are hideous). Beyers are the comfort kings though, I just don't get overly excited by their sound but I'm a mid-fier forever I guess....I also love my RS1i
I also refuse to listen to high end Stax headphones. I just don't want to know for sure how good they are as they will likely forever be out of my budget and I don't want to go insane wanting what I can't have....
It amuses me so much that we run around calling people mid-fiers etc. when you consider that these "mid-fi" systems cost in the thousands when you consider sources, cables, interconnects, etc. like it's some sort of stigma when people don't have jobs or can't afford healthcare....first world problems indeed.
+1, Thank you! I've been trying to say the same thing I've been saying for a while now. I don't know where this whole "it's good for mid-fi" stigma seems to come from. Half the headphones called "mid-fi" were the "pinnacle of hi-fi" 5 years ago, second only to Stax and Orpheus. Now they're "mid-fi". Wait, did they lose fidelity since I bought them 5 years ago? If they were high fidelity then, they're still high fidelity now. The SQ didn't disspate both in used and new production models in that time. HD650 is hi-fi, not mid-fi. K702 is hi-fi, not mid-fi. HD4xx, HD5xx (except 595 that is similar to HD600), ok, that may be mid-fi. But it was 5 years ago too. As summit-fi has grown with ~$1k models, somehow summit-fi has leaked and bled into the discussion to become "hi-fi", and everything formerly "hi-fi" has been denounced as mid-fi. Meanwhile HD650 and HD600 have RISEN in price back to their original launch price almost 10 years ago. Can't you wait until 6 years from now when HD800 will cost $2000 and be "mid-fi?"
Very few mid-fi things are discussed anywhere on H-F. Most everything talked about is hi-fi. To call HE-500 "mid-fi" just odd. Back when HD650 and K702 were THE flagships they were $500. Somehow a new headphone that was released at $900 and dropped to $700 is considered mid-fi. Perspective? Yet, simultaneously, there are HE-500 threads on the SUMMIT-FI forum. A forum that once was reserved for Stax & Orpheus level items. Somehow on the Hi-Fi forum they're only mid-fi, but on the summit-fi forum they're one of the club. Talk about two different points of view!
The only one that sits as odd-man-out is HE-400. As an ortho and in most ways an equal to HE-500 in all but price, it deserves much of the same status of HE-500, whatever that status would be. But due to its low price, playful color, and TECHNICAL edge the HE-500 has over it, I doubt it will get that respect. But, sort of maybe HE-4 as a half-ortho, I'm unaware of any ortho right now that would be considered "mid-fi". Nor am I sure planar tech is capable of being "mid-fi" in any way unless it is seriously botched in design.
Running around calling everything "mid" based on convenient price categories seems to be a relatively new phenomenon since I started lurking these forums long, long, long ago.
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My bad, I don't have HE-500 so I should not have said that. Regardless HE500 can compete with LCD2 or HD800, question is am I going to be completely satisfied with HE500 instead of HE6 ?
I went through lot of sets, started from low end Senns, beyer etc, ended up buying the top tier flagship, why ? cause it sounds better
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Not sure if I want to pursue the same route for HifiMan product, that was my intention.
If I purchased top tier first I probably have saved lot of money.
No one knows if you'll be completely satisifed with any can but you. Also, whether you like planar sound is open to discussion. I haven't tried the Beyer & Senn flagships, but my understanding is, those are the king for a "3d effect" soundstage, planar is the king for a more natural smooth sound at the cost of a little "ultimate sound stage." They all run at around the same price range, so it's all about preference.
Regarding HiFiMan, don't get sucked into tiered pricing. All three ranges of their headphones have very different voicings. HE-400 is balanced with a fun twist and a slightly bumped low-end. They are dark. Darker than HD650. And yet highly detailed. They have fairly neutral and/or "dry" mids so fans of vocals may be steered away. HE-500 is supposedly brighter, but with a boosted, fuller, warmer midrange and a laid-back sound, more like the voicing of HD650 but with more detail and better extension in all directions. HE-6 is supposedly more pure neutral without a colored low-end or a colored mid-range like HE-400 and HE-500. It's also supposedly the most detailed but be warned, they're rated at a whopping 8w. Even Lyr is only specced at 6w. Either speaker taps or a balanced high-output amp are probably essential for getting the most out of them. The HE-400 is cheaper mostly due to the fact that it's the first produced on the new mass-production assembly line rather than hand-assembly, not because it's vastly inferior. If He-500 were made the same way they would both me far closer in price.
While part of me is curious about HE-6, I have little interest in building a Mark Levinson super-rack to run the things. A duet of HE-400 and HE-500 is probably the ideal. You get the balanced, live, semi-fun-sound of the HE-400 and the warm, relaxing lush sound of HE-500 for less money than the HE-6. Personally, I keep getting tempted by HE-500, but every time I listen to HE-400, I lose almost all motivation to actually buy them, or any other headphone....it just sounds so good...
Maybe I am going to swap with HE6, 
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