End of 2021 is flagship headphone time for me and I must say, the only reason I started considering it is acquiring M17 and having enough driving power without the cumbersome requirement of a sedentary setup (appartement is too small for that, will change in 2022 if I move as intended).
Anyway, I have been so deep into IEMs that other than occasional listen of nice stuff like
@lafeuill D8000 Pro
(ah and @popof94 Susvara out of Egoista 645 remains a religious experience) and my faithful SR2 which is semi open and does get listening time only when kids are at school... it pretty much was all IEMs. Each time I'd pick a headphone I'd tell myself the bigger stage as well as bass impact can't really be mimicked by IEMs much smaller drivers. Just like maybe people with great speakers react when they listen to headphones
Anyway, just received Dan Clark Audio Stealth which is my first flagship headphone and a closed one at that so ticking all my boxes. Also the biggest money I have spent on a single piece of audio... but I am so glad I did
as you can gather from the smile on my profile pic
Spending more time working remote with COVID certainly helped justify the expense as well. We always find a reason
Just a few hours with it but if I had to sum up the Stealth it would be : lifelike, effortless, music just flows so naturally with its amazing comfort the Stealth just disappears and there is only the music... as
@DarginMahkum said and it the sentence that got me blind purchasing the Stealth is
"like increasing the the palette. Like going from 16 shades of red to 256 shades of red, if you think in colors." That's exactly that, infinite nuances that were previously lost are found and it's something to behold... it's not the spectacular in your face kind of headphone but it's spectacular in its refinement... just wow!
I think I have jumped into another rabbit hole, the natural next step in 2022 might be to get a nice amp/dac last year I said the same and already eyed Pro iDSD might happen one year after
Anyway very happy camper there!