[koover]

Some good deals going around this holiday/black friday weekend so I am asking for some assistance. I know this is the Clear forum, so I do expect a slightly bias; but I can't go around posting the same message to all the forums. I also chose to post on the Clear forum since for now; it's is tied in the lead for my choice to buy.

Question:
How would you guys compare the Clear to Hifiman Arya, ZMF aeolus/Auteur; Sendy Aiva; Mrspeakers Ether flow Open, and maybe Audeze LCD MX4. If you had to choose; or Rank them, how would you rank them.

Other than sendy aiva's all are about roughly the same general price point (LCD MX4 has a B stock at $1500).

I'm tempted to get Arya for it's big wall of sound/sound stage and relatively even sound across the board.
ZMF's headphones are a work of art and is the best competitor to Clears in the Dynamic headphones other than HD 800s.
Sendy Aiva is 500 bucks right now with the holiday sale. And many reviewers had stated it punches above it's weight. Very detail, clean sound. Plus the cables look great. It would save me $700-1000 going this rought.
Ether Flow Open: for whatever reason; people stopped discussing this headphone several years ago. I know Ether 2 was kind of a disappointment, but the flow looks great, large cushion, every says it is comfortable. So what exactly is off about them?
Clear: The only negatives I hear is somewhat metalic timbre; narrow soundstage and positioning the sound in your head vs outside. But by all acounts it appears to be a very neutral headphone; good for many genres. Also this, Ether; and ZMF have the best build quality, while still being fairly light.
Audeze MX4: well; you get double sided magnet; about 150g less than LCD4; but still 100g above Clear in weight. supposedly neutral; and easy to drive. Yet; there is way way way fever reviews of this headphone compared to other, which again makes me wonder if something is off?.

Every HP you're interested in are really different from each other. As @roskodan stated, having a general idea of the SS you're looking for probably will get you more responses. Right now, it's pretty vague on what sound you're going after predominately.
From what you listed, I've only heard the Aeolus, Clear and Auteur. The Clear is a completely different animal from the ZMF house sound. That much I can say.
Just from the 3 I listed, I'd take the Aeolus over the Clear and even the Auteur as it's more musical, organic, hits hard and has great bass extension for an open back. The Clear is very dynamic and as you stated, has a small and narrow soundstage. It's a great headphone and I've owned it for a while. No plans on getting rid of it either as it's a great compliment to most of my other HP's in my stall.

 

[powerincarnate]

Maybe you have a general idea of what direction you would like the sound to depart from the Alphas sound/presentation.

the most obvious is an open headphone, hence all the choices are open cans.

My biggest issue is that I don't have the ability to try some headphones; and I do not like to buy and then sell; and then buy and then sell until i reach an endgame. I much prefer a headphone that I could use as my daily driver for years to come. With that said; what will that be is the question. For example; I hear good things about the Arya; but keep hearing the build quality stinks? so Will it last as long as my alphas, which doesn't appear to have even a scratch on it, despite me abusing it for this long. This is one of the main reasons why the clear was at the top of my potential choices since it had great build quality; and generally was a respected headphone.

 

[dontfeedphils]

the most obvious is an open headphone, hence all the choices are open cans.

My biggest issue is that I don't have the ability to try some headphones; and I do not like to buy and then sell; and then buy and then sell until i reach an endgame. I much prefer a headphone that I could use as my daily driver for years to come. With that said; what will that be is the question. For example; I hear good things about the Arya; but keep hearing the build quality stinks? so Will it last as long as my alphas, which doesn't appear to have even a scratch on it, despite me abusing it for this long. This is one of the main reasons why the clear was at the top of my potential choices since it had great build quality; and generally was a respected headphone.

Unfortunately, without having heard literally any of them, and without being able to give us a clear answer on what your target sound sig is it's going to be very difficult to recommend anything with any kind of certainty.

 

[KingCharizard]

the most obvious is an open headphone, hence all the choices are open cans.

My biggest issue is that I don't have the ability to try some headphones; and I do not like to buy and then sell; and then buy and then sell until i reach an endgame. I much prefer a headphone that I could use as my daily driver for years to come. With that said; what will that be is the question. For example; I hear good things about the Arya; but keep hearing the build quality stinks? so Will it last as long as my alphas, which doesn't appear to have even a scratch on it, despite me abusing it for this long. This is one of the main reasons why the clear was at the top of my potential choices since it had great build quality; and generally was a respected headphone.

My friend, the headphones you’re asking about all sound very different. Price tag alone does not endgame make, unless it’s the sound signature you’re looking for; what do you enjoy about your music? Do you listen to a lot of hip-hop and like hard-hitting bass? Do you like a big soundstage with lots of air? Depending on the sound signature you like, the recommendation would be different, so the wonderful folks on here can help you best if you can tell them what sound you want. If not, no problem - a good place to start is the music you listen to.

Unfortunately I’ve also only heard the Auteur and Aeolus in addition to the Clear (unless the HD800 is on the table). The Aeolus has a very thick, warm mid-bassy sound that I loved, but you have to specifically enjoy that type of tonal balance. Auteur is a natural presentation, excellent bass extension, natural timbre + bigger soundstage, more expensive and harder to drive than the Clear. I really enjoy my Clear - very balanced frequency response, very dynamic sound, very good detail retrieval, good comfort and easy to drive but with a small soundstage. I know the “metallic” timbre bothers some people, never been a problem for me. All that being said, the Arya’s been getting some rave reviews, so you should do your research into them. Good luck, and enjoy!

Edit: spelling.

 

[roskodan]

@powerincarnate

Well, I would like to debunk at least the notion of the Clear having a "metalic timbre". It's just right down the middle between being "metallic" or "veiled".

Also, the Alphas are great in all but the treble, and being power hungry (2-4 Watts @ 50 Ohms). Major shortcomings of the Alphas is the need of a powerful and smooth amp, to make them sound uncompressed and make their harsh, wild treble, bearable.

What you won't get from the Clear or any other non planar headphone is the presence, weight, tactility, physicality that planars have in the 1st kHz.

 

[powerincarnate]

It is a bit difficult to describe what exactly I'm looking for without hearing them. In general; I would like a headphone that isn't too heavy; hence why for the most part I have excluded the audeze headphones. I would prefer one with good build quality that last a long time. I listen to all sorts of stuff. like I said, it would be my daily driver so it would be use to listen to youtube; music of all genre; I do play quite a bit of video games on steam so it would be my gaming headphone as well. I think I would like something with a relatively large stage; slightly darker than neutral; definitely not bright/sharp. I would like a headphone that can hit all the way down to 20 hz without it already rolling off quite a bit; but I also don't want base cannon Beats imitation stuff.

So in generally a relatively neutral; slightly warmer than neutral headphone with relatively descent sound stage; that doesn't weight a ton; that has good detail retrieval capabilities so that I'm not replacing them in a few years. and with good build quality.

 

[phthora]

It is a bit difficult to describe what exactly I'm looking for without hearing them. In general; I would like a headphone that isn't too heavy; hence why for the most part I have excluded the audeze headphones. I would prefer one with good build quality that last a long time. I listen to all sorts of stuff. like I said, it would be my daily driver so it would be use to listen to youtube; music of all genre; I do play quite a bit of video games on steam so it would be my gaming headphone as well. I think I would like something with a relatively large stage; slightly darker than neutral; definitely not bright/sharp. I would like a headphone that can hit all the way down to 20 hz without it already rolling off quite a bit; but I also don't want base cannon Beats imitation stuff.

So in generally a relatively neutral; slightly warmer than neutral headphone with relatively descent sound stage; that doesn't weight a ton; that has good detail retrieval capabilities so that I'm not replacing them in a few years. and with good build quality.

Dan Clark Audio Ether 2.

 

[koover]

It is a bit difficult to describe what exactly I'm looking for without hearing them. In general; I would like a headphone that isn't too heavy; hence why for the most part I have excluded the audeze headphones. I would prefer one with good build quality that last a long time. I listen to all sorts of stuff. like I said, it would be my daily driver so it would be use to listen to youtube; music of all genre; I do play quite a bit of video games on steam so it would be my gaming headphone as well. I think I would like something with a relatively large stage; slightly darker than neutral; definitely not bright/sharp. I would like a headphone that can hit all the way down to 20 hz without it already rolling off quite a bit; but I also don't want base cannon Beats imitation stuff.

So in generally a relatively neutral; slightly warmer than neutral headphone with relatively descent sound stage; that doesn't weight a ton; that has good detail retrieval capabilities so that I'm not replacing them in a few years. and with good build quality.

ZMF Aeolus is the ticket.

 

[dontfeedphils]

It is a bit difficult to describe what exactly I'm looking for without hearing them. In general; I would like a headphone that isn't too heavy; hence why for the most part I have excluded the audeze headphones. I would prefer one with good build quality that last a long time. I listen to all sorts of stuff. like I said, it would be my daily driver so it would be use to listen to youtube; music of all genre; I do play quite a bit of video games on steam so it would be my gaming headphone as well. I think I would like something with a relatively large stage; slightly darker than neutral; definitely not bright/sharp. I would like a headphone that can hit all the way down to 20 hz without it already rolling off quite a bit; but I also don't want base cannon Beats imitation stuff.

So in generally a relatively neutral; slightly warmer than neutral headphone with relatively descent sound stage; that doesn't weight a ton; that has good detail retrieval capabilities so that I'm not replacing them in a few years. and with good build quality.

Honestly, if you're looking for a set to make you that happy for that long I would spend the money and rent a couple of the top sets on your list before spending the cash to purchase.

 

[Aeskualpio]

It is a bit difficult to describe what exactly I'm looking for without hearing them. In general; I would like a headphone that isn't too heavy; hence why for the most part I have excluded the audeze headphones. I would prefer one with good build quality that last a long time. I listen to all sorts of stuff. like I said, it would be my daily driver so it would be use to listen to youtube; music of all genre; I do play quite a bit of video games on steam so it would be my gaming headphone as well. I think I would like something with a relatively large stage; slightly darker than neutral; definitely not bright/sharp. I would like a headphone that can hit all the way down to 20 hz without it already rolling off quite a bit; but I also don't want base cannon Beats imitation stuff.

So in generally a relatively neutral; slightly warmer than neutral headphone with relatively descent sound stage; that doesn't weight a ton; that has good detail retrieval capabilities so that I'm not replacing them in a few years. and with good build quality.

Slight edit. I have the Clear, I have the Aiva’s.
I also have a pair of ModHouse Argon’s.
They all get ear time.
But the Aeon 2’s closed get the majority of my time.
Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2s

 

[Objedych]

My Clear's with custom made 8-wire copper litz 22awg cable (with Furutech 3.5 & XLR connectors).
Plays with Audio-GD NFB-28.38.

 

[Ichos]

Very beautiful.
What plugs are you using at the headphone end?
Can you provide a link?

 

[Objedych]

These are all Furutech:
3,5 jack - http://www.furutech.com/2015/04/17/10768/
XLR - http://www.furutech.com/2016/01/20/12363/

 

[Ichos]

Thank you.
Have you experienced any problem with locking in place?

 

[Objedych]

To be honest, yes... The bodies of the 3.5 plugs entered the holes very tightly, and it was necessary to cut the fixing projections inside the holes. But now the connectors are fixed very tightly )