[FYFL]

That's true - items like these are where I really miss physical stores - just for an opportunity to test out gear before buying it. Anyway, I gave in and ordered them - managed to get them for under £500 from Aliexpress so worth a punt I figured. Should be delivered on Tuesday

You will get it way b4 I do. Thanks to usual urgency Drop prides itself with. Seems like you got a decent deal. I’ll go on my gut feeling and say that no, they won’t suck (fingers crossed ). I doubt they better Audeze’s technicalities but they might be fun headphone to own.
The HEADPHONE Show did some EQing live if anyone is interested.


Share your findings when you get them and have a chance to really listen.

 

[ETAHL]

The hype is real. It definitely needs to be burned-in like most planars. Sounds fantastic at 16 hour mark with my Monolith Desktop AAA amp/DAC.

 

[tkddans]

This isn't a comprehensive review but...here are my impressions throughout *some* comparison testing...

*Note*: running the GL2k's balanced via an after market XLR cable on a Monolith THX DAC/amp. I tried 1/4" but it just wasn't enough power. XLR seems to be sounding better, maybe.**

- **The GL2k's have a better bass response compared to HD 800's; not even fair**. Not too much to ever be overbearing. Bass has enough heft to feel perfectly right by my ears. Damn near perfect here in musical quality. Perhaps not the clearest ever, but very good to the point where the tuning of the low end is just so satisfying. For the expression the GL2k's have on the low end alone, I would own them alongside the HD 800's in a collection of two headphones.

- **Vocals are beautiful on the GL2k's**, but tough to say if they are "better" than HD800's outright. This may be subjective. The female vocals in particular have an exceedingly lovely sound. Listen to "Early Morning Light" by Sarah Jarosz. Where female vocals can be shrill on some headphones, the GL2k's are just vibrant enough to be clear and pleasing to hear, but not sibilant. Both the HD800S and GL2k do well with vocals. Both are pleasing to hear. Where the 800's are extra spacious around the singer and leave their voices pristine in the space left around them, the GL2k's have a more intimate instrumental and vocal appearance together. The GL2k's are closer in to the head, for better or for worse. Personally, I would prefer the HD800's for a singer/songwriter/acoustics track. Then again...going back and forth again...I'm more and more hearing the GL2k's as being relaxed relative to the 800's. The 800's can be stunning headphones when you're used to them, but this comparison has my brain hearing sibilance where I hadn't before. Weird! The GL2k's make me want to have them on my head for acoustics/vocals I would've preferred the 800's on. Very strange. I think you'll be happy hearing either one, depending on how you long you get used to either one and where your tastes are. Both will certainly have great fans.

- **Acoustics, plucking instruments, orchestral**....the GL2k's are doing very well here. As far as imaging, separation, the overall details heard...the GL2k's are no slouches.

I don't want to get carried away with too much meandering on. Maybe I just want to relax and get my whiskey right now and do a more thorough breakdown another time haha, but I'll just give you a summary for now....

HD800S is better in being airy, clear, spacious. In that clarity, it is a masterpiece. I adore them. The GL2k's do not beat it on that audacious level of clarity and separation.

GL2k's are better at having a more balanced tuning. While it sacrifices the great qualities the HD800S gains with its treble quirks and headphone/driver design, the GL2k makes up for it by having a low end that feels like it ought to be there and is missing from the 800's somewhat.

**P.S. Where there is white noise in a recording, the GL2k's have more of it.** It's actually quite a negative for me on some tracks where I normally find myself relaxed and enjoying the music on the HD800's. I don't know why this hasn't come up with other reviews/posts. Maybe it's just my audio chain? My DAC/amp or wire? hmmm. Well...it's really quite bad when it's there on some tracks (see "The Xith Commandment" by Chuck Mangione for a particular example of Jazz I usually relax to and love on the 800's but have a harder time enjoying on the GL2k's by comparison.

Maybe there is a relative spike in the frequency response on the GL2k's in a region where noise would be heard, compared to it being less so on the HD800's? I don't know!

Final verdict:
I'm keeping both headphones. GL2K's may be the best all arounder I've heard. The HD800S is still the king of clarity and separation I've personally had the experience of trying.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

These are much better than the Sundara based on comfort, alone. Just the fact that your entire ear fits easily inside the pads. Then the fact that they have a larger stage and are less sibilant, is a bonus cherry on top.

As a former owner of the Edition X V2, Ananda, Arya, HEK V1 and V2, HEKSE, and Susvara, I’m going to be honest. I think you have to go all the way to the Hifiman HEKSE to be worth the upgrade cost. Below that, I’d take these every time.

To my ears, these remind me a lot of the Arya in terms of soundstage and imaging, but without the upper mid/lower treble harshness. I honestly can’t believe how much you get with these for their price.

They’re not better than my Verite, but those are 3x the cost!

I really only watch Zeos for fun, because I find him entertaining and hilarious. But he is not shilling with these. I also really like Andrew at Resolve Reviews. But I don’t agree with him on these. These punch way above their price point in my opinion.

 

[conquerator2]

These are much better than the Sundara based on comfort, alone. Just the fact that your entire ear fits easily inside the pads. Then the fact that they have a larger stage and are less sibilant, is a bonus cherry on top.

As a former owner of the Edition X V2, Ananda, Arya, HEK V1 and V2, HEKSE, and Susvara, I’m going to be honest. I think you have to go all the way to the Hifiman HEKSE to be worth the upgrade cost. Below that, I’d take these every time.

To my ears, these remind me a lot of the Arya in terms of soundstage and imaging, but without the upper mid/lower treble harshness. I honestly can’t believe how much you get with these for their price.

They’re not better than my Verite, but those are 3x the cost!

I really only watch Zeos for fun, because I find him entertaining and hilarious. But he is not shilling with these. I also really like Andrew at Resolve Reviews. But I don’t agree with him on these. These punch way above their price point in my opinion.

This pretty much sold me. Thank you for that comparison

 

[duranxv]

These are much better than the Sundara based on comfort, alone. Just the fact that your entire ear fits easily inside the pads. Then the fact that they have a larger stage and are less sibilant, is a bonus cherry on top.

As a former owner of the Edition X V2, Ananda, Arya, HEK V1 and V2, HEKSE, and Susvara, I’m going to be honest. I think you have to go all the way to the Hifiman HEKSE to be worth the upgrade cost. Below that, I’d take these every time.

To my ears, these remind me a lot of the Arya in terms of soundstage and imaging, but without the upper mid/lower treble harshness. I honestly can’t believe how much you get with these for their price.

They’re not better than my Verite, but those are 3x the cost!

I really only watch Zeos for fun, because I find him entertaining and hilarious. But he is not shilling with these. I also really like Andrew at Resolve Reviews. But I don’t agree with him on these. These punch way above their price point in my opinion.

Which Verite do you have? Closed or Open?

 

[duranxv]

So I compared the GL2000's vs my Fostex TH900's with the Dekoni Elite Hybrid pads. Also bought the Elite Sheepskin Fenestrated ones, but the hybrids turned out to be better.

I gotta say, even with the enhancement to my TH900's, I still find myself switching between my TH900's and the GL2000's. You definitely can't beat the bass of the TH900, but I just love the openness of the GL2000's. I'm definitely keeping them, and I'll likely alternate between the two depending on what I'm looking for for certain types of games/music.

Very impressed.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Which Verite do you have? Closed or Open?

Verite Open. Love them.

 

[duranxv]

Verite Open. Love them.

Barring the fact they're 3x the cost of the GL2000's, what would you say are the differences in sound between them and the GL2000's?

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Alright, here’s what I think Goldplanar was going for. These sound like a better-tuned/less sibilant Arya to my ears. So you’re basically getting an Arya, for the price of the Ananda. But with better build quality and a better tuning if you’re sensitive to upper mids/lower treble spikes. That makes these an incredible value in my opinion. I’ve bought and owned the Arya twice. I love their soundstage and imaging but the upper mids/lower treble was just too punishing to my ears. So I sold them twice as well. I’ll be keeping these as a planar compliment to my beloved Verite.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Barring the fact they're 3x the cost of the GL2000's, what would you say are the differences in sound between them and the GL2000's?

The Verite is even more forgiving of poorly mastered music. It has this uncanny ability to sound very detailed, and yet very smooth at the same time. That is a very difficult quality to achieve, and a difficult trait to find in TOTL headphones. I sold my first Verite to buy the Susvara, only to sell the Susvara and repurchase a Verite. The Susvara is more detailed, but that detail came at the cost of making most of my music collection sound harsh and unlistenable.

The Verite has more mid bass quantity, a thicker midrange, and a little less treble in the 10k region. It also sounds more lush and euphonic, but also slower. But for my preferences, I just love it. Both the Verite and GL2000 have an upper midrange dip, but I love that type of tuning because that’s where I’m sensitive. That’s the reason I ended up selling my Auteur. The upper mids were too much for me and it made a lot of my music sound shouty.

The Verite and GL2000 also stage differently. Both have a wide stage but the GL2000 has a taller stage as well. They really differ in the lower mids. The Verite is thicker there and the GL2000 is a little cleaner and faster there. It all comes down to sonic preference. I’m keeping them both.

 

[Mhog55]

Has anyone tried running these from any one of the more powerful daps on the market these days?

 

[MSA1133]

Has anyone tried running these from any one of the more powerful daps on the market these days?

I tried them on the Kann Cube, iBasso DX300 and Cayin N6ii with the A01 card and the GL2000s paired well with all of them. The smoothest was the Cayin and the most detailed with better layering and sound stage was from the DX300.

However, the biggest change was when I connected those DAPs with Romi Audio BX-2 Plus portable Class A amp that pushes 5.9 watts into 32 Ohms through the 4.4 balanced headphone out. You'll get a bit more low-end, faster transients and a wider soundstage.

 

[Mhog55]

I tried them on the Kann Cube, iBasso DX300 and Cayin N6ii with the A01 card and the GL2000s paired well with all of them. The smoothest was the Cayin and the most detailed with better layering and sound stage was from the DX300.

However, the biggest change was when I connected those DAPs with Romi Audio BX-2 Plus portable Class A amp that pushes 5.9 watts into 32 Ohms through the 4.4 balanced headphone out. You'll get a bit more low-end, faster transients and a wider soundstage.

Thanks for the response. So you don't feel that those daps were able to push these planars to their full potential. Would you call it relatively close, or do they really benefit from a good amp?

 

[conquerator2]

Alright, here’s what I think Goldplanar was going for. These sound like a better-tuned/less sibilant Arya to my ears. So you’re basically getting an Arya, for the price of the Ananda. But with better build quality and a better tuning if you’re sensitive to upper mids/lower treble spikes. That makes these an incredible value in my opinion. I’ve bought and owned the Arya twice. I love their soundstage and imaging but the upper mids/lower treble was just too punishing to my ears. So I sold them twice as well. I’ll be keeping these as a planar compliment to my beloved Verite.

This is very encouraging. Like you I generally love what HFM does, except for their signature upper mid - lower treble emphasis. If these have a similar sound profile without that then that's really cool!