[Music Alchemist]

FYI, there is a thread for discussion of metal music itself: http://www.head-fi.org/t/397407/lets-talk-metal/
 
It's kinda funny how mister money4me has such pressure on him now to test out metal with various headphones when he doesn't normally listen to metal in the first place. XD

 

[bavinck]

  FYI, there is a thread for discussion of metal music itself: http://www.head-fi.org/t/397407/lets-talk-metal/
 
It's kinda funny how mister money4me has such pressure on him now to test out metal with various headphones when he doesn't normally listen to metal in the first place. XD

With an avatar like that he is destined to love metal...

 

[Dimitrisvensson]

   
Here you go!

 
But really, a list of artists alone isn't quite enough. Many songs/albums are much better than others, after all, so I'll just give ya some test tracks to look up.
 
Abigor: Weeping Midwintertears, The Legacy, Project: Shadow
Agalloch: Our Fortress Is Burning... II - Bloodbirds
Agathodaimon: Cellos For The Insatiable
Ajattara: Hurmasta (Thrill)
Alas: Absolute Purity
Amon Amarth: Sorrow Throughout The Nine Worlds, Death In Fire, Runes To My Memory
Anorexia Nervosa: Stabat Mater Dolorosa, Sister September [Director's Cut mix]
Antaeus: Inner War, De Principii Evangelikum, Rot [Blood Libels version]
Arch Enemy: Burning Angel
Arcturus: Kinetic
At The Gates: Blinded By Fear
Behemoth: Sculpting The Throne Ov Seth
Children Of Bodom: Mask Of Sanity
Cradle Of Filth: Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids
Dark Tranquillity: Punish My Heaven, The Wonders At Your Feet, Monochromatic Stains, The New Build, The Lesser Faith, Dream Oblivion, The Silence In Between
Darkthrone: Transilvanian Hunger, Det Svartner Nå (It Darkens Now)
DHG (Dødheimsgard): Traces Of Reality
Dimension F3H: Final Solution
Dimension Zero: Your Darkest Hour
Dimmu Borgir: Blessings Upon The Throne Of Tyranny, Devil's Path [2000 version]
Disarmonia Mundi: Nihilistic Overdrive
Dissection: Where Dead Angels Lie, Starless Aeon
Dominion III: A Dead Heart In A Dead World
Dragonlord: Unholyvoid
Drudkh: Furrows Of Gods
Emperor: Into The Infinity Of Thoughts
Erra: Seven
Esoteric: Abandonment
Evergrey: Mark Of The Triangle
Fear Factory: Powershifter
Heaven Shall Burn: Counterweight
Ill Niño: What Comes Around [Day Of The Dead mix]
Immolation: Furthest From The Truth
In Flames: Dead Eternity, Episode 666, Embody The Invisible, Bullet Ride, Minus, My Sweet Shadow, Leeches, Sleepless Again, Fear Is The Weakness
Kalmah: Bitter Metallic Side
Kroda: Cry To Me, River... (Betrayal Of Knjaz Volodymir)
Lacuna Coil: Daylight Dancer
Lamb Of God: Letter To The Unborn
Lengsel: Coat Of Arms
Leviathan: What Fresh Hell, Unfailing Fall Into Naught, Odious Convulsions (They Are Not Worthy Of His Name)
Limbonic Art: Dynasty Of Death
Living Sacrifice: Conditional, Killers
Meshuggah: Sane
Moonspell: Nocturna, Upon The Blood Of Men, First Light
Naglfar: I Am Vengeance, Odium Generis Humani
Nevermore: The River Dragon Has Come
Nightrage: Omen
Old Man's Child: Hominis Nocturna, The Underworld Domains, The Plague Of Sorrow
Opeth: The Grand Conjuration
P.O.D.: Southtown
Papa Roach: Broken Home
Passenger: In Reverse
Rob Zombie: Superbeast
Rotting Christ: Aeternatus, Thy Wings Thy Horns Thy Sin, Rege Diabolicus
Samael: Eternal, Moongate, Black Hole
Satyricon: The Dawn Of A New Age, Tied In Bronze Chains, Fuel For Hatred
Shining: Låt Oss Ta Allt Från Varandra (Let Us Take Everything From Each Other)
Silencer: Taklamakan
Slayer: Disciple
Slipknot: Surfacing, The Heretic Anthem
Soilwork: As We Speak, Cranking The Sirens, Stabbing The Drama, Spectrum Of Eternity
Summoning: Lugburz, Nightshade Forests, Long Lost To Where No Pathway Goes, South Away, Across The Streaming Tide
Susperia: Devil May Care
Today Is The Day: In The Eyes Of God
Tristania: Crushed Dreams, Libre, Exile
Underoath: Never Meant To Break Your Heart
Vital Remains: Dechristianize
Xasthur: The Prison Of Mirrors
Zao: Autopsy, 5 Year Winter, Physician Heal Thyself
Zyklon: Hammer Revelation
 
Thanks for testing all those for us!

 
lol. But to anyone reading this who is seriously willing to test these tracks with various headphones, especially high-end ones: the thread salutes you!

Holy ballsack. Yup, I am totally contributing to the discussion, I know. I'll have to check some of that out later but for me and only me as I don't have any high end headphones. But if it helps I can say that I really enjoyed the entire "The living infinte" album on K7xx. Also you get an F regarding your choices of In Flames songs. "Soundtrack to your escape" and "Reroute to remain" is by far their coolest albums. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Holy ballsack. Yup, I am totally contributing to the discussion, I know. I'll have to check some of that out later but for me and only me as I don't have any high end headphones. But if it helps I can say that I really enjoyed the entire "The living infinte" album on K7xx. Also you get an F regarding your choices of In Flames songs. "Soundtrack to your escape" and "Reroute to remain" is by far their coolest albums. 

 
Umm, you realize I included a song from each of those albums, right?
 
But most In Flames fans (they are my favorite band, by the way) like their '90s material far more.

 

[Dimitrisvensson]

   
Umm, you realize I included a song from each of those albums, right?
 
But most In Flames fans (they are my favorite band, by the way) like their '90s material far more.

I did not realize that. Then again...  Nope, I don't have an excuse. Nvm. But honestly, I think you're wrong, at least on Spotify their 90's albums have the lowest popularity and I am actively contributing to that. 

 

[Dimitrisvensson]

  I did not realize that. Then again...  Nope, I don't have an excuse. Nvm. But honestly, I think you're wrong, at least on Spotify their 90's albums have the lowest popularity and I am actively contributing to that. 

Ok, that last sentence was god awful. My point is that I don't think their old albums are their most popular or their best.  Also that Spotify supports my claim. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I did not realize that. Then again...  Nope, I don't have an excuse. Nvm. But honestly, I think you're wrong, at least on Spotify their 90's albums have the lowest popularity and I am actively contributing to that. 

  Ok, that last sentence was god awful. My point is that I don't think their old albums are their most popular or their best.  Also that Spotify supports my claim. 

 
"Most popular" does not refer to the dedicated In Flames fans, but the mainstream newbs who don't even know that they have older albums.

 
And Spotify is a streaming service, not a measure of the total popularity of a band, album, or song, much less popularity among smaller groups...
 
The vast majority of long-time In Flames fans don't even like their new material much. In fact, I think their newest album Siren Charms is garbage. If you had more experience with the band and the fans, you would know that Reroute To Remain and Soundtrack To Your Escape are among the least well-regarded albums among those who have been fans of the band for a long time. (They even talked about it in interviews. Though I like them for what they are.)
 
If you like their new stuff (melodic groove metal, alternative rock) more than their old stuff (melodic death metal), you probably aren't much of a melodic death metal fan.
 
I know what I'm talking about. In Flames has been my favorite band for over 13 years.

 

[money4me247]

@bavinck,
 
Songs tested: While We Sleep, beyond the dark sun, Mach dich frei! Fremd, The Smoke of Their Torment, Skimmed the first 30 seconds of all the songs in Rastlos. I noticed Am Scheldeweg and Rast sounded distinct from the rest of the other metal tracks so spent extra time going through those. Source was Spotify Premium. Used the Bifrost Uber + Lyr 2 as my dac/amp.
 
I can do more detailed analysis of one of these individual songs from this above list if you like, but too many requests for me to cover everything. at everyone else, I can maybe do a one song comparison for each person, but album requests are way too much for me to handle. Please note that I am not an avid metal fan, but I am familiar with the genre.
 
HE-560: very clean neutral presentation, extremely fast with quick transients (very crisp attack & short decay), very tight notes with very distinctive spacing between notes, widest sound stage. Its speed handles "beyond the dark sun" extremely well. Works very well with the extremely fast paced metal tracks. Picks up all the extremely subtle-micro detail and textures very well, extremely resolving. There is no extra richness/roughness to the voices. Micro-Details and individual notes emphasized over texture. More clinical presentation.
 
Bass speed and extension is amazing. Mid-range extremely clear. Treble is crisp and airy (may be considered a bit bright for some people depending on your neutral reference - I consider the HE-560 to be neutral, Q701 and HD800 to be bright). The melodic pieces (Am Scheldeweg and Rast) work very well with the HE-560.
 
Do note that the bass is represented very cleanly and tightly here with no extra emphasis. May not be what you are used to, so depends on your preferences whether you like this presentation. No extra bass emphasis. Very deep linear low frequency extension.
 
Strengths include its extremely clean presentation, speed is excellent, and very good resolution. Cons would be the bass quantity (will depend on your preferences whether their presentation of bass is enough for you, bass quality is excellent though).
 
LCD-X: warmer sound, seems like a bit of extra texture (can pick up the extra distortion/roughness to the voices - this can be positive or negative depending on your POV), great bass slam and impact. A bit of bass emphasis, but very linear bass with great extension. Very tight bass notes. Speed is excellent. While still highly resolving of the details, the lcd-x seems to have a more organic texture focused presentation. Very enjoyable fun sound signature. I think it matches extremely well with metal.
 
AKG K7xx: solid mid-fi option, however performance is not as good as the other two in direct comparison. unlikely to have any noticeable flaws if you are not direct comparing against a flagship option. good value and solid performance.
 
It's greatest strength is its treble and midrange (imo). The guitar is very well represented on these headphones. Pretty balanced overall sound signature. crispiness, airiness to the treble similar to the HE-560. Very good at picking up treble detail. Very excellent treble clarity. Balanced mid-range with the guitars sound extremely clean and prominent. The roughness and details to the texture of the voice is picked up with these, but not as well as the other two. Overall resolution not as good at the other two, but quite competitive despite its much lower price tag.
 
In comparison to the other two headphones, it has a bit of slower speed with a bit longer decay times. notes not as tight and not as much spacing between the notes. A subtle bleed of the notes compared to the other two planars (but unlikely to be noticed without a direct comparison). Bass impact is solid, but not as good sub-bass extension as the other two planar magnetics. subtle mid bass emphasis. However, do note that this can be enjoyable depending on your preferences as it gives a sense of reverb to the bass. I do think the bass quantity is a good amount that is suitable for metal music. I would imagine that you want that extra bassiness when rocking out.
 
Great performance for its value, though there will be certain sonic quality improvements with the other two headphones. Without a direct comparison, I don't think you would be unhappy with it's performance with metal. Natural well-balanced overall sound (imo for my personal sound signature preferences).
 
Conclusion:
Sound stage and imaging between all three are extremely comparable and close with the HE-560 edging out the LCD-X edging out the K7xx. Overall resolution I give the HE-560 the edge. Cleanest, most neutral sound would be the HE-560. Best bass quality would be the LCD-X. Best sound per dollar is the K7xx. My personal choice for metal would probably be the LCD-X for a more bassy feel or the HE-560 for the extremely fast songs. Overall, I would personally guess that the LCD-X would probably be the best match most metal fan's sound signature preferences (get that emphasis on the texture and distortion/roughness/richess in the tonality and extra high quality bass boost for enjoyment). Disclaimer: I do personally use my HE-560 as my main set and those are my favorite headphones out of my collection.
 
I think if you want a clean presentation of the song with no specific region boosted, the HE-560 is the most resolving and technical capable headphones out of the three. Its speed is one of its greatest strength for metal. I don't think sound stage really matters as much for the metal tracks that I listened to (in comparison to orchestral pieces where imaging and sound stage greatly add to your enjoyment of the music). The only caveat would be the bass quantity (this depends on your preference whether it is enough for you, I know a lot of metalheads prefer a bass-boost).
 
If you want a fun engaging sound with the focus on the texture and a very high quality bass emphasis with lots of slam/impact, the LCD-X would be my pick. Very high quality sound. Only con with these would be the weight & comfort (seriously among one of the more uncomfortable headphones out there for long listening sessions). However, this issue can be alleviated with either the Diono seat belt wrap or Lohb's leather suspension strap mod.
 
If you are on a budget and want extremely comparable competitive performance, the k7xx is a solid value choice. If you don't mind a lil extra bass reverb, a bit longer decay times, and a slight mid-bass emphasis, these headphones perform extremely well in all other areas. I actually think those sound signature quirks of the K7xx is well suited for most metal tracks. The speed is not as comparable to the planars for the really fast tracks, but it is quite good for a mid-fi dynamic pair of headphones.
 
Note: these are personal impression gathered after some extensive direct side-by-side comparisons. volume-matching was done by ear. ymmv.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Regarding the In Flames discussion: you mentioned it yourself Music Alchemist - there is a thread for discussing metal music (or probably even better still take the discussion to PM!).

 

[Music Alchemist]

Regarding the In Flames discussion: you mentioned it yourself Music Alchemist - there is a thread for discussing metal music (or probably even better still take the discussion to PM!).

 
Yeah, but I was just replying to what was said here.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Yeah, but I was just replying to what was said here.

I know, nothing stopping you saying 'hey man, we're getting a bit off topic here, why don't we take this to PM?'.

...and that's all I'll say, since I don't want this to become an off-topic tangent itself!

 

[bavinck]

@bavinck
,

Songs tested: While We Sleep, beyond the dark sun, Mach dich frei! Fremd, The Smoke of Their Torment, Skimmed the first 30 seconds of all the songs in Rastlos. I noticed Am Scheldeweg and Rast sounded distinct from the rest of the other metal tracks so spent extra time going through those. Source was Spotify Premium. Used the Bifrost Uber + Lyr 2 as my dac/amp.

I can do more detailed analysis of one of these individual songs from this above list if you like, but too many requests for me to cover everything. at everyone else, I can maybe do a one song comparison for each person, but album requests are way too much for me to handle. Please note that I am not an avid metal fan, but I am familiar with the genre.

HE-560: very clean neutral presentation, extremely fast with quick transients (very crisp attack & short decay), very tight notes with very distinctive spacing between notes, widest sound stage. Its speed handles "beyond the dark sun" extremely well. Works very well with the extremely fast paced metal tracks. Picks up all the extremely subtle-micro detail and textures very well, extremely resolving. There is no extra richness/roughness to the voices. Micro-Details and individual notes emphasized over texture. More clinical presentation.

Bass speed and extension is amazing. Mid-range extremely clear. Treble is crisp and airy (may be considered a bit bright for some people depending on your neutral reference - I consider the HE-560 to be neutral, Q701 and HD800 to be bright). The melodic pieces (Am Scheldeweg and Rast) work very well with the HE-560.

Do note that the bass is represented very cleanly and tightly here with no extra emphasis. May not be what you are used to, so depends on your preferences whether you like this presentation. No extra bass emphasis. Very deep linear low frequency extension.

Strengths include its extremely clean presentation, speed is excellent, and very good resolution. Cons would be the bass quantity (will depend on your preferences whether their presentation of bass is enough for you, bass quality is excellent though).

LCD-X: warmer sound, seems like a bit of extra texture (can pick up the extra distortion/roughness to the voices - this can be positive or negative depending on your POV), great bass slam and impact. A bit of bass emphasis, but very linear bass with great extension. Very tight bass notes. Speed is excellent. While still highly resolving of the details, the lcd-x seems to have a more organic texture focused presentation. Very enjoyable fun sound signature. I think it matches extremely well with metal.

AKG K7xx: solid mid-fi option, however performance is not as good as the other two in direct comparison. unlikely to have any noticeable flaws if you are not direct comparing against a flagship option. good value and solid performance.

It's greatest strength is its treble and midrange (imo). The guitar is very well represented on these headphones. Pretty balanced overall sound signature. crispiness, airiness to the treble similar to the HE-560. Very good at picking up treble detail. Very excellent treble clarity. Balanced mid-range with the guitars sound extremely clean and prominent. The roughness and details to the texture of the voice is picked up with these, but not as well as the other two. Overall resolution not as good at the other two, but quite competitive despite its much lower price tag.

In comparison to the other two headphones, it has a bit of slower speed with a bit longer decay times. notes not as tight and not as much spacing between the notes. A subtle bleed of the notes compared to the other two planars (but unlikely to be noticed without a direct comparison). Bass impact is solid, but not as good sub-bass extension as the other two planar magnetics. subtle mid bass emphasis. However, do note that this can be enjoyable depending on your preferences as it gives a sense of reverb to the bass. I do think the bass quantity is a good amount that is suitable for metal music. I would imagine that you want that extra bassiness when rocking out.

Great performance for its value, though there will be certain sonic quality improvements with the other two headphones. Without a direct comparison, I don't think you would be unhappy with it's performance with metal. Natural well-balanced overall sound (imo for my personal sound signature preferences).

Conclusion:
Sound stage and imaging between all three are extremely comparable and close with the HE-560 edging out the LCD-X edging out the K7xx. Overall resolution I give the HE-560 the edge. Cleanest, most neutral sound would be the HE-560. Best bass quality would be the LCD-X. Best sound per dollar is the K7xx. My personal choice for metal would probably be the LCD-X for a more bassy feel or the HE-560 for the extremely fast songs. Overall, I would personally guess that the LCD-X would probably be the best match most metal fan's sound signature preferences (get that emphasis on the texture and distortion/roughness/richess in the tonality and extra high quality bass boost for enjoyment). Disclaimer: I do personally use my HE-560 as my main set and those are my favorite headphones out of my collection.

I think if you want a clean presentation of the song with no specific region boosted, the HE-560 is the most resolving and technical capable headphones out of the three. Its speed is one of its greatest strength for metal. I don't think sound stage really matters as much for the metal tracks that I listened to (in comparison to orchestral pieces where imaging and sound stage greatly add to your enjoyment of the music). The only caveat would be the bass quantity (this depends on your preference whether it is enough for you, I know a lot of metalheads prefer a bass-boost).

If you want a fun engaging sound with the focus on the texture and a very high quality bass emphasis with lots of slam/impact, the LCD-X would be my pick. Very high quality sound. Only con with these would be the weight & comfort (seriously among one of the more uncomfortable headphones out there for long listening sessions). However, this issue can be alleviated with either the Diono seat belt wrap or Lohb's leather suspension strap mod.

If you are on a budget and want extremely comparable competitive performance, the k7xx is a solid value choice. If you don't mind a lil extra bass reverb, a bit longer decay times, and a slight mid-bass emphasis, these headphones perform extremely well in all other areas. I actually think those sound signature quirks of the K7xx is well suited for most metal tracks. The speed is not as comparable to the planars for the really fast tracks, but it is quite good for a mid-fi dynamic pair of headphones.

Note: these are personal impression gathered after some extensive direct side-by-side comparisons. volume-matching was done by ear. ymmv.

Holy cow, money, thanks for the incredibly detailed comparison! Very helpful. I have a k7xx and just bought an he500. I see what you mean by the planar bass being fast, with quicker decay. I love my k7xx for metal until I got my 500s and realized the k7xx are somewhat slow and boomyish. Sounds to me like lcdx is more my style, but if I ever see a good deal on 560s....

Thanks again man.

 

[markm1]

  @bavinck,
 
Songs tested: While We Sleep, beyond the dark sun, Mach dich frei! Fremd, The Smoke of Their Torment, Skimmed the first 30 seconds of all the songs in Rastlos. I noticed Am Scheldeweg and Rast sounded distinct from the rest of the other metal tracks so spent extra time going through those. Source was Spotify Premium. Used the Bifrost Uber + Lyr 2 as my dac/amp.
 
I can do more detailed analysis of one of these individual songs from this above list if you like, but too many requests for me to cover everything. at everyone else, I can maybe do a one song comparison for each person, but album requests are way too much for me to handle. Please note that I am not an avid metal fan, but I am familiar with the genre.
 
HE-560: very clean neutral presentation, extremely fast with quick transients (very crisp attack & short decay), very tight notes with very distinctive spacing between notes, widest sound stage. Its speed handles "beyond the dark sun" extremely well. Works very well with the extremely fast paced metal tracks. Picks up all the extremely subtle-micro detail and textures very well, extremely resolving. There is no extra richness/roughness to the voices. Micro-Details and individual notes emphasized over texture. More clinical presentation.
 
Bass speed and extension is amazing. Mid-range extremely clear. Treble is crisp and airy (may be considered a bit bright for some people depending on your neutral reference - I consider the HE-560 to be neutral, Q701 and HD800 to be bright). The melodic pieces (Am Scheldeweg and Rast) work very well with the HE-560.
 
Do note that the bass is represented very cleanly and tightly here with no extra emphasis. May not be what you are used to, so depends on your preferences whether you like this presentation. No extra bass emphasis. Very deep linear low frequency extension.
 
Strengths include its extremely clean presentation, speed is excellent, and very good resolution. Cons would be the bass quantity (will depend on your preferences whether their presentation of bass is enough for you, bass quality is excellent though).
 
LCD-X: warmer sound, seems like a bit of extra texture (can pick up the extra distortion/roughness to the voices - this can be positive or negative depending on your POV), great bass slam and impact. A bit of bass emphasis, but very linear bass with great extension. Very tight bass notes. Speed is excellent. While still highly resolving of the details, the lcd-x seems to have a more organic texture focused presentation. Very enjoyable fun sound signature. I think it matches extremely well with metal.
 
AKG K7xx: solid mid-fi option, however performance is not as good as the other two in direct comparison. unlikely to have any noticeable flaws if you are not direct comparing against a flagship option. good value and solid performance.
 
It's greatest strength is its treble and midrange (imo). The guitar is very well represented on these headphones. Pretty balanced overall sound signature. crispiness, airiness to the treble similar to the HE-560. Very good at picking up treble detail. Very excellent treble clarity. Balanced mid-range with the guitars sound extremely clean and prominent. The roughness and details to the texture of the voice is picked up with these, but not as well as the other two. Overall resolution not as good at the other two, but quite competitive despite its much lower price tag.
 
In comparison to the other two headphones, it has a bit of slower speed with a bit longer decay times. notes not as tight and not as much spacing between the notes. A subtle bleed of the notes compared to the other two planars (but unlikely to be noticed without a direct comparison). Bass impact is solid, but not as good sub-bass extension as the other two planar magnetics. subtle mid bass emphasis. However, do note that this can be enjoyable depending on your preferences as it gives a sense of reverb to the bass. I do think the bass quantity is a good amount that is suitable for metal music. I would imagine that you want that extra bassiness when rocking out.
 
Great performance for its value, though there will be certain sonic quality improvements with the other two headphones. Without a direct comparison, I don't think you would be unhappy with it's performance with metal. Natural well-balanced overall sound (imo for my personal sound signature preferences).
 
Conclusion:
Sound stage and imaging between all three are extremely comparable and close with the HE-560 edging out the LCD-X edging out the K7xx. Overall resolution I give the HE-560 the edge. Cleanest, most neutral sound would be the HE-560. Best bass quality would be the LCD-X. Best sound per dollar is the K7xx. My personal choice for metal would probably be the LCD-X for a more bassy feel or the HE-560 for the extremely fast songs. Overall, I would personally guess that the LCD-X would probably be the best match most metal fan's sound signature preferences (get that emphasis on the texture and distortion/roughness/richess in the tonality and extra high quality bass boost for enjoyment). Disclaimer: I do personally use my HE-560 as my main set and those are my favorite headphones out of my collection.
 
I think if you want a clean presentation of the song with no specific region boosted, the HE-560 is the most resolving and technical capable headphones out of the three. Its speed is one of its greatest strength for metal. I don't think sound stage really matters as much for the metal tracks that I listened to (in comparison to orchestral pieces where imaging and sound stage greatly add to your enjoyment of the music). The only caveat would be the bass quantity (this depends on your preference whether it is enough for you, I know a lot of metalheads prefer a bass-boost).
 
If you want a fun engaging sound with the focus on the texture and a very high quality bass emphasis with lots of slam/impact, the LCD-X would be my pick. Very high quality sound. Only con with these would be the weight & comfort (seriously among one of the more uncomfortable headphones out there for long listening sessions). However, this issue can be alleviated with either the Diono seat belt wrap or Lohb's leather suspension strap mod.
 
If you are on a budget and want extremely comparable competitive performance, the k7xx is a solid value choice. If you don't mind a lil extra bass reverb, a bit longer decay times, and a slight mid-bass emphasis, these headphones perform extremely well in all other areas. I actually think those sound signature quirks of the K7xx is well suited for most metal tracks. The speed is not as comparable to the planars for the really fast tracks, but it is quite good for a mid-fi dynamic pair of headphones.
 
Note: these are personal impression gathered after some extensive direct side-by-side comparisons. volume-matching was done by ear. ymmv.

Great review. Kudos for the work, attention to detail. FWIW, my experience auditioning said cans at CAF last year match your findings. Although I spent  more time comparing the LCD-2/F with the HE-560. I stayed away from HPs over $1K as I just don't see myself exceeding that price point by much, at least.
 
I like the Audeze house sound and found it more fun-full bodied, lusher with greater bass as you say. And I agree for speed and detail, the 560 is really strong. both great cans.

 

[henkie196]

  I had a chance to direct compare both side-by-side, so I can comment on the HD800 comparison.
 
The sound stage between them is closer than I expected even the the 'best sound stage in the world' tag often applied to the HD800. The HD800 does slightly edge out the HE-560 in sound stage and imaging (but not as dramatic as I had hoped). The HD800 is relatively brighter than the HE-560 from the same set-up. The HE-560 does have a touch more bass quantity, but it's really it's bass quality that shines through the most between them. The HE-560 has that 'planar trait' of an extremely linear deep low frequency extension. The HE-560 also has that planar characteristic of  amazing speed (fast attack/short decay). The HD800's speed performs very well too though. Both are highly resolving, but I would give a slight edge to the HD800 for micro-detail retrieval. The HD800 is more unforgiving in my mind due to its bright nature and extremely high resolution (will definitely require nice external components and high quality source files). The HE-560 is also quite clean in its presentation and also extremely resolving, but less bright relatively, so will not get that piercing stridency if components not matched well or if sharper/edgier source files. I personally found the HE-560 to match my preferred sound signature better. However, both are high quality headphones. Closer in performance than different. I would personally put them in the same category in TOTL flagships especially to due their similar extremely neutral-oriented, clinical presentation (just means for me it would be redundant to own both).

Many thanks for the comparison. I thought the HD800 was already pretty tight on the bass, interesting that the HE-560 is even better.
 
Given your preferences for sound signature I don't suppose you'd know many headphones that would have the bass extension and quality of a HD800 or HE-560 but that have a bit less bass quantity? I'm finding it very difficult to find headphones with my prefered sound signature. I suppose a HD25-1 II comes pretty close, though the detail is not that special on these headphones and on-ear doesn't agree with me much.
 
If you could do one song, I'd be interested in Skillet - Whispers in the Dark (not really metal, but I've found it a great song to see how treble detail and bass quality are on a speaker).

 

[HarleyZK]

Listening to Gojira - From Mars to Sirius right now on my new HE-6, holy **** is the the only applicable term. What have I been missing out on!!! I'm kicking myself for not getting a HE-6 sooner. The speed and balls out aggression on these is amazing. More to come