I think it'll happen, an audiophile brand will market to metal fans, something that responds to the criteria of the "what makes a good metal headphone" section below:
First off, I'll just say I disagree with their thoughts on what makes a good metal headphone. It's pretty subjective stuff there. I'm also not a big fan of the LCD-3, in general... so there's that. I'd prefer it to have just a little bit of sparkle up top (disagreement 1), a little bit more energy between 2khz and 3.5khz to bring out the upper harmonics of the guitar (disagreement 2), a little bit more balance with the rest of the range in regard to bass so the [often overcranked] kickdrum doesn't eat up the entire mix (disagreement 3), and [perhaps] a tiny extra bit of roll off - around 30hz or so - which tends to give the bass more "snap" (disagreement 4). So you see, it's all very subjective.
I'm not even going to touch the rest of the post. My disagreement is mostly ideological, and I don't want to launch into a debate about it.
Of course there will be people who choose to go with the flagships. But there's a market for those who prefer not to drop an extra 1-5 grand on the sparkle!
Well the Fidelio X2 came in during lunch, and it hits a pretty similar volume to the setting I had on my Meier Corda amp with the Denon D2000, my worky workhorse. Definitely a darker sound signature, but much more comfortable. I listened to "War Pigs," "The Wizard" and Electric Wizard's "Vinum Sabbathi" and the bass is excellent, the cymbals still sound clear enough without any irritating sizzle.
X2 is a "fun" headphone, that should not be compared to Sennheiser's HD6xx-series. For me, in this category, D2000 has much better crack in the snare and crunch in distorted guitars than X2. The latter is just a bit too smooth for metal, for my ears.
Of course there will be people who choose to go with the flagships. But there's a market for those who prefer not to drop an extra 1-5 grand on the sparkle!
Just reading your comment up there about what you like in a headphone for metal @Hansotek, total agreement here - especially in relation to having good energy in the presence region from 2khz, absolutely required for guitars to sound right.
Also, thought I would drop some feedback on the LCD-4 after my weekend with them:
Tonally similar to the LCD-3f but with increased treble, which the 3f needed. Apart from having a similar tonal balance the 4 is more accomplished than the 3f in every way.
Best headphone I have ever heard to date.
Really need to hear the HE1000 and Stax, but at this point I think I'm getting the LCD-4.
...also, had a small mini-meet and @HelmetGuy also thought these were the best headphone he has heard. He was planning to buy a new car, but is now reviewing his priorities.
Just reading your comment up there about what you like in a headphone for metal @Hansotek, total agreement here - especially in relation to having good energy in the presence region from 2khz, absolutely required for guitars to sound right.
Also, thought I would drop some feedback on the LCD-4 after my weekend with them:
Tonally similar to the LCD-3f but with increased treble, which the 3f needed. Apart from having a similar tonal balance the 4 is more accomplished than the 3f in every way.
Best headphone I have ever heard to date.
Really need to hear the HE1000 and Stax, but at this point I think I'm getting the LCD-4.
...also, had a small mini-meet and @HelmetGuy also thought these were the best headphone he has heard. He was planning to buy a new car, but is now reviewing his priorities.
I knew you were going to like those! They were just insanely good with everything I threw at them. I'm super jealous!!
It's funny that a headphone could make somebody rethink their priorities about buying a car, but I think the LCD-4 is probably the one headphone that makes it totally understandable, lol!It's on another level.
I'm not a car guy, as long as my car gets me from A-->B and has reasonable running costs I could care less about it. A headphone is going to give me massive enjoyment, no contest which would take my money.
I like the Stax as well. I have the SR-Lambda and it's super awesome with metal! Honestly, I probably spent $450 total on the earspeaker, SRD-7 adaptor and the little t-amp that drives it, and it sounds better than just about anything I've tried under $1,200 or so. I liked it easily better than the first gen Beyer T1.
On the Portapro, those things are unbelievable for $35 bucks. I heard a Head-fi'er from one of our Chicago meets say that pairing them with a Schiit Ragnarock makes them easily sound like an $80 headphone.
I have had many portapros, ranging from totally stock to very modded.
Excellent headphones.
Definitely agree that with a decent amp it doubles their value easy.
I prefer STAX still for all things rock related, or actually all things non-electronic music for that matter!
I'm not a car guy, as long as my car gets me from A-->B and has reasonable running costs I could care less about it. A headphone is going to give me massive enjoyment, no contest which would take my money.
Yeah, actually now that I think about it, I probably end up spending twice as much on audio per month as I do on my car lease... sometimes more. So you'll get no judgement from me.
Speaking of new audio toys, the Bifrost Multibit arrived today! Not sure if I mentioned it, but I won the Bimby through the scavenger hunt at RMAF. Can't wait to plug it in with the Master-9 when I get home. I'm guessing it's going to take about 150 hours or so to burn in, so it should be fully cooked and ready to rock at full throttle by this time next week.
Yeah, actually now that I think about it, I probably end up spending twice as much on audio per month as I do on my car lease... sometimes more. So you'll get no judgement from me.
Speaking of new audio toys, the Bifrost Multibit arrived today! Not sure if I mentioned it, but I won the Bimby through the scavenger hunt at RMAF. Can't wait to plug it in with the Master-9 when I get home. I'm guessing it's going to take about 150 hours or so to burn in, so it should be fully cooked and ready to rock at full throttle by this time next week.
I knew you were going to like those! They were just insanely good with everything I threw at them. I'm super jealous!!
It's funny that a headphone could make somebody rethink their priorities about buying a car, but I think the LCD-4 is probably the one headphone that makes it totally understandable, lol!It's on another level.
The LCD-4 is an interesting headphone with metal. It didn't blow me out of my shoes with metal like it did with other genres, but it's still exceptional. It was showing me parts of Tesseract's "Polaris" that I had never ever heard before. It's extremely resolving, but not in the overly brutal "your recording sucks" way that the HD800 is. So I think YMMV with the recording you're listening to, to an extent. I think it'll really shine with metal that has not necessarily a perfect mix, but solid guitar tones and drum sounds. They have the most awesome sub-bass out of a headphone I've ever heard, that's for sure.
In comparison to the HE-6, I almost prefer how the HE-6 adds to distorted guitars to make them sound edgier. There's still that area around 3-4kHz that sticks out to me in a bad way. I usually go for slightly warmer-than-neutral cans for metal, so I'd probably still prefer the LCD-4.
Even though I have not heard all the headphones discussed in this thread, I would speculate these are the best metal headphones for $399....................in the world.
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