[cummje]

Out of curiosity, which one do you have? ZEN CAN? Thanks!

Apologies I should have clarified. Zen Dac 2. Financially I’m in a position to be able to upgrade or add something by maybe a grand provided it doesn’t take much space, just still trying to wrap my brain around what I really need.

 

[blackwhit]

Hi all, now I have hiby fc5 as DAC and moondrop blessing 2 dusk as IEM and Tidal as source. I really like the sound, but time to time in ears are not so comfortable. What headphones have similar sound to these IEMs.

I listen to power/speed/heavy/sympho, prog, AOR, hard rock and classical music...

 

[iFi audio]

Apologies I should have clarified. Zen Dac 2. Financially I’m in a position to be able to upgrade or add something by maybe a grand provided it doesn’t take much space, just still trying to wrap my brain around what I really need.

Understood, thanks! If you intend to use ZEN DAC V2 as your primary DAC, it's a fully balanced design, so the best way to move forward would be an amp that's also balanced. It doesn't have to be one of our products, but in general keeping a setup unifrom (either SE or balanced) allows us to get the best out of components involved. Thanks!

 

[dan3952]

Hey, could you guys recommend a closed back headphone (used/new) under $500 that works well for metal (death/black/doom). Something that doesn't necessarily need an amp and can be driven directly from a laptop? Preferred sound signature is slightly warm neutral with fast punchy bass, good presence of mids and smoother highs (staying away from sharp/super analytical sets)

Shure SRH-1540. A warmed over and darker non analytical headphone that I regret selling. Elevated bass level is mainly closed back over open back physics. Bass isn't as good as Audeze, but it shouldn't be, at that price. You can make it slightly better by buying sheepskin pads.

HiFiMan Sundara and Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pros are your other options. They're open backs, but there's few that compare to them in terms of bass, at that price

 

[Vruksha]

Shure SRH-1540. A warmed over and darker non analytical headphone that I regret selling. Elevated bass level is mainly closed back over open back physics. Bass isn't as good as Audeze, but it shouldn't be, at that price. You can make it slightly better by buying sheepskin pads.

HiFiMan Sundara and Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pros are your other options. They're open backs, but there's few that compare to them in terms of bass, at that price

Thanks for the recc, I’ll look up SRH 1540. I am not particularly looking for a bass heavy set infact something like the DT 770 80ohms sounds good to my ears overall but they come with a long cable which is a pain imo. I do have Sundara for critical listening, looking for an alternate easy to drive (can play of the MacBook) closed back headphone to do the usual music/movies without disturbing the lady. The new Beyer 700x looked interesting but apparently they are a bit boomy and V shaped, 900x fits the bill but they are open back. I am looking for something more neutral.

 

[iFi audio]

HiFiMan Sundara and Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pros are your other options. They're open backs, but there's few that compare to them in terms of bass, at that price

If I may ask, how would you rate (if you can) Fostex TH900's bass in comparison to those HifiMans and Beyers?

 

[dan3952]

If I may ask, how would you rate (if you can) Fostex TH900's bass in comparison to those HifiMans and Beyers?

I haven't heard any Fostex headphones, so my suggestion is dig up the Tyll Hertsens data sheet for them, and learn from it. There's a paper on how to interpret square waves that I'd found interesting. Inner Fidelity is no more, but there's information that had been put on the Stereophile site.

 

[iFi audio]

I haven't heard any Fostex headphones, so my suggestion is dig up the Tyll Hertsens data sheet for them, and learn from it. There's a paper on how to interpret square waves that I'd found interesting. Inner Fidelity is no more, but there's information that had been put on the Stereophile site.

Yes, I'm familiar with these, but always good to ask around how folks perceive different cans just to have that extra info. Still, thanks!

 

[Chad Schulz]

If I may ask, how would you rate (if you can) Fostex TH900's bass in comparison to those HifiMans and Beyers?

The Fostex I've used are absolute Classic/Hard Rock monsters--better than the Sundara for less congested music like Rock. However, for fast/aggressive music like Metal, the Fostex create a fatiguing "wall of sound" effect that just can't compete with the layer/detail retrieval of planars like the Sundara. I find the Sundara have an overall cleaner sound while the Fostex is what I put on to really "feel" the music. I've never tried a Beyer.

 

[iFi audio]

while the Fostex is what I put on to really "feel" the music.

That's a very accurate word that also reflects the sensation I got after listening to TH900. To my ears that sound was gutsy and had solid drive, which made all rock bits on my playlist spot on raw and enjoyable. IIRC I had no complaints with metal as well, but that's mostly due to my liking these cans just the way they are

 

[gonintendo]

Thank you for the note. I’ve seen this general sentiment before but not an explanation. Are you able to elaborate or equate it with something? (I have a 660s and a Deva Pro if they might help to equate it to something). Or maybe in relation to a specific song or sub genre of metal (or any other style of music).

I don’t know if many people still feel this way but there seemed to be a camp in the Audeze forum that preferred the older signature to the more recent one—calling it more warm, from recollection.

Thank you! I’ll def demo the 9200 again regardless.

I think a lot of Audeze hate is (rightfully) directed at the memory foam earpads that they used for a while (I don't know exact dates but they started maybe roughly the 5 years before the 2021 revisions?). In 2021 they switched over to a lighter foam which doesn't kill the upper mids nearly as much. I still EQ that region up a tiny bit on mine but the thing with planars, and especially Audezes, is that they take extremely well to EQ. On most of my dynamic driver phones any time I EQ something I always feel like I'm losing something (even if the tradeoff is worth it). Not so on the Audezes. I'd recommend them for metal if you really value the following things: good headstage, extremely well defined and "right" sounding imaging (including correct sense of scale of everything relatively), tight and well defined bass, good separation, and smooth but well extended treble. These are all the ways I find my LCD-2s to be superior to most of the dynamic driver headphones I've tried, including for metal. Where they they aren't quite as good (but not necessarily bad either), is the sense of engagement. The bass is plenty punchy but guitars don't have quite as much bite. In generally I find dynamic drivers have better dynamics (in terms of contrast between softer and louder passages). I think for the price the LCD-2Fs (not the classic, I didn't really like those) are a really good value as they are easy to drive and don't really care about the source, easy to EQ (so you can experiment with different tonal balances) and are better sounding across all genres than pretty much any dynamic driver headphone less than $1k IMO. I may be a bit biased as I have a bit of a soft spot for wood headphones (if you couldn't tell from my signature)

 

[Kimmeri]

Hello people long time no see.

I have a very specific life or death question here: Is Focal Elear a *clear* update from DT 1990 pro (for metal music)?

I own 1990 pro with dekoni velour pads for metal music, I have no complaints. I enjoy using it daily for hours, BUT Im seeing a good deal for a used Elear and would like to go for it, BUT I will not unless its *clearly* better sound wise than DT 1990! I am mostly listening tech death like Obscura and First Fragment an prog death like

Thank you in advance!

 

[shaanpf]

Hello fellow metal heads I will soon be moving back to work from office and was wondering which closed back headphones are comparable to DT1990s/Grado Hemps? I've really enjoyed the sound of those and wanted something closed back with similar sound signature. Thanks!

 

[gonintendo]

Hello fellow metal heads I will soon be moving back to work from office and was wondering which closed back headphones are comparable to DT1990s/Grado Hemps? I've really enjoyed the sound of those and wanted something closed back with similar sound signature. Thanks!

IMO chasing the sound signature of an open back in a closed back is a wild goose chase. Even if a closed back has a very similar frequency response it will usually sound pretty different from open (with a few exceptions). I have yet to find a closed back that I would bring into an office that's exceptional for metal. I currently use the AKG k371 in the office and it works well enough. Nice thing about those is that they sell them at guitar center brick and mortar stores so you can try them out pretty easily.

 

[shaanpf]

IMO chasing the sound signature of an open back in a closed back is a wild goose chase. Even if a closed back has a very similar frequency response it will usually sound pretty different from open (with a few exceptions). I have yet to find a closed back that I would bring into an office that's exceptional for metal. I currently use the AKG k371 in the office and it works well enough. Nice thing about those is that they sell them at guitar center brick and mortar stores so you can try them out pretty easily.

Thanks, I'll take a look at them. Any other closed back headphones to try for metal?