[DoctaCosmos]

If you like how an lcd2 or 3 sound you'll like how a 4 sounds. I personally never found them to be my cup of tea except for a pre-fazor lcd3 I had. Most euphoric headphone I've ever heard. So beautiful but at the cost of everything sounding like an angel was singing or playing an instrument for you. Great for some genres but I'm not wealthy enough to own multiple high end cans so it had to go. Only audeze headphone I ever liked putting on. Those old leather pads and lack of fazor was amazing. Still too big though and had to basically dedicate time to listening to them

 

[BrowChan]

I agree. They are definitely good but not for the price (can speak only for the 2C and 3F as I have not tried the others), IMO. I don't know which way to proceed in this maze. There is the HE-6, LCD-4, Susvara (way outta my budget), ZMF Verite Closed, Kaldas RR1, and L700 to decide from. I don't know about Focal as I heard their sub bass extension and feel is not as great as the aforementioned.

 

[SilverEars]

I agree. They are definitely good but not for the price (can speak only for the 2C and 3F as I have not tried the others), IMO. I don't know which way to proceed in this maze. There is the HE-6, LCD-4, Susvara (way outta my budget), ZMF Verite Closed, Kaldas RR1, and L700 to decide from. I don't know about Focal as I heard their sub bass extension and feel is not as great as the aforementioned.

It all comes down to what's important to you. I find the ZMF fans is about look of the headphone with wood, although I can't agree the sound performance is worth the price asked for. I heard the Auteur, and sold it off right away, just wasn't worth it. The ZMF thread pattern is hype, and comments about how great the wood looks, etc.. etc.. I get a feeling, it's for those easily influenced by wood looks. So, is it looks or sound?

If bass is important to you, planars are likely the answer. Especially if you find subs quite important. I personally like more harder hitting than the modern Hifiman offerings. Two things that don't jive with me with the newest Hifiman offerings are not as much mid-body to the sound, and not so much impact. I need full mids, which is why I still like the Senny HD6-- series.

 

[Module]

It all comes down to what's important to you. I find the ZMF fans is about look of the headphone with wood, although I can't agree the sound performance is worth the price asked for. I heard the Auteur, and sold it off right away, just wasn't worth it. The ZMF thread pattern is hype, and comments about how great the wood looks, etc.. etc.. I get a feeling, it's for those easily influenced by wood looks. So, is it looks or sound?

If bass is important to you, planars are likely the answer. Especially if you find subs quite important. I personally like more harder hitting than the modern Hifiman offerings. Two things that don't jive with me with the newest Hifiman offerings are not as much mid-body to the sound, and not so much impact. I need full mids, which is why I still like the Senny HD6-- series.

And what do you consider as hard-hitting planar alternative to Hifiman offerings? I only can think of LCD X within $1000-1500 price range, but god these are heavy.

 

[SilverEars]

And what do you consider as hard-hitting planar alternative to Hifiman offerings? I only can think of LCD X within $1000-1500 price range, but god these are heavy.

Older stuff like HE500 or HE6, but don't know about others (4XX was mediocre). They sounded fuller and more impactful. I find that the newer stuff does certain aspects better in terms of resolvability, and with HEK series or Araya, the sound stage space and depth. HE6 was more about depth in the width like the STAX headphones. The new stuff stretches the sound space due to the large cups. Audeze is more impactful as well. LCD series, but I guess the new Hifimans reduced weight. HE500 or 6 maybe a bit heavier for you as well if you think LCD series is heavy.

 

[DoctaCosmos]

Yeah the old hifiman style is semi open but feels like a closed back as far as presentation goes which is my preferred taste especially if you like bas . I'm very curious to hear an he6se. I know it's not summit fi but I bought a pair of amiron wireless and the bass was absolutely amazing for electronic. It was one noted at first and in a euphoric dark and hard hitting manner but once it broke in it was one of my favorite. I modded the ear pads by putting some slightly stretched out cotton balls on the inside of the backside of the pads to angle driver and reduce resonanc. It worked quite well to tame the highs and had no fatigue with music afterward. Was just still a jumbled mess though being closed back and no measures were taken to reduce the resonance of that headphone. So I'm going to buy an amiron home I think in the future. Although I'd be willing to bet an he6se driven properly will probably be all I'd need for all genres.
I owned one of the first production units of ZMF Eikon. Very NICE sounding but similar to me prefazor lcd3 as it made everything nice. Also, I found that the imaging was weird and I believe it to be from the port. There were times when the imaging felt hollow and once I noticed it I couldn't not hear it lol. Also, it weighed a ton and was huge so I never wore it. I cant stress enough how I'll never buy another big headphone again and the only reason I bothered with these full size planars is because how they look like I might actually just throw them on whenever

 

[SilverEars]

I owned one of the first production units of ZMF Eikon. Very NICE sounding but similar to me prefazor lcd3 as it made everything nice. Also, I found that the imaging was weird and I believe it to be from the port. There were times when the imaging felt hollow and once I noticed it I couldn't not hear it lol. Also, it weighed a ton and was huge so I never wore it. I cant stress enough how I'll never buy another big headphone again and the only reason I bothered with these full size planars is because how they look like I might actually just throw them on whenever

Resonance? Before the Auteur opened up the wood, the closed wood likely caused resonance. That's what I heard from the Eikon that turned me off, and it's the reason why closed-backs gets tuned with dips in certain spots. To reduce resonance.

Isn't this an obvious huge flaw? I don't know how this can be ignored.

ZMF color I don't find accurate. The wood causes some sort of tubbiness to the sound that just colors everything. Something that sounds off to me isn't worth high costs. I'm obviously not a fan of noticeable color in the sound.

 

[DoctaCosmos]

It's like I could tell the turbulence from the resonances was escaping the port and it was messing with the body of the sound and imaging. I have a similar issue with the hd598. It's like I can hear where it's not open and tell where it is open and it messes with m . But the 598 didn't have any turbulence

 

[sennfan83261]

Yeah the old hifiman style is semi open but feels like a closed back as far as presentation goes which is my preferred taste especially if you like bas .

Semi-open? I'd consider the old school HFM, e.g. my HE-500 and HE-6, to be fully open headphones. The soundstage from both of my HFM planars sound wider than most of my open-backs (e.g. HD6XX) and far wider than any closed back I've tried (which I admit isn't many).

 

[DoctaCosmos]

They were diffused. It's hard to explain but basically sound can be in your head and away from you but still sound like it's coming from inside the cups or it can be inside and also the outside of the cups and some can sound like it's one big picture outside your head. I really dont like hearing sound coming outside of the cups when I listen to them. My old he 400 had a slight amount come out of the cups but not a ton . It still felt like the sound was in the cups. Audeze while open does this best. It still feels like a closed back but doesn't have the funky outside the cups imaging

 

[DoctaCosmos]

It's been so long since I'd heard the he500 but I thought I remembered it being a lit like my he400. I heard the he6 one time with the amp they made for it and I remember it being a monstrous sound outside my head. Like I was wearing an astronaut helmet that had surround sound in it. That was all before I started learning and critiquing stuff though so dont know if it was something I would have liked in the long run or not

 

[BrowChan]

It all comes down to what's important to you. I find the ZMF fans is about look of the headphone with wood, although I can't agree the sound performance is worth the price asked for. I heard the Auteur, and sold it off right away, just wasn't worth it. The ZMF thread pattern is hype, and comments about how great the wood looks, etc.. etc.. I get a feeling, it's for those easily influenced by wood looks. So, is it looks or sound?

If bass is important to you, planars are likely the answer. Especially if you find subs quite important. I personally like more harder hitting than the modern Hifiman offerings. Two things that don't jive with me with the newest Hifiman offerings are not as much mid-body to the sound, and not so much impact. I need full mids, which is why I still like the Senny HD6-- series.

Does the Emotiva A-100 do the job in driving these to %%%(how much percentage?) of its potential? What would I be losing if I sell my Arya and get the HE-6 (combined with A-100)? Also, 4-screw or 6-screw? What if I have no option?

 

[SilverEars]

Does the Emotiva A-100 do the job in driving these to %%%(how much percentage?) of its potential? What would I be losing if I sell my Arya and get the HE-6 (combined with A-100)? Also, 4-screw or 6-screw? What if I have no option?

I would advise just keep the Arya, and don't even get into HE6.

 

[Jodet]

I would advise just keep the Arya, and don't even get into HE6.

That's good advice.

 

[swapheadfi]

Any comparisons with Aeon Flow? I am now thinking between these two