[yavormoskov]

Hi. I am looking to have an open back headphones who would do great with variety of music. I have heard good things about the Fidelio X2 but I see that The massdrop AKGs have already legendary status as well (I missed the last drop but they will be on Massdrop soon I am sure). Right now the Hifiman HE-400I is on sale for $299 down from $499. I have never heard planar phones before. The build quality of both looks very good and the price is almost the same as well. So far I have Bang and Olufsen Beoplay H6 and Denon Ah-MM400 and I enjoy them equally despite their completely different sound signature. I think is time for me to scale up and have an open headphone only for home listen and to buy a decent dac/amp, maybe like Grace Design x Massdrop m9XX to pair them with. So, what do you think?

 

[NA Blur]

Check out my review of the HE-400i here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/hifiman-he-400i/reviews/14625
 
I own both the HE-400i and AKG K712 Pro and do not find any reason to go back to the AKG K712 Pro save for a few tracks that I really want slightly more treble detain on. The HE-400i outclasses it in every other way.
 
I have not heard the Fidelio X2 in quite some time, but I have a friend that owns both the K7xx and X2 and he prefers the more laid back sound of the X2. He thinks the K7xx has more detail than the X2.
 
As far as the amp choice as long as it can swing up to 4 volts it should be just fine. I prefer my Grace m903 over my BUDA using the HE-400i because it gives a little more detail in the midrange and treble, but both amps sound very close to each other. In this regard I think the m9xx would probably be a great choice, but since I have not heard it I will not comment on its synergy with any headphones.