I truly respect Dan's dedicated work, but the Mr Speaker/DCA headphones I tried so far were really not up in my alley. Lacking dynamic contrast, definition, spatial clues, impact... I would pick the LCD2 or even LCD2C any day versus all the Æon 2 variations.
Thank goodness for that! I think I’ll watch the user reviews on the HA-3A for a bit then make a decision by end of Oct as to what I’ll add next. 
I never heard a DCA Headphone Prior to Expanse.I truly respect Dan's dedicated work, but the Mr Speaker/DCA headphones I tried so far were really not up in my valley. Lacking dynamic contrast, definition, spatial clues, impact... I would pick the LCD2 or even LCD2C any day versus all the Æon 2 variations.
This experience somewhat made me unexcited towards the Stealth/Expanse, but of course I wouldn't refuse trying them.
This is why I love the Elites, wide soundstage. However with any headphones I feel the need to use Dave's crossfeed. That's really good at pushing the sound out of your head and adding some depth and layering. I've also tried dCS's Expanse on Lina recently, and while very weird at first, it did feel more natural after a while. I might make the switch because of it. I've also ordered a Zahl Hm1 and am curious how that soundstage widening feature will work. Either way, i think the answer is in the chain, not the headphones.
Sweet! For someone who has been agonizing over this for quite some time, very nice to read the definitive proclamation of long-term listening preference here. In addition, I could use the Norne cables I already have with the Elite, (big deal there), and the pads are not glued on (super important to me). So it's looking like the Elite is moving into the forefront of cans to buy. Overall, the Elite seem to provide the most compelling argument for my intended use. The Expanse did look very interesting, but the Elite tick all the boxes for me I think. No headphone is going to be absolutely perfect (at least not yet LOL) but exhaustive research indicates Elite to be all that and a bag of chips...
I would be less hesitant recommending the Elites to someone over the Expanse or a lot of other cans. I feel it has a more universally appealing sound and puts musicality with a large stage at the forefront. All the while, it has excellent tonal balance with a pleasant midbass bump. Technicalities are impressive, but never put before enjoyment. The build, materials, comfort are divine and it looks like it's worth every penny you paid for it. You also get two very different sound signatures because of the pad options. All you need is a good source and barely any power. As long as your preference isn't towards a dark sound, you can't go wrong with them!
I agree. I listened to the Elites and went, “who’s gonna dislike these?” Safer to buy blindly I think, if a demo is impossible.
I'd be interested to know how the Zahl's sound stage narrowing function will work with the Elites, for that should be closer to Dave's cross-feed effect. I would expect any widening effect to further exacerbate the hard left/right panning of certain recordings.
The narrowing function is just straight up making it mono. I've also understood from initial impressions that the widening technique is actually what the recording engineers use so...if it is already applied properly, it will have little to no effect. It's a bit more "pro" than i would've liked in that regard. I'm still excited about it though, as well as the bass/high shelfs.
My choice amp for the Elite is the newly released Cayin HA-3A. This takes enjoyment even further. It is excellent out of the box and the engineering that goes into being an excellent match regardless of impedance is amazing. Best value tube amp for sensitive cans. Sounds excellent even in stock form with ZMF dynamics, Focal’s offerings, and of course the Elites.
Unfortunately I never use my TT2 as an amp, just as a DAC, just a preference. I only tried Elites with the TT2 a short time and it’s technically good but I get bored. I still prefer the HA-3A because TT2 can get boring and dry. I prefer the OG empyreans with the TT2. I am enjoying the Elites with the HA-3A because the amp sounds clean, soundstage is excellent and it gives a nice tube glow between layers and instruments if you know what I mean. Without being overly tube-y, but nicely and tastefully balanced which matches Elite’s already balanced and tasteful tuning.
. . Sound out of the gate is to my liking, I had to listen to Arya V2 for a long time in order to like the sound, not with these. Now for the sound: I don't get that notion that these do not have resolution, im not missing anything, tough i will say that adx5000 makes you to notice more detail, but i dont necessary think they have more details. Bass has impact and texture, perfect for edm. Vocals have depth and soul. Highs have slightly less energy than i like, Diana V2 had better highs in my opinion. I understand that notion that these do not do anything extremely well, nothing has jumped out to me, lows/mids/highs are really good but not exceptional. Soundsatge is one thing tough that can be described as exceptional in my opionion.It’s good but maybe it could be a bit narrow in terms of pairing because of the weak output. Seems like it’s only really really good for sensitive cans like ZMF dynamic cans, Focals and Mezes and you’ll need the ha300 or ha-6a for most other cans. It does less, and matches with less cans than its bigger brothers but it does what it can do very very well. A bit more niche but it’s very good if it matches the rest of your stuff.Excellent, thanks. For what it is it seems very reasonably priced as well! Quite surprising… so much so I was a little suspicious
