Mid-fi planar recommendation
Jun 28, 2018 at 5:21 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 5

EmojilessPsykop

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I'm currently in market for an HP purchase within 500 EUR. I'll be using it 60% gaming, 40% music.

I play PUBG and single player story games mostly. For PUBG I need correct positional audio to be competitive. For single player games immersion is more important, I think I'd prefer a wide soundstage.

I listen mostly to jazz, blues, indie rock, but also some hip hop and edm and sometimes metal, so I guess I'd need an all rounder.

What I currently own:
For music at home I use Meridian Explorer 2 + Massdrop CTH + Massdrop HD6XX. Love it for the musicality to listen at nights while reading some stuff over a warm light - perfect. I find it lacks bass so I use it for relaxing music only. For gaming the soundstage is too small.

I also own Philips Fidelio X2 (pair it with Meridian Explorer 2). For music, I find it sounds great with edm/hip hop, but harsh for anything else and there's too much bass. I find it's not as good for games as everyone says. Listening to them I also feel like the sounds as though I'm in a bathroom. Might be because the pads are changed, I bought em used with this mod.

Also have Massdrop K7XX (paired with FX Audio DAC-X6). The soundstage is nice but I find it very boring to listen to, both in music and games. The music of refugee town in Nier Automata doesnt sound as nice as I'd like with these headphones for instance.

Thinking of selling k7XX and Fidelio x2.

I've listened to and gamed for a few hours in AD700X and find them not satisfying for music. Too little bass, sharp sounding - even vocals managed to be piercing. Liked the soundstage for games though.

Listened a bit to Hifiman 400s. Felt like in a bathroom again.

Listened a bit to Hifiman 400i. Highs were too piercing in some cases.

Where I stand now
So from what I wrote, regarding the bass I've experienced with these headphones - I think I may like the punchiness of planar headphones. I imagine they would feel satisfying without overtaking the competitive advantage in games.

So the options I know of currently are:

Hifiman HE4XX - 250EUR - might be the perfect in between the 400s and 400i. However I live in a small country in Europe and knowing Hifiman QC issues I'm not sure I want to risk sending these back and forth to USA.

Monoprice M1060 - 330EUR - could send them from Germany. Very varied reviews, soundstage might be too small for me, am afraid of the build quality and ringing issues and the mods I might have to do will void the warranty.

Hifiman Sundara - ~450EUR - can get these from an official Hifiman partner. Had a quick listen, seemed to be very nice. Might be a good fit for my CTH as well. Could audition for more, though not sure how good these are for gaming. Is the soundstage bigger than m1060?

Are there any other options? Any recommendations would be very welcome.
 
Last edited:
Jun 29, 2018 at 4:48 AM Post #4 of 5
Planars are not quite suitable for gaming, because they don't work well with 3d sound.
For example, if someone is running behind you, you will not able understand is it in front or behind you.
 

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