[papomaster]

Does the Grace have balanced out?

If so, balanced Denons, Grado Gs-1000, or Balanced Hd650 if you can take the wife out of the equation....

If not, Darth Beyers or JVC DX-1000 maybe?

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by papomaster /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does the Grace have balanced out? If so, balanced Denons, Grado Gs-1000, or Balanced Hd650 if you can take the wife out of the equation.... If not, Darth Beyers or JVC DX-1000 maybe?

Darth Beyers are just not in consideration when the price peak is $2000. You can do much better than that >.<

M902 is only single ended, although it does have balanced inputs...its pretty weird.

 

[phunge]

So... the auction on the qualia's has ended. It seems pretty risky anyways having not tried them for sizing. Plus, if i'm going to blow my budget, I better not end up with another leaky can or I may be listening in the driveway

So, L3000 if I can even get a hold of one seems the best option, but well above my budget. Other possibilities are JVC or Denon -- I will need to research those. Not sure if these will offer any improvements over the SA5000 other than being closed -- they may just be 'different' without necessarily being 'better'. Edition 9 is still a possibility, but comfort is in question, and I would be reluctant to buy a set without trying them out.

The market for $2000 headphones is obviously too small to garner much interest or attention from the manufacturers. All the previous phones in this price range seem to have been discontinued.

Perhaps there's an opportunity for someone to release a new top-notch headphone?

 

[phunge]

The other unexplored possiblity is the UE11-pro. I have absoloutely zero experience with an IEM -- Can anyone comment on how it might compare with my SA5000? is the experience totally different with an IEM?