thanks for the suggestions! to further narrow it down: the HD800s may be more than i was planning on spending and i'm not sure i'd like to get into electrostatic headphones (with the special amp) at this time.
any thoughts on the Focal Elear vs. HiFiMan HE-560?
thanks for the suggestions! to further narrow it down: the HD800s may be more than i was planning on spending and i'm not sure i'd like to get into electrostatic headphones (with the special amp) at this time.
any opinion on the Focal Elear vs. HiFiMan HE-560?
As much as I wish I could give a better opinion between those two, I haven't been able to listen to the Elear yet, so my impression is only based o the many positive reviews.
For the HiFiMan HE-560, it might be a bit of an unusual step coming from the HD650 to be honest. I could compare the HE-560 directly to some of the headphones I used to own: the Sennheiser HD600, the Beyerdynamic T1 and the Stax SRS-4040 Signature system.
Out of all of these, the HE-560 has the most 'polite' bass. Perhaps a little bit south from neutral. At the same time, I think it's the most realistic bass out of all of them. It just feels like the kick drums or the other bass instruments are there in the room with you. I didn't miss the punch that for example the T1 has. Compared to the HD600, which is basically a slightly less dark HD650, the HE-560 sounded light, fast, more realistic, but definitely colder. There is no warmth to the HE-560, while the HD650 is ful of warmth.
The mids are very nice, detailed and fast, albeit not as natural, fast and transparent as the SRS-4040. They go very well with the bass. Vocals sound great on the HE-560, but in a different way of how they sound great on the HD650. The HE-560 has more forward mids.
Te treble is detailed and largely accurate. It doesn't have a sharp peak like the first generation T1, but it's certainly brighter than the HD600 and the HD650. To me the treble is the one weaker point of this headphone, because it sounds 'plasticky'. By that I basically mean not realistic. This is mainly comparing it to the SRS-4040, which has a sweet, natural and effortless treble.
thanks for the detailed analysis, it definitely helps me with my purchasing decision! i have done a little more reading also. i think i may be looking for something similar to a lot of people: the big brother to the sennheiser hd 650. the problem is: the HPs close to that description are much more expensive and require better/more expensive DAC/amps!
thinking of going in a new direction... instead of a new set of HPs, maybe i should buy a chord mojo ($500). at that price, should i be considering other DAC/amps?
thinking of going in a new direction... instead of a new set of HPs, maybe i should buy a chord mojo ($500). at that price, should i be considering other DAC/amps?
Can't go wrong with the Mojo . The Elear are also very good headphones HD-650's elevated so to speak. If you haven't heard the 650's out of a Bottlehead Crack you haven't heard them. The amp was tailor made for those headphones just great .
Maybe you could look at the HiFiMan Edition X. I just found out it's available just under $1000 new on Amazon and it's sound signature is much closer to the HD650. It is also very easy to drive from different sources, even portable ones.
regarding an upgrade to a chord mojo, i've read it would be better for a person who is going to use it as a portable. in my case, i'm looking for a desktop DAC/amp and ordered a schiit modi multibit + jotunheim. i'm going to keep the HP recommendations for future reference! thank you everyone for the replies!
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