[MalinYamato]

I am a middle-head , who listens to classics, jazz and prioritizes vocals, female vocals.

1 Denon AH-D7200 (too base heavy, want a little bit more emphasizes on vocals)
2 Denon AH-D5200 (returning)
3 Denon AH-D5000
4 Sennheiser Momentum 2 (mine on the go)
5 B&W P7 (uncomfortable)
On the way: HifiMan Sundara (new revision).

DAC/Amp: Oppo AH-2SE (mostly used) -- good with Denons but I am curious what THX AAA amps may provide. Which amp: Monolith THX Portable, 5Qs with THX/AAA module or Drop THX AAA 789 -- SMSL SP200 looks too weird? Other DAC/Amps, which I hardly use: AudioLab M-Dac, Denon AVC-A1HDA, Marantz SR6013, SMSL M2.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

^You may want to look into a KRK KNS6400
Cheap as chips yet does mids better than cans that cost over 15 times as much. The same can be said of the K371 actually.
Then again if you’re willing to spend the extra dough: Focal Elegia.

On topic?
Hell I don’t know. I still love all my headphones just about equally. Different presentations for different occasions. Every time I go for an extended period without listening to my HE500/HD600/R70x/Sundara/HD58X and then pop it on the old cabeza?
‘Holy crabsalad Batman!
How in the blue feck has it been so incredibly long since we last met?
...and what exactly do I need all these other badboys for?’

 

[HBen]

I am a middle-head , who listens to classics, jazz and prioritizes vocals, female vocals.

1 Denon AH-D7200 (too base heavy, want a little bit more emphasizes on vocals)
2 Denon AH-D5200 (returning)
3 Denon AH-D5000
4 Sennheiser Momentum 2 (mine on the go)
5 B&W P7 (uncomfortable)
On the way: HifiMan Sundara (new revision).

DAC/Amp: Oppo AH-2SE (mostly used) -- good with Denons but I am curious what THX AAA amps may provide. Which amp: Monolith THX Portable, 5Qs with THX/AAA module or Drop THX AAA 789 -- SMSL SP200 looks too weird? Other DAC/Amps, which I hardly use: AudioLab M-Dac, Denon AVC-A1HDA, Marantz SR6013, SMSL M2.

Quite an interesting choice ... I would have thought that most of the headphones you own are quite a bit more on the pop/rock side - and quite the opposite of typical classical/jazz/female vocals headphones. I'd be interested in hearing about how you came to owning those headphones considering your music preferences.

 

[deathgripped]

Headphones that I own, have owned or have borrowed for enough time to get a feel for them:

1. Koss ESP-95x. I can't wait to upgrade the pads on these for improved comfort/sound. That said they feel pretty good on my head for long listening sessions, they are very light. The speed and resolution these are able to give in the sub-1000 tier is remarkable. They are also very fun sounding, especially their mids, though they do have a little bit of recession in the mid-to-sub bass that I EQ out a bit. It doesn't make them bass canons but it rounds out their sound signature for me. The sound stage is fairly narrow, yet it is vertically tall. They also love EQ which is a huge boon. I bought them new from Drop almost a year ago and they are my go-to req for someone with $400-500 dollars to burn.
2. Hifiman Sundara. Another great value at their current MSRP. The comfort is perfect for my head, but ymmv dependent on the comfort. Definitely try these out for an hour or more if you can before buying. They pretty much handle everything I throw at them and make it sound pleasant. They have great treble and bass, even if the low bass is a bit rolled off. They can thump with a little EQ and turning the volume up though! I was able to get them lightly used for $300 before their price dropped.
3. Koss KSC75-modded. The mods are an MMCX connector mod and the Krammer mod. Grab a nice replacement wire and throw some Yaxi pads on them and you have a great portable headphone. The Krammer mod gets the most out the driver, as it basically uncovers the veil that the already great sounding KSC75s have. The comfort and usability is dramatically improved. A truly fantastic portable or even primary headphone. I paid someone $50 to do the mods for me, and the wire and pads (with shipping) pushed this to about $100 dollars total. You could easily shave off a ton of that cost if you do the mods yourself. These are world beaters even still.
4. Grado PS500e. This remains my favorite Grado that I've listened to. The comfort is alright once the pads have broken in some, but overall they don't feel like their MSRP. It is pretty warm sounding as it has a very substantial mid-bass bump. They are very forceful headphones, as they try to cram as much sound as they can into your ears. Decent detail, though they have a very narrow sound stage. They benefit from having a nice center image that frequently feels like it is inside your head. I keep them around because they guitar based rock music well and they excel at distortion heavy subgenres. Almost nothing I've listened to handles Loveless (a favorite of mine) as well. I also like them for metal. Most Grados sound pretty bad to my taste, but I keep these as a specialist in my arsenal. I got them for roughly $475 used in Canada.
5. Sennheiser HD-600. I'm not a huge fan of this line of headphones, but the 600 is the best I've heard. Great mids, plenty of treble air, and decent bass. Build quality is nice, but the clamp is a bit much for me. My friend and former housemate has lent these to me in the past.
6. Koss KSC75 unmodded. The absolute minimum for headphones imo. Literally only the ill and the destitute have an excuse to not go out and get a pair. $15 is unbeatable.

I've listened to more, but I didn't like them very much so I don't want to be negative. I'll eventually make a comprehensive master list of headphone impressions once I'm older.

 

[MalinYamato]

Quite an interesting choice ... I would have thought that most of the headphones you own are quite a bit more on the pop/rock side - and quite the opposite of typical classical/jazz/female vocals headphones. I'd be interested in hearing about how you came to owning those headphones considering your music preferences.
[/QOUTE]
Yeaaa, I know, I have been kinda off ,,, dont know much about other brands. I started out with Denon amps and earphones because they were cheap relative others (such as Beyers) in Japan. Audio-Technica is THE headphone brand in Japan. I listened to them once but their treble sounded too harsh. Perhaps I got hold of a bad model. Fosutā Denki and Sutakkusu are very very small strange makers of phones, which I were unaware of until I began to investigate about phones a year ago. Recently, I have been trying to find headphones that perform great with genres I love to listen to. I have read good reviews about HD600, HD650 and Sundara. Although a pair of HD6xx cost around USD 200 (265 inkl shiping/tax and custom fees), yesterday, I ended up pushing the order button for Sundra @ USD 375. I am so exited, I can hardly wait,

 

[kman1211]

Update to the list factoring comfort, listening time, and sound signature as well as sound quality.

1.) Beyerdynamic T1.2 Black Edition: Best balance of comfort and sound of my headphones. Most comfortable headphone I own. Genre master and a relaxing listen. My most used headphone.
2.) Kaldas Research RR 1 Conquest: Fantastic sound quality. Would likely be number 1 if comfort was a bit better which limits how long listening sessions are. I want to hear these on a better energizer sometime to see what they sound like very well driven.
3.) Beyerdynamic DT 480 - 25 Ohm (modded): Possibly my best headphone in terms of sound quality, but still working on deciding on the tuning I want. Heaviest headphone I own by a good margin but good comfort. Very seal dependent and I wear glasses, use mostly at night due to this, otherwise would likely be number 1 or 2.
4.) Beyerdynamic Amiron Home: Somewhat similar to the T1.2, not quite as comfortable but very comfortable, different presentation and physically more open design than the T1.2 offers a different insight into music. Very clear sounding and also a relaxing listen and genre master.
5.) Sennheiser HD 6XX: Full forward mids and vocal range, transparent, detailed, comfort is good but not great to my ears and it's a little boring and the upper mids can sound a bit hard on some systems.
6.) Audio-Technica ATH-R70x: I personally find these more engaging and fun to listen to than the HD 6XX, but lacks the fullness and clarity of the HD 6XX. Good bass extension. Super light weight but comfort could be better, pads on the shallow side. If resolving ability and/or comfort were a bit better they would be higher up the list.



Undecided:
AKG K240 Studio (modded): These are new and haven't decided where to put them yet as are still in the process of modding, I hear a lot of potential with their drivers and have an incredibly sweet and addicting midrange. Bought these as a cheap headphone I plan to modify.
AKG K612 Pro: Haven't spent a lot of time with these lately, headphone that I owned the longest of whats listed and they are in need of some TLC.
AudioQuest Nighthawk Carbon: Good headphone but oddly don't listen to them much lately. Will revisit them later.
Beyerdynamic DT 480 - 200 Ohm (modded): These are in the modding process, leaving them alone for now due to me liking the sound of the 25 Ohm more.

 

[josiah177]

1) SR009
2) K812
3) HD800
4) RS1i
5) Focal Elex

 

[MalinYamato]

My Sundara has arrived, and I am therefore updating my list.
1. HifiMan Sundara
2, Denon AH-D7200
3. Denon AH-D5000
4. Denon AH-D5200 (returned it)
5. Sennheiser Momentum 2
6. B&W P7
I am less of a phone and more of a speaker girl, who adores B&W. I have about 16 B&W speakers, most of them in the Nautilus series, and a flagship REL S5 subwoofer. However, P7 and P9 are not my cup of tea and I have yet to hear a decent B&W headphone that I like.

 

[Mannen]

1. Oppo PM-1. They just sound overall better than the others.
2. Senneheiser/Drop HD6XX. Favourite sound signature of the three.
3. Audioquest Nighthawk. They sound great, and i like them, but they're so far to the dark and polite side that i really have to be in the mood to enjoy them.

 

[pataburd]

Martin Logan Mikros 90 [w/HeadphoneLounge UPOCC copper cable and Momentum ear pads]
Focal Utopia [w/HeadphoneLounge UPOCC silver cable]
Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000 [w/ZMF Atmos S cable]
HifiMAN HE1000se [w/Final Audio D8000 stock cable]
HEDDphone [w/Teknorob23 UPOCC Neotech silver/copper cable]

 

[SeniorBrother]

1 Stax L700
2 TIN P1
3 KOSS kph30i

 

[Flisker]

I was always looking for some kind of music reproduction that has as much energy, weight, dynamics and visceral feel as possible, plus ability to crank up volume and not get killed by the treble. This is what I ended up with after nearly 10 years.

1. Focal Clear Professional - The king of dynamics, this is the true "feel the music" headphone I was looking for. Best base out of everything I've heard, but it doesn't end there, whole spectrum has weight and dynamics to it. Unfortunately these are still too bright out of solid state, but sound just right with Woo WA2 as pre-amp.
2.a Sennheiser HD 660S - This is the best headphone at that price point to my ears. Very dynamic, tight base that goes low, similar amazing mids as 650, bit more treble, yet not harsh. Quite fast.
2.b Sennheiser HD 650 - Legendary, everybody knows that, right ?

Rest of the headphones I had and sold :
- Audeze LCD-X
- Audeze LCD-3F
- Audeze LCD-2.2
- HiFiMAN HE-400
- HiFiMAN HE-500
- Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 G1
- Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 G2
- Sennheiser HD 800S
- Sennheiser HD 700
- Sennheiser HD 558
- Sennheiser HD 518
- Shure SRH 940
- AKG K712 Pro
- AKG K701
- Grado SR225i
- Grado PS1000e
- Grado GS1000e
- Mr. Speakers ETHER

 

[MalinYamato]

I was always looking for some kind of music reproduction that has as much energy, weight, dynamics and visceral feel as possible, plus ability to crank up volume and not get killed by the treble. This is what I ended up with after nearly 10 years.

1. Focal Clear Professional - The king of dynamics, this is the true "feel the music" headphone I was looking for. Best base out of everything I've heard, but it doesn't end there, whole spectrum has weight and dynamics to it. Unfortunately these are still too bright out of solid state, but sound just right with Woo WA2 as pre-amp.
2.a Sennheiser HD 660S - This is the best headphone at that price point to my ears. Very dynamic, tight base that goes low, similar amazing mids as 650, bit more treble, yet not harsh. Quite fast.
2.b Sennheiser HD 650 - Legendary, everybody knows that, right ?

Rest of the headphones I had and sold :
- Audeze LCD-X
- Audeze LCD-3F
- Audeze LCD-2.2
- HiFiMAN HE-400
- HiFiMAN HE-500
- Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 G1
- Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 G2
- Sennheiser HD 800S
- Sennheiser HD 700
- Sennheiser HD 558
- Sennheiser HD 518
- Shure SRH 940
- AKG K712 Pro
- AKG K701
- Grado SR225i
- Grado PS1000e
- Grado GS1000e
- Mr. Speakers ETHER

I am chocked about all those great headphones you sold way and that you choose to keep 660s and 650.

 

[Flisker]

I am chocked about all those great headphones you sold way and that you choose to keep 660s and 650.

None of those were keepers, they might be interesting to hear for few hours, but not for weeks and months. One exception would be HD800S, that one is really incredible straight out of WA2. But it's very specific headphone, I just wasn't using it much and I won't be keeping this expensive headphone to listen to it few times a month.

The 650 on good chain is insane in terms of mids especially. Even the Clear can't beat it. Listening to something like Black Keys is still better on HD650 than on Clears.

Expensive doesn't mean better

 

[wazzupi]

1 Audio Technica ath awtk
2A ZMF Auteur blackwood
2b Sony ier z1r
3 sennheiser HD800
4 audeze lcd2c
5 ndh 20
6 hd650
7 aeon open