[SoundGuru]

This year has got me back in the head fi game.. bought 3 pairs in the last 3 months.

Grado SR 225e - excellent for rock music... sound really good out of my phone, but not quite as good using the laptop + dac + amp rig...
Sennheiser HD560s - really like these especially with tubes, soundstage is bigger than the hd6xx series - daily driver
Sennheiser HD650 - Picked these up for half price - they sound good for intimate jazz, nice relaxed sound...
Pink Floyd HD-1 - Fun headphone, use for work.. good quality for calls - look great... love Pink Floyd so have a soft spot for these
Grado SR80e - a bit bright, but were a gateway to the Grado sound for me

They are all good... cant rank a number one haha. I think the 560s is punching above its weight for the price...

 

[fattyu]

1 Stax Lambda nova Sig - resolution and bass and fluidity and and and
2 Yamaha Hp1 - the former king
3 Yamaha HP2 - I have two of these. Thats how good they are. Darker sounding vintage planar excellent for long listen both in sq and ergo. Comfy light,
4 Wharfedale ID2 - Thicc lush
5 Fostex t40rp mkIII - properly driven its a lot of fun. My job headphone
6 Shure aonic 50 - the best SQ anc bt
7 RFT HOK 80-2 - Picky bitch, but with synergy its awesome.
8 Peerless PMB 100 - my go to pair for the streets. A real headturner

 

[DeweyCH]

Current state:

1 - Beyerdynamic T1.2
1a - E-MU Teak with Rosewood cups
2 - Hifiman Sundara (these have convinced me that burn-in is a thing)
3 - AKG K240 Sextett LP
4 - AKG K240 Sextett MP
5 - AKG K240 Monitor 600 ohm

But ZMF November snagged me, so this list will change when my Auteurs arrive. And then again when my stabilized Verite Closed arrive.

 

[malazz123]

1. Audeze LCD2C
2. Senn HD660s
3. Hifiman Sundara
4. drop HD6xx
5. ATH dsr9bt
6. ath msr7b
7. b&w p7
8. sony mdr1a2
9. senn GSP 500

 

[reivaj]

Been a long time since I have done one of these...
1. Denon D5200 - Recently acquired and my first time going into this price range of headphone.
2. DT990 600 Ohm
3. Alessandro MS2i
4. Sennheiser Game One - Gaming headset but has such good sound. Also my daily driver headphone.
5. ATH M50
6. JBL EBT55 - Were on sale but were disappointing to my ears. I only use them when I travel or need mobility.
7. MPOW T5/M5 - got these for gym and sweating

 

[Wes S]

I love all my cans, and they get equal use, but if I had to rank them for pure enjoyment, this is the ranking.

1. ZMF Aeolus - sound amazing with everything
2. ZMF Atticus - sound insane with live acoustic guitar, blues, bluegrass and jazz
3. ZMF Ori - my ultimate Electronica pair, with bass that will rattle your brain
4. MrSpeakers Alpha Prime - my first good pair of headphones, and my "neutral" set

I am buying a pair of ZMF Verite Closed next month, so I am pretty sure there will be a new number 1, but we shall see. . .

 

[Strayngs]

1. Kennerton Thekk....This is so clean. Good bass. Good stage. My most accurate and best headphone.
2. ZMF Verite Open....Fun, Fun, Fun. Not as technically correct as the Thekk, but alot more bass and great stage and details.
3. Kennerton Gjallarhorn JM...These are absolutely outstanding. Great Bass. Best soundstage for a closed back. How does Kennerton keep making new amazing headphones?
4. OLLO Audio S4R....A studio headphone. These are extremely clean and crisp. Not the bassiest. There is a big gap in quality between these and the Gjallarhorn. However, these are Outstanding for their price. I have given away 4 of these as gifts and each of the recipients states that it is the best headphone they have ever heard (none of them are audiophiles).
5. B&O H6 MK2....kind of strange tuning but fun. A great travel headphone. Way better than Bose and Beats imo.
6. IMR R2 Aten....not really a iem guy. I am glad I have these but they are my least favorite just because they are a iem.

 

[sacguy231]

1. Sony MDR-Z1R - great all-rounder. Could live with this as my only can.
2. Sennheiser HD800s - does so many things exceptionally well.
3. AKG K812 - not perfect, but perfect on certain things. Comfy.
4. Beyerdynamic Amiron Home - just lots of fun, a smooth operator. These disappear on my head.
5. Sennheiser HD700 - like the AKG, fantastic on certain things like jazz/classical. Comfort ++++++
6. Koss ESP950 - comfy, great with vocals.
7. Sony MDR-Z7 - rich and fun, bass, a colorful sound that can be too dark.
8. Acoustic Research AR-H1 - airy, punchy, a tad bright.
9. Shure SRH-1540 - great can, bass can get out of control.
10. AirPods Pro - decent, convenient.

***Edit - gotta say, this is a fun exercise because thinking back on what I posted it makes me question if I ultimately want to keep some of these cans that are lower on my list!

 

[Metalingus]

1- Sennheiser HD 58X
3- Sennheiser HD 6XX
3- Audeze LCD-X (i'm so upset with them there was a channel imbalance and they wen't back. Sound wasn't that good without EQ. Avoid.)

 

[Deolum]

Before letting most of my cans go i want go quickly mention them here.

As i stated before i think the setup is really important as well as personal preferences. So i tried it on two setups.

Contrary to most people i run a highend system with inexpensive but high scaling headphones. I heard some low-midrange setups with high-end headphones but didn't like it so i tried it the other way around.

My prefs are:

Speed > Tonality > Soundstage > (Details)

Main rig:

Lumin U1 Mini -> Metrum Pavane > Audiovalve Solaris (R2R NOS Dac into kind of hybrid amp between solid state and tubes with OTL mode)

1. AKG K702

They are with me now some long time from midrange to highrange setup. When i first plugged them in was wowed and i still am. Because they cost 100€ i always wondered why i liked them so much and because they weren't hyped in any way i put them aside trying to find something better. Now that i know that i only trust on me they have become one of my main headphones.

They are very fast. The soundstage is very big on a midrange setup but does't really scale. Tonality gets better the higher you go. Drawbacks are it's tonality and piercing treble.

Speed: Excellent
Tonality: Mediocre
Soundstage: Good

I won't evaluate details unless it's extremly obvious good or bad because i don't care that much about details.

2. Sennheiser HD 250 Linear 600 ohm.

Like a closed back HD800. Incredible soundstage for closed back, fast, great details. The most profiteer of OTL mode.

Speed: Good
Tonality: Mediocre
Soundstage: Excellent

3. Grado PS2000e (only for demo)

Very impressive soundstage with good tonality but major drawbacks in transient response, build and accessories.

Speed: Mediocre
Tonality: Good - Very good
Soundstage: Excellent

4. Sennheiser HD600

Long time my favourite headphone because of it's tonality until i noticed it's bad transient response and subbass.

Speed: Bad
Tonality: Excellent
Soundstage: Mediocre


(5. Sennheiser HD540 Gold 600 Ohm in bad condition

I have these but pads are in kinda bad condition and i don't know if the drivers work properly so can't really rank them. Overall they are like HD600 for male vocals.)

6. AKG K1000

For many the best headphone in the world for me not really competitive when it comes to technical abitlities. That's mainly due to it's big but diffuse (still miles better than stock HD800) soundstage and limited detailing capacities. It has a very unique presentation though and sweatfree ears. It's also very hard to compare and moves consistenly up and down in my list.

Speed: Good
Tonality: Good
Soundstage: Good

7. Grado GS1000e

Like the AKG K1000 it's always between my most and my least liked headphone. It's very system dependant and i can imagine it to sound very good on a vinyl system.

Speed: Mediocre - Good
Tonality: Bad - Good
Soundstage Mediocre - Good

8. Denon AH-D9200

One of the best closed backs out there. It's completely designed for lower and portable systems.

Speed: Mediocre
Tonality: Good
Soundstage: Mediocre

9. AKG K371

Technically not competitive but a very fun headphone.

Speed: Mediocre
Tonality: Mediocre
Soundstage: Bad
Details: Bad

Like i said i compared all those headphones on my LG G8X headphone which is equal to a lowrange DAP. It has also enough power to drive a 300 Ohm HD600 but when it comes to 600 Ohm it falls a bit off. Well i was surprised:

1. Denon AH-D9200

Like i said it's perfect for portable devices. I didn't know that my LG could sound this good.

2. Sennheiser HD600

Was also surprised about that. Soundstage is now extremely small but the excellent tonality stays.

3. Grado PS2000e

Easy to drive for mobile devices and good at everything but because of it's cable not usable for mobile use.

4. Sennheiser HD 250 Linear 600 Ohm

Worse in everything compared to OTL but overall good.

5. Grado GS1000e

Bad tonality bad soundstage. Not good.

6. AKG K371

That suprised me also. I thought it would be better on low range setups but it's not. I think it feels well on a midrange solid state setup.

7. AKG K702

Close to unlistenable. Maybe the reasons that it's not common.

8. AKG K1000

Not drivable


Also to put both systems in relation:

I think AKG K371 on main system is around the Denon AH-D9200 on LG G8X but the GS1000e on main system is already around 100% better than AH-D9200 and the AKG K702 150% better. However keep in mind the price difference and that the Denon with LG or DAP is portable.

Needless to say i sell everything below the HD250. I have a Utopia on my way and will now focus on E-Stats.

My headphones in the last 2 years:

Owned:

Fostex TH900, Focal Clear, Beyerdynamic DT1770, 1990, 770, Audioquest Nightowl, Stax Lamda Pro, Sony MDR-Z7.

Demoed at home:

AKG K812, AKG K872, Hifiman Ananda, Hifiman Jade II, Focal Elegia, Audeze LCD-2, Sonus Faber Pryma, Ultrasone Edition S

Demoed on other setup:

HD800, HD800S, Grado GS2000e, Audeze LCD-2C, Audeze LCD-3, Audeze LCD-X, Stax-009, Aeon Flow Closed, Beyerdynamic T5P, DT990.

 

[Flognuts]

My list

1. Hifiman Sundara - not as good sounding as HE500 - but does everything right - the only headphone I've never wanted to upgrade. Especially good with rock, anything with a guitar, vocals and that SPEED is amazing.
2. HE500 - Still the best I've ever heard - but just too heavy. regret selling them though.
3. Beyer T1 - amazing, but them highs
4. Alessandro MS Pro - Best rock/acoustic/female vocal headphone I've heard....unfortunately master of one or two genres
5. LCD2 - too dark
6. HD600/650 - great at some things, meh at others. Found they took away from music more than they gave.
7. DT880 - I liked them, but something felt off.
8. AD900 - My first ever proper headphone....needs bass, loved the rest.
9. Focal Elear - The mids didn't sound right at all. The worst "higher end" headphone i've ever heard.

- I've demo'd the Clears, didn't think they were worth 2k (au)
- Scared to try the Arya as I might like them too much and upgrade from the Sundara when I don't need to haha

Also Keen to try the R70x if they are like a warmer AD900 then it may be the perfect headphone for me.

 

[fractus2]

RS1 > SR325e > SR225 > SR80

 

[jonathan c]

1. Kennerton Gjallarhorn JM Edition
2. ZMF Auteur
3. Sennheiser HD600 (Custom Cans UK mod)
4. Focal Clear
5. Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pro (250 ohm)
6. Beyerdynamic DT880 Edition (600 ohm)
7. Rosson Audio Design RAD-0
8. Audeze LCD-X
—————————————————————
Note: for each headphone, there is an optimal
amplifier...another listing for another place...

 

[Melting735]

1Arya
2HE-6
3HD650
4ZMF Verite
5ZMF Eikon

 

[ajm87]

1. Grado PS500E
2. FOSTEX TH-X00 Mahogany
3. Hifiman HE400I 2020
4. Grado Sr80 (Vintage Original with TTVJ Deluxe Pads)
5 Beyer Dynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm