[WraithApe]

  yaeah the Focal spirit professional... i had one and was close to my Sennheiser, but was less fun to listen it and the clamping force was too high. the built seemed quite fragile
 
what about Grado, Hifiman and other premium brands?

 
When you start talking about HiFiMan, you're getting into a whole other ball game - open back planar magnetics. I've certainly heard quite a few better headphones than the HD25 when you start going into open backs and high end closed backs, but if you were to replace your HD25, wouldn't you be looking for a closed back portable?

 

[Beyakusenn]

 
When you start talking about HiFiMan, you're getting into a whole other ball game - open back planar magnetics. I've certainly heard quite a few better headphones than the HD25 when you start going into open backs and high end closed backs, but if you were to replace your HD25, wouldn't you be looking for a closed back portable?

I completely agree. If you look at only closed back on-ears, the HD25 and the Beyers are the best headphones I know. Other types of headphones have often very different purposes. While you could compare a HiFiMan or Grado to the HD25, it doesn't make much sense to me.