I know, you're enthusiasm towards the Z1R + a few other members back when they first came out made me think that maybe there are what i'm looking for and audition them/buy them a few months later.Most of you seem to have moved on to other gear and seem to change stuff a lot,which is fine,but all this excitement made me pretty curious about the Stellias.Simply put, they are on par with the very best open-backed headphones that I've owned. I cannot say that for any other pair of closed-back headphones...period. Their level of transparency is almost there with the Utopias (which is saying a LOT), but add a touch of warmth/bass and openness that really sets them apart. Pretty much all other closed-back headphones have something "funky" with the frequency response and so many come off as "U" sounding like the TH-900 and to a lesser extend the Z1R. Neither of these two Japanese closed-back headphones can attain the overall level of transparency and detail retrieval (though I do like them quite a bit and enjoyed owning them...though I no longer own them anymore).
Yesterday when auditioning a Dave vs my Sony TA i thought i'd throw them into the mix as well and was left pretty disappointed after all the praise for them.I honestly couldn't find one thing they do better than the Z1R's.I would put them on the same level overall with a more neutral tuning for the Stellias and better imaging and soundstage for the Z1Rs.Different strokes for different folks.
I know you have experience with a ton of gear so people stock in your opinion than other's but in this case i don't get why people keep calling the Stellia better than the Z1R. Not just different.Clearly better.I find them anything but.
As a result of all this excitement it kinda seemed to me like a lot of the people on the forum who are unable to test them rushed out to buy them because of the hype only to end up selling them.You see tons of relatively new pairs being sold for the second or third time.
So clearly a lot of people felt the same way as me and others after getting them.
It seems to me like the Stellias launch is the opposite of the Z1R's
Like people started saying that the Z1R's are trash after Tyll's review debacle.And then people said his hearing isn't what it used to be.And then other people picked up the pitchforks.And a few months later he retired because "his hearing isn't what it used to be ".I know,there were also measurements involved.Fun times.