[kadinh]

I travel a lot, sometimes 1-2 months at a time. I've tested a lot of system combinations and I have arrived at the following as my minimalist travelling system:

Airpods Pro for talking on the phone (I just got a pair of Sony WF-1000-XM4 that I like better, but I am not comfortable going solo with them yet)

Hiby R6 2020 DAP because it is small and I can walk outside with it (My DX300 sounds better, but it's bigger and buliker so not best for walking outside).

Cayin C9 to pair with the R6 2020 for desktop listening

Custom Legend X because it has great isolation, is great for listening on the plane, pairs wonderfully with the R6 and has a great sound signature that compliments the Traillii

Oriolus Traillii for critical listening indoors

Focal Utopia for full sized headphone experience.

Back up L&P W2 in case the HIBY has problems.

That set up covers all of my use cases when on the road. I may substitute products like an HD800S for the Utopia or I might bring more than the minimal system for variety, but I could easily live with the above system for an extended period of time.

What other high end IEMs and headphones have you auditioned and what did you think of them?

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

What other high end IEMs and headphones have you auditioned and what did you think of them?

I can tell you what I own. I've heard a lot more than this, but usually only as a demo in a hifi store. I've found that I can't really comment fully until I've owned and listened to something for at least a week and I test it with all my gear in all combinations to get a full understanding of what a headphone or IEM can do.

For headphones, I own:

Utopia
ZMF Verite Closed
HD800S
Ananda
HD650
HD600

I liked the Ananda so much that I recently bought a HE1000SE. Won't get it until the end of July so I am not sure where it fits. I am thinking about selling the Anandas if the HE1000SE works out well. I am keeping the 650 and 600 because every audiophile needs these in their collection. They were my gateway into the audiophile world. I listen to them on occasion and they still sound great.

The Utopia is my all arounder. It is highly resolving and great with every genre on all of my sources. It's easy to drive and I will likely travel with this most of the time.

The Verite Closed has a lush sounds and works best with tube amps. I bought these headphones to fully use my Bottlehead Crack that I originally got to drive my HD650 and 600. They do not sound great on every source. And, you have to get the pads right or they don't sound right. Once you get the fine tuning right, it's a glorious, euphonic, lush and reverberant sound. I am looking to upgrade my tube amp as I heard the Verite Closed paired with a Primaluna EVO 400 tube amp and it was the best sound I have ever heard come from a headphone.

The HD800S is the sound stage and upper end clarity champion. I love sound stage, so I am really drawn to the HD800S for Classical Music and Jazz. This is another headphone that does not pair well with everything. It is missing sufficient bass response for pop music. You can EQ them to Harman and they become perfect studio reference monitors, but they are missing texture in the bass and slam. Pairs great with C9 + DX300. I listen to this pairing for classical music all day long.

The Ananda shows off what Planar Magentic headphones can do. They are super highly resolving, provide huge sound stage, great imaging. The only issue I have with them are the bass response, and timbre. Dynamic driver timbre is much more natural sounding to my ear. The Anandas lack punch and slam in the bass. I really want to upgrade to the Susvara, but I will do that later because I'll need to get a whole new desktop set up to drive them. This is why I go tthe HE1000SE first. It can be driven by my current DACs/AMPs and DAPs.

More on IEMs later.

 

[kadinh]

I can tell you what I own. I've heard a lot more than this, but usually only as a demo in a hifi store. I've found that I can't really comment fully until I've owned and listened to something for at least a week and I test it with all my gear in all combinations to get a full understanding of what a headphone or IEM can do.

For headphones, I own:

Utopia
ZMF Verite Closed
HD800S
Ananda
HD650
HD600

I liked the Ananda so much that I recently bought a HE1000SE. Won't get it until the end of July so I am not sure where it fits. I am thinking about selling the Anandas if the HE1000SE works out well. I am keeping the 650 and 600 because every audiophile needs these in their collection. They were my gateway into the audiophile world. I listen to them on occasion and they still sound great.

The Utopia is my all arounder. It is highly resolving and great with every genre on all of my sources. It's easy to drive and I will likely travel with this most of the time.

The Verite Closed has a lush sounds and works best with tube amps. I bought these headphones to fully use my Bottlehead Crack that I originally got to drive my HD650 and 600. They do not sound great on every source. And, you have to get the pads right or they don't sound right. Once you get the fine tuning right, it's a glorious, euphonic, lush and reverberant sound. I am looking to upgrade my tube amp as I heard the Verite Closed paired with a Primaluna EVO 400 tube amp and it was the best sound I have ever heard come from a headphone.

The HD800S is the sound stage and upper end clarity champion. I love sound stage, so I am really drawn to the HD800S for Classical Music and Jazz. This is another headphone that does not pair well with everything. It is missing sufficient bass response for pop music. You can EQ them to Harman and they become perfect studio reference monitors, but they are missing texture in the bass and slam. Pairs great with C9 + DX300. I listen to this pairing for classical music all day long.

The Ananda shows off what Planar Magentic headphones can do. They are super highly resolving, provide huge sound stage, great imaging. The only issue I have with them are the bass response, and timbre. Dynamic driver timbre is much more natural sounding to my ear. The Anandas lack punch and slam in the bass. I really want to upgrade to the Susvara, but I will do that later because I'll need to get a whole new desktop set up to drive them. This is why I go tthe HE1000SE first. It can be driven by my current DACs/AMPs and DAPs.

More on IEMs later.

I have the HD660S and HD800S currently. I had the Arya for a week or two and really liked how it sounded, but the build quality got to me.

I am interested in the Susvara as well, but don’t have the equipment to power it properly. I’d also like to hear the Utopia and LCD4 to see how they compare. Sadly, I haven’t found a hifi store near to where I live.

interested to hear what you think of IEMs.

 

[478423]

Honestly, if that happened, I would probably get a Rosson RAD-0 heavily customized and also buy a Hugo 2. The Rosson RAD-0 looks cool, the frequency response looks interesting and the review give it characteristics that I would love for a 2nd pair of headphones. I wouldn't get an IEM because IEMs are hard to fit properly on my ears due to my ear structure and that I strictly use IEMs as headphones on the go that need to be durable and have okay sound quality. I wouldn't be able to appreciate a top notch IEM, so I leave that honor to someone else.