[Ivan4you]

@Haxion .If you like a lot of bass then not buy them.They sound relaxed with a lot of detail.And The soundstage is specialy,They sound like a. Openback with good image and dynamics.
But these need a lot of burn in,if you believe in this or not.It is not a Maine stream headphone.

 

[Shane D]

How do you like them? At $400ish they are pretty tempting.

What some people have done, myself included, is to pick up Dekoni Stellia pads to give just a bit more bass presence. Pretty good "bang for the buck" and I love the Focal sound.
Not a basshead headphone. More balanced.

Would Really like to try out the Radiance headphones.

 

[happygamera156]

Elegias are very very good if you can find them under $400.

 

[marone]

Hello all,

Take a look at my profile and notice the 10 yo posts.

I have relocated to North America and I am looking for recommendations.

Sources are multiple 50 yo vintage receivers, vintage vinyl test pressings, a few cds, headphone stage of the vintage receivers. Several different dac processing the coax cd output of several cd/DVD players.

1 vintage turntable, phono stages of the receivers or one modern Rega stage.

I have 3 different amp/source/headfi/speaker setups around the house.

No streaming, no SSD/HD/laptop storage of DSD files. Old school vinyl cassette or cd only.

I have owned original gold ring AKG-240s and Beyerdynamic DT-880s.
Those wore out after years of usage. I cannot speak more highly of them. Deserved classics both.

More recently favs are as from 2012:

Superlux 681B, Takstar Pro 80, KSC-75, CAL! Aurvana and JVC HA-S500B round out my stable of preferred budget headphones.

Superlux 681B/Presonus HD7 is my preferred 'style' of sound. Modeled after the AKG-240s from 70s and 80s.
Open ear, tonnes of instrument detail, soundstage.

Takstar Pro 80 closed ear 2nd choice for sq profile.

I am not a basshead so low/no bass is not an issue.

I prefer capacitor coupled vintage receivers with germanium output transistors.

Really really old school!

Budget is $500 USD for each pair. $1k total for 2 pair

Open ear first buy.
Then a pair of closed ear for 2nd set.

That's the goal 'team' of cans I seek.

I am thinking the Sennheuser HD 600 or 650, but admit my tastes and knowledge are far out of date for 2022.

Do not plan for separate headfi amp/dac. Receiver headphone stage is source.

Let the suggestions flow!

Thanks to all in advance.

 

[waveSounds]

low/no bass is not an issue.

 

[Shane D]

Hello all,

Take a look at my profile and notice the 10 yo posts.

I have relocated to North America and I am looking for recommendations.

Sources are multiple 50 yo vintage receivers, vintage vinyl test pressings, a few cds, headphone stage of the vintage receivers. Several different dac processing the coax cd output of several cd/DVD players.

1 vintage turntable, phono stages of the receivers or one modern Rega stage.

I have 3 different amp/source/headfi/speaker setups around the house.

No streaming, no SSD/HD/laptop storage of DSD files. Old school vinyl cassette or cd only.

I have owned original gold ring AKG-240s and Beyerdynamic DT-880s.
Those wore out after years of usage. I cannot speak more highly of them. Deserved classics both.

More recently favs are as from 2012:

Superlux 681B, Takstar Pro 80, KSC-75, CAL! Aurvana and JVC HA-S500B round out my stable of preferred budget headphones.

Superlux 681B/Presonus HD7 is my preferred 'style' of sound. Modeled after the AKG-240s from 70s and 80s.
Open ear, tonnes of instrument detail, soundstage.

Takstar Pro 80 closed ear 2nd choice for sq profile.

I am not a basshead so low/no bass is not an issue.

I prefer capacitor coupled vintage receivers with germanium output transistors.

Really really old school!

Budget is $500 USD for each pair. $1k total for 2 pair

Open ear first buy.
Then a pair of closed ear for 2nd set.

That's the goal 'team' of cans I seek.

I am thinking the Sennheuser HD 600 or 650, but admit my tastes and knowledge are far out of date for 2022.

Do not plan for separate headfi amp/dac. Receiver headphone stage is source.

Let the suggestions flow!

Thanks to all in advance.

If you aren't a big bass enthusuast, you might want to look into Grado headphones. Mids and above are awesome.

 

[Joaquin Dinero]

Hello all,

Take a look at my profile and notice the 10 yo posts.

I have relocated to North America and I am looking for recommendations.

Sources are multiple 50 yo vintage receivers, vintage vinyl test pressings, a few cds, headphone stage of the vintage receivers. Several different dac processing the coax cd output of several cd/DVD players.

1 vintage turntable, phono stages of the receivers or one modern Rega stage.

I have 3 different amp/source/headfi/speaker setups around the house.

No streaming, no SSD/HD/laptop storage of DSD files. Old school vinyl cassette or cd only.

I have owned original gold ring AKG-240s and Beyerdynamic DT-880s.
Those wore out after years of usage. I cannot speak more highly of them. Deserved classics both.

More recently favs are as from 2012:

Superlux 681B, Takstar Pro 80, KSC-75, CAL! Aurvana and JVC HA-S500B round out my stable of preferred budget headphones.

Superlux 681B/Presonus HD7 is my preferred 'style' of sound. Modeled after the AKG-240s from 70s and 80s.
Open ear, tonnes of instrument detail, soundstage.

Takstar Pro 80 closed ear 2nd choice for sq profile.

I am not a basshead so low/no bass is not an issue.

I prefer capacitor coupled vintage receivers with germanium output transistors.

Really really old school!

Budget is $500 USD for each pair. $1k total for 2 pair

Open ear first buy.
Then a pair of closed ear for 2nd set.

That's the goal 'team' of cans I seek.

I am thinking the Sennheuser HD 600 or 650, but admit my tastes and knowledge are far out of date for 2022.

Do not plan for separate headfi amp/dac. Receiver headphone stage is source.

Let the suggestions flow!

Thanks to all in advance.

Do your vintage amps have high output impedance ? That could be a factor if high ohm headphones would be a better match.

 

[marone]

If you are a big bass enthusuast, you might want to look into Grado headphones. Mids and above are awesome.

I am not a basshead. The opposite.
Many want the effect of 23hz vibrating their skull and I don't want that.

All other SQ aspects are higher priority.

So bass not an issue. All good modern cans will have sufficient bass.

Tonality, soundstage, detail, female vocals, acoustic instrumentation realism, acoustic space and feel of the room, holographic presentation of the band, etc.

Senn HD 660 seem a good open ear choice. Or HE-500. Not much changed in 10 years ! HD 800 seems better/best but out of budget.

Closed the best choices all seem to be $1800 or $150. Not in the budget. Still looking for the closed ear.

 

[marone]

Do your vintage amps have high output impedance ? That could be a factor if high ohm headphones would be a better match.

No. The Pioneer has plenty of heft. Vintage Pioneer receivers have their hype reputation for a reason - they really do sound outstanding and are over-engineered tanks.

Advent, RCA and others all handle impedance well.

 

[Shane D]

Here is something I wrote on another thread, but I thought it was relative to all of us hunting for the perfect closed back.

"I just put my LSA HP-2' s back on Friday night. Better than I immediately remember.

I have ten sets of headphones and I want to downsize. When I am cycling through my headphones and have not heard different pairs for several weeks, I start to think to myself, those 'phones are nice, but they're not great".

Then I put them on (Elegia's, T60 Argon's, LSA HP-2's, etc.), and you know what? There was a reason I bought AND kept them.

I might have to change amps and it might take twenty to thirty minutes to adjust to the new sound signature, but before long my head is bobbin' or laying back on the cushion (depending on the music) and I am thinking, "These are awesome!"

This whole downsizing thing is going to be harder than I thought.

 

[katulu]

HI all, would anyone post a "top 5 closed headphones" list for those of us not in the loop for the past couple years? FYI my best is a ZMF Ori.

 

[Alexzander]

HI all, would anyone post a "top 5 closed headphones" list for those of us not in the loop for the past couple years? FYI my best is a ZMF Ori.

Or this would be easy:

• Kennerton Rognir Planar
• DCA Stealth
• HiFiMAN HE-R10P
• Denon AH-D9200
• Sony MDR-Z1R

And I’ll add ZMF Verite Closed to this list also.

 

[Shane D]

HI all, would anyone post a "top 5 closed headphones" list for those of us not in the loop for the past couple years? FYI my best is a ZMF Ori.

I think that there is already a thread for that? Maybe not though. I am really old.

Or this would be easy:

• Kennerton Rognir Planar
• DCA Stealth
• HiFiMAN HE-R10P
• Denon AH-D9200
• Sony MDR-Z1R

Not a single one in my budget.

 

[katulu]

Or this would be easy:

• Kennerton Rognir Planar
• DCA Stealth
• HiFiMAN HE-R10P
• Denon AH-D9200
• Sony MDR-Z1R

And I’ll add ZMF Verite Closed to this list also.

Thanks much!

 

[waveSounds]

I consider myself lucky. Or maybe just simple... I tried many TOTL cans at CanJam London and none,  none, gave me as much enjoyment as I get from my TH900s. Stealth? No. Audeze CRBN? No. LCD MM-500? Nope. Any Hifiman? No again. The only one that came close was the LCD-XC, I did really like that. I have my endgame in my possession and feel no desire to add any more. However a new problem filled the void; I entered the DAP world. Picked up the iBasso DX170 last week and now I can't stop working out how to add the DX320. It will happen at some point, but I'm going to enjoy the 170 for several months first. I never considered DAPs tbh. Then I listened to some at the aforementioned 'Jam I attended and compared what they offered against my LG V30 and Lotoo Paw S1, and well, they offered enough to tempt me down the rabbit hole. I think in time I will end up with no desktop gear and just a DAP for all my listening. The decision was made easier by the fact baby waveSounds makes listening at a stationary place practically impossible.

I took my father with me to the show - who is not a head-fier - and he preferred the Meze 99 Classics to the Stealth lol. He did love the Utopia though and is considering one, but he the other star of the show for him was similarly the XC. That one impressed us both equally.

Here we are sporting the XC and the CRBN (as proof I'm not just making this up heh).