[Todamm]

Has anyone heard of the Crosszone CZ-8A and CZ-1? I'm not sure if I should buy these. I am currently using a D2000 and HD820. How do they sound?

 

[Strayngs]

worth checking out JM Audio XTC

 

[dstarr3]

A year or two ago I had an AKG K553 Mk2 in my collection and I gave it to my father-in-law who wanted a good headphone at a time when I had a lot of overlap in my collection. Didn't think I'd miss it. But then ever since, there was a tiny sliver of me that kind of wished I'd hung onto it. So, uh... I bought another one for myself recently, lol.

Listening to it tonight, instantly just a wave of "Oh yeah, that's why I loved this headphone." Smooth, musical, detailed, neutral yet natural. I listen to it and I get the overwhelming feeling that this is how music is supposed to sound. And it has that classic AKG quality of being absolutely unwilling to make an unpleasant sound. No matter what awful noise you pipe into this headphone, it comes out sounding lovely. I really struggle to come up with anything negative to say about this headphone at all. I'm very glad it's back in my collection.

 

[KPzypher]

A year or two ago I had an AKG K553 Mk2 in my collection and I gave it to my father-in-law who wanted a good headphone at a time when I had a lot of overlap in my collection. Didn't think I'd miss it. But then ever since, there was a tiny sliver of me that kind of wished I'd hung onto it. So, uh... I bought another one for myself recently, lol.

Listening to it tonight, instantly just a wave of "Oh yeah, that's why I loved this headphone." Smooth, musical, detailed, neutral yet natural. I listen to it and I get the overwhelming feeling that this is how music is supposed to sound. And it has that classic AKG quality of being absolutely unwilling to make an unpleasant sound. No matter what awful noise you pipe into this headphone, it comes out sounding lovely. I really struggle to come up with anything negative to say about this headphone at all. I'm very glad it's back in my collection.

Although I haven't spent a whole lot of time with mine, It's also very comfortable.

 

[Rackhour]

Welp. Never thought I'd be back here, but here we are!

Someone on Reddit shared a link to Adorama's listing for Focal Elegia at $299.

I was about to pull the trigger on that, but then found a like-new used ad. The seller claimed they purchased it 2 months ago, the actual use time is 1-2 hours total, and headphones have been in original packaging since then, along with receipts and warranty cards. The seller also threw in a headband cover and custom cable purchased from AliExpress. Total price: $250.

I look forward to experiencing a formerly $900 pair of headphones.

 

[JAnonymous5150]

Welp. Never thought I'd be back here, but here we are!

Someone on Reddit shared a link to Adorama's listing for Focal Elegia at $299.

I was about to pull the trigger on that, but then found a like-new used ad. The seller claimed they purchased it 2 months ago, the actual use time is 1-2 hours total, and headphones have been in original packaging since then, along with receipts and warranty cards. The seller also threw in a headband cover and custom cable purchased from AliExpress. Total price: $250.

I look forward to experiencing a formerly $900 pair of headphones.

There seem to be three camps with the Elegias: Folks that love them OOTB, folks that think they need pretty heavy EQ/Mods/pad swaps to sound good/natural, and folks that think they're basically unusable. I'm not saying this to rain on your parade, but to prepare you to experiment if they don't suit you right away. I found the stock tuning to be kinda weird myself.

Regardless, congrats on the new shinies! Make sure you come back and let everyone know how they worked out for you, okay?

 

[Rackhour]

There seem to be three camps with the Elegias: Folks that love them OOTB, folks that think they need pretty heavy EQ/Mods/pad swaps to sound good/natural, and folks that think they're basically unusable. I'm not saying this to rain on your parade, but to prepare you to experiment if they don't suit you right away. I found the stock tuning to be kinda weird myself.

Regardless, congrats on the new shinies! Make sure you come back and let everyone know how they worked out for you, okay?

That was the impression I got. Lots of EQ and pad talk.

That said, I did bookmark the Dekoni page because earpads are a consumable anyway. And I found a potential balanced cable compatible with these on AliExpress, but I figure I’ll wait on that until I listen stock.

I guess I’ll find out early next week which camp I fall in. I am not particular towards a certain sound signature - I use no EQ on anything in my signature - so I shall see if this new one breaks that trend.

 

[AudioDuck]

I’m going to channel our friend Malevolent (who is hopefully enjoying the music somewhere) for a moment and note that ZMF is starting to take orders in the next week for the Atrium Closed, a headphone that I look forward to saving up for and adding to my two other ZMFs (sold my underused Auteur to help fund the new purchase).

You can find ZMFs info page on it here: https://www.zmfheadphones.com/atrium-closed

If you are interested, there is also a very informative string with some early reviews here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/zmf-atrium-closed-the-latest-closed-back-headphone-from-zmf.966989/

Personally I am hopeful that this is ultimately the headphone that takes what I adore about the Eikon as well as some of the qualities of the Verité Closed and merge them into a holistically “perfect” musical experience for my gear and tastes. It really sounds that way, so I’m very grateful to Zach and the ZMF team for their work on the Atrium Closed.

Enjoy the music-

 

[Rackhour]

There seem to be three camps with the Elegias: Folks that love them OOTB, folks that think they need pretty heavy EQ/Mods/pad swaps to sound good/natural, and folks that think they're basically unusable. I'm not saying this to rain on your parade, but to prepare you to experiment if they don't suit you right away. I found the stock tuning to be kinda weird myself.

Regardless, congrats on the new shinies! Make sure you come back and let everyone know how they worked out for you, okay?

So…I’m chiming in here with my initial expressions after about 2-3 days of listening with my Elegia.

I’ll initially surprise you and others here by saying that I currently do not fall in any of those three groups of listeners, at least not yet. I did not fall in love with them at first listen, not like how I did with the Etymotic ER4XR.

I did admittedly think “what is this piece of crap???” at first listen. BUT! Here is where things get interesting: the headphones did not start doing its work until after I increased the volume a bit. I’m so used to listening at relatively low volumes with my equipment that when I first started listening at my usual low volume, nothing sounded great. Everything sounded muddy. Once I increased the volume a few ticks, things finally started to sound more like a $300 or $800 pair of headphones than a <$100 pair. At that point, the hate disappeared.

And I lightly fiddled with the EQ on my Qudelix 5K by importing Oratory’s preset for the Elegia…and felt that blanket EQ does not really add to or take away from the overall experience. When I applied the EQ, it sounded like I enabled a typical “Rock” EQ preset that you find in a lot of hardware and software players. I thought some songs sounded more enjoyable but others sounded less. So it kinda evens out. If anything, I would rather use iTunes’s ability to assign EQ presets to individual tracks and albums for a more fine-tuned experience, but that would then affect how those songs would sound on my other headphones and IEMs.

And because I didn’t outright hate the sound signature after adjusting the volume, I’m not inclined to start pad rolling yet. Another reason for that is because of the initial build; I do like how snugly the headphones fit on my head, and how the stock pads feel on my cheeks and around my ears. These definitely feel nicer and more plush on me than the stock pads from the HD598 and the Hyland Jupiter.

Another point I’ve noticed is that I’m picking Up sounds I’ve never heard before in my library, so that’s definitely fun.

However, my takeaway at this point is that high-end headphones are mostly wasted on me. I can definitely appreciate good craftsmanship (headband concerns not withstanding), but I’m happy that I was able to come to this conclusion with $300 out of my pocket rather than $800.

 

[kojebee]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a closed, maybe semi-closed, headphone for home listening, have an RME ADI-2 to power it. Looking to fall within budget (600,000won korea / $400/$450USD). I listen to chill out, downtempo, rock (Floyd, Led Zeppelin), a bit of 80s/90s house.

Austrian Audio Hi-x60 and Beyerdynamic T70 are on my radar. Anybody have experience of both? Are there other cans I should consider?

 

[Mhog55]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a closed, maybe semi-closed, headphone for home listening, have an RME ADI-2 to power it. Looking to fall within budget (600,000won korea / $400/$450USD). I listen to chill out, downtempo, rock (Floyd, Led Zeppelin), a bit of 80s/90s house.

Austrian Audio Hi-x60 and Beyerdynamic T70 are on my radar. Anybody have experience of both? Are there other cans I should consider?

Maybe check out the Ibasso SR2 / SR3. Great cans for the price imo. The SR2 is barely semi open, and the SR3 is semi open. If you don't mind purchasing used, the Kennerton Magni is a fantastic headphone as well.

 

[AudioDuck]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a closed, maybe semi-closed, headphone for home listening, have an RME ADI-2 to power it. Looking to fall within budget (600,000won korea / $400/$450USD). I listen to chill out, downtempo, rock (Floyd, Led Zeppelin), a bit of 80s/90s house.

Austrian Audio Hi-x60 and Beyerdynamic T70 are on my radar. Anybody have experience of both? Are there other cans I should consider?

Shure SRH-1540 (closed) are at the top end of your budget new and a strong choice if you prefer a slightly darker, warmer-than-neutral (yet detailed) sound.

 

[Rackhour]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for a closed, maybe semi-closed, headphone for home listening, have an RME ADI-2 to power it. Looking to fall within budget (600,000won korea / $400/$450USD). I listen to chill out, downtempo, rock (Floyd, Led Zeppelin), a bit of 80s/90s house.

Austrian Audio Hi-x60 and Beyerdynamic T70 are on my radar. Anybody have experience of both? Are there other cans I should consider?

I took advantage of the Elegia deep sale and bought a pair. They definitely sound different from what I usually listen to, but they’re not unpleasant to my ears.

Also, visit Schezade (셰에라자드) if you’re in or near Seoul. Best to trial after all.

 

[Strayngs]

Review up on the JM XTC

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/jm-audio-xtc-closed-back-xtc-c.26282/reviews#review-30714

 

[JediMa70]

I've few very good open back which I love and with Edition XS I'm super happy. I wanted to add to my collection some heaphones still audiophile but also funny to listen with very good bass, Closed Back, nicely and solid build.

I had Meze 99 classics and i really didn't like them and so I sold em

Budget is 2/300