ra990
Headphoneus Supremus
Here's my summary of all the TOTL headphones I've tried. I'm not a professional reviewer, so I'll just speak in words that make sense to me...
Sennheiser HD800S - the soundstage was unlike anything I had heard at the time, but the bass was lacking for a TOTL headphone. It was great for acoustic, classical, jazz, but anything heavy like rock or rap, I didn't really enjoy on them. Sold these to get the HE1000v2.
HE1000v2 - from deep bass to crystal highs, very nice sounding. Does nothing wrong, but to me, nothing really stood out either. I was initially blown away by them because they were my first high-end planar magnetic headphones and it's the first time I experienced bass like this. The sound stage was fantastic and the bass went deep and was accurate. Comfort was fantastic, I could wear them all day. But, it was tough to really connect with the music for some reason, it wasn't engaging enough to keep me excited. They've been described as laid back and I have to agree. I got bored of them quickly.
Focal Utopia - beautiful tone across the frequency range, a very close-up and intimate sound stage, pinpoint imaging accuracy, subdued but very accurate bass response. Very nice detail retrieval, but organic, not overly revealing. Build quality is top notch, comfort is fantastic. Paired with my Woo Audio WA8, it's a keeper. The WA8 adds a nice warmth to the low end, compensating for the subdued bass. The intimate soundstage is actually something that I enjoy at times, depending on the music.
Abyss 1266 Phi - this headphone is in another league from all the ones above. I admire how different and daring the design is. At first, I thought these would be a pain to wear, but they might actually be even more comfortable than the others because, when worn properly, they don't put any pressure around your ears. I like the fact that tweaking the fit of the headphones gives me a lot of control over their sound. I can control the bass extension and amount by simply bringing them closer to my head to lower and adding more space between them and my ears for more bass extension. And what bass...it's uncanny how life-like it is. Listening to thunder on these is like hearing it in real life. The sound stage is massive when called for. Binaural recordings really trip my brain up because it just doesn't sound like the sound is coming from the headphones. I can actually hear the sound of the air in recordings. I don't know how else to explain it. I get a sense of the room from the quiet parts because there's so much detail in the soundstage. Their presence, earth rumbling bass, the airy soundstage, the comfort, the physicality of the music is unbelievable. The resolution these provide is at another level. The level of detail you hear across the frequency range and especially the bass region is unmatched. These are the most revealing headphones I've ever heard. NOTE: The pair I got has some issues passing frequency sweep tests without creating rattles, so I am having to keep the volume at a point where I don't get any rattles, which is a volume I'd describe as just under loud. Even then, I'm simply blown away and will be acquiring a pair soon. Also, I'm a little surprised how well these are driven out of my Hugo 2 and even the Woo WA8. They have a reputation of needing a really good amp, but my two little portable amps are doing a great job at getting perfectly listenable levels of volume out of them.
Sennheiser HD800S - the soundstage was unlike anything I had heard at the time, but the bass was lacking for a TOTL headphone. It was great for acoustic, classical, jazz, but anything heavy like rock or rap, I didn't really enjoy on them. Sold these to get the HE1000v2.
HE1000v2 - from deep bass to crystal highs, very nice sounding. Does nothing wrong, but to me, nothing really stood out either. I was initially blown away by them because they were my first high-end planar magnetic headphones and it's the first time I experienced bass like this. The sound stage was fantastic and the bass went deep and was accurate. Comfort was fantastic, I could wear them all day. But, it was tough to really connect with the music for some reason, it wasn't engaging enough to keep me excited. They've been described as laid back and I have to agree. I got bored of them quickly.
Focal Utopia - beautiful tone across the frequency range, a very close-up and intimate sound stage, pinpoint imaging accuracy, subdued but very accurate bass response. Very nice detail retrieval, but organic, not overly revealing. Build quality is top notch, comfort is fantastic. Paired with my Woo Audio WA8, it's a keeper. The WA8 adds a nice warmth to the low end, compensating for the subdued bass. The intimate soundstage is actually something that I enjoy at times, depending on the music.
Abyss 1266 Phi - this headphone is in another league from all the ones above. I admire how different and daring the design is. At first, I thought these would be a pain to wear, but they might actually be even more comfortable than the others because, when worn properly, they don't put any pressure around your ears. I like the fact that tweaking the fit of the headphones gives me a lot of control over their sound. I can control the bass extension and amount by simply bringing them closer to my head to lower and adding more space between them and my ears for more bass extension. And what bass...it's uncanny how life-like it is. Listening to thunder on these is like hearing it in real life. The sound stage is massive when called for. Binaural recordings really trip my brain up because it just doesn't sound like the sound is coming from the headphones. I can actually hear the sound of the air in recordings. I don't know how else to explain it. I get a sense of the room from the quiet parts because there's so much detail in the soundstage. Their presence, earth rumbling bass, the airy soundstage, the comfort, the physicality of the music is unbelievable. The resolution these provide is at another level. The level of detail you hear across the frequency range and especially the bass region is unmatched. These are the most revealing headphones I've ever heard. NOTE: The pair I got has some issues passing frequency sweep tests without creating rattles, so I am having to keep the volume at a point where I don't get any rattles, which is a volume I'd describe as just under loud. Even then, I'm simply blown away and will be acquiring a pair soon. Also, I'm a little surprised how well these are driven out of my Hugo 2 and even the Woo WA8. They have a reputation of needing a really good amp, but my two little portable amps are doing a great job at getting perfectly listenable levels of volume out of them.
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you can't just slip these on I suppose! but I do believe that the initial time and effort will pay off 
