johnjen
Headphoneus Supremus
I've read conflicting reports on this. For some don't hear it or don't mind it, others have said they find it distracting.
I been doing my research.
Top tier soundstage: Sennheiser HD800
Top tier full bass body: LCD 2 Rev.1
Top tier bass impact/rumble: Fostex TH900
Top tier imaging accuracy: Beyerdynamic T1
Top tier clarity/resolution: Hifiman HE1000
Top tier mids - Probably one of the flagship Grado
Any combination of those aspects in one headphone would be in the $3,000-$5,000 range headphones.
I'm on page 1,120, almost caught up.
If I do spend $1,000, I want the soundstage & imaging to be noticeably improved & any brittleness, harshness or overly brightness to the the highs be smoothedout.
I know it is impossible for any amp/dac to give the HD800 the bass of the LCD2, so I am abandoning that dream.
One approach to jumping on the "top tier' bandwagon is to decide your choice of headphone will be the center piece of your system, and then build the rest of the system to 'properly' feed them.
This is an exercise in scaleability, as in, how well does your choice really scale when fed a better signal.
And if your goal is to achieve a benchmark system there are a few systems that can be obtained at a variety of price points.
I heard one at a local meet where the entire system cost ≈ $1000 and it was kick ass.
Of course it could be improved here and there for a few hundred more.
My point is, what is the goal of your desire for a system?
JJ
ps 800's when fed a highly scaled signal, will keep pace better, along with the very best of the TotL headphones available today. And yes it does take tweaking and fussing to find out just how far they will go into scalebility. So if tweaking isn't something you want to deal with, then keep this in mind.