[561915]

For those that have used an HD650 and the Model One, which do you prefer? Mainly using it for music listening and gaming. I currently have an HE-R9.

I've listened to the HE-R9 (very briefly), the HD650 (for about 25 min), and the Model One. @b0lt 0ns is correct in saying that the HD650 is probably going to work for most music because the mids are much more forward, this brings the vocals and instruments closer in. I like the VZR's primarily for the music I listen to. I listen to primarily electronic music, RnB, jazz, hip hop, metal; pretty much anything with content down in the sub-bass region and lots of drums. I don't remember much about the HE-R9 except that it had a lot of bass. I find that the Model One has a more "composed" soundstage in my opinion once the pads are broken in. The instruments, to me, sound like they're coming from actual points in space as opposed to just mostly left/right. For optimal sound, the pads need to be broken and the headphones must be placed on the head correctly. The quickest way to break in the pads is just to compress them against your head repeatedly, you'll know the pads are broken in once the outside corner of the pad starts to flatten diagonally. When putting them on, compress the pads a bit and position the acoustic transformer at an angle over your ear. You may also angle the headband forward or back to adjust the sound slightly to your tastes, or also rotate the earpad in relation to the cup hinge (I rotated the seam slightly above the screw). Attached is a paint drawing of how to properly wear the Model One. I like to listen to them with glasses, it seems to strengthen the bone conduction effect and bring in the mids. I also will mention I use the Sennheiser 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter for my amp (I think it sounds slightly better/louder, it also appears to be physically smoother than the stock adapter).

the HD650 is significantly better for clarity. the VZR has recessed mids which is why they are good for EDM and since the quality of vocals in rap isnt really important and exaggerated bass is they also do well with that. the bass is a bit on the boomy side, if youve ever heard a focal headphone its like the opposite of their tight impact/slam.

gaming is really where VZR shine. they do great with directional sound among other things.

Focal headphones just don't have a lot of sub-bass which is what the VZR's excel at. People usually describe sub-bass as "boomy" or "slow" but the VZR's have pretty accurate transients, as in they aren't blurred, unless you have poor source gear. The bass notes start and end when they are supposed to. It's not peak transient capability, but its above average. I agree that they are killer at gaming/movies.

The frequency response also seems to slightly back it up that this headphone does have slightly bit recessed mids but overall it's not too bad:

I think probably would help overall clarity to slightly lower ~300Hz (250Hz if you're limited to 10-band EQ) and if you prefer slightly more forward mids I'd assume slightly boosting the 1 ~ 4kHz range would probably work out well. As a general rule of the thumb, from my experience roughly boosting / cutting half of what it looks like it's needed looking at a frequency response measurement tends to sound balanced, so in this case 2 ~ 2.5dB cut on the EQ at 300Hz (what looks like a 5dB bump in the measurement) and maybe +1 ~ 1.5dB or so boost in the 1 - 4kHz could do it well.

Went ahead and did what you said (-2.3dB @ Q3.8, 1.3dB @ Q1.9) and the headphones basically sounds a bit quieter and less spatious. The headphone does sound slightly "snappier" and has less reverb with the vocals and instruments. Kind of reaffirms my theory that the drivers are not actually slow, its just the way that the headphones interact with your ear. I have to turn up the volume a bit more with the EQ to get to a satisfactory listening level. It's a leaner, more in your face, less "airy" listen. Maybe a bit more nasally with the vocals. I did add back a bass shelf, 0.6dB @ Q1.5, to make it more fun. Even when turned back up to achieve the same "perceived volume level" the headphones sound a lot "fuller" and more engaging/immersive than other direct-firing cans I've had in my possession for extended periods of time [Hyper-X Cloud II (3 years), Beyerdynamic DT990 (2 years), Denon AH-D7200 (1.5 months)]

 

[Sproketz]

I have pulled the trigger on these. They arrived 20 days ago.
Since they arrived my initial focus has mostly been to break in the earpads, have music run through them for burn-in purposes and making all sorts of sound and music tests and comparisons. For the last couple of weeks I have just been enjoying them, and I would like to give you all my impressions and mini review on these headphones (and I will also write about the Model One in synergy with the Chord Mojo 2).

My first post in this thread was about if any could make a VZR Model One versus Meze Liric. Well, around a week later that post I auditioned the Liric’s myself, for about two hours. Worth to note, in regard to the Model One, I will also get a bit into the Denon AH-D9200, the Audeze LCD-XC 2021, Ultrasone’s S-Logic technology and the Austrian Audio Hi-X55, regarding things to compare.

Normally I audition a headphone before buying it. These I just bought, and I am so happy I did, because what my intuition and gutfeel told me about these headphones has met my expectations wholly and completely and surpassed them. Surpassed cause they have given me something I didn’t know I needed in my music listening experience – and this is to be found in their overall tuning that, to me, immerses me with the perfect weight and encloses me in my music listening with an immaculate control to not get overwhelming. The body and oomph make up a whole lot of the overall tuning in the Model One; and the sub bass and bass is quite the star here – to my ears these are better in the Model One than in the Denon AH-D9200; it is more controlled and tighter and can easily endure sonic textures and dynamics that the Denon can’t.

But what really is the cherry on the top is the Model One’s Crosswave/acoustic lens: To my ears the Model One is like a very organic, natural and musical sounding headphone (their tuning) mixed with a studio monitor headphone (their Crosswave/acoustic lens). For the whole sound spectrum, the cohesion is outstanding.
To accommodate some of you in this thread, I have listened to a couple of Ultrasone headphones and besides that I own the Ultrasone HFI-780. Their S-Logic technology is good, it is on par with what you can experience in the Audeze LCD-XC 2021 – the Meze Liric is better than the two, and the Austrian Audio Hi-X55 is even better and takes the cake in this comparison. But when the S-logic technology and these headphones are compared to the Model One, the Model One is the best: To be more specific, the Model One has the best spatial/holographic/3D sound, the better overall imaging.
When it comes to the Model One’s soundstage and separation I am presented to an enormous room – very good acoustically treated – tall, wide and deep, and the air around each sound/instrument (the separation) is so incredibly good. It is like being perfectly seated in a room with speakers. The Model One actually reminds me of a pair of KEF LS50 Wireless II with two KEF KC62 subwoofers. Let me try to explain what’s going on: In the room the music and sounds also go low, like below the floor as well, like there is no floor, and music and sounds are presented in a sphere where I am placed just a little further back than in the center of this sphere, so music and sounds are also behind me. How I’m placed in this sphere is better in the Model One than in the headphones mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, its better managed and music and sounds are somehow more perceptible.

There are only two things I want slightly different in the Model One, and that is a bit more mid-forwardness, also a bit more treble brightness and sparkle – there are some finer details I really like to be heard in the upper registers. And I can tell you, that the drivers in the Model One is indeed capable of delivering: They are very EQ-responsive. Here the Chord Mojo 2 comes to perfect assistance with its lossless DSP-EQ… and the synergy is utterly astonishing!

Hope this will help some of you considering buying the VZR Model One.

Just reading your review now. I'm also a D9200 owner. Could you compare the VZR One in a bit more detail to the D9200?

Also curious if you have any new impressions after using the VZR for a while now.

 

[Sproketz]

Does the mic run through the same 3.5mm jack as the audio or is it done with a splitter?

I amp with an RME ADI-2 DAC FS, but have to plug into the motherboard for gaming so I can use Dolby Atmos. Atmos doesn't seem to play nice with music amps.

I'm curious to hear more about the cord features on this headset. Does it have volume on the cord? Mute? Etc.

 

[b0lt 0ns]

Does the mic run through the same 3.5mm jack as the audio or is it done with a splitter?

I amp with an RME ADI-2 DAC FS, but have to plug into the motherboard for gaming so I can use Dolby Atmos. Atmos doesn't seem to play nice with music amps.

I'm curious to hear more about the cord features on this headset. Does it have volume on the cord? Mute? Etc.

The stock cord has a 3.5mm trrrs end on it but wired so you can plug it in to a standard 3.5mm port and use it as just a headphone but it comes with a splitter if you want to use the microphone (which is pretty bad according to what people told me when I used it).

I ended up initially making an xlr balanced cable and then ended up buying one from hart audio. The stock cable sounds worse to me than the hart but it might be the difference between balanced and unbalanced.

No volume on the cord but it does have a mic with mute slider if you don't plug the boom mic in. I would strongly recommend people buy a balanced cable (if you have a balanced source) and use an external mic.

 

[Sproketz]

The stock cord has a 3.5mm trrrs end on it but wired so you can plug it in to a standard 3.5mm port and use it as just a headphone but it comes with a splitter if you want to use the microphone (which is pretty bad according to what people told me when I used it).

I ended up initially making an xlr balanced cable and then ended up buying one from hart audio. The stock cable sounds worse to me than the hart but it might be the difference between balanced and unbalanced.

No volume on the cord but it does have a mic with mute slider if you don't plug the boom mic in. I would strongly recommend people buy a balanced cable (if you have a balanced source) and use an external mic.

I'm guessing the splitter only needed if you want the mic to work when you hook it up to a PC that lacks a 4 pole/TRRS jack? I saw a lot of people talking about plugging it in to their Xbox or PS5 controllers. I'd have to imagine the mic works in those scenarios? Otherwise it would not be a mic'd headset on consoles.

 

[Salted Peanut]

Just reading your review now. I'm also a D9200 owner. Could you compare the VZR One in a bit more detail to the D9200?

Also curious if you have any new impressions after using the VZR for a while now.

Yeah, of course. Back then I really just compared the bass. They are alike, the Model One and the Denon AH-D9200, but as I wrote regarding the bass, that it is more controlled and tighter goes as overall for the Model One compared to the Denon. To my ears the Model One is also the overall faster and snappier headphone (may very well have a lot to do with their acoustic lenses), the Denon splashier. Not that splashy is a bad thing; and in the Denon it’s actually the best I myself have ever heard (with acoustic and more laid-back music the Denon beats the Model One). I just prefer how the Model One deliver. The Denon is also the warmer headphone.
I really think, if possible for you, you should audition the Model One.

New impressions:

I have learned, using my decibel meter, that they are gentler to the ears than direct-firing headphones, within 7 to 10 decibels lower. This means you can turn up the volume for that amount. Between 70 to around 85 decibels the Model One brings forth more details in the mids and upper mids; this could also have something to do with equipment used. I use the Chord Mojo 2 as DAC and amp and I have the Model One equipped with a 4 Litz 5N Monocrystalline pure silver 20AWG per wire headphone cable.
It has become very clear to me that these headphones are the best I’ve ever heard at imaging, and that is key and a very big deal for me due to the music I mostly listen to. They have become my main headphone, the only one I use.

 

[Sproketz]

Yeah, of course. Back then I really just compared the bass. They are alike, the Model One and the Denon AH-D9200, but as I wrote regarding the bass, that it is more controlled and tighter goes as overall for the Model One compared to the Denon. To my ears the Model One is also the overall faster and snappier headphone (may very well have a lot to do with their acoustic lenses), the Denon splashier. Not that splashy is a bad thing; and in the Denon it’s actually the best I myself have ever heard (with acoustic and more laid-back music the Denon beats the Model One). I just prefer how the Model One deliver. The Denon is also the warmer headphone.
I really think, if possible for you, you should audition the Model One.

New impressions:

I have learned, using my decibel meter, that they are gentler to the ears than direct-firing headphones, within 7 to 10 decibels lower. This means you can turn up the volume for that amount. Between 70 to around 85 decibels the Model One brings forth more details in the mids and upper mids; this could also have something to do with equipment used. I use the Chord Mojo 2 as DAC and amp and I have the Model One equipped with a 4 Litz 5N Monocrystalline pure silver 20AWG per wire headphone cable.
It has become very clear to me that these headphones are the best I’ve ever heard at imaging, and that is key and a very big deal for me due to the music I mostly listen to. They have become my main headphone, the only one I use.

That's impressive. The idea that a $349 set of cans can out perform a $1600 set to the point you've retired the more expensive set, is a great thing for the audiophile community. I adore my D9200. I'm curious how the VZR will stack up against the Arya Stealth as I find them to be an ideal planar partner for the D9200. The Arya outperforms the D9200 in the bass and sub bass area, being capable of some insane distortion free bass even when the bass is shelfed up; however, the Arya's large soundstage is not good for gaming as it doesn't have good representation for sounds positioned in front of you. It's wide and layered, but not fully surround sound when listening to Dolby Atmos for headphones. I'll have to try these out. I already have a SoundBlaster G6 for my consoles, so I'm good to go for the amp.

Edit: Just ordered and should get them next week. I'll post my impressions after I've had them for a few weeks to give time for brain burn-in.

 

[Salted Peanut]

That's impressive. The idea that a $349 set of cans can out perform a $1600 set to the point you've retired the more expensive set, is a great thing for the audiophile community. I adore my D9200. I'm curious how the VZR will stack up against the Arya Stealth as I find them to be an ideal planar partner for the D9200. The Arya outperforms the D9200 in the bass and sub bass area, being capable of some insane distortion free bass even when the bass is shelfed up; however, the Arya's large soundstage is not good for gaming as it doesn't have good representation for sounds positioned in front of you. It's wide and layered, but not fully surround sound when listening to Dolby Atmos for headphones. I'll have to try these out. I already have a SoundBlaster G6 for my consoles, so I'm good to go for the amp.

Edit: Just ordered and should get them next week. I'll post my impressions after I've had then for a few weeks to give time for brain burn-in.

Whoa, you just went and bought them, nice! I really hope they will satisfy!
When I wrote that the Model One and Denon are alike, what I mean by that is they are both dynamic driver based headphones to the core, wonderfully lush (the Denon even more so than the Model One – too lush for my liking). I have listened to some Hifimans and I’m pretty sure that the Arya Stealth will outperform the Model One the same way you are describing the outperformance of the Denon. Both are different headphones to the Arya Stealth.
I think that the SoundBlaster G6, the abilities it has, can enhance what the acoustic lenses in the Model One already does for the listening experience.
I would like to recommend you a track that really can tell you how your headphones work in all things regarding bass. The artist is Marco Monfardini, the album is Detect, track number 7. It’s in 44.1kHz, 24bits, 2116kbps in Qobuz, so everything’s good. The whole track will throw you around but from 2:05 there’s a very clean minute or so

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Hopefully these will be available in europe based stores soon, feels like it's worth giving a try. Many closed headphones dissappoint me especially in the imaging and soundstaging area. I like to listen at a slightly louder setting (I think I'm normally at a bit below 80dB or so) so I'm guessing these will be good in that sense that they probably won't sound too aggressive with the clever construction.

 

[561915]

That's impressive. The idea that a $349 set of cans can out perform a $1600 set to the point you've retired the more expensive set, is a great thing for the audiophile community. I adore my D9200. I'm curious how the VZR will stack up against the Arya Stealth as I find them to be an ideal planar partner for the D9200. The Arya outperforms the D9200 in the bass and sub bass area, being capable of some insane distortion free bass even when the bass is shelfed up; however, the Arya's large soundstage is not good for gaming as it doesn't have good representation for sounds positioned in front of you. It's wide and layered, but not fully surround sound when listening to Dolby Atmos for headphones. I'll have to try these out. I already have a SoundBlaster G6 for my consoles, so I'm good to go for the amp.

Edit: Just ordered and should get them next week. I'll post my impressions after I've had them for a few weeks to give time for brain burn-in.

Having listened to both the Arya Stealth and the VZR Model One, the Arya Stealth is actually one of the headphones I like more, in certain ways, than the VZR Model One. The Arya Stealth is truly capable of some incredible bass and has a very wide soundstage, but suffers in imaging department like you said. The Arya Stealth excels with transients and sounding like a "hyper-real" headphone in the sense that it sounds bigger than life (Test Tracks: Magnify - Lexurus & Rhode, Early Birds - Blacklab, Ghost - Hex Cougar, Revenge - Delta Heavy). The one thing it did poorly was kinda fry my ears after listening for a bit, I had to take them off. The VZR's definitely require brain burn-in and also some physical burn-in (the pads need to loosen up a bit to bring the driver closer to your ear). Fiddle with the rotation of the lens and positioning over your ear to find the optimal sound for you (everyone's ears are different).

Let us know what you think!

 

[Sproketz]

Having listened to both the Arya Stealth and the VZR Model One, the Arya Stealth is actually one of the headphones I like more, in certain ways, than the VZR Model One. The Arya Stealth is truly capable of some incredible bass and has a very wide soundstage, but suffers in imaging department like you said. The Arya Stealth excels with transients and sounding like a "hyper-real" headphone in the sense that it sounds bigger than life (Test Tracks: Magnify - Lexurus & Rhode, Early Birds - Blacklab, Ghost - Hex Cougar, Revenge - Delta Heavy). The one thing it did poorly was kinda fry my ears after listening for a bit, I had to take them off. The VZR's definitely require brain burn-in and also some physical burn-in (the pads need to loosen up a bit to bring the driver closer to your ear). Fiddle with the rotation of the lens and positioning over your ear to find the optimal sound for you (everyone's ears are different).

Let us know what you think!

Indeed on the ear fry. I had to custom bass port my Arya Steath Dekoni pads because the bass pressure was really messing with my ears. Once ported, they became perfect for me. Details here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/loo...hat-are-not-front-sealed.963874/post-17031664 if you want to try it. The sub-bass in the Arya is not to be trifled with. For me at least, some tracks could really fatigue me quickly before I modded. Interestingly, bass extension improved after modding, but the pressure sensation is gone.

I'll definitely check out your tracks that you mentioned. Thanks for your impressions! That's interesting that the lens can be rotated. Do they recommend doing that in their manual?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Indeed on the ear fry. I had to custom bass port my Arya Steath Dekoni pads because the bass pressure was really messing with my ears. Once ported, they became perfect for me. Details here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/loo...hat-are-not-front-sealed.963874/post-17031664 if you want to try it. The sub-bass in the Arya is not to be trifled with. For me at least, some tracks could really fatigue me quickly before I modded. Interestingly, bass extension improved after modding, but the pressure sensation is gone.

I'll definitely check out your tracks that you mentioned. Thanks for your impressions! That's interesting that the lens can be rotated. Do they recommend doing that in their manual?

That's interesting as the Arya Stealth looks anything but bass heavy in the measurements, I personally try to look for a headphone to replace M-Audio Q40 that gives me that bass pressure that makes me FEEL the bass and there's no such thing as fatiguing bass for me, at least so far I've not encountered one. But it's difficult to find one that brings the feeling sensation as it's not necessarily down to the frequency measurement or excessive bass boosting but something other, maybe how good they seal, what kind of material the cups, the pads are etc. so it's really hard for me to find based on info available out there. The Q40 cups which feels like thin aluminium basically vibrate with the bass so I guess that translates to me feeling it on the ears too. I like that sort of a tingling sensation, my Digizoid ZO amp also does a great help at that but some headphones the bass response has just such a soft impact to it, I'm looking for that hard hit that feels like when standing near a drumset when the stick hits the drum, the hard sensation of hit rather than rumble, I'm more into punch than rumble so I need some tight n punchy but hard hitting bass, i'd prefer to call it "invisible" bass that you mostly hear/feel with EDM style beats (I'm a hardstyle fan personally) if that makes sense. My Aiwa Arc bluetooth headphones that I'm not able to EQ have pretty nice impact/punch out of box for example (and they are really good for the price sound quality-wise too) but sadly cannot pair it with my RME ADI-2 DAC FS or DigiZoid ZO amp.

 

[Sproketz]

That's interesting as the Arya Stealth looks anything but bass heavy in the measurements, I personally try to look for a headphone to replace M-Audio Q40 that gives me that bass pressure that makes me FEEL the bass and there's no such thing as fatiguing bass for me, at least so far I've not encountered one. But it's difficult to find one that brings the feeling sensation as it's not necessarily down to the frequency measurement or excessive bass boosting but something other, maybe how good they seal, what kind of material the cups, the pads are etc. so it's really hard for me to find based on info available out there. The Q40 cups which feels like thin aluminium basically vibrate with the bass so I guess that translates to me feeling it on the ears too. I like that sort of a tingling sensation, my Digizoid ZO amp also does a great help at that but some headphones the bass response has just such a soft impact to it, I'm looking for that hard hit that feels like when standing near a drumset when the stick hits the drum, the hard sensation of hit rather than rumble, I'm more into punch than rumble so I need some tight n punchy but hard hitting bass, i'd prefer to call it "invisible" bass that you mostly hear/feel with EDM style beats (I'm a hardstyle fan personally) if that makes sense. My Aiwa Arc bluetooth headphones that I'm not able to EQ have pretty nice impact/punch out of box for example (and they are really good for the price sound quality-wise too) but sadly cannot pair it with my RME ADI-2 DAC FS or DigiZoid ZO amp.

The Arya's measurements are taken un EQ'd of course, it takes extremely well to EQ. If you EQ it up, it takes it, without bleeding in to the mids or affecting the highs due to the stealth magnet planar driver. It can put out extreme sub bass. I like a V shaped warm sound, so I tend to add a parametric shelf the low end and use the RME ADI-2's loudness and T/B controls to mix to taste based on what I'm listening to. I don't know what it would take to distort the bass on the Arya, but it's capable of more bass boost than I'd ever want to use, distortion free. EQ'd the way I like it, without a bass port, it was too much pressure for my ears. The port takes care of that perfectly.

The Arya might not be your cup of tea, as the planar drivers are too fast to produce that vibrating ear feeling. This means they are super low distortion as a result, but you don't feel your ears shake, it's more a build up of pressure on your ear drum if it isn't ported. You don't feel the bass, you hear it. Dynamic drivers are the only thing I've experienced where you get more of a physical thump that moves your earlobes etc.

The most absurd bass that shakes your ears that I've ever heard had to be on the HE-R9. But I found I couldn't EQ it to evenly represent the full spectrum. I didn't like the mids. It's an overly warm and bassy headphone for my taste. But for gaming it produced the most ridiculously impressive explosions I've ever heard. I literally laughed out loud.

 

[561915]

Indeed on the ear fry. I had to custom bass port my Arya Steath Dekoni pads because the bass pressure was really messing with my ears. Once ported, they became perfect for me. Details here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/loo...hat-are-not-front-sealed.963874/post-17031664 if you want to try it. The sub-bass in the Arya is not to be trifled with. For me at least, some tracks could really fatigue me quickly before I modded. Interestingly, bass extension improved after modding, but the pressure sensation is gone.

I'll definitely check out your tracks that you mentioned. Thanks for your impressions! That's interesting that the lens can be rotated. Do they recommend doing that in their manual?

You can't rotate the lens physically inside of the headphone, I mean rotating the whole headphone so the headband rests on different parts of your head to account for ear tilt (I tilt mine a bit back compared to how I wear other headphones). There is a procedure in the manual that is described to put the headphones on, but I understand what is trying to be achieved and have a quicker technique for putting the headphones on now. On the topic of the Arya Stealth: that looks like an interesting technique with the bass port, +1 on venting increasing sub-bass. I pad-rolled the VZR's for fun and totally closed pads sound like crap. Too much ear pressure and sub-bass was gone.

That's interesting as the Arya Stealth looks anything but bass heavy in the measurements, I personally try to look for a headphone to replace M-Audio Q40 that gives me that bass pressure that makes me FEEL the bass and there's no such thing as fatiguing bass for me, at least so far I've not encountered one. But it's difficult to find one that brings the feeling sensation as it's not necessarily down to the frequency measurement or excessive bass boosting but something other, maybe how good they seal, what kind of material the cups, the pads are etc. so it's really hard for me to find based on info available out there. The Q40 cups which feels like thin aluminium basically vibrate with the bass so I guess that translates to me feeling it on the ears too. I like that sort of a tingling sensation, my Digizoid ZO amp also does a great help at that but some headphones the bass response has just such a soft impact to it, I'm looking for that hard hit that feels like when standing near a drumset when the stick hits the drum, the hard sensation of hit rather than rumble, I'm more into punch than rumble so I need some tight n punchy but hard hitting bass, i'd prefer to call it "invisible" bass that you mostly hear/feel with EDM style beats (I'm a hardstyle fan personally) if that makes sense. My Aiwa Arc bluetooth headphones that I'm not able to EQ have pretty nice impact/punch out of box for example (and they are really good for the price sound quality-wise too) but sadly cannot pair it with my RME ADI-2 DAC FS or DigiZoid ZO amp.

Measurements usually don't tell the whole picture. The Arya Stealth extends down basically almost flat to 20hz and responds well below that. For sub-bass heavy tracks it can really slam. It had a bit too much top end for me though. I'd imagine boosting the bass on that thing would be nuts. The VZR's produce a different kind of ear-tickle, its less in your ear and on your ear or inside of your head. I'm not entirely sure how the bass you idealize can be felt, but also "invisible". Invisible in the sense that it blends with the rest of the FR? Accurate group delay/lack of resonances? Do you have any test tracks for what you're trying to describe? I listen to primarily electronic music (some aggressive genres as well) so I like bassy music. Songs that demonstrate the "brain-tickle": Hypnocurrency - REZZ, My Pet Coelacanth - Deadmau5, Memory Bank - Dyro & Conro, Hey, Hey, Hey - Park Hye Jin (also a good imaging tester), Be Alright (Au5 Remix) - Stonebank, Higher (Extended Mix)- Destructo, Untz Untz - Dmitri Vegas & Like Mike (the 2nd and 3rd drop).

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I mean invisible in the sense the landing slam of the beat deals that percussion type of hit like standing next to a drumkit but there's no big bass lingering around so you can clearly hear the mids and highs and you just hear the sound pressure wave or is it because of the cups vibration vibrating my ears.... that's what I don't know for certain (or if it's a combination of the two), it's kind of like a tickle, a short pulsating physical sense with the kickdrums of the track of some sort but it's hard to describe precisely but I need a bit help from Digizoid ZO amp to make it happen, otherwise the bass isn't strong enough without driving volume up to uncomfortable levels for the mids/highs. The M-Audio Q40 does this particularly well I feel. The better I feel it and less I hear the bass the better sorta so I can better focus on the rest of the elements of the track, this is especially important in Hardstyle where the kickdrum are distorted and have their own sound signature in different tracks so it gives the impression the punch of the beat delivers that impact a bit like you'd getting punched in the face and makes for a very energetic listening when you get that physical feeling sensation as well. At the level I feel it, it's still relatively subtle but that subtle added physical sensation adds a lot to the overall enjoyment for me, mostly in the sense it makes me "dance" with the music, really engages me with it (you know like DJs keep doing that hand movement n stuff xD)

Doesn't really matter what track, typically 99% of the retail tracks gives me the sensation when it's mixed and mastered close to that industry standard for hardstyle:

Here's a yearmix from 2022:


And a 2014 mix for example (Euphoric or melodic hardstyle were generally better around 2010 - 2015):