[SenyorC]

As we draw towards the end of the year and the festive times etc., one thing we can be sure of is that there will be plenty of "the best", "the most", "the greatest" etc. from no end of reviewers!

I will be just as guilty as the rest, although I try to do something a little different each year and haven't yet decided what to do this year.

But it got me thinking that it would be fun to see what everybody else's top 3 are for the year.

I posted this in portable gear as I didn't really find a suitable miscellaneous section (years on here and I still don't know my way around lol, so my apologies if this should go elsewhere), but it doesn't have to be portable.

In fact, the only rule is that it is audio related.

No budget, no specific category, no specific release date just a general question...

What are the 3 things that impressed you the most in 2023?

I have posted this same question on a couple of other forums (English and Spanish) and it will be fun to check back in a few weeks to see what the general masses comment.

 

[Saberpunch]

My Top 3 moments that impressed me the most 2023:

1. Mysphere 3.2 on my main setup (got me believing that headphones can actually sound natural/real)
2. Shang Sr. On Grand Cayman
3. Stax X9000 On RSA B-21 Raider

Honorable mentions:
- Sony MDR R10 on a RSA tube amp
- Onkyo A800 on the Viva 845 Tube Amp (that amp will make all your favorite headphones 10x more fun)
- Sennheiser HE-1
- Hearing the Susvara for probably 100 hours later and found that "holy crap, this headphone is actually really amazing" kind of feeling.
- Comparing my entry 2-channel near field speakers with a subwoofer against hi-fi headphones and realizing 2-channel speakers are just at a different level no matter what in terms of presentation.

 

[Lindholdt]

In chronological order:

1. Buying Sundara, and getting a taste of what good headphones can do.
2. Discovering Head-Fi.org and the Headphone show, learning lots and lots about head-fi.
3. Getting HE1000's and realizing that headphones, to me, can do things speakers can't, which have fully thrusted me into this new hobby

 

[MagicMitch]

1. Stax SR-X9000 - demo’d these in e-earphones and spent the entire time on these instead of demoing the other high end headphones that I was interested in. Absolutely breathtaking sound. Honestly killed any desire I had for other high end headphones, so at least it’s saving me money. I only wish I could have demo’d my own music but they had a decent selection of songs I was familiar with so it wasn’t the end of the world.

2. Philphones - I’ve been interested in these since I read about them in Precog’s thread and decided to see how they stack up. The bass is amazing for an open back and with a pad swap to some Dekoni Audeze pads they’re incredibly comfortable.

3. U4s - just a really good product tbh.. not much to say about these but they’re my new daily driver after trying the Z1R, Maestro SE, IE600, and a few other sets. Baby U12t for half the price.