Headphones you own; why you love them

[Rosenarayanappa]

Am looking for a non fatigue in ear headphone. Upto 12k Rs. Got Sony 1000xm2.get headache after an hour of listening. What do you recommend pls. Don't want noise canceling or BT. Shpuld be able to listen for atleast 3 hrs no fatigue.

 

[sree0320]

Am looking for a non fatigue in ear headphone. Upto 12k Rs. Got Sony 1000xm2.get headache after an hour of listening. What do you recommend pls. Don't want noise canceling or BT. Shpuld be able to listen for atleast 3 hrs no fatigue.

I hope you might've tried 1more triple driver which is good for the bass lover. Or you try RHA ma750 for vocal and crisp highs.
These are the general recommendations even from headphonezone. I have them both using with iPhone with flacs they are fantastic. I suggest you to raise your budget little bit and get audezei10 which are fantastic though open iem.

 

[Rosenarayanappa]

I hope you might've tried 1more triple driver which is good for the bass lover. Or you try RHA ma750 for vocal and crisp highs.
These are the general recommendations even from headphonezone. I have them both using with iPhone with flacs they are fantastic. I suggest you to raise your budget little bit and get audezei10 which are fantastic though open iem.

Hows moondrop Kansas pro

 

[madhurshankar]

Beyerdynamic DT250. I just love it's neutral sound presentation. There's a slight phase imbalance but I can definitely live with that. I also own Final audio E2000 and Shozy Zero, though both of these have slightly different sound signature I like them both.

Am looking for a non fatigue in ear headphone. Upto 12k Rs. Got Sony 1000xm2.get headache after an hour of listening. What do you recommend pls. Don't want noise canceling or BT. Shpuld be able to listen for atleast 3 hrs no fatigue.

You should seriously consider Shozy Zero

Hows moondrop Kansas pro

I owned Moondrop Crescent. It was very good for the price paid. It was slightly bright, but I feel it should be ok for prolonged hearing to an extent. "Oluv's gadgets" youtube channel has sound demo for Moondrop Aria, please refer to that.

 

[fLUX]

I have owned the Hifiman HE560, Sennheiser HD6XX, Audeze Mobius and Meze 99 Classics. Sold all of them eventually and settled for Hifiman Ananda

Got the Hifiman Arya on a review loaner tour and Ananda for few days. The detailing on Arya is at a different level and has a nice laid back spacious presentation but I liked the Ananda for its forwardness in all aspects.

For me the HE560 represents the most VFM heapdhone I had till date and lasted the longest with me.

 

[ajaipuriyar]

Hello, I have been headphone guy for the last 12 years and have experienced majority of the TOTL headphones and amps available.

Currently I own the Abyss 1266 TC , Hifiman Susvara and ZMF Verite closed

Love the Abyss for its soundstage, viceral low end and detail retrieval. I have owned all the previous versions of Abyss as well. the TC takes it up to the next level.

Love the Susvara for its mids and clarity. its my fav of the two now for overall listening.

Verite closed is one of the finest closed headphones available today but doesn't compare to the other two. ( also it shouldn't as 50% of the price)

I am eyeing the t+A Solitaire P as my next. lets see how that pans out.

Good to connect with headphiles here.

Stay Safe!!

 

[sudhirdamerla]

Have had the Grado 325i for about 10 years. Never had the urge to upgrade to find anything else. Mostly due to budget. But will eventually build a nice straight through Headphone amp for this in a the future.

 

[docharsha89]

Hello, I have been headphone guy for the last 12 years and have experienced majority of the TOTL headphones and amps available.

Currently I own the Abyss 1266 TC , Hifiman Susvara and ZMF Verite closed

Love the Abyss for its soundstage, viceral low end and detail retrieval. I have owned all the previous versions of Abyss as well. the TC takes it up to the next level.

Love the Susvara for its mids and clarity. its my fav of the two now for overall listening.

Verite closed is one of the finest closed headphones available today but doesn't compare to the other two. ( also it shouldn't as 50% of the price)

I am eyeing the t+A Solitaire P as my next. lets see how that pans out.

Good to connect with headphiles here.

Stay Safe!!

That's a mighty impressive collection, you got . I listen with a Hifiman Arya driven by a Chord Hugo 2. I used to own a Sennheiser HD650 and an Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon, Sold both recently to upgrade. In your experience, which do you regard as the best open back Dynamic/Planar under $3000 ?

 

[ajaipuriyar]

Hugo2 is nice. I got onto chord journey with The original Hugo. I have been a chord fan since then and currently own Dave+MScaler.

Meze Empyrean is a very good headphone, is very comfortable to wear and pairs really well with Hugo 2.
Other than that Utopia ( not too difficult to find one for around 3K) , ZMF Verite Open and HE1000 SE would be my top recommendations. But Utopia mightsound a bit bright on some genres with Hugo2. It needs to be paired carefully.

Stay Safe!!!!

 

[Rud31]

Past gear- I have prefer isolation provided by IEMs so have used them mostly. This includes, Creative EP630, Soundmagic PL-10 and PL-20, Brainwavz M2, Monster iSport, Bose Soundsport and a pair of Klipsch whose model I'm not able to recollect right now.

Current gear- AKG K-240 Studio, Audio Technica ATH-IM70, B&O Play ( came with LG V20), Audio Technica ATH-CKX5 RD, Focal Sense 100SI. Source for them is DAP (Shanling M0) or Phone/Laptop through Fiio K3 DAC-Amp
Out of these my first love has always been Brainwavz M2 as they were my first good pair of IEMs. In the current inventory, I like my IM-70 for their SQ, CKX5 for their ruggedness and Focal ones for being a budget pair yet able to do what many others haven't been able to do, have proper response in sub 30Hz frequency spectrum.

 

[Rockfella]

Sound magics a few years ago to now : ATHM40x + BLON 03. Love both. BLONs more than anything.

 

[Deleted member 79034]

Sound magics a few years ago to now : ATHM40x + BLON 03. Love both. BLONs more than anything.

Blon BL-03 & iBasso DC-01 with any damn android phone is one hell of a setup.

 

[Rockfella]

Blon BL-03 & iBasso DC-01 with any damn android phone is one hell of a setup.

Yep. I use BLONs with FiiO M5 +128 GB SD Card (Just to isolate myself from phone calls IBasso looks amazing! Just checked.

 

[karthik_ashok]

Ibasso DX50 —-> etymotic er4p, unique melody - UM3W, grado SR 80 ... that’s my lockdown rig.

Firstly - Ibasso DX50 - I also have a Fiio X5 Gen 3 which is my brothers time and again, some how the ibasso sounds cleaner to my ear so I find myself picking it up more than the latter
Ety’s - flat response, dry, clinical this is what comes to my mind. When I listen these, I hear the music as the artist intended and was mastered for. Yes most might fine the sound signature Bland and boring but personally I quite enjoy it . Only issue is the deep insert and the associated pain that I get with > 1 hr listening
UM3w- these are my precision custom IEM- I sent UM the drivers and asked them to make a 3 way IEM for me ( back in 2010 when UM were accepting such requests). I can wear these the whole day, they just disappear into the ear. Fits like a glove. Now these sound very neutral, have a mild bump in the lows, Forward mids very similar to the etys. The top somehow feel rolled of and not as sparkly as the etys
Grado - the open back metal headphone. These are no where neutral , forward sound and bright, metal sounds best that way, the clashes and the cymbals sound amazing and life like. The guitars are in your face !!! The lows ... well they are there but the mids and highs take preference. Only issue is sound bleed so can’t listen when I have family around

sorry for the long rant, hope it was a pleasant read

 

[arnprasad]

I got Blon 03, QKZ VK4, KZ AS10, Tin Audio T2, - bought them based on online reviews...all of them are good.

I am no audiophile...but I bought a Audio Technica M50X and Bose 20 series NC and sold both of them as I couldn't understand their greatness.....but these cheap Chi-fi's...they are more of my thing!!

I also got an AKG 5000 rupee one plus a FIIO DAC type thing.....couldn't understand them either...gave them to my nephew as they are not practical in real life as I need them for my walking and running

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Currently owning : Beoplay H6 first gen. Like it? As an outdoor headphone - yes. As an audiophile product not much. I cant sell it off as it was gifted by my wife back then i liked it a lot as it was blown away by its details, then slowly I started finding flaws. But i think using it 4 years

I think the one i enjoyed thr most was the HD 650.

I got Blon 03, QKZ VK4, KZ AS10, Tin Audio T2, - bought them based on online reviews...all of them are good.

I am no audiophile...but I bought a Audio Technica M50X and Bose 20 series NC and sold both of them as I couldn't understand their greatness.....but these cheap Chi-fi's...they are more of my thing!!

I also got an AKG 5000 rupee one plus a FIIO DAC type thing.....couldn't understand them either...gave them to my nephew as they are not practical in real life as I need them for my walking and running

With iems I am also into chifi. I too have the blon and tin and they both are great. They are well built than brands like shure (se215)and klipsch (s4i)i previously had. I changed the cable of both to Make them faster (clearer, apparently as temporal masking is less then) a bit though.
The good thing is I can use them without caring too much as they did not cost much. Both of mine have taken hell lot beating already !

 

[ajaipuriyar]

Currently owning : Beoplay H6 first gen. Like it? As an outdoor headphone - yes. As an audiophile product not much. I cant sell it off as it was gifted by my wife back then i liked it a lot as it was blown away by its details, then slowly I started finding flaws. But i think using it 4 years

I think the one i enjoyed thr most was the HD 650.

With iems I am also into chifi. I too have the blon and tin and they both are great. They are well built than brands like shure (se215)and klipsch (s4i)i previously had. I changed the cable of both to Make them faster (clearer, apparently as temporal masking is less then) a bit though.
The good thing is I can use them without caring too much as they did not cost much. Both of mine have taken hell lot beating already !

The Beoplay are your headphones for life

 

[Doomster69]

Started with earplugs back in the day - basically an Aiwa walkman with earbuds - that got me the first taste of hifi. Followed it with a few years of Sennheiser earbuds (CX 180) with phone/mp3 player/ipod as sources. Then i started earning and got a ATH M50x as my first real entry into real music lilstening. I discovered what music can sound like.

Then for a long time, spent money and time building my HT and stereo setup - 2.1 channel, then 4.1 channel and then 5.1. 5 - 6 years of staggered purchases.

Fast fwd 2020 - cabin fever (lockdowns) led me to really jump in and explore better ways of listening to my music more privately (i.e. headphone listening). Looking for convenience and affordability, started exploring IEMs.. Got myself FIIO FH-5 from Aliexpress (FiiO India didn't have stock) and was blown away by the sound - wide, bassy and 'reasonably' detailed.

Jumped on the hype train and also got the TinHifi P1's - just to sample/flavour planar sound. The resolution of P1s really got me hooked to the planar sound. Since these were power hungry, ordered the Fiio Q1 MK2 to drive the P1's balanced with tripowin cable - understood what/why 'balanced' is sought after! Plus the dac was a revelation - the person who believes digital is simple 0's and 1's was reborn..

Bought the FIIO BTR03 to double up as mobility dac and hi-res bluetooth (LDAC). 3 months of contentment with 2 decent sets of earcandies- FH 5+ BTR03 and P1+Q1 MK2.

I had tasted HiFi blood in the headphones and the curiosity to explore what 'good open back cans' can do sound like took over me

Much research later, divine intervention happened - Hifiman released 2020 version of Sundara's - these had no QC issues and had stealth revisions. Ordered my pair direct from India distributors and got NX4 DSD to power these cans while also serve as back up amp/dac to Q1. Foraying into Tidal lossless streaming and USB Audio Pro, i was in another world... My reality of 2020 was transformed.. as the world went into the crapper, i was blissing out with my music! Sundara's really are a gateway drug!

There were quite a few moments listening to everything i had heard and yet really had NOT heard. Now i am addicted to good sound.

Here i am today - trying to find my endgame, looking for a sweet deal on Hifiman Arya's and a reasonable amp to go along (while i secretly crush over Abyss cans, hoping to try and own them someday!)

 

[catalyst360]

Used to be a headphone guy constantly obsessing over the next upgrade. Then I got a pair of speakers and now that has become my preferred method of music consumption. Still have a pair of HD 599's kicking around near my PC for general purpose use.

 

[Analogous]

First time participating in a Headphone thread on HFV. Here are my two bits.
I started using Headphones for music because of time spent on travel and soon it became a passion.
my first serious headphone was the Sennheiser PX100 (on ear, comfortable, cheap, folded for packing and was amazing) I think PX200 is still in production though I haven’t heard it.

With available budget increasing over time I went through a few more (klipsh X10i, Shure Se535, Westone 4 and a couple more)…my passion tapered off when I got my JH13 Pro customs (still my favourite for travel) and a Sennheier HD600 (amazing sounding (in production for several years now because why redesign when it’s not necessary?), a Fostex T50 RP (because I wanted to try planar magnetic and may be mod them) and a pair of Meze 99 Classics.

I realised a few months ago I am not listening to my HPs as before (lockdown, more invested in full stereo etc) I also realised I had not visited Headfi in many moons. (Shameless plug: the Sennheiser HD600 and Fostex TRP50 mk 2 are listed in the for sale section along with a AKJr now). I still love my JH13 pro and drive it with a AK Kann on my walks and (yes, I know it’s dangerous) sometimes when I cycle. As many FM probably do, I love both full size stereo set ups and HPs for my music (salt and sugar addiction?)