Thanks for the input man. I’m still browsing through the recommendations here.
Personally the Nighthawks OG, they have a wider Soundstage which I enjoy in addition to having a bigger focus on the vocals. While hemps have a bigger focus on the instruments imo. Altho i would take the hemps over the Nighthawks carbon any day. (OG hawks are more warm)
Me too brah hahaha. I always skipped that series because I never had a tube amp. Finally changing that tho since in theory I will prefer it over other headphones and also will have more of a purpose on my chain
Dan Clark AEON 2, ZMF Aeolus, Audeze LCD 2C
One of my favourite all rounders is the Focal Elex’s. Goes on sale for $600.00 sometimes. W-shaped as in lots of treble, mids and a surprising amount of bass.
If I could only own one headphone, this would be it.
PS: My music is: new rock, classic rock, some blues and some horn jazz.
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Bottle Head Crack w/ the Speedball option. $464
Pair that with the HD58X currently on Drop for $129
You’ll be very near to your budget and it’s a great paring that will give you that all round musicality you’re after. IMO the HD600 is a better pairing but the HD600 is going to be around $180 to $220 used depending on condition.
I’ll also add that the Senn line reacts very well to pad swaps with the various flavors of pad out there having a very noticeable impact on their signature and you can tune their sound quite a bit based on preference.
If you’re handy with a soldering gun, and you have a good multimeter, the BHC is also a fun project that will be a very personal experience as it will be uniquely your own.
It’s a magical pairing that IMO would be end game for a lot of people if they knew about it as they began their journey in the hobby.
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IDK what the market is like in the US, but try and find a Sony Z7.
I feel like that is the can you’re describing here.
And of course, if you can find one used, the LCD-2 Classics are really warm out of the box. But even they aren’t as much a shock to the system as the Audioquest stuff haha.
My favourite warm all rounder is the original Sony MDR-1A (not the silly upgraded 1AM2), but it’s not resolving anywhere close to the Sennheiser. But, they’re also easy to drive and are a nice fun listen even out of the box.
Similarly, the Meze 99 Classics are great but they’re not out-resolving the Sennys; more fun though than them though.
Sundaras outperform the Sennheisers, but they’re not warm. Still, except for the insane mids, to me it feels like an upgrade all round. Could it be an all rounder…hmm, if you could boost the sub bass a bit, sure. But then they’re not pick up and go.
Audeze Mobius are my current all rounders, but people are put off by its many functionalities and gaming target. I like it because I can use them wired, wireless, connected directly to the PC and it works with Music, Movies, Games etc. They also benefit from some low end EQ, but if you’re not a basshead, you might not even notice.
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It is selling for 600 now…great bang for the buck…leans a bit warm too.
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its more bass and maybe a tad warmer then the hd6xx, but not quite as detailed.
Grado hemps is my all time warm and fuzzy cans, not sure if the pads will be an issue for you though. I have a piercing on the helix of only my left ear, so it makes it a little uncomfortable when the stock pads rest on the piercing directly. I don’t have this issue on my right ear (without helix piercing), so im not sure if you’ll face any comfort issue using the stock pads. Personally I prefer the sound on the stock pads to the G pads, so I’m sticking to stock pads despite the comfort issue.
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I can definitely recommend the Hemps. They are warm and lush but still exciting and impactful. Like the previous post said, they are not the most comfortable, but if you adjust the clamp they should be fine. They also don’t NEED an amp, but they really benefit from something like an Asgard 3.
Another option could be the new SR325x for $295 or maybe the SR80x for $80 since these two are supposed to have a similar tuning to the Hemps but are both cheeper.
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