Headphones tier list

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
5

Always interesting to see what people value.

My list considering price, comfort and sound quality.

(Ksc75 should be at the 1 spot but i dont use them enough anymore.)

  1. Dt880
    Decade old favorite for me. Keeps getting better with better equipment

  2. Sennheiser 6xx
    Same as above

  3. T1.2
    Whole nother level but I prefer dt880 sound sig

  4. Aeon 2 closed
    My favorite closed back. Good price used imo

  5. Nighthawks
    Ticks all the boxes for comfort, sound and price for me.

  6. Cascade
    Not the most comfortable, used prices arent bad, really enjoy the sound quality and sound signature for how different they are.

7.Grado Hemps
When I want Grado.

  1. Dt990/dt770
    Old favorites that are comfortable, have their uses in sound, and can be had for good prices. A lot of fun pad swapping. Dt990 are my preferred for gaming.

  2. Tygr300r and mmx300
    Im a beyerdynamic addict…

  3. T1.3
    My high end “beats” in beyerdynamic form.
    Price positions this one lower but I really enjoy these open backs while im out on the go. Thinking of selling to audition the focal radiance.

  4. T50rp
    Love them or hate them, I liked modding them.

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6

I’m not factoring in price or comfort. I’m not making tiers, instead I’ll rank them like this:
Beyer:
Tygr > T1 > DT880 600
AKG:
K612 > K701 > K712
Focal:
Utopia > Clear OG > Clear MG
Radiance > Elegia
Grado:
Hemp > 325e > SR60e
RS2 > RS1 / GH2
Stax:
007 MK 2 > L700
Hifiman:
Sus > Arya V3 > Sundara > Ananda / 400i
Senn:
HD 650 / HD800S > 560S > stepping into dogshit > Momentum 2.0
AT:
AWKT > AD2000 > AD700X
Audeze:
LCD-X > XC
Denon/Fostex:
D5k > D2k
Meze:
Empyrean > 99 Classic

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7

Mangird Tea … overhyped :joy:

I’ve been thinking about buying those but, I dunno… I actually tend to like underrated headphones.

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8

Seen some people linking DMS’s tier list and others, so just to add another one to the pile. Here’s Crins list for headphones.

9

All the reviews “oh my God the sub bass or oh my God the imaging”
Sub bass was lacking and the imaging is good but not worth $300 (I got mine for closer to $200 and still wasn’t impressed) there are other things that are better value
Needless to say I sold them when I got my hands on better things that were also cheaper :sweat_smile:

10

Bumping this topic because I finally decided to do one for both iems and headphones, but only with stuff I’ve ended up liking so I don’t really know if it’s a tier list because of that (so I guess it’s just a ranked and sorted list of things I already like in different performance groups?). Nothing super detailed or broken down, just basically what I’ve liked a lot in the various ranges

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11

The @M0N has spoken…

Do amps next!

Thanks, dude. This is great.

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12

Headphones:
LCD-5 (EQ) = Susvara = D8KP > HD800S = LCD-XC 2021 w/ Dekoni Lambskin (EQ) > “Philphone 3” > TH900 mk2 > Sundara (2020) = Dan Clark/MrSpeakers Mad Dog > Arya V2 = Modhouse Argon Mk2 > LCD-5 (No EQ) > Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon > LCD-XC 2021 w/ Dekoni Lambskin (Stock w/ No EQ) > SHP9500 >> ATH-M50 >>> Campfire Cascade

IEMS:
QDC 8SL > XENNS UP = Moondrop Variations > 7Hz Timeless > LZ A7 (Gold Filter) > Fiio FHE > Tin P1 Max > 7Hz Salnotes Zero = TIN T2 = ER2SE (It’s the fit that’s mainly the issue for me) > Blon BL-MAX > Blon BL-03 >>> TRI i3 Pro (I hope it was a bad pair b/c it sounded horrible) >>>> Shure SE215 Pro

For those curious, yes I found the Sundara (2020) (with an ample amount of EQ) to be better than the Arya V2 for my preferences. Great headphones, but I don’t think the Eggmans are for me, unfortunately.

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13

I want to, but that would take quite awhile lol, might add onto it later lol

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14

M0N 15 years later: I finally got together my amp tier list

Ngl, would definitely be worth the wait :joy:

15

I guess I’ll get started today and see how long it takes lol. It’s going to be substantially harder I feel like lol

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16

We shall receive thy ranking list!

17

Well that took less time than expected, realized I already had a general idea of where things sat for me, although I’m going to be moving things around for a bit likely, but it now should have amps lol

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18

Great addition to a already great post? Between the Headphone post and the quicksilver post you covered just about my whole setup. Missed my main Dac but got the BF2. Covered my Amps and a lot of my headphones. Awesome and informative writeup from a person with great knowledge and experience.!
Thanks M0N.

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19

Ah I really should do dacs, but I’ve written about enough dacs lately lol

I don’t know if I’d call it a writeup or anything like that given it’s basically just stuff I like on a page lol

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20

Yes! But why sell yourself short? Go for the whole signal chain tier list! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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21

See but then you’ll make me want to just do entire chain pairs and whatnot, and that is way too much work, and I’d really want to get things back in house to do that properly, was just supposed to be casual and brief lol. I might just add a bit more info to that list instead before doing dacs

22

This is the problem with creating internet content: the audience always wants more :rofl:. Appreciate what you’ve done. Awesome lists.

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23

Ah yes the “casual” list curated by M0N that ends up in a 5 page write up, gotta love it :heart_eyes:

24

I didn’t see the Soloist or V280/281 in this list :cry: