Hello everyone! This is my first time visiting this forum. I have come here today to ask for everyone’s help. I have a pair of Beyerdynamic Amiron wireless’s and I am currently selling them. I bought them because I wanted a good sounding headphone, but I also wanted to take it with me. Recently I purchased a Fiio Btr-5 and some Fiio Fh-3’s for that exact purpose. Now I am looking for the best sounding headphone for around the price range for the Amiron wireless ($250-$500). I am keen on trying out planars or electrostatics (If I could even get them that cheap). Thanks in advance for your help.
3 Likes
First, welcome!
For elecrostats, your primary option in your budget range would be the Drop Koss 95X, which I hear are not bad for the price, but not great build quality. If the BTR5 is your main DAC/Amp, there are a lot of planars that may be at the upper end of its ability to drive.
What changes would you be looking for compared to you Amiron? What kind of music do you listen to most?
1 Like
Honestly I like the sound of the Amiron. One thing I like about it is the decent build quality. I like clarity, but I also like to feel some bass. I listen to nu-metal and classic rock mostly. The btr5 is my main, But I wouldn’t be opposed to getting something if the total was under $500 including the headphones. I’m not saying that I don’t want dynamic drivers but I think it would be cool to try new-to-me technology. I’ve never experienced planar or electrostatic. If all that is available for electrostatic at this price range is low end, then I don’t really need that.
The 95x look pretty nice, Ill have to look into them. I am still open to looking at other options too!
Wanting to feel some bass might rule out many electrostatic options without doing some EQ. Something like a Hifiman HE4XX or HE400i might be a good intro to planar. Those would leave some room in the budget for something like a Liquid Spark stack or Modi 3+/Magni 3+ stack to power them a little better than the BTR5.
Small comment about planars… any assumptions one may have of planars change base on price bracket. I noticed lower end the planars tend to lack bass presence.
Also, BTR5 gets used daily in addition to my other gear. Good choice!
One thing with the BTR5 and potentially looking at less efficient planar cans, you’ll want to run it balanced to squeeze what you can from it. Not just recency bias, but I’d have a hard time voting against the Hifiman Sundara here. Fits the price, genre need, easy to run balanced, and though there’s info that will have you question build (and I certainly question the build quality in HE-5xx/HE-4xx), I’ve been impressed with the solidity of Sundara. Those lower level Hifiman mentioned also would be smart.
1 Like
Yeah, I really do love how the Sundara looks. I think I might do a modi+magni and then get em.
If you’re still looking for over ear headsets then Apple AirPods Max and Sony WH-1000XM4 are the best options as per What-hifi.
