High-end Headphones for daily activites

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
1

Hello,

After few months of comparaison of posts/answers on this forum & reddit, i have decided to ask the wonderfull community here for some “final help”.

1. What goes into my ears (by occurency)

  • Music eheh (Mostly Progressive Metal, Hip-hop & Lofi Hip-Hop, Electro)
  • Gaming ! No FPS. Just chill & fun
  • Movies, etc…

2. What Headphones ?

After a lot of time of comparaison, i narrowed down the list to 5 candidates.

  • LCD-X
  • HD800 or HD800S (For when the girlfriend is sleeping :smile: )
  • Focal clear MG
  • HIFIMAN Arya
  • Beyerdynamic t1.3

Since i wear headphone between 6 to 10 hours pear day, i need something that is really confortable.

Concerning DAC & AMPS, i have decided to go on SCHIIT Valhalla + Modius. Im open for some other suggestions !

Thank you!

2

I have no experience with any of the mentioned headphones, but can give you my 2 cents.

LCD-X — remove from the list, >600g, very heavy and not really ergonomic/comfortable for long periods of time

HiFiMan Arya — I heard it’s bright, should be comfortable, from what I’ve heard you either love it or hate it

HD800 series — imo, you can’t really go wrong with Sennheiser, and comfort is top-notch

Focal Clear MG — just like Sennheiser, I don’t think you can really go wrong with the Clear MG, Focal knows what it’s doing and you should be getting quality (though I heard some people say it’s pretty much 50/50 in terms of quality control)

Beyerdynamic T1.3 — now Beyers are truly a very tricky choice if you never had the opportunity to listen to them beforehand. From what I hear there is also some controversy behind the T1.3 model

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3

Every headphone youve got on that list is polarizing, except the Focale unless you’re willing to EQ the LCD though as mentioned, too heavy. The Clear gets rave reviews unless sound stage is important to you. If you’re willing to spend that much you could consider ZMF, or Dan Clark for ultimate comfort

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4

+1

Personally, Sennheiser has always been at the top of my list when it comes to comfort. Own the HD598 for several years now, still the coziest and most comfortable headphone I own. There’s something about velour pads, but not a whole lot of headphones are stock tuned and manufactured with velour pads.

5

I have no experience with any of the others, just getting into headphones myself. However, I spend most days (6 or more on average, but the average doesn’t add up to the full 7) wearing my Focal Elegia for 10+ hours.

For my head, they are quite comfortable for sustained wearing. That being said, it could well be that someone with a different shape/ size head, larger ears, or not shaven as I am (completely shaved, head and 'stache/ beard) might not find Focal as comfortable as I do.

For me, after the first hour or so each day, I can easily forget I am wearing anything at all. They just disappear on me. As with many worn accessories though, one size fits most, and YMMV.

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