Cool! Have you had a chance to compare the Eikon and the TH900 and 9200’s in person?
So I have, but not all three at once, but I’ve heard all of them many times, and own the th900 mk2. I’ve directly compared the 900 mk2 vs the 9200 and the 900 mk2 vs the eikon. I really like them all lol. My preference leans towards either the 900 mk2 or the eikon. The 9200 was good in technical performance, but imo the signature just wasn’t that enjoyable compared to the 900 mk2 and the eikon. The 900 mk2 is more v shaped than the eikon (which is a bit more warm leaning) and both are very good for technicalities. I think the 900 mk2 might be a bit more detailed, but the eikon creates a more immersive and open stage than the 900 mk2. The 900 mk2 has more subbass oomph, but the eikon has more overall bass impact imo. For mid-range I prefer the eikon for it’s imo more accurate timbre and greater presence, and for treble it’s a toss up, as the th900 mk2 is more aggressive and accurate, whereas the eikon is going to be more smooth and forgiving imo.
They also react differently amp wise, with the 900 mk2 mainly preferring solid state amps, or hybrids, where I do like a good tube amp on the eikon, but also like the punch of a hybrid as well. The 900 mk2 is more amp picky in general than the eikon tbh
In this situation, I second M0N’s advice. It’s given for a reason as well. I normally someone that recommends in quality upgrades. Buy cheap, buy twice, right?
But in this case, you have to really know what you like. I think the journey is just as important, if not more important than the end goal. If you jump straight to the end, you may wind up finding out that you spent almost 3k and don’t even like them.
Use this opportunity to know what your priorities are. Are you a detail whore? Do you like sound stage? Bass? After all of that, then find the sound signature you like and make a substantial upgrade then.
Also, the mid range stuff is pretty dang fun too.
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Hey, I can somehow relate to this. It’s not exactly the same reason but pretty close. I went from HD598 - HD6XX - Hifiman Ananda - Verite Open. Main use is 75% musics and 25% gaming. I play semi competitive games with in-game immersion quality as my main goal. No regrets for me so far but do be careful with what some said here already, account the extra cost for source DAC, AMP, and possible fine-tuning items like quality cable, pads, or tubes (if you go this route). They do add up quickly. I’m pretty sure I spent a lot more on those than the cost of the Verite by now 
I do know that is mainly what I am getting these days lol, more enjoyable than newer headphones at times lol
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Hah! The true essence of this cursed hobby! Whether it’s a joy or sadness, really depends on one’s perspective 
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I’d say I’m looking for a balance between detail, soundstage and bass. I guess a fun immersive combo rather than being technically precise
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Out of all of the pairs I’ve used and experienced, I love my Nighthawks and will unlikely ever get rid of them. I think they have a superb combination of detail, sound stage, and clean bass slam.
They say…it’s all about the journey not the destination same goes for audiophila imho so why rush the best bit?
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It’s all about the journey unless all you care about is the destination and you have the money to get there.
This is all really helpful. Audiophilia is definitely an addictive hobby, LOL. Although I would absolutely love the Verite C, I agree in that I think it’s total overkill for what may only be a minor improvement over some of the other hi-fi options. I think now I’m split between the TH 900 and the Denon 9200. The Denon, from the reviews and the measurements, has good bass. It’s not as powerful as the TH 900, but a little EQ tinkering could fix that.
When I was listening to Z’s sound demo of the Eikon, it didn’t seem as fun as the TH 900, and sounded a tiny bit canned at certain ranges, while the TH900 remained clear.
I mean, a sound demo doesn’t really convey an accurate picture of what you are getting. You are listening through so many things it really doesn’t represent anything of what you are really getting, so take that into account
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True, at least it gives an initial idea of what it could sound like
You’ll get 4 levels of coloration, then his editing, then YouTube compression, then whatever your DAC/mobo is doing, then your headphones.
It’s really going to be a crapshoot.
Sound demos are purely for entertainment.
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And also his mic coloration and his measurement rig coupling/design, along with his mid preamps, his adc too. Not to mention youtube compression and coloration. Really only useful thing there is checking for the isolation imo.
It really isn’t like that, in no way is the improvement ‘minor’. I mean, I have an aeolus, and having got a verite this isn’t like some 1%, barely noticable difference. It is orders of magnitudes better in its capabilities. A sound demo also cannot possibly replicate with any real accuracy what listening to the headphone in question will really be like.
I would not rec the nighthawks for gaming, they were fine, but I wouldn’t use them for that purpose. They are very much a music can.
That would be true if you have heard many headphones too. With a graph and little experience with different sounds it honestly dosent help much
I own the Eikon and have heard Verite C (have one on order). Not sure Eikon would be my first choice for “immersive” gaming, but it’s my favorite headphone so far for vocal music. I do tend to agree that the Verite C is awfully high up the scale, and @M0N is right about the highest end coming down to preferences.
What kind of games and music do you have in mind? That might help me to make a specific suggestion.
In the absence of that, I play about every genre of game on XBox and converted a Focal Elegia to a headset. It remains an absolute favorite for casual / immersive style gaming. More recently I’ve been exploring Beyerdynamics and think the DT 1770 could possible be a good fit for a closed-back fun / immersive headphone that works well with music, too.
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The Eikon is my personal favorite headphone, and is less picky than the two headphones you have your eye on. I love Fostex headphones, but if you watch a lot of Zeos’ videos you’ll see what a love/hate relationship he has with his TH900. Or maybe its the 909… If I recall, he finally was happy when he used a $4000 Audiovalve amp to power it. For a 300ohm headphone, the Eikon is fairly easy to drive with good results, but you’d also be looking at around an 8-12 week lead time for it to be built unless you can find one used. I can’t speak on the 9200 other than to say that I like Denons, but I think you could get similar results for a lot less money in a Fostex Ebony or Emu Teak as mentioned above. I’d agree with M0N and Veritas and urge you to put very little credence into any sound review you hear on youtube. They are meaningless and provide zero representation of what you will hear on your ears.
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I also agree with this. The sound demos can be entertaining, but there are too many layers of colored sound to get anything terribly useful out of them. I have occasionally borrowed some of the featured tracks for my own listening, though. 
I should also add, musical performance and gaming performance are not quite the same goal. With experience, I’ve gotten better at guessing which of my headphones will work well for gaming (as I just did with 1770s), but I always prefer to check my work. I use the “No Fighting in the War Room” mission from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered as a demo. It’s got musical score, dialogue, environmental sounds, explosions and a variety of guns to test out.
I just ran through with the Eikons, 1770s and Elegias, and all performed quite well. In particular, I like the gunfire and explosions to have a sense of gravitas, which all of these headphones deliver.
For music, I like all of these headphones for different reasons. The 1770s bring the bass and have great energy for loud music and EDM. The Elegias are detailed and resolving and work best for me as an all-rounder. And the Eikons are absolute magic for vocal centric music and stuff like folk, jazz, etc. where they excel at making voices and instruments sound rich and alluring.
Of these 3, the 1770s are by far the least expensive, and although they excel at aggressive music, they still do a respectable job with everything.
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