Hey All
I’ve been doing a lot of off-ears research. Sadly, living in Iowa, the options to get a lot of these headphones on my head to hear them is limited. I am willing to do some travelling to try these things out as Minneapolis/Kansas City/Chicago aren’t too far out of reach. I guess I’m going to ask the same question everyone else asks: Any guidance for a beginner who cares deeply about sound, but mostly comes from a car/boat audio background? Most of my research has lead me to believe I really need multiple sets of headphones to cover my needs and wants, but everyone has to start somewhere right? Below is some detailed info on where I’m at and what my needs are. I’m open to any and all suggestions even if they may be a bit out of budget or come in well under budget.
Budget: Flexible, but am looking to get started in the $1500 range for amp/dac/cans.
Use cases:
Music - Majority of my listening is the more extreme side of metal music (Opeth, Rivers of Nihil, Slugdge, Immortal, Alkaloid have been in my recent rotations) , but also enjoy some electronic, progressive rock, and classical. I’m happy to go into further detail on my listening if it would be informative.
Gaming - I don’t really play anything competitively anymore, but I enjoy immersive sound while gaming. So something that would work for Single Player FPS games from a positional audio standpoint, but also help immerse me in the music and sounds of the world would be desirable. I also play StarCraft and some other strategy games.
Cans I’ve been lead to believe may be a decent choice for me given that I have a wide range of needs.
I understand there is a pretty wide range of prices here:
DT 1990 Pro
Ananda (worried about quality/longevity from HiFiMan based on what I’ve seen and read on them)
Sundara (same as above)
Focal Elex (I really love Focal loudspeakers for car/boat audio, and have a pair of Chorus 726 in my living room that I listen to music on and enjoy thoroughly)
HD 650/660s
LCD-2 (or Classics)
Aeon Flow
These are probably out of range, but everyone seems to rant and rave about them: Arya, LCD-X, Clear, Fostex 909.
Amps I’m considering, but figured a can selection would be required first:
THX 789
SMSL SP200
If I were to go with tubes:
DarkVoice 336
BottleHead Crack (DIY doesn’t scare me off)
DACs:
This is where I’m totally lost, and I assume it will depend on the cans and amp I go with as to which DAC would work well for me.
I look forward to some suggestions from you all, and thank you for taking the time to read all this.
-M