Oh Endgame where art though?

Looking for my endgame HP until I win the lottery. From all the research I’ve done, the Arya and Clear appear to be the closest to what I’m looking for. Basically, I need good technicals (detail, speed, imaging, etc) and a non-fatiguing sound signature. Anything slightly warm or slight V shape will do. Actually even neutral will do - the most important thing is that there are no big peaks in FR. I don’t want to listen to anything nasal, shouty, sibilant. Is there something in that price range (~$1500 - $1600) that I’m missing? I considered Auteurs but don’t want the “artificial” decay caused by the cups that they apparently have. A bonus is planar speed.

Imo either the arya or clear will suit that bill, but both are neutral brighter, pretty technical. I personally find neither fatiguing with the right amp and dac but they might be a bit forward for some. I think it would come down to presentation and spatial recreation for if you go arya vs clear imo

I wouldn’t really call them that artificial, imo they sound more organic than both the clear and arya in terms of timbre and impact

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Clears will be neutral bright with alot of detail and decent speed, great dynamics and will scale with higher tier amps. I don’t find them to be fatiguing personally but i know some people who are sensitive to the focal tuning and “metallic” timbre that gets thrown around a lot. Ime i don;t really get that except on very poorly recorded music, which is a concern because the clear is very revealing of both your source chain and music imo.

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Was going to say I think the overly metallic comment tends to stem from poor source gear pairing. Yes compared to other options it might be a tad metallic but it’s really not a big deal and can still sound organic nonetheless, but it can be bad on a poor amp match

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exactly. The clears are really great and every time I think i might prefer my Eikon or LCD-2 I go back and listen and I’m just impressed all over again at what these can do on the right gear

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I own the Elegia and don’t get the “metallic” issue so that shouldn’t be a problem. I also swap op amps in my WHAMMY so tuning to suit is not an issue either. How would you guys compare the bass of the Arya, Clear and, Auteur? Also, how would you rate them on speed?

Can you elaborate?

i can’t comment on the other two but the Clears bass fully extends and is very punchy with great quality and speed, way more bass then you might assume from a focal and it will change depending on the amp pairing from my experience. Also I would say I prefer the bass on the clear over the elegia.

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As in more or better?

The arya sounds much larger and has emphasized verticality, it just sounds like a more grander sound overall. It’s going to be wider and move more air so bigger impact. It tends to go for more speakerlike presentation so a bit more stage in front of you (but ofc it doesn’t sound like a speaker lol). The clear on the other hand is a smaller but more deep stage, it’s more 360 degree staging, it’s going to be more like a bubble of sound, pretty interesting and engaging as well but it doesn’t have as large and spacious of a sound, both are nice, but it just depends on the type of sound you are after

Hmmm so honestly I might say the clear and arya are both really fast in the bass, and actually both pretty linear. I think the arya has better raw extension overall and can dig a bit deeper once you really get into the subbass and more layering, but I think the clear tends to have better bass timbre and more organic impact while still being just as quick, but it really depends on the track, also I might say the clear has better representation of bass dynamics. The auteur is going to be the most organic sounding imo and actually might have more perceived impact, it’s still pretty clean too, but I don’t think it’s as dynamic and resolving as the clear and arya in the bass imo, a bit more rounded

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regarding which comment?

So while I do think it would get the job done with both headphones, I do think it would be worthwhile to upgrade later on to get more performance imo. Also you still have a bifrost mb?

Your preference of the Clear’s bass over Elegia’s.

I would also give a nod to a heddphone but personally I would wait to see what they do next as I think current model is good in raw performance but lacks refinement and might not be your signature preference (although now I’m thinking in used pricing lol, and if were going to go this route you might as well keep your eye out for a used diana v2 around the 2k mark, I mean you can also get an he1000 v2 for 1.5k so there’s that)

Damn dude, your memory is mega. Yup, OG BF MB. As far as amps go, that will depend on the cans I decide on. The WHAMMY will serve me while I spend months researching options lol. It’s a pretty kick-ass amp though.

Exactly, you don’t want to commit to a new amp until you find out what headphones you go with (and what you like and would change about them). The Whammy is still really solid for the price tbh

It really is. I have a Magni 3 and the WHAMMY just smokes it. It’s a completely different league. Same with the Liquid Spark I had a while back. No idea how it stacks up against a kilobuck amp but I’m betting there isn’t much difference.

I would say you might be surprised what higher end amps can offer lol, also higher end dacs as well. But would agree it’s easily a different league from like a ls or magni

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the clear has less bass than the elegia but higher quality imo

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I would agree with this 100%

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