open or closed, what are some planar headphones that are legendary for orchestral like the Senn HD600 are? let’s stay under $1000 USD if possible.
The two that immediately came to mind for me were the Hifiman Ananda and the Drop + MrSpeakers Ether CX Closed. Those are the two planars that I have owned in that price range that were my favorites for orchestral stuff.
Edit: i guess I might have worded that vaguely so let me say that these aren’t the only two planars I have owned in the price range. They’re just the two favorites for orchestral music of the sub-$1k planars I have owned or tried for extended periods of time.
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I would concur re the Ananda. It was pretty highly rated when it was newer (you
know how That goes.) I can’t get those larger cans to seal on my smaller head
so I use the Sundara and like it, tho it can get a bit congested in really busy sections. I do keep coming back to my DT 880/600 ohm, tho a dynamic.
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Just out of interest what did you use to drive them…weren’t they supposed to be hard’ish to drive?
At the time I owned them, I had a HeadAmp GS-X Mini in my main rig and a Schiit Jot 2 in a secondary one. Both drove the CX Closed with no problem. At the time, the only other smaller amps I had were dongles (none of them could drive the CX lol) so I can’t really say where the line might be for power. They certainly require both good wattage and decent voltage to get them doing their thing.
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I also use the Sundara for Classical/Orchestral and I love them, especially on the bedroom system. The Denon is just a beast of an amp. It can drive anything, and it really brings out the best of the Sundara.
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It’s a Denon AVR-2808ci. Circa 2010, I think. Which is like, 100 years old in AVR years! I paid $1200.00 for it back then, which was a big commitment for me!
After many years as the HT rig in the living room it kinda wigged out on me and I thought it was dead. I was able to revive it and have put it to use as a 2 channel amp. The signal processing is fantastic and the amp itself is strong, clean, and very lifelike and organic sounding.
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You can find Arya at that price, which is where I’d go.