Hey! Long time lurker, first time poster. Firstly I’d like to say that this forum is great. It seems friendly and I find reading through the discussions very useful - so thanks to all that contribute. With that said, I’m finding my next headphone purchase tricky to identify, even with having read through a few of the discussions on here, and so need your help!
I’ve been through a good bit of gear recently and have decided I wish to purchase a set of planars for music listening exclusively. Since getting back into audio and dropping some cash into my set-up, I’ve found that listening to the lighter end of my music collection to be particularly rewarding. However, if you had to pin me down to a particular genre, I like heavy rock and wish to find a set of cans that do my favourite music justice. The first tracks I audition gear with are: Tool ‘Lateralus’, Oceansizes ‘Catalyst’, Smashing Pumpkins ‘Cherub Rock’, A Perfect Circle ‘Weak and Powerless’, Pink Floyd ‘Time’, then some variety of Bjork, Mew, Mute Math…
To add further detail to my problem, a little about myself; I studied sound engineering at university (although that degree has gone largely unused since!) and have been a drummer and drum technician for most of my adult life. This means that I have had a tendency to go for anything described as linear as I wished to hear the music as intended and am particularly critical of the presentation of drums. I have recently come to the realisation that I have largely been barking up the wrong tree. While I can appreciate what linear gear can do, I’m after something more fun for listening to music. An over-ear headphone. Something that is capable of accurately representing how instruments were recorded and mixed to a reasonable degree but something that has a little more thump in the low-end (I’ve always been one to turn bass down on regular consumer audio equipment, bass done badly ruins most music in my opinion). I’m also after good-sized soundstage and decent imaging.
For points of reference, here are my brief thought on some headphones I have experience with:
HD560s - Great all rounder. Great imaging, sound stage acceptable but would prefer it a little more three dimensional. Missing low-end impact for me but frequency response otherwise pretty agreeable for my tastes.
DT990 600 Ohm - Really like the sound signature of this headphone for a lot of the music that I listen to. Sound stage has the three dimensional feel that I desire. However, sometimes these sound congested when a song gets real big; something like the end of Oceansize’s ‘Massive Bereavement’. A little too hot in the high-end with some vocalists but I have found this to be pretty rare.
I have heard what I assume is “planar speed” from cans like M560, Pandas, T50RP mk3, Sundara and thus think that picking the right set of planars may be the answer. I want a kick drum to kick me! Low-end control, definition, and impact = “planar slam”? If so, then I want that. Sound stage too. I think I’m reasonably treble sensitive though, and so wouldn’t necessarily mind a darker headphone. I wish to spend as little money as possible but understand that there will be a certain cost in delivering what I’m after and spending less would lead to compromise.
A lot of the newer Hifiman budget/mid-fi offerings seem to tick some of these boxes but not all of them. From what I can tell, the most reasonably priced headphones that apparently deliver what I’m after are the M1570. If I were to throw caution to the wind, from what I can gather, LCD-X or LCD-2C would be a way to get what I want. If the consensus here is that I should save my pennies go for something high end, then I will heed that advice. However, is there anything in the sub-£500 category will do what I want, new or used? M1070? M1570? HE400SE? Any input would be appreciated.
I’d be running any headphones I purchase through either my Aune X8/X7s or my SMSL SU-8/Singxer SA-1 combos.
Thank for reading and sorry for the essay!
