Ready to buy a second pair, but what do I choose?

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
1

So I’m very slowly getting in to this whole hifi thing. I will be the first to admit my setup isn’t ideal but I’m working on it and think I’m at the point where I can start to build a collection.

Setup-
Topping E30 and L30 fed by my desktop

Uses-
Music (mostly spotify, youtube, and a small but growing flac collection I play on vlc) Lots of metal, hip-hop, classic rock, low fi, indie rock, and silly comedy music
Games- nothing competitive but I appreciate the atmosphere and feeling like I am in the world
Movies and general viewing- Netflix, Youtube and so on. I do have a small home theater setup but will often find myself watching movies at the desk instead so I can multitask

Current cans and history-
Drop 6xx- my current daily drivers at the desk. I love how comfortable they are as I generally wear them for 4-6 hours at a time and I have no hotspots and now that the clamp is broken in they feel perfect.
QC35II- my on the go headphones, again they are extremely comfortable and do the job I need them to.
HD 4.4 BT- other commuter headphone, comfortable but too quiet and no ANC
HD 280pro- previous commuter headphones. pain in the ass cable and terrible pad and head strap durability but everything else was amazing.
Sennheiser hd 518- the first pair of real headphones (not a gaming headset) I ever bought. Easy to drive, crazy comfortable, light, sounded as good as I wanted at the time.

What I’m looking for-
This is where I have been struggling. I mainly want something that is clearly different from what I have and what im used to. Comfort is huge for me, I often sit at my desk with headphones on and nothing playing because I get distracted with work, however, if something is amazing but can’t be worn all day I do have the option of swapping back to my 6XX when I need an all day can. Clearly I have fallen in to a bit of a rut with the all Sennheiser hypetrain that is my headphone history and I feel like I am missing out on so many other ways to enjoy audio. I want something that sounds big and wide and impactful, all the things that everyone says my current headphones are not.

I had been looking at the Sundara’s but the mixed comfort reviews have given me some pause.
I also have had my eye on a used pair of LCD 2C’s on my local fb marketplace but am not sure if that’s where I should be sinking my money.
I dream about the Klipsch HP 3’s but they seem to have disappeared of the face of the earth and are a little out of my budget.
The DT 880 600ohm seem to be awesome but I don’t have the power and am worried it would sound to similar to what I already have.

I live in Vancouver Canada and am hoping to spend under 800 Canadian but have no problems shopping around for used if there is something I should hunt for second hand.

I’m sure I am missing some vital information so please don’t hesitate to point it out, thanks in advance for the help.

2

You definitely need some planars in your life lol. LCDs are great but can be heavy for some people to wear all day. Most comfortable for me is a toss up between my Nighthawks and Dan Clark Audio Aeon RTs, both weigh next to nothing and produce amazing sound. Something a little different is a Blon B20(I have a set for sale). They comfortable, pretty easy to drive with an amp, and I hear a W shape out of mine. Hope this helps a bit.

3

The Tygr 300r is one of my favorite cans for metal and hip hop. Bass has good impact, mids are a bit pushed back but are clear, treble is a little bit elevated but not offensive. They’re pretty comfortable to me. 4XX is another option if you don’t mind using an eq.

4

That great thank you for the advise, what do you think of the LCD 2C’s?

5

I have LCD2CBs and LCDXs. I would probably sell all my other headphones before letting those go. They have great musical impact without becoming harsh on the top end, for me this is important cause of tinitus and the fatiguing effect it can have with headphones.

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6

L30 is plenty for DT880 (any impedence) and btw E30/L30 is reference level, you would be looking at very diminishing returns for setups more than this

7

That’s great to know. I think Daddy Z made me think I needed a jet engine to run 880’s

8

For the 250 ohm they are just fine but I would say they don’t preform that well with the 600 ohm imo

You can get plenty of more performance from just moving up to the 200-300 range imo, far from diminishing returns at all. I would say with an 880 600 ohm in the budget range the monolith liquid spark is a good pairing with the 600 ohm that gives it nice body and smoothness in the treble, the magni 3+ also imo drives the 600 ohm better for a neutral slightly smoother amp with good power. Just stepping up a hundred ish gives you really great options like the asgard 3 for a bit more neutral warmer amp with really great dynamics and impact, really impressive timbre for the price, and larger spatial recreation, the lake people g103s also gives a really clean and accurate yet impressive and engaging sound as well, very good control

You don’t really need too much power but moreso a quality amp as they are somewhat picky in that regard

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9

Makes sense. I just bought the stack so I’m hoping to ride them out for at least a year. how do you think they will power something like Sundara’s or LCD 2C’s?

10

Both of those will power them decently well to get a good experience, I do think you could get more by going higher but I don’t think you would have an unsatisfactory experience from what you have now

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