Entire E series have poor matching…
So un-japanese 
Designed in Japan, made in China. 
1 Like
I bought the E500’s a long time ago, gave them a quick spin as they were supposed to be good for gaming (and i wanted to try the tips). I was pretty baffled about how bad they sounded. Gave them to my wife as she has tiny ear canals and… Well, they’re tiny. At least they have that going for them… 
1 Like
2021-08-13: I managed to demo a few headphones at a Hifi store.
Disclaimer : Driven with the Ibasso DX160 on the 3.5mm output with high-gain. No info on the driver or price when I was demoing.
Audio Technica ATH-A550Z : clean bass and slightly elevated. Vocals are neutral and has a decent timbre, female vocals are more tonally correct while male vocals lack warmth. Treble is quite peaky and harsh. On the bright side.
Avoid
Audio Technica ATH-AD500X : similar to the a550z but a tradeoff between bass (rolled off here) vs the harsh treble, still a bright headphone.
Decent.
Audio Technica ATH-AD900X : more refined treble (although quite elevated upper-treble/mid-treble as cymbals are quite forward, can be a problem for some) than the ad500x but the biggest difference is the bass that is less rolled off and more flat. Although male vocals still lack warmth.
Good.
Audio Technica ATH-AD700X : slightly warmer than the ad900x otherwise they are extremely similar, although they aren’t as big in terms of soundstage. Better value and I prefer this over the AD900X.
Good
Klipsch reference Over-Ear : slightly recessed mids, bass is pretty flat. Treble is very harsh and peaky.
Avoid.
Sennheiser HD 4.30 : elevated bass and pretty bloated. Mids are neutral but timbre is off. Treble is very peaky and elevated (consumer tuning).
Avoid.
Grado SR80X : treble treble treble, death by treble the instant I put them on.
Avoid like the plague.
Hifiman Sundara : very well-tuned. Bright neutral but treble is quite refined and without peaks. Male vocals lack warmth but very good timbre. Female vocals have excellent tonality and timbre. Bass is flat and pretty low quantity but impressive texture and speed/tightness. Overall timbre is actually very natural. Guess my generalization of planars, based on my 2 planars are quite wrong…
Handles EQ very well:
Low-shelf: 50hz, Q:1, gain: 7 db
Low shelf: 80hz, Q:0.6, gain: 5db
Low-shelf: 200hz, Q:0.6, gain: -1.0db
Recommended
Overall : the Sundara is the clear winner and the audio Technica ATH-AD700X is the runner up.
After research thoughts:
Audio Technica ATH-A550Z : 120 usd, pretty overpriced…
Audio Technica ATH-AD500X : 86 usd in the US, that’s pretty ok (still more than I would pay for it though) but 160 euro (!) in EU? Yeah, its robbery…
Audio Technica ATH-AD900X : 200 usd in the US and 300 usd in EU. Overpriced, to say the least…
Audio Technica ATH-AD700X : 120 usd in the US and 170 usd in EU. Well, this is actually a good price for it. Its cheap in the US but even the EU price is pretty valid.
Also looks like I was right about the 700X being slightly warmer than the 900X.
Klipsch reference Over-Ear: 270 usd in the US and 150 usd in EU. Overpriced at both price and robbery in the US…
Sennheiser HD 4.30: Around 100 usd, overpriced…
Grado SR80X : So apparently the Grado SR80X is 125 usd! Yeah, what a waste of space…
Hifiman Sundara: 350 usd in the US and 400 usd in EU. Good price in the US, but salty about the EU price.
Conclusion : No wonder I see so many people being shocked by how iems perform at these prices when the headphone counterparts are so…bad…
Considering the price of the headphones, only 2 out of the 8 headphones I tried are worth their salt.
4 Likes
Not sure if you took this into consideration, but be aware that US prices are usually without tax since different states have differen taxes, so Cal ulateing euros to USD is not really fair because EU prices usually already have VAT included.
I am aware. Still, some of the prices here in EU is definitely not only the result of adding VAT…
2 Likes
Yap. EU prices suck. It’s usually the same figures as dollars but in euros, plus VAT 
1 Like
Sad to be in EU for us audiophiles…
1 Like
Still can’t believe Fedex didn’t charged me for taxes or fees on my Blurs…
Linsoul you pay no Taxes with snail mail.
Penon you pay taxes always (and get robbed with DHL) but they declare lower values).
VE’s stuff passes through costums aswell but takes 1 year to get to you.
Aliexpress is a breeze now.
Amazon is the perfect but overpriced without stock land.
VAT is automatically added there though…
Hifigo uses Yunexpress and you dont need to pay tax (not sure if hifigo is the one that pays them or they can avoid them somehow). Although no idea how it is after the new EU rules, but I find out since my package from them is sent with Yunexpress.
1 Like
Yun avoids it. It’s the same carrier as Linsoul and Shenzen audio, I think. But if you choose DHL, you’re in for an armed robery
1 Like
Yeah I am aware. But DHL express is a lot faster than standard aliexpres shiping…
YunExpress usually takes 1-2 weeks to get here, which is very fast for me.
1 Like
I don’t agree: at the moment, 1$=0.8€. you add 20% (VAT) on the US price and you have your price in Euro. So we are often pretty lucky about price equity since we have no additional cost.
Where we European can complain is about availability and choice: every US brand is unavailable or a robbery, here. Many Chinese products that can be bought on Amazon us aren’t available.
On the bright side, some EU brands are way more expensive in the US.
@Rikudou_Goku : I think your conclusion is right about iems/headphones discrepancies, but the sample you tried amplifies these differences: there are some very good value headphones that you didn’t try here.
And I won’t start with the discussion about how product are cheap without taxes: it is too slippery a conversation.
What EU brands do we even have lol. Ifi Audio, Sennheiser and Meze?
I tried all the demo units the store had.
Focal/naim is here, too.
I get you tried all the products in the store, but it’s not the only store in EU, and to be fair I think the choice of iems in physical stores is way worse than the headphone ones.
I see your point, but that’s only valid if you’re buying in USD. If you go into amazon, you gonna pay more.
In my country, if I pay, let’s say, 100USD, the customs will take me around 30% * 100 usd, in euros (30€). So in total, I’ll pay 80+30=110 Euros.
If I buy on Amazon DE/ES in Euros, like I did my BTR5 or FD5 etc, I paid more in Euros than it worths in dollars (130€ and 330€ if I recall that right).
EU is awsome if you don’t pay the taxes, just the USD value, that I agree 
That was why Aliexpress was so worth it. I bought my Teas there, took them 7 work days to get me, but I paid 220€
2 Likes
Focal, Hyland, Vioelectric, Beyerdynamic, Vision ear…
1 Like
Focal and VE are all very expensive brands. Never heard about Hyland nor Vioelectric before.
I haven’t tried half of these…
I get most my gear second hand anyway … cost is relative
.you can grab the Focal Elegia (a closed back set of cans) for the price of a nice iem, tips and cable. Also Focal stuff is suuuuper clean in build and sound …very pleasing aesthetically…the Elex too is a reasonable price to performance open back.
Hyland is a single dude I’m UK making custom wood cans
Vioelectric/Lakepeople makes high end amps and is pretty renowned german Fried Reim designs.