There are so many variables when choosing an audiophile pair of headphones. Recommendations go back and forth a lot based on these variables (e.g. price, signature, use, etc.). I’m really interested in everyone’s top preferences/recommendations based on each of these variables. Feel free to copy/paste my template below, and add anything you think is missing (e.g. under $1000, IEMs, etc.)–I know I haven’t covered it all. I also recognize that there’s gonna be a ton of overlap and a lot of repetition. I just think it’d be nice to see some of these listed out based on the different prioritizations. For brevity’s sake, maybe list your headphone in the slot and include a few keywords or a short sentence about why.
This is actually not easy i really thought about what Kind of Headphone could be where. I used quite a different bunch and i like a lot of them.
With a the different AMPings you can give them this must be one hell of a list. It’s hard to judge one Headphone over the other just because maybe one of them pairs better with that specific amp.
If i place one Headphone over the other its not because i dont like the other it is a placement and there are not enough categories to place them fairly.
You should definetely add more categories so we can give more Headphones a Chance.
Im doing this list with all Headphones i previously have owned and own right now. The Amps im using are Jotunheim and SMSL SP200 because my LP isnt here yet.
The list took me quite a while so pleased be Kind.
I will try my best to rate them fairly so dont judge.
Hahahaha. I love this. Also yeah, I recognize that amp pairings make a big difference. I’d love it if someone added that variable into their recommendations. I’ve just listed all of these categories because they’re what I see asked most often when people post looking for recommendations. My thought is that this is more about what you’d list when you prioritize this particular variable.
Also, I guess I should put the Arya on my “definitely look into this” list.
Hey I don’t always write large top- … went back and looked my latest posts. alright yeah you got me there. I type extremely fast though so it’s not like it takes me a while I literally type at like 115 words a minute lol. This post has me actually thinking though… so itll be a minute
Haha. I really appreciate your detailed and though-out responses. Just figured a post like this could be a helpful starting point. For me, I’m interested in building out my collection to have a good representation of some of these different variables (e.g. HD6XX for neutral and Nighthawk Carbon for dark), so I’m just excited to have some recommendations that I know to keep an eye out for when I see reviews, listings, etc.
Oh that might be interesting for me to figure out as a gamer lol alright lets see…
Price: Under $200
1.DT 880(while technically maximum is $200 you can definitely find these at around $100 - $200 range) some of the best detail in a mid centric bright headphone I have heard at this price range this thing is amazing and while it’s a bit out of my personal preference I can easily stand by and say without a doubt this is one hell of a special headphone.
2. Tygr 300R(I just have not found a headphone like this one in this price range it went on sale at first for under $200 I expect it to do so again in the future) Warm, with laser accurate imaging, very beautiful open and smooth sound with a speaker presentation… I didn’t start finding this kind of sound until I went to audeze or one of the others I will list in the other price below here
3.Shp9500(the value behind this headphone is literally insane with how versatile its sound is) the fact this can go from bright to warm to V signatured is pretty unique plus the fact it can make use of Vmoda boom pro, go wireless, be modified to a semi closed back, and is like $48 is just insane.
Price: Under $500
Nighthawk Carbon Beautifully warm and dark very luxurious and rich sound. Something special for sure and is one of those you really need to sit down and try to really appreciate this headphone. I hated it at first and now it’s literally permanently in my collection. This is my damn movie headphone
DT 1990 I list this because I see them consistently get sold for $400 - $500 despite the new price being around $600. 3 signatures based on 3 pads(including dekoni elite velour) feeling like 3 seperate headphones each with a sound thats laser accurate and large yet aggressive and amazing build quality this headphone is easily a damn monster at this price tag especially in competitive gaming
Hifiman Sundara at this price point this should be illegal. Gorgeous neutral bright sounding headphone with amazing detail and despite the relatively lacking bass still has that planar speed and slam if it wasn’t for the companies issues I would potentially tell anyone who appreciates brighter headphones to pick this one up in a heartbeat as it, to me, is almost an absolute -must have- in someones collection especially early on.
Price: Endgame
Focal Stellia easily my absolute favorite I have sat down recently and one I definitely cannot afford at all but my buddy just bought these… Amazing V signature thats not too over the top awesome sound stage for a closed back and imaging great comfort that I can wear for hours… my only complaint on these was literally I don’t like the bronze ish color. If someone asked me what I thought the absolute best V signature headphone in creation right now is I would point to the Stellias hands down as I have not heard better.
Focal Clear shockingly neutral with an ever so slight treble peak it sounds like with incredible detail amazing comfort and build and a nice large size soundstage. I sat down with these and literally did not want to ever take them off my head unlike the HD800s below where things got a little fatiguing these would be one I can easily say are a definite -daily driver- just due to how amazing these truly are. I do however, think they should be a little cheaper all considering but perhaps thats just me being a bit more budget heavy.
Sennheiser HD800S a lot of people seem to have some issues with brightness and thats okay but this is easily one of the absolute best bright headphones I have ever sat with… and it upsets me that its too expensive otherwise I would have this immediately. This is quite literally one bad ass headphone with insane imaging and soundstage that completely shuts down the 1990 in my opinion. I wish sennheiser would release some headphones like these in a smaller budget category I would snag them in a heartbeat
Open-Back (do I seriously need to choose here? what a pain)
HD800S
T1
Aeon
Argons
Nighthawk Carbons.
Shp9500
Closed-Back
1.Focal Stellia reasons above
2.Beyerdynamic 177x GO U shaped signature and fixed everything I found wrong with the 770 and 1770 large soundstage and really quite nice… easy recommendation from me in this price bracket.
3. Fostex TR-x00 series… After being able to sit with one of these(purple heart actually) I love them to death but man are they bassy as hell.
Signature: Bright
1.HD800S reasons above
2.T1 so this is my current go-to bright headphone. It’s refreshing to have such a relaxed headphone like this and it sounds similar to the hd800s while having curved drivers and amazing build quality with comfort. Rounded bass and everything just feels very concert like… its a very welcoming headphone and I don’t find sibilance potentially due to the sounds actual design and the pairing
3.Sundara reasons above
Signature: Neutral
1.Focal Clear Reasons above
2. Sennheiser 6xx narrow soundstage but overall sound quality is quite something special… more so after seeing the new amps that alter its sound over from ifi and after listening to this paired to tubes this one is quite something special for its more neutral approach.
3. Shure 840 while I am not the biggest fan this was probably the most neutral closed back I sat with. Quite nice just not particularly in my own preferences
Signature: Warm and/or Dark
1.Audeze LCD-2(have not tried the later versions unfortunately)
2.Nighthawk Carbon
3. Argons
4.Tygr 300r
Use: All-Rounder
Anything from Sennheiser
Anything from Focal
Aeons
Use: Music (listing what I use currently)
T1 ( its here cause I like the relaxed nature and it makes orchestra music sound great plus the added bass is quite nice unlike the 1990 which is a bit much in my opinion)
Aeons(RT has more bass but I use open x which is a bit more neutral… subtle V signature thats very concert like and laid back… absolute gorgeous sound for its signature especially paired to the liquid platinum)
Audeze LCD - 2 / Nighthawk Carbon really just depends what I feel like at the time… dark headphones with nice bass and smooth rich tones… quite lovely for when I want to and rock out a bit.
Use: Casual Gaming
Aeon
Tygr 300r
Focal Elegia I really dont think an explaination is necessary on this one… go to a store… try it… you will definitely see why. Should have probably just put this on the number 1.
Use: Competitive Gaming (going to go by price bracket here)
Warm. Bass is increased mids are relatively neutral. Highs are neutral or falling just slightly under aka tygr 300r. V signature. Bass is raised treble is raised mids are either neutral or recessed. aka DT 990
V signatures are headphones like… dt 990, shp9500 when its pad swapped to some shure leather pads, emu teak, aeons, stellias, Dekoni Blue, potentially T60RP Argons, DT 1990 with balanced pads
Warm are like tygr300r, quite a few audeze, phillips x2hr fidelios, meze 99s, etc
than you have the weird ass signature which is W. want a good example of a W signature? Grab a Hyperx Flight or Focal Listen Pro
For the record books… going back over to my buddies and ima walk out with that Stellia tomorrow lol. He’s lettin me borrow it I swear. My time with it was far too damn short… Extremely jealous he has that thing
I don’t have near the list to answer this, but as a newcomer to this hobby who has been all over the planet trying to research headphones in various tiers/price points this kind of list with insight would be a god send for me and for others.
I would suggest adding in a $1,000-$1,500 category as I think going from $500 to end game is going to leave a lot of excellent headphones off of the list in favor of the super high end stuff.
I am including IEMs in this list as well because I love IEMs. I’ll try to do headphones/earphones that I have personally heard. Also this list may not be full because I don’t remember most of the headphones I listened to since it was a lot. Not sure if this matters, but I am in my lowish 20s, so it might help you know what type of music I grew up with. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like older stuff, but generally prefer 90s music and up.
Price: Under $200
Not really sure about this anymore since I have been in the hobby for 8 years and have moved pass this price point a long time ago. Things under $200 back then is so different now. Just don’t get ATH-M50x.
Price: Under $500
Sennheiser HD650/6xx
I know there are definitely more and good options to recommend, but I haven’t heard them personally because a lot has changed the past few years.
Price: Endgame
Meze Empyrean (Yes, these, worst part is needing to put them down to allow next person to listen to them. Really comfortable with a “just enjoy the music” kind of sound signature. Most other flagship headphones I listened to were neutral and very revealing of the music. Those flagships sounds great, but I care more about enjoying music than hearing the upmost detail with no other interesting characteristics of the headphone.)
Sony IER-Z1R (Mild v-shaped, quite a big sound stage for an IEM with just the right amount of bass. Sounds like their asking price and one of the best IEMs I have ever heard and I have heard a lot. Only issue is their comfort, would suggest getting custom tips for these.)
Campfire Andromeda (Listened to majority of headphones/iems available at CanJam, these actually impressed me. Whenever I introduce a high end audio to someone who looks at me like “why would you pay so much for headphones,” I always show these first and then they understand. Was much more difficult to get the same effect with most headphones that I own except for Sony IER-Z1R.)
ZMF Auteur/Aeolus (Don’t remember which I listened to, but whatever I did sounded great on a quick audition)
Open-Back
Meze Empyrean (Mentioned above)
ZMF Auteur/Aeolus (Don’t remember which I listened to, but whatever I did sounded great on a quick audition)
Focal Clear/Utopia (Great neutral cans. Comfortable and look great as well.)
Closed-Back
Campfire Cascade (Really fun with lots of bass, but the rest of the frequencies are also really enjoyable to listen to which is hard to get right. Listened to many bassy high end headphones and not much impressed me quite like this one.)
DCA Aeon 2 Closed (I actually only heard the Aeon Flow Closed, but I remember enjoying that quite a bit)
ZMF closed back (Don’t remember which I heard, but sounded great)
Signature: V
Sony IER-Z1R
Campfire Audio Vega (I think these are V-shaped? Overall great complement to the Andromeda, really enjoyable to listen to. I like them more than Atlas)
Can’t remember many other impressive v-shaped headphones/earphones. I am sure there are ones that I know I enjoyed.
Signature: Bright
Stax L700 (Only Stax headphones that I remember enjoying. Really fast sounding from what I recall, but has an enjoyable tuning to my ears.)
Sennheiser HD800s (The sound stage headphones, but they might be a lot in the treble for some people. Not really a headphone I like to listen to for a long time because it is really detailed and fatiguing.)
Bright is not really my preferred signature so most bright headphones I was like this sounds high end.
Signature: Neutral
Focal Clear
Sennheiser HD650/6xx
Neutral is not really my preferred signature so most neutral headphones I was like this sounds high end.
Signature: Warm and/or Dark
Meze Empyrean
Sony IER-Z1R
ZMF
Campfire Cascade
Use: All-Rounder
Sony IER-Z1R
Meze Empyrean
Campfire Andromeda
Use: Music
Meze Empyrean
Sony IER-Z1R
Campfire Andromeda
Use: Casual Gaming
Aeon Flow 1/2 Open/Closed
HD6xx
Use: Competitive Gaming
HD800s (Best for imaging/sound stage in gaming.)
Focal Clear (Had no complaints with it for competitive gaming.)
HD598
Can’t comment on more for this even though I am a very competitive gamer. I used 650 most of the time for competitive gaming and worked well enough.
That is one headphone I have been wanting to try big time. Man is it expensive though for my blood. Both Sennheiser and Meze released some fantastic headphones I really wish meze would bring a budget friendly Planar to the market and sennheiser a large soundstaged bright headphone to the budget market would be nice to see in my opinion.
Yeah that price is so steep, but I can’t keep thinking if it’s my endgame, then I would end up spending less in the long run. But also knowing myself I will end up getting other endgame level headphones to compliment it so I don’t know. I want to hear the Diana V2 before I pull the trigger on the Empyrean one day.
Maybe one day. Usually once you learn the technology of the high end, it may trickle down to lower end headphones.