Small correction. The Sundara’s have been priced at $350 for a good while now.
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Pretty much “on sale” permanently until it gets fazed out and goes for even cheaper
Rather than these being too good why can’t just be the benchmarks we compare everything too that are at higher price pointa. Basically how I treat them . Like the 58x is the $160 headphone if anything is more expensive it better damn well sound better
Or do something better
Like a newbie go to list? Those can have some issues can be kinda daunting if filled out the correct extent. It would work, but that kinda already exists with Hifiguides itself. If there were short blurbs about the comfort, sound, build, etc if you hovered over the product would better help people. But for forums most people join to have a discussion and be recommended products based on the combined discussion of knowledgeable people and input from the person looking for help. Its more of a personal experience then a newbie list is what people are looking for on a forum. This entire ordeal is very subjective, so getting discussion and input is critical if people want help
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not really a listI was just saying maybe we need a perspective change rather than these being too good for the price these are what we should now be expecting at those price points and what we should compare to other headphones more expensive or around the same price. essentially the benchmarks for price to performance.
IMO, the greatest value in all of headphones is a used pair of Hifiman HE-500s. For about $300, you can have absolutely top-tier performance. I’ve been lucky to have the chance to add other high end headphones like HD800s and Z1Rs to my collection, and I still think these best them for general listening.
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That is, if you get a good enough amp, since these are very low sensitivity. That should factor in as well, and then you will definitely not get away with just 300.
To push them to their absolute best you need a fairly powerful amp, but even a modest amp will do wonders with them. My PHA-2A pushes I think 300mw@32ohms and they sound just fine with it. A Magni 3 or something would be plenty for them.
I think a he560 v1 would be a better deal because it’s a step up in resolution and comfort imo, and can be had for less then 250 sometimes.
Edit: treble resolution to clarify. Bass was better on the 500
Well I mean we essentially do that already lol, just not formally
I haven’t heard the HE-560, though at some point I’d like to. It’s basically been off my radar since pretty much every impression I’ve read says it’s a step down from the HE-500.
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It’s a step down in bass, but a step up for highs and a slight step up for mids. I like the headband better (when it doesn’t crack). I think it isn’t reviewed as well because it honestly needs the same amount of power as the 500 to sound it’s best, but the difference is that the 560 would get loud enough without a lot of power where it was easier to tell if you were under amping the 500
do the Koss electrostat’s deserve to be on there, being their low low entry price into electrostat’s?
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That’s definitely a good one. Didn’t think of that. That’s probably the best under 1k estat system new.
The lower end stax like the srs 3100 can’t really compete at this price imo
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how much better to the SRS-3100 sound though? 
I think the build and comfort are better, and the 95x has better bass then the stax l300 (not limited version). I also think that timbre and tuning is more natural, with also a slightly larger soundstage. The koss just have more meaty sound. The l300 is more open sounding and airy, but the strange timbre can make it sound very unnatural at times. I can’t quite recall detail retrieval, but both were excellent for the price
The dt770 pros I got had horrid build quality, maybe I was just unlucky though
-Uneven cup heights
-Tons of cracking
Tried bending the headband to correct but couldn’t get it right 
Agreed. Wow I forgot about Koss again, hey damn 
Especially the (mass)drop 95X for 500$.
I’m wondering if old Stax (SR-40, etc) are endgame stuff too, and maybe even better than Koss 95Xs?
I often see them for 200$ or even less.
Also, I found this on google images 
March 1977!
Edit: Can’t find the link, but someone at changstar measured old stax, and they still had a “perfect” CSD graph (more or less 1ms all the way). So apparently… yeah, they last, too.