What are your favorite treble focused headphones/ iem’s/ clip-on’s etc…
Grado. If you want treble, most Grado or Beyerdynamic headphones will suit you well.
Sure seems like Grado is a dirty word in many audiophile forums, which surprises me. I bought my first Grado, the 325x, this spring and love it. GREAT with rock. Superb tuning out of the box, regardless of what the squiggly lines say. No need for EQ.
Yes, Grados look like WW II radio operator headsets, and on-ear fit is not for everyone. But I really dig the sound of my 325x, which admittedly is one of the Grados with the most bass. The sound is almost V-shaped.
For comparison, I also own and enjoy the LCD-X 2021 and HD 6XX with ZMF pads.
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Personally at the moment my go to treble focused stuff (either focused in prominence or in treble engagement or uniqueness, or both)
Headphone wise
- shangri la sr (most immediately impressive sounding treble I’ve heard, most technical, most capable, most lively sounding, although I hesitate to call it the most organic)
- potentially mysphere (extremely organic treble and feeling overall, although not treble focused really, but extremely good treble nonetheless)
- stax 009s (extremely technical and fast treble without feeling harsh or grating, although dryer than I normally like for a treble focus, excellent extension)
- focal utopia (pretty engaging treble energy and emphasis, not the most even, the treble liveliness combined with the presentation really pulls this through more though, not as organic treble, interestingly smooth for it’s prominence)
- audio technica adx5000 (very crafted treble response that while not neutral and a bit brighter leaning is very sweet and pleasing response, would consider it a focus enough to be included)
- potentially hd800s (while I think it’s a bit much at times the treble on it really is impressive in presentation and technicalities for the range, just lacking a bit of something that would make it feel organic to me personally) also would give the nod to grado (although more of an acquired taste in treble and highly dependent on the model imo, my favorite likely would be the ps2000e)
- sony mdr7506 (one of those with a very distinctive and unique treble that’s hard to really find at it’s price point)
Iem wise:
- rhapsodio infinity mk2 (not bright but tons of air and liveliness without being harsh, extremely technical but very fun treble)
- final a8000 (more traditionally bright, but sweeter and very technical, although can get a bit hot and sometimes overfocused),
- elysian annihilator (very aggressive, very fast, very direct, can get harsh treble wise and perhaps lacking a bit refinement but the name really lives up here, in a good way at least lol)
- hyla sarda (also pretty airy and energetic without feeling like it gets hot or overdone)
- perhaps sony mdr-ex1000 (treble is genuinely a bit peaky and can sound a bit jarring, but I think that’s one of the aspects that makes it special combined with it’s presentation where I actually do enjoy it a fair bit because of the treble despite being uneven and hotter leaning)
- potentially inear promission x (I hesitate to say it’s treble focused, but it’s just extremely refined and even sounding treble without sounding like that’s it’s main focus, if you know what I mean)
- and for clip ons absolutely the ksc 75 without a doubt
Source gear I’d really have to think about and that gets too dependent on a lot of the things lol. There’s other good treble focused gear that I’ve heard that did really well in treble but didn’t like much else, but wouldn’t include those since I think it would be hard to call them a favorite if I didn’t enjoy listening to them overall in the end. Also some older ones I really liked but would need to revisit to really say lol (like the t1 gen 1 or some of the older audio technica)
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@M0N Just curous is the annihilator you heard the OG or the 2023 version? Since I feel that in the new one while it has good treble extension I feel the mid treble was dipped abit too far. Makes it sound dark.
Personally
ATH-R70X- while its not treble focused and you need to change out the cable it has a really nice and clean treble that actually extends well into the air.
Final A5000- Pereferbly with a cable change to a silver cable otherwise its a tad too soft sounding for my tastes. Interestingly the A5000 cable works well with the A4000 balancing it out. A5000 I feel is BA esque DD taken to the next level. Almost planar like but with a dry clean DD attack and decay its one of my fave for both imaging and tambre.
Might add more later gtg to work now.
TRI Starshine- Solid warm organic with GOOD EST impimentation(I donno how how many EST iems Ive heard so far that have sandpaper texure and unable to sustain the upper treble making it sound both grating and dark). Also value for money, hard to get anyhing similar and better without going into the kilobuck range.
Icelab Prismatica-Still salty that they added the wax guard making it sound more organic, but still for a full BA setup it sounds like a tribid but with the coherency of a single DD. While the revised version has sligly rounded transients compared to the demo from half a year ago it is still very precise sounding. Slightly warm and showcases your sources colouration well. Also baised because of new toy symdrome. Elysian anihialator has slightly better detail but the dip in the presence is stopping me from getting one. Pitty Icelab wont promote this iem to the west, Im pretty sure fans of the CFA Ara will lap this up.
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OG. and yes to does have a bit dipped mid treble, it’s absolutely not the most even treble out there, it really focuses on more higher end treble energy rather than lower, still would give it a mention for that though. But if you’re a fan of full range treble, likely not the best pick lol
Honestly a lot of the final both iems and headphones have pretty awesome treble