what are the headphones from lofi budgets to hifi budgets that are really good all-rounders?
by best I mean they do everything better than average and do so for all music genre’s in general. things like:
build quality
fit / comfort levels (ie. type of pads and headband and it’s clamping force)
soundstage and imaging
this would also assume that they don’t suffer from major flaws like frequency spikes or muddy bass. nothing rolls off. good speed, transparency and such.
if you think the equipment / sources are important…the DAC is the ENOG2, the DAC is the Archel 2.5 for the headphones and for the IEM, the ES100 v2. source / media is FLAC.
I have(had) the Tin T2 and the BLONS and for lofi i would say the BLONS is easily better. But since he said lofi budgets maybe he didn’t mean lofi music? seems to be asking for all rounders in a high end and low end budget
yes, all rounders is a good way to say it. and this day and age there are a number of headphones that are exception at many price points. at the point you’re buying summit-fi level gear in the $3000+ bracket, everything is just going to sound amazing (caveats excepted). so let’s cap at $2000 and go as low as you want (here’s looking at you Sony MH755’s).
or can we make more defined brackets? and name them based on prices? I prupose
one at $30>low lofi
$20-$100 lofi
$100-$250 lower mid fi
$250-$300 mid fi
$300 - $500 upper mid fi
$500-$700 lower hifi
$700- $900 hifi
$900- $1500 upper hifi
$1500 and up is summit fi
dont misunderstand lower upper for examnple it’s still midfi regardless if lower or higher mid fi cause massdrop and chifi makes a lot of these lines blurry AF
it really doesn’t sound is way too subjective for it to work and there are really no defined lines in the names thats why I just proposed a new system strictly based on pricing
Best all-rounder I’ve heard in terms of the sound and build, etc. is my ZMF Aeolus with universe suede pads. It’s pretty neutral, but with a bump in the bass and mids to keep them exciting instead of just flat neutral. Pretty forgiving of not so very well produced music and seems great with everything so far. Build is amazing, feel solid, comfortable, leather strap and the pillowy suede pads. Soundstage is average, imaging is fine. Instruments and vocals sound natural. I got them for < $1000, but they’d be > $1200 if bought normally. Also by pad rolling, you can make the headphone sound ‘really dark’, ‘fun’, or ‘even more neutral to the point of boring, if that’s your thing’.
I’d reccommend the blon bl-03 if you replace its stock cable and tips, it’s like $40 and handles all genres well to me. I feel similar about the tinhifi p1, but you need good foam tips and decent power to drive it well. It’s neutral and detailed, also pretty good for everything.
no RG…no prices. if someone things there is only one option and it’s $500, they can say it. if some think there is more than one at different price points, they can share those.
I can see a disagreement as to where summit-fi might start. I can see it being as low as $2000 and up to $3000 and up.
I personally would define lo-fi as $100 and lower while mid-fi to hi-fi would be $101 to $999 with the point mid becomes hi being harder to agree upon.
I forget the term at the moment, but there is another ‘-fi’ between hi and summit…which would fit the $1000 - $2000 / $3000 range, though I would lean on the lower as I am certain the Stellia should be classified as summit-fi.