Here is the chronological series of events for me. There has been an addition since Dec. '21:
Koss Walkman headphones (had MANY of these!) - Gone
Beats Studio Pro - Gone!
Senn HD280 Pro - Still have… #7
HiFiman Sundara… #3
Sivga Phoenix… #5
BeyerDynamic Lagoon ANC Traveler… #6 (For Work)
Focal Elegia… #2
Senn HD660 S… #4
LSA HP-2… #1
Numbers indicate order of preference. However, I love them all and will not get rid of any. The HP-2 is the newest addition and current favorite. The rating of the Phoenix is deceiving because even though in head-to-head comparisons that is where they end up, they get used daily and sound incredible hooked up to the laptop in the living room. And of course, the Lagoon is the work horse of the group.
Turtle Beach gaming headset, the $30 model, circa 2009. Replaced in kind several times.
ATH-M40X, 2018-present. These serve as ‘in bed’ cans for my phone now.
Focal Elegia, arrived last week. Current main. Looking to upgrade probably 2024 or thereabouts.
Justify with selling out other hobbies and buying 90% this stuff second hand.
Beyerdynamic 770 80Ohm (sold)
Tin T2 - Sold
SHP9500 (sold)
Helios Heliodynamic SOLD
Tin T4 SOLD
SMSL SP200 THX (sold) + Grace Balanced SDAC SOLD
Drop Panda SOLD
Meze 99 Noir SOLD
Schiit Asgard 3 (sold)+ Bifrost 2 (sold)
T50 MkII Argons (sold)
Schiit Jotunheim SOLD
Geshelli Enog Pro2 + Erish SOLD
LCD-2 Closed Black SOLD
Campfire Andromedas SOLD
Hyland Jupiter One
Campfire I/O SOLD
LCD- 2 Classic SOLD
Schiit Gunganir + Schiit Mjolnir SOLD and Re - bought
Verite Open Bought and sold 5x sets - Current set Phesantwood
Verite Closed - 2x Sets SOLD
Aeolus 6 sets - 3x SOLD
Auteur 2x Sets SOLD
Focal Elex Bought 3x SOLD 2x
Focal Clear SOLD
Focal Stellia SOLD
Focal Elear SOLD
FOCAL Elegia bought 4x SOLD 3X
Audeze LCD X 2021
Feliks audio Echo II
Tor Balanced
Auris Euterpe
JDS Element II SOLD
Campfire Ara SOLD
Campfire Andro S SOLD
Sony IER Z1R
ZMF Classics
Sash Tres
MMR Gae Bolg boought 2x sold 1
Meze Rai Penta SOLD
Senn 6xx SOLD
Schiit Jot 2 SOLD
Schiit Asgard 3 SOLD
SCHiit Lyr 3 SOLD
Here is the NEW chronological series of events for me. There has been an addition since Feb. '22:
Koss Walkman headphones (had MANY of these!) - Gone
Beats Studio Pro - Gone!
Senn HD280 Pro - Still have, but basically idle… #8
HiFiman Sundara… #4
Sivga Phoenix… #6
BeyerDynamic Lagoon ANC Traveler… #7 (For Work)
Focal Elegia… #2
Senn HD660 S… #5
LSA HP-2… #1
HiFIMAN Edition XS… #3
Numbers indicate order of preference at this point in time. The HD280 Pros are aging out and sitting idle, but they are still alive! The Edition XS is the new addition and currently sits at number 3 with a bullet! However, it is too soon to be placing these over the Elegia. I will need more time with them before I can re-assess. Definitely not better than the HP-2; that one remains the undisputed number 1.
The rating of the Phoenix is deceiving because even though in head-to-head comparisons that is where they end up, they get used daily and sound incredible hooked up to the laptop in the living room. And of course, the Lagoon is still the work horse of the group, getting used daily at work.
Fun looking thread, it goes to show how ones depth in the hobby. Sure one could argue buying a TOTL is like going into the deep end. But without an extensive headphone track record one can’t understand there opinions on new items they acquire or comment about.
My progression is pretty short. Audio-Technica ATH-M40x (later pad swapped) > HE400i (later pad swapped) > Meze 99 Nior > T60rp Argons > Audio quest Night hawks > ZMF Aeolus Canary wood. I gave away my M40x’s, and sold the night hawks. And I never use the Noirs need to sell those too.
Abyss 1266 OG - (Current. Love these things. Not as uncomfortable to me as reviews stated)
Hifiman HE-6SEv2 (Grill Mod)
Hifiman Arya (Loved these, would try again)
Modhouse Argon MK III (Balanced) - (Backup Setup, keep going back to these)
Kennerton Vali 2019 (first major brand new headphone purchased. loved these, very underrated)
Stax L300 (sounded great but uncomfortable)
Modhouse Argon MK II (Single-ended)
Kennerton Magni (these were great, just hella uncomfortable to me)
Hifiman Edition XX (solid but just better options)
Fostex TR-X00 Ebony (Not Argons)
Thieaudio Phantom (Modded) (First hype train L but still enjoyed them)
AudioQuest Nighthawk Carbon (solid, just had better options)
Hifiman 560SE (Grill Mod)
Neumann NDH20 (Gread closed-back, just uncomfortable AF)
Focal Elex (didn’t love these as much as everyone but I acknowledge I didn’t understand chain synergy when I had thise)
Sennheiser HD600 (Loved these. Tempted to buy these or their direct upgrade)
Koss Porta Pro w/Yaxi pads - (Still have, amazing value and sound)
Sennheiser 58xx (loved these)
Sennheiser 6xxx (see Elex)
Hifiman Edition HE-4XX (on the list but honestly don’t remember much about these)
Audio Technica m40x - (First headphone, still have it, scales well)
HarmonicDyne Helios (Paradox. A baby Arya for some songs. A metallic, tinty sounding nightmare on others)
Philips Fidelio X2HR
Philips SHP9500
Beyerdynamic DT 880 (600 ohm)
Focal Elegia (hated these. sounded so metallic. uncomfortable)
Monoprice Retro w/pad change (neat)
This is strictly the headphone spiral into madness but here where im at
I still have all of them and they still work great,
P.S im excluding all the no name headphone i had before 2010
Status Audio - CB -1 (hardly ever use them but they served me for faithfuly during school so they have their place - recently threw on a some rando pads i had, vastly improved them)
Grado S80e (pad swapped of course)
Sivga 006
Sennheiser 58X Jubilee
Harmonicdyne Helios
Meze 99 Neo (Way better once you put Brainwave XL hybrid pads on them)
Koss KPH30I + Porta pros + KSC 75 (3 KPH30I - 1 with Yaxi, 1 with Geekria and one stock)
Sony MDR 7506 (mostly used for video editing, pad swapped to perforated PU to improve comfort)
Gold Planner GL 400 (bought both the open and closed back version mostly out of curiosity)
Cooler Master 751
Sony wh-1000xm3 (mostly for the ANC, but its OK)
AKG 361
Sivga 007
Fostex T60RP (Pad swapped to Brainwave Sheepskin)
Harmoniicdyne Zues
Sivga 021
Koss KPH40 + Porta Pro utility
Focal Elegia (planning on getting the Stellia pads eventually, but i love them stock as well)
Hifiman 400SE
Beyerdynamic DT 700 PRO X ( mostly for video editing but i also enjoy them for actual listening)
Hifiman Sundara
Rode NT-100
Hifiman Edition Xs
HIFIMAN HE-R7DX (On the way - it was 100$ and i was interested on Hifiman’s tuning for dynamics)
That’s quite a list! I have the NTH-100 and Sundara and was thinking of getting the Elegia to up my closed back game. I love the Sundara (and HD600) sound-wise and I find the NTH-100 muffled in comparison (not knocking them, they’re great but I didn’t enjoy the sound as much as the open backs). However I can’t use open backs often. Would the Elegia’s be a decent step up from the Rodes? In terms of clarity and detail, do they come closer to the Sundara?
My own list began with headphones for positional audio in competitive FPS, this is 10-15 years ago. Can’t remember all of them but I bought/sold at least the following:
CAL!
DT770 pro
DT880 premium
DT990 pro
HD598 - kept these for a while, sold and rebought
PC360 - kept these for a while, having a mic was great
Got back into things recently with
HD598 again
HD598c - didn’t like much, sounded off
Fidelio X2HR - lot of bass
Drop/Hifiman HE-X4 - cheap, thought I’d try the planar sound, like it
DT770 - no mids, harsh treble, didn’t like
AKG K361 - good sound, slightly odd timbre but better than K371
AKG K371 - good sound, slightly odd timbre, boomier bass than K361
Rode NTH-100 - great timbre, somewhat muffled sound though
