yeah sundara makes great headphones. but its hard to make a good headphone when youre trying to stay economical. Though Beyer does it well enough and the Helios is only 180$
That is disappointing as I had high hopes for the LCD-1, considering the price point and form factor. But, you are now another of the many people I have heard have negative impressions of it. Pains me to hear this because Audeze (and ZMF) both are my favorite.
I’m so curious. what is it about the he35X thats so bad?
Everything. It is bright, yet lacks resolve or detail. Bass sounds like a popcorn fart in the dark and the mids are non existent.
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Just about everything else I’ve heard from Audeze is great though. LCD-2, open and closed back. As well as LCD-X. I didn’t listen long to the X. But the 2’s are very nice.
Having owned LCD-2 CB for a year now, I’d probably go with a lighter pair of headphones and better QC. My brother who also owns a pair has had one side of his driver’s fail twice and repair came back failed again, then he got sent another customers pair which had loads of scratches on the housing. My version has a super iffy comfort strap that touches the metal headband. I’ve fixed this by adjusting the screws on one side, looks scuffed as hell when one side is lopsided. But it beats getting a headache.
The regular LCD-2 would probably be the best bang for the buck, not to mention they’re lighter on the head. The CB has some amazing bass and the fit over the ears is superb. But then again they weigh in at a hefty 600+ grams.
I love my LCD-2 revision 2.2 pre fazor. I’ve heard or owned every Audeze except the LCD-24, LCD-MX4 and LCD-4. The pre fazor LCD-2 and LCD-3 both being my very favorite. My ZMF Atticus and Aeolus are both my very favorite headphones that I own, but my LCD-2 pre fazor isn’t far behind.
Mitchell and Johnson estat thingy and those Marshalls that Zeos also hated - both worst headphones I have tried and both were last decade 
I personally hated the HD 820 more than the 700. Things do not sound correct at all and being a strange closed back but with soundstage didn’t help it as things felt distant than engaging with it’s pseudo V-Shaped sound signature. I personally enjoyed the 800S despite it’s strange timbre but the 820s push that line way too far for it to be redeeming in my eyes.
I didn’t hate the HD6XX’s, but they never impressed me. I gave them months and even bought them an amp. Never any magic for me.
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Audio Technica ATH-M50X are the worst headphones I’ve heard…maybe. First thing that comes to mind for sure. Very uncomfortable as well. The McIntosh headphones (their version of a Beyer), and the Bower & Wilkins P9 are right there. And of course, one could argue that the Nighthawks belong on the list. I could never get my pair to sound right.
I have a pair of HD700s. Do the mod and use some eq and things are good. Obviously without the mod and eq they are too bright. So are the DT990s. It seems like people pick on the Sennheisers more for some reason.
For me the only ones I have hated are based on comfort reasons. The ones I hate the most that I’ve used are the k612 pro and the k702, their headband and pads are so uncomfortable that they give me a headache within 5 minutes of listening which is a shame since I want to properly try them in games, but I’m not sure I want to spend the money on them to make the comfort better when I could put that towards something like dt880s for gaming.
Suppose I should mention that without mods the t50s would be up there too, but I’ve made them into one of the comfiest headphones I own. Also I hate the headband on my 4xx, although I do think I like the sound from them.
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Can’t really go to the LCD-1 expecting them to sound like everything else in the Audeze lineup or you’ll surely be disappointed in my experience. Relative to my LCD-2F, the bass is much more present and impactful on the LCD-2F, and the overall sound is warmer and more laid back especially with a pad swap to suede. The attack on the LCD-1 is more aggressive, IMO, and they are more neutral with slightly recessed mids and a closer soundstage.
I changed the pads to Dekoni Sheep skin…I also purchased Brainwavz angled sheepskin…it’s a different headphone now.
Plenty of people like it. Plenty of people like just about every headphone. There is an entire discussion board dedicated to the Audioquest Nighthawk on this forum in fact. There is no way the HD 700 are more polarizing than the Nighthawk.
As far as the HD 700 goes, they are easy to fix. Do the Modhouse/treble mod and use some eq, and you have a baby 800.
Headphones I hated… hmm… Amiron home pads created more heat for a beyer and not as plush plus the headphone had more sibilance in the S sound despite showing a less treble frequency than the T1.2 and yet I have no sibilance on my T1 not the only one who has mentioned the amirons having this issue.
Audio technica AD—x series. Ya know… they sound good but perhaps actually put some thought and effort into making the build quality not cheap plastic with an awful headband design. 3d wings support is stupid
Audio Technica M50x the hell does this sound so much worse than the m40x and is more expensive?
Beyerdynamic Custom one pro plus: Just sounds bad in my opinion. Lack of dynamics, sounds congested, mic sucks, I mention it as a alternative to the dt770 sure but I still despise this headphone personally the custom series is literally my least favorite in the beyerdynamic Lineup I don’t have any real positive opinion of them outside of… well. they do have detail and the build quality appears better.
Hifiman Brand: love the headphones but the company itself is a joke with its quality control nothing like buying a headphone and just having it break. You can have fantastic sounding equipment but its worthless if it busts.
Build quality is fine. And the headband is one of the few which does not cause discomfort for me.
What? The remote on the cable is meh in my opinion, the mic itself is among the better headset mics (and this is counting Sennheiser HMC/HMEC type headsets).
I definitely don’t think so. It’s extremely uncomfortable for me especially on the headband.
I certainly don’t think so in terms of headsets. It’s decent but nothing special.
Again though maze, just my opinion. I just personally really find them sub par and in the case of the custom series I have zero good things to say about them especially with how much I appreciate 770s 880s and 990s even in their lower ohm variations. I would sooner take a k7xx over an ad series unless we were talking about the ad2000x as that one sounds great and I could get used to the build quality after a little while.
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My contender for worst headphone is the kph30i. It’s muddy, wooly, uncomfortable, and the porta pros are just better imo. Better build, better comfort, less muddy and whooly, and they fold up. The kph30i are just bad porta pros.
Also I would toss any Harman tuned IEM into the ring. The Harman tuning is my personal nemesis in the audio hobby. I’ve tried the Tin T4 and Shuoer Tape and they both sound bad to me. Sometimes they seem alright. They both have good detail, clean bass, sound stage and imaging are good, but then I listen to literally anything else and immediately dislike the harman tuning. The bass is fine, but there’s just no mid range, yet the the upper mids are shouty. Then the treble (If it’s really following the curve) just drops off after 10k. This leads to a shouty yet hollow sound that I just find super displeasing. This hatred of the harman tuning has culminated in the total homogenization of the entire Chi-Fi IEM industry. Every new affordable Chi-Fi IEM is Harman tuned. No matter how different the technicalities and such are, when two headphones have nearly identical tunings, they tend to sound very similar and it gets old fast.
Also as side note, it seems to me that most higher end IEMs tend to NOT follow the Harman curve.
Reading back through this, I should probably just post this on the Rants thread, but I’m pretty sure I already have posted a similar rant. I guess my Harman hate boner is just to strong.
Then let me be the first. Now I did not like them with the stock pads, they sounded terrible. After replacing them with Dekoni fenestrated sheepskin pads, the sound was completely transformed and made them a keeper. Now I don’t have any equipment to measure the changes, I just rely on my ears to tell me if I’m listening to ear candy or raw sewage. I don’t rely on measures as everyone’s ear canals are different (waxy, hairy, wide, narrow, smooth, bumpy and hearing range) which is going to affect how one hears things. With these pads the treble was tamed and bass improved. Sound stage remains expansive and imaging maintains the 3D holographic qualities. I’d recommend giving them another shot. Oh and adding a quality dac and amp go a long way too and they sound even better on tubes. Currently running them off DacMagc m200 preamp to Topping A90 (also using it as preamp for MT-604 triple stack AKA Beast Mode).