Hifiman Arya v2 - Absolutely love it with the oratory eq. My favourite headphone out of those that I have tried by a mile. Amazing bass after a bit of EQ. Staging obviously really good, with not much tradeoff. I will not need any other "high end" headphones than this one, atleast not for a long time. I'm a lover of jazz, and the Arya is very good with jazz. The only genres I don't like with these are Hip-Hop and Old School Rock (bad recordings), but my other headphones cover these genres.
Denon AH-D7200 - I don't know why I like this headphone so much, but I actually enjoy just about any music from these. Out of the box they are not great at all. EQ'ed to harman they are also don't sound good to me. But after playing around for a while with EQ I found a middle ground which did wonders for me. Many people have a problem with comfort on these without any modding, but I somehow find these quite comfortable out of the box. They do get a bit hot around the ear for longer sessions, but I don't use these for long sessions. I also don't feel the same headband discomfort as many others do. The bass is obviously the best part, but after some tinkering I like the rest of the mix too. Staging is decent for a closed back, and imaging great. I find myself opting for these quite a lot, and they differ a lot from the Arya which is also nice for variance. I've been leaning more and more towards open backs for obvious reasons, but I can't get myself to sell these despite being too big for on the go use!
Sennheiser HD560S - Great bang for the buck, and very comfortable. Easier on the head for longer sessions than the others, and does feel a bit different aswell providing variance. I was surprised by how well these handles bass, and the sub bass was surprisingly good after some boosting. Good balanced sound with oratory EQ, and I can't really find anything to critice soundwise. Just about any music works with these too. A solid all-rounder.
Sennheiser IE300 - Just ordered these for on the go use and can't wait to try them.
Sold these:
Sennheiser HD660S - I actually liked these, but sold them to afford the Aryas back when I had just these. I'm not sure if I would've liked them as much today however, after trying a lot of headphones. HD560S seems like a better choice considering bang for the buck.
Hifiman HE400SE - Not long enough for my head, and the headband was also not too comfortable. Didn't bother to mod. Wide soundstage, but a bit thin and the bass felt a bit too weak despite the fact that they responded okay to a bass boost.
Aeon RT - Impressive soundstage and imaging, but they sounded a bit thin and the bass was not present. Even after a +10db boost. Possibly because it didn't seal optimally on my head. I'm sensitive to higher frequencies, so having close to no bass is obviously not optimal. I tried removing a lot from the higher frequencies to be able to hear more bass, but it didn't fix it completely and they sounded dull at that point.
This makes me sound like a total bass head, but I enjoy listening to lower volumes. And if the bass is not present enough, it's hard to get any bass at all at lower volumes. Most headphones can be adjusted to preference in most frequencies, but bass seems like a tricky one in some cases. Also the way the bass is presented seems to differ a lot, with some being much more enjoyable than others despite having the same quantity. As a user of EQ I care a lot about having all the freedom in the world to be able to adjust the headphone to sound balanced to me without any limitations. Good sounding bass with enough power is a part of that. I probably prefer a bit more bass than what can be considered as balanced, but again this is for lower volumes and also I like the fact that bass is less fatigueing.
