Best technical headphone with SUB BASS around 1K €

[tu be or not tube]

Hello everyone,

i wanna treat myself with the best headphone i could purchase, but i want it to be really good at everything, (meaning technically, dynamic range, soundstage, detail retrieval etc...) with the best sub bass extension and presence, and that the main problem that i'm having right now, i've looked quite a lot of reviews, and of course no cans are perfect, but i didn't found one reviewed headphone that closed the deal for me.
The sound signature that i'm looking for is comparable to a thunder, crisp treble and rumbling bass that you can almost feel.
I dont really care about it being opened or closed, but since i'm looking for that sub bass presence, i think that it gonna be mainly closed options.

The 1K€ limit isn't on the dot, i can stretch it a little bit if it really make sense. And where i'm at i dont really have a way of trying out all these headphones, so i'll have to believe yall.

From what i've seen:

• The fostex TH900 mkii might be the best i think for the bass response, but is very dac dependent (so ill maybe have to change my dac/amp, i'm using a raw mda 1) 1.2K€
• The sjy horizon closed carbon really good overall but maybe lacking that thundery sub bass AND REALLY POWER HUNGRY, so surely adding a preamp or just selling the mda1 and getting dx5II if he does have enough power. around 870E with 60€ shipping that's rouhly 930€ but i'll have to buy them from apos, don't know if the checkout price includes vat and import fees for Europe.
• the aeon noir X ? really dont know what to think about them, some says they have really good bass extension, some says they lack sub bass... 1K€
• Audeze LCD X ? Same with the noir X, some says it have good bass, some other says its lacking, so don't really know. 1.2K€
• I've seen a pair of Fostex THX00 second hand online, at 250€, the cable is pretty beat up but the headphone seems alright.

That's pretty much all i have right now, the sjy horizon really do tempt me, but not sure about the rumblyness and the ability to take eq in that part of the fr.
Of course if someone have a connoisseur headphone that can do all of the mentioned above for half the price i will be more then happy to have a look at it.
If i have to go with the TH900 i will need some dacs recommendations too haha.

Thank you for reading, any advice or information from owners of bassy headphones is much apreciated.

 

[Aryzon]

There will be a limit on how much bass you can have before it starts swallowing up the rest of the frequencies. I have also searched for years for a perfect headphone that can replace a subwoofer while also having a super cripsy and large spatial presentation. And well, those don't exist, at least not on the level that I had envisioned.

Fortunately with the power of EQ and pad swapping we can get pretty close to that. The easiest and arguably the only solution to get a bassy headphone that also sounds natural is to get one of the large planar or electrostatic headphones and crank up the bass. Most planars and to my knowledge, all openback Estats have very, very low distortions and flat bass response so EQing up the bass shouldn't be an issue.

Second problem is combining sound performance with comfort. You would probably want the headphone to be comfortable for long listening sessions instead of something you'd want to tear off your head after 10 minutes. And unfortunately this aspect often gets overlooked. I know I did and I found out the hard way. It's very hard to find a headphone that can do bass, neutral sound, is light weight and is big enough to not pressure your ears.

Anyway, most straight forward way out here is the newly released Hifiman Edition XV. It's effectively a resurrected Edition X from 2015, meaning it has a more muted treble and doesn't suffer from sibilance like most other Hifiman headphones do. It's also pretty easy to drive so you won't have overpay for an amplifier. You just really have to figure out whether you want to cope with a 450 gram headphone on a daily basis.

If you are like me and decide that heavy headphones aren't your thing, that only leaves one option left and that is the Mini Shangri-la. It features the same egg-shaped design as other Hifiman planar headphones but this time it is electrostatic and the weight is reduced from 450-500 gram range down to 320. And that makes a colossal difference. I consider it to be the best headphone ever made and the final stop in headphone audio until someone decides to use some exotic materials to further push the weight down.
Unfortunately Hifiman shot themselves in the foot here and combined the mini shangri-la with Edition XS headband and pads. Both of which not only nuke it's comfort but also have a negative effect on the sound quality. So that means you will have to get a carpa strap and dekoni pads to fix both of those. Then of course you will need an energizer and at that point there is no way you will fit into your 1000 EUR budget. But if you can wait a little longer and save a bit more, I strongly recommend you do so.

My pair broke unfortunately. I will be getting another one next month together with a different energizer to see whether very cheap energizers will have enough power to accomodate high bass boosts.

 

[Dazerdoreal]

According to measurements you might want to check out the Auribus Acoustics Sierra. It costs about 1000, so it suits your budget.

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Compare hundreds of frequency response graphs between IEMs and earphones from manufacturers like Moondrop, Sony, 64 Audio, Fiio, and more.

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Squiglink - IEM frequency response database by GadgetryTech

Compare hundreds of frequency response graphs between IEMs and earphones from manufacturers like Moondrop, Sony, 64 Audio, Fiio, and more.

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That said, I had them on my head for about 2 minutes and I did not particularly like the overall timbre. That might be a "my head" thing though.

 

[DVDdoug]

some says it have good bass, some other says its lacking, so don't really know.

"Some say" a lot of things! I don't trust subjective reviews unless backed-up by measurements.

Whatever you buy, I recommending listening first or check the frequency response curves first.

it will also be super helpful if you have a measurement for whatever you're using now so can compare the curves to have an idea of the difference.

Are you aware of the Harman Curve? All of the reviews here show the frequency response compared to the Harman preference. And you can sort the ASR reviews by "recommended" or price. With headphones there is almost no correlation between sound quality and price but of course the higher your budget the more choice you have.

You can almost always CUT the bass but sometimes if you boost you'll push the headphone or amplifier into distortion.

and rumbling bass that you can almost feel.

Of course you can't feel the bass in your body like with speakers but you can "vibrate your brain". Headphones are simply a "different listening experience" than speakers in a room. BUT you CAN get deep-strong bass a LOT more economically with headphones! (If you choose the headphones carefully).

I won't attempt a recommendation but you might want to try the AKG K371. It's cheap compared to your maximum budget so you could just try it, or keep it as a "reference" or as a spare, etc. The K371's major "fault" is slightly exaggerated sub-bass! It MIGHT be perfect for you!

of course no cans are perfect,

The Dan Clark Stealth ($4000 USD!!!) got a "perfect review" here. But, if you happen to like more bass than the Harman Target it may not be the best headphone for YOU! (It's WAY out of my price range and I'll probably never even hear it.)

Speaking of Dan Clark, Here is a video of him discussing headphone measurements. Ironically, it's an amateur video (cell phone?) with poor audio quality. ...In the video he mentions that added distortion is often described as "detail". That was surprising and interesting!

Amir (our host here) also has an excellent video about how he reviews and measures headphones - Understanding Headphone Measurements

meaning technically, dynamic range , soundstage

Technically, the dynamics (the range from quiet to loud) comes from the recording.* It can be limited on the loud-side but that's rarely a problem with headphones. When it is limited and you over-drive an amplifier (or speakers/headphones) into clipping/distortion it's heard as distortion rather than dynamic compression.

There can be other things like maybe more bass or simply listening louder that people perceive/describe as being "more dynamic".

Soundstage comes from the recording and your brain. Different people perceive it differently. With headphones, the most common perception is that the sound is coming from inside the listener's head! Headphone soundstage survey. That survey surprised me because I read a lot about headphone soundstage although I never get a realistic soundstage illusion. I thought I was an exception. Personally I hear it coming from near my forehead except for hard-panned sounds that I hear coming directly into my ear from the headphone.



* I like the term dynamic contrast to describe the dynamics in the recoding. Dynamic range normally describes the limits of the equipment or the format or the transmission channel. The equipment always has more dynamic range than the program material except when the music fades to dead-silence (or near-silence). The equipment is limited on the quiet-side by noise (if you are hearing hum, hiss, or whine in the background) and how loud you can go. But again, these are not perceived as a reduction of dynamics.

 

[Zekbone]

Do you wear glasses? That will destroy bass response in closed backs. Noire X in particular is supposed to be sensitive to seal. Otherwise I would just say Noire X. The Audeze LCD X would need EQ and is right in between Noire X and Noire XO in price. Noire XO will have more bass stock like Noire X.

 

[barza]

Let me begin with a confession. I love headphones which are heavy on the bass and bright at the top end, don’t mind if the mids are a bit recessed. But even as such cans are not accurate they can still be done well or badly.

My prior favourites have been the denon d5000 (i own a stock and a. modded pair) and fostex th900mk2. However, I recently acquired some Hifiman Ananda Nanos and have been very impressed with them. I had been unconvinced that open backed planars could slam, but these really can. Since getting them I haven’t used my closed backs.

I have been using them with an IFI iCan signature with its bass boost and 3D settings on. The bass boost in this setup can be too much at high levels and cause the headphones to stop working for a second or two (but that is at a volume level I probably shouldn’t be using anyway).

Anyway, you should take a look at the Amanda Nanos if you can. And the good news is that they will save you money relative to your budget!

 

[noisey]

I would advise you not to take a look at the Ananda Nano. I listened to them briefly a year ago and they sounded very distorted, shrill even. Very fatuiging and cold. That is, without EQ. After said listening test I stumbled upon Amir's review of the Ananda Nano and his measurements confirmed my impressions.