headphone suggestions ~500$

[mkawa]

i've graciously been given a christmas budget of around 500$ and was considering some headphones that might be an upgrade from my current stable:

IEMS: ety er4sr (4 years), sony ex800st (6 mos)
full-size: my beloved hd600s, 18 years old and counting!

obviously i like all of these. the hd600s are laid back for classical. the ex800s punch way above their weight for poppy stuff, and the er4sr are flat flat flat. i like flat.

iems are my primaries because i use them at work for isolation.

my current headphone amp stable is the smsl m500, fiio a5 (currently at ASR to be tested -- i'm a big fan of the MUSES and wonder how they perform objectively)

i would stretch quite a bit and get custom UERRs, but that's a bridge to far unfortunately. the drop empire zeus universals seem interested as a stretch (with comply tips, i only use foam tips for IEMS); crinacle's measurements are positive, but tyll's less positive and crinacle has a big criticism of them as breaking up in the midrange.

the drop focal elexes also look interesting, as it seems like they take a similar position to the hd600 series. the hd660s also look interesting as slightly easier to drive, but there does seem to be some breakup at the high end from tyll's measurements that point to the hd600 as being more sennheiser of the sennheisers.

i know a lot of people are into planar magnetics now, but the primary characteristic seems to be more controlled low end, which i've never considered that important in a headphone.

i have an extremely competent loudspeaker setup with ruler flat response down to 18hz (except for the mid to sub crossover that i am constantly trying to tune..), so i'm looking for something pleasant to work to more than some kind of ultimate audio bliss.

i'm asking here because head-fi was something that was convincing as a teenager, but can no longer stand. most subjective reviews make me want to barf.

 

[Fregly]

For less than your budget Er2se.

 

[SMc]

Custom molds for etymotics old or new?

 

[mkawa]

no custom molds. i looked at pricing of my local audiologists and decided it wasn't work it. the comply isolation tips give me a great seal and are comfortable.

 

[raistlin65]

I have the Focal Elears. I would think the Elex with it's more neutral sound signature could be an upgrade for an HD650/HD600 fan.

 

[mkawa]

the measurements of the elears at innerfidelity are quite interesting.

i should note that the m500 with the hd600s gives me plenty of volume, and i don't get hiss on it with either of the IEMs

 

[MZKM]

Blon B20?

 

[mkawa]

i should note that i'm still a bit wary of chi-fi for headphone units. call me old fashioned, but.. yah, just call me old fashioned.

question on the focal elexes vs the focal clears vs the elears:

do the elexes actually borrow anything important from the clears or is that just ad copy? there are still new elears available on ebay for less than the drop

also, i do have a sabaj d5 serving duty in the loudspeaker system if that makes a difference. the m500 is kind of nice because it's more portable though. the resolution of the d5 isn't necessary in the loudspeaker system, as, because they are loudspeakers, sinad to the ears is far below 120db... the m500 would serve just as well in that spot.

 

[jcadduono]

So wanting the whole speaker on your head thing myself, with a flat response, I found my ideal headphone to be the LCD-X. Unfortunately at $1199 that's fairly above your budget, but fortunately, the new Monoprice M1070 should be a very close match to the LCD-X as it is supposedly like the M1060 but tuned to remove some spikes and flatten the frequency response more. The M1070 is $399. If you are willing to go above and beyond, the M1570 is $599, but I think the M1070 is the perfect entry into Planar Magnetic headphones.

I should also add that it pretty much comes with a (almost) free solid state headphone amplifier, the Cavali Liquid Spark. It's $109, but if you use the code MM100 and buy with the M1070, it becomes $9!!!
Review of that amp here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...of-monoprice-liquid-spark-headphone-amp.5224/
Unfortunately the code doesn't work with the M1570, and the M1570 just gives you a discount code for the much worse performing Cavali Tube amp.
If you don't want the Cavali Liquid Spark, you can always sell it for $100 or so and save some money in the end!

I'd say it's well worth it to give it a shot.

 

[mkawa]

impressions on the sundara? measurements are promising that it doesn't have the 1khz cliff that i'm seeing on most planars.

 

[MRC01]

As old as the HD-600 is, it's still a great headphone and hard to beat for $500. The new Audeze LCD-1 looks worth a listen. It is described as more neutral than the LCD models, and measurements posted on head-fi looked very good if not excellent (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audeze-lcd-1.917165/page-45#post-15294207).

 

[mkawa]

interesting. it seems tyll popped out and measured it as well with consistent results

https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AudezeLCD1.pdf

promising

 

[VintageFlanker]

interesting. it seems tyll popped out and measured it as well with consistent results

https://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AudezeLCD1.pdf

promising

First, Tyll is retired...

This is the old (first Audeze? ) LCD1. Nothing in common with the new one.

 

[mkawa]

ooh, so the first measurements linked were provided by the manufacturer, and despite the naming collision, this is a new model. gotcha.

 

[Nango]

impressions on the sundara? measurements are promising that it doesn't have the 1khz cliff that i'm seeing on most planars.

Look on rtngs.com for Sundara measurements. Great phone.

 

[maxxevv]

Came across something interesting just yesterday, and that's the Cleer NEXT headphones.

Haven't heard them or held them myself but the reviews and measurements seem promising. Fairly easy to drive and quite close to your budget.

 

[mkawa]

wow, hifiman measurements seem to vary between websites significantly. could this be: positioning issues? quality control? (ie, chinese production)

in particular, rtngs has no significantly falloff at 1khz for their edition x and sundara measurements. on other measurement rigs i'm seeing > -10db at 1k with high frequencies dipping as low as -25db mean under the low end. sundara seems more consistent, but ??

anyway, down to 4 options in $$ order:

focal elex @ 700
hifiman XX @ 500
audeze lcd-1 @ 399
hifiman sundara @ 399

one issue with all the planars might be that i can't get huge current out of any amp i own. another is comfort. finally, build quality, as i plan on owning any headphone for at least a decade (in fact, i forgot to mention my 20 year old alessandro ms-1/grado sr125s! although technically i had to have those rebuilt few years ago). a-hah! subjective ratings time! thoughts?

 

[MRC01]

Be careful with headphone FR measurements. They may or may not apply an HRTF correction, and if they do the curve they use can vary. So FR measurements from different sources are not necessarily comparable.

I would not worry too much about headphone amp current output with orthos. The low impedance headphones are usually efficient. Orthos have flat impedance vs. frequency so they are not sensitive to amp output impedance.

 

[mkawa]

that explains quite a bit! thanks

 

[raistlin65]

Be careful with headphone FR measurements. They may or may not apply an HRTF correction, and if they do the curve they use can vary. So FR measurements from different sources are not necessarily comparable.

I would not worry too much about headphone amp current output with orthos. The low impedance headphones are usually efficient. Orthos have flat impedance vs. frequency so they are not sensitive to amp output impedance.

Also, the measurement method itself can result in variations since measurements are conducted using a simulated head, and reviewers use different ones. It's not like anechoic speaker measurements with a calibrated mic where setups between different reviewers can result in fairly consist results.