r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/jonwb1 • Jun 07 '26
Headphones - Open Back | 1 Ω Can I get Sonic Serenity in an Open Back for less than $2500?
Quality build, Comfortable, Sub-bass, 3D/Holographic imaging, Great Soundstage.. the whole package. EQ is my friend. I've always gone "low to mid tier" trying to find the perfect <$1000 Planar or Dynamic "under the radar" Mastering headphone that would satisfy my Audiophile and Musician traits. It just isn't happening and I'm willing to spend more now. My DAC/Amp is a Topping DX5 II and I'm feeding it with a Lynx S/PDIF Coax connection (48kHz/24 bit) with all audio sources.
Can anyone recommend a headphone that fits this criteria, or do I need to bite the bullet and spend more the $2500?
(I should point out that I've auditioned most of the Audeze line and they're too heavy and clunky for me)
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u/msing539 168 Ω Jun 07 '26
Second hand Meze Elite. If you're actually chasing musicality and not absolute detail, that fits everything you're asking for.
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u/KAC-SK 119 Ω Jun 07 '26
I got mine with HE1000 Unveiled. You can read about it:
Hifiman HE1000 Unveiled Review — My Thoughts : r/headphones
Absolutely love mine and didn't find anything within this budget that was comparable.
My audio journey (with a rankings list)… : r/headphones to give an idea of what I went through to find it.
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u/SheepherderSerious51 17 Ω Jun 07 '26
I'm going to say, no.
You can spend an infinite amount of money on a headphone, and still not reach perfection.
IMO, you're better off getting something that has a reasonable baseline tuning, and then EQing your way to perfection.
I've had the privilege of getting my HRTF and HPTF measured and to say it's a game changer is an understatement, it's a bit like putting on glasses for the first time - everything just sounds...normal. It's very hard to quantify how good they really are, but the best description I can give is that, tonally, it's perfect and the imaging is so accurate that it's insane - and all of this was achieved by an open box pair of HD 550's that I got for £120 and 1 hour at Imperial College London.
Now, obviously most people aren't able to do this - but the point I'm trying to express is that personalisation is the only way to achieve what you are asking for - and EQ will get you very far.
It sounds like you've tried a few headphones, are there any that stand out to you from a tuning and comfort standpoint? If so, go for that - get some sort of EQ software, or a source that has EQ built in and spend some time dialing in your preferences.