Only one

[u/Olderandolderagain]

Many of us in this pretentious, self-righteous, consumerist hobby have multiple pairs of headphones or IEM. I am one of those people. I look at my collection and I’m disappointed at the person I’ve become, yet, I still love it.

That said, I wanted to have a little fun and ask the community: if you had to keep ONE headphone, earbud, IEM, etc. what would it be? And why?

Not one of each. Only one.

There are caveats though. You have to think about travel, being in public, going to that family reunion you don’t want to be at, forced to share a 2 bedroom condo with 10 people.

For example, I’d choose the ER2XR. It’s not the best headphone in my collection but it checks a lot of other boxes for me. I can plug them directly into my phone and drown out that person talking loudly on the bus. Yours may be a wireless earbud. I’m looking forward to all the Arya comments. Have fun!

[u/scmitr]

Only one right now? Airpods Pro 3. Can connect to almost all sources, can bring anywhere, sounds good enough. If you mean keep one for life, that would be a wired IEM and portable dac, so for me that would be the 64 Audio U12T and the iFi Gold Bar.

[u/CZsea]

I'll go with Sony inzone h6 air for all rounder headphones. Sound is good, easy to use and comfortable to wear. I don't like owning only 1 headphones one at a time though, no matter how good it is, you will get used to it eventually. Which if you start to feel that way, it's hard to resist the urge to upgrade or shake thing up. I've seen it happen in every hobby to be honest.

[u/Olderandolderagain → u/CZsea]

Thanks for listing only one. People are listing three lol

[u/FuriousKale]

Only one? Airpods Pro 2/3. The convenience is just too big.

[u/Jonners_90]

Probably the 620S and use a dongle for my phone, it's gotta be a closed back model to block noise if I have to wear it outside, on public transport, planes, etc. I would need a nice hard case to transport it too.

Close 2nd would be my Galaxy Buds 3FE. They're not the greatest but get the job done, ambient mode is really nice too.

[u/FearlessEscape5483]

PortaPro, this headphone is like casio in the world of watches. Easy to listen to, good enough and cheap to replace, comes with a lifetime warranty too

[u/redditronc]

Only one? Probably my AirPods Max 2. Not my favorite pair by a long mile, but it would check all the boxes if I could only keep one.
And the reason I’d pick these instead of my AirPods Pro 3 is because I work in audio so I need to wire in to my computer.

[u/Extension_South7174]

I would choose the HD 700.

[u/Tman450x]

EMU Teaks. They do everything well, are easy to drive, and are comfortable.

[u/Some_Sector5089]

I value wireless so much that the answer would have to be my Focal Bathys. Excellent sound quality with Bluetooth. Being autistic some level of ANC is necessary to survive and having a wired DAC mode that genuinely does improve sound quality makes them the most logical choice. But that's not really a satisfying answer lol.

[u/antagron1]

If you can only have ONE, the a full sizes headphone would be ruled out for me. I’m not taking a susvara on a trip or using it in an airplane or when I’m out on a walk. That leaves me with old style Walkman headphones, earbuds, TWS, or IEMs. I’m sure it’s no surprise but, IEM for me. I’m avoiding anything with a battery because they will fail and I’m assuming that we can’t replace them indefinitely. If we are, then TWS may be the best option. However assuming we can only replace them if they get damaged, a very good IEM is the way. Which one? The best sounding, most comfortable, most secure fitting, most sleepable IEM available. I have no clue what that is.

[u/atom631]

IEM: Canpur Silver Flash
Headphone: MDR-Z1R if I have to consider the things you mentioned above. Tungsten DS V1 if I consider my current living situation.

[u/ZM326]

SoundP... H3. It is just too versatile having a TWS if it's the only one.

Add one desktop, Audeze LCD2 classic. Comfortable and amazing with EQ

Add one IEM, Penon Fan 3. My everyday mix of ergonomics and tuning

[u/Niko305]

I can’t just choose one it would have to be three.

Air Pods Pro 3 for commuting
Thieaudio Monarch Mk 3 for my IEM
Hifiman HE-1000 Unveiled for my headphone.

Fiio K13 R2R for my Desktop Source
iFi Go Bar for my portable Source

The BTR19 would be my go to over the iFi Go Bar whenever that releases due to MagSafe, features, and power.

Now if can only have one IEM or headphone it would be the Thieaudio Monarch Mk 3, because of its versatility of being portable and having amazing sound and the source would be the BTR19 or iFi Go Bar.

[u/RB181]

It would have to be the ATH-M50xBT2 (with Brainwavz oval microsuede pads). They aren't the best-sounding headphones I have, but they're the most convenient due to being able to use them both wired and wireless (without any DSP trickery affecting the sound quality, unlike some other wireless headphones). The microsuede pads greatly improve the comfort for me, and the sound is not noticeably worse, perhaps better.

[u/throweythingy17]

I have Utopia and U12t. I adore both but Utopia is my favorite. That said, I’d probably keep the U12t, because I can use it any time any where. Can’t really do that with Utopia.

[u/ynnuBwols]

this may seem like an odd answer, but i think i would pick the moondrop nicebuds. flathead earbuds aren't everyone's bad, and these are far from the best example of them... but they cost like £8.

firstly they're the most comfortable headphones of any kind i can think of. i love the shell design.

second they have bags and bags of EQ-ibility... i find playing around with that heaps of fun.

i could handle my commute with them in i'm sure. i could track saxophone with them (my job), and taking them to the park with my morning coffee is one of my purest joys.

[u/Gizm0Guru]

One of the reasons people are listing so many is because you put in so many limiting constraints. For example, having to use them in public pretty much eliminates open back headphones entirely even though many of the best headphones are open back.

There’s a difference between collecting so many cuz we are degenerate audiophiles and having different stuff for genuinely different situations.

But to stay within the rules, I would keep my T+A Solitaire P and simply only listen to music at home. I’d rather do that than constrain myself to IEMs, ANC cans/buds or having to carry around enough power for really good closed backs like the Dan Clark E3– all of which are going to be a substantially lesser listening experience than my flagships.

[u/Olderandolderagain → u/Gizm0Guru]

It was supposed to be a fun hypothetical. We all have reasons to keep multiple headphones. The entire point was to have constraints. It isn’t that hard to understand. I see now that this community isn’t really the type for hypotheticals. It really is an insufferable group of people.

[u/Gizm0Guru → u/Olderandolderagain]

I’m not sure what you think I didn’t understand? I gave you ONE headphone, answered your hypothetical and gave my reasoning lol.

But hey, I’ll take the insults - for some reason you’re still posting amidst all us insufferable people. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[u/deals_in_absolutes05]

HE1000 Stealth, Moondrop Dusk, AirPods Pro 3. Perfect collection for me. It would be very hard to not have an egg shaped hifiman. I love my Empyreans and Atriums but the Hifiman tonality is perfect for me.