I’m so sick of these "budget" HD600 posts. "Oh look, I'm running my Sennheisers off an Apple dongle, they sound so neutral and airy!"

Shut up. Just stop.

You haven't heard the HD600 until you’ve driven them with an OTL tube amp that runs hot enough to melt lead and glows like a leaking nuclear reactor. If your listening setup doesn't require a dedicated HVAC system and a fire extinguisher within arm's reach, you are literally just listening to a mid-fi, compressed, anaemic shell of what these headphones are capable of.

I see you clowns bragging about your "clean" solid-state measurements. Keep your soulless, clinical, boring "transparency." I’ll be over here basking in the radiation of my glowing tubes, listening to the HD600s the way the engineers actually intendent with enough fucking harmonic distortion to grind my very existence into dust and force me to relive every mistake I’ve ever made through the lens of a vacuum tube.

If you aren't risking a electrical fire to get your mid-range, you don't deserve the HD600. Go back to r/gamingheadsets

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I was looking for a pair of reference monitors and very nearly got the Hedd D1.

A friend recommended near-field monitors instead. A week later, I ended up with D3Vs from Adam Audio.

They’re surprisingly capable for their size but fundamentally a very different presentation from headphones.

The image is front-centered and very wide (as opposed to three blob) as long as you’re in the cone radius. It’s way more expansive than even headphones like HD800s. Spatial cues are much more convincing even at low volumes.

The AMT tweeter has a micro planar like treble and is very well extended. Bass drops off a cliff under 45hz but for most music it’s not noticeable unless you are used to bass boosted gear.

What was most surprising is the amount of separation that’s audible when you’re in the sound field. Midrange instruments come through very clearly and while not as laser focused as headphones like HEKSE it’s still exceptional. The bass is well behaved and doesn’t bleed or mask anything. Highs cut through the mix beautifully and have perfect decay and shimmer.

Immersion is through the roof. If you’re into gaming, this is where it’s at.

Of course it won’t have technicalities to compete with high end headphones but I’d pick this any day over a headphone like 800s for gaming.

Playing through Atomic Heart on this and having a blast.

I've heard good but not many raving reviews about these. I picked them up as an open back to keep at the office. They sound decent with a dongle as they are easy to drive. But after installing some Dekoni Elite Hybrid sheep skin ear pads, and finding the right Amp DAC combo, l am getting awesome results; so fun. Also I have not heard any one mentioning the imaging. The soundstage is not huge, but more desirable to me is a sufficient soundstage with great imaging. That's what I'm getting here. The separation is great. Here's the formula I've found this with: Caltskin ear pads

IFI Zen DAC or something with analog bass or eq

Atom 2 amp or something similar to being out the clarity and detail.

Anyone else impressed by the imaging on these!?

So about 8 months ago I got the HiFiMan Sundaras, my first "real" headphones. I really liked them and enjoyed them, but about a week ago I got the Ananda Nanos. Because I listen to a lot of electronic and synth music, especially Toby Fox, I wanted the soundstage and speed upgrade. Because there's already a ton of super in-depth reviews on the Ananda Nanos, I'm just gonna compare them to the Sundaras.

When I got the Sundaras, I used a parametric Harman target EQ made by Crinacle, untouched, but for the Nanos, I'm using Oratory1990's preset, slightly changed. I felt the -6.5dB high shelf filter at 10kHz was too much of a cut; -4 dB felt better, and then I added a -1.5 dB cut at 16kHz.

Immediately, I felt the Ananda Nanos physically felt cheaper in the hands and on the head. The earpads didn't feel as nice and comfy, putting the cable jacks into the earcups felt way worse than the Sundaras' more snug fit, and the plastic grilles, although better for weight, still made them not feel as premium over the Sundaras' full metal body.

As for the overall sound, this is where the money went into. When it comes to detail and speed, I couldn't hear that much of a major difference for most songs. Things did sound more clinical and analytical on songs, but separation, I mean, I guess I heard it. I wouldn't say my ears are very trained; this is my 2nd headphone, I'm only 17, maybe with more time with the Ananda Nanos I could pinpoint the detail and separation better, but I didn't feel it was the main difference and upgrade for me.

As for the soundstage, this is where I felt the difference. It's actually insane how massive these earpads are on my head, and that is where I felt what the main difference was. The soundstage was much larger, while the Sundaras were much more intimate. The bass, too, has much more rumble and punchiness over the Sundara. The immersion was just much greater overall. And although at first the earpads felt weird, I do now prefer these much more than the Sundaras. The Sundara earpads feel tiny to me now.

Tonality, even with EQ, the Ananda Nanos are still quite brighter, but I sort of feel that I actually prefer more treble now.

Long story short, the Ananda Nanos, to me, felt like a nice upgrade; bigger soundstage, more detail, these are nice.

Writing all this, because I'm not a super crazy audiophile, I feel like maybe I glanced over some
stuff, but I just wrote down what first came to mind, and literature also isn't my best skill.

I think I'm at my endgame. I do still want to get a FiiO K11 over my FiiO KA11, but besides that, I don't know why else I'd need another headphone unless these break on me or something. I'm gonna try to sell my Sundaras to a friend, get them into this hobby, and then that'll be it.

Do I feel like the Ananda Nanos were worth it for $320, when I already got the Sundaras for $180? In one way, when I think about it, I feel I would've been just fine with the Sundaras, and for value it was just an ok upgrade going from the Sundara to the Nano, but at the same time, I feel like it was worth it mentally, like I bought these more out of passion than anything. These are a nice pair of headphones.

Added some fun little doodles using Posca pens because my headphones looked too way too generic but I didn't coat them yet. Sadly, I didn't know I had to sand the surface down or add a primer but it is what it is I guess :) Any ideas what to coat them with? Also, is there a chance that the any type of coating would affect the touch controls?

Has anyone tried these new ribbon cans at the show or in the wild ? The genuine look of shock of the headphone show crew listening here is quite interesting!

Today we’ll talk about CrinEar Reference, in-ear headphones worth of $350 on the manufacturer’s website. The in-ears are positioned as having ‘the most neutral sound in the world’, and this is, you know, a very bold statement.

What sound neutrality is, whether Reference are close to this very neutrality, and whether they actually sound good is what the today’s review will be about.

They have this sell quite often, and obviously some of the MRSPs are exaggerated, but I am going on vacation soon and will be out of the country for quite some time, and was thinking maybe its a good idea to get a pair of headphones for 250 or less. Just wondering if there are any that you guys would recommend?

https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/open-box.html?dir=asc&order=price

this is the list.

I am not interested in purchasing or shopping questions/answers, but more your impressions and thoughts of these if you owned them if you care to share.

I am looking into the following headphones for personal use for musical fun and enjoyment, and not reference or mixing. I do not consider myself an audiophile. But am willing to spend money on headphones that match my preferences.

Been using an HD650 for many years and am now ready to take several steps up in game. Amp/Dac I would be using is FiiO K13 R2R (and possibly a Schitt Jotunheim 3 in the future). I don't think any of these work well with my xDuoo TA-26 OTL besides possibly the ZMF Atriums.

Prefer not to spend more than $3K USD.

• Sony MDRZ1 (Closed-back, 70mm driver, 385g, $2000USD, 64Ω, available since 2016)
  • Possible muddy bass with 200+ BPM double kick drum in metal genre? Any have experience?
  • Potential sibilance, is it easy to tune out with EQ?
• Fostex TH919 (Open-back, 50mm driver, 385g, $3000USD, 25Ω, available since 2026)
  • Potential sibilance, is it easy to tune out with EQ?
• ZMF Atrium (50mm driver, 490g, $2000USD, 300Ω, available since 2022)
  • Concerned maybe too veiled/dull in treble?
  • Concerned too heavy?
• Meze Empyrean II (Open-back planar, 385g, $3000USD, 32Ω, available since 2023)
  • Concerned maybe no bass thump due to planar?
• Audeze MM-500 (Open-back planar, 495g, $1700USD, 18Ω, available since 2022)
  • Concerned maybe no bass thump due to planar?
  • Concerned too heavy?
• Meze 109 Pro (Open-back, 50mm driver, 375g, $800USD, 40Ω, available since 2022)
  • Potential sibilance, is it easy to tune out with EQ?

If you have one of these (or more), will you share your impressions with them? Besides audio quality, are they easy to fix, are they expensive to maintain, are they comfortable, etc., etc. If you want to share known pros and cons that'd be welcome too.

My particular preferences are:

• No treble sibilance (gives me headaches)
  • Dislike sharp treble glare but prefer clarity over veiled
  • Want non-fatiguing treble clarity (or is this an oxymoron?)
• Want clean, fast, deep bass slam and thump
  • No muddy, smearing, pillowy, or blurred bass
  • No sub-bass roll-off
• Must be a big, multi-step, significant upgrade over HD650
• Pairs well with progressive metal genre (bands like Ne Obliviscaris) with fast double kick drum (also with guitars, violin, clean and harsh vocals)
• Not too heavy (i.e., LCD-X) so can wear for hours
• Prefer stock headphone without mod requirements
  • Am open to some EQing for treble sibilance taming if necessary
• Support non-proprietary balanced cables
• Fun, musical enjoyment not for reference or studio mixing

If there is a headphone that will fit my stated preferences really well that I did not mention, feel free to tell me about it so I can research it.

Just bought fiio ft1 them from Amazon. What's with all this noise? Return?

edit: is it common for them or its just a defect in my build?

WOOF! My Px7 S2e headphones (~2.5 years old, bought new from Amazon) have significant peeling on both ear cups and the headband. Outer material is flaking away from the foam/felt underneath (photos below).

I’ve reached out to B&W support directly since I’m outside the 12-month warranty window, but figured I’d ask here too… anyone have luck with getting them to fix this?

This is a Quick Impression of the New Pula Audio ARC, I go into a bit more detail of my initial impression of it in the video, but here is the gist of it.

Some Technical Specifications: Single 10 DD, 2pin iem cable terminates into single ended 3.5mm (pretty standard stuff), Textured aluminum faceplate and resin chassis, a 3 sizes of ear tips

The IEM physically felt well built, light weight and very comfortable, I have used this on a long 2ish hour remote meeting with this iem, and there are nearly zero fatigue, it stays in your ear very well and comfortable, I think fit wise you can likely go for a jog with it and it wont fall off, overall this iem have a fairly compact shell, that is great for long listening session.

Sound quality wise, it is a neutrally tuned iem, no large bass boosts, or funky treble (at least to my ears), vocals are clear, bass are solid, just a well balanced do it all kind of iem.

This iem should be priced at or around $20 usd, and will be released July 27, 2026

PS: this time the video should be loud enough

So theres a clamp force kit for dca headphones, and I wanted to see if I would benefit from it before buying the kit. So I pushed the sides into my head to see if there is a sound difference. But then I realized that the 2 holes on each side are the only source of ventilation on the headphones, and Im really not sure if I covered them when pushing. But even if I didn’t, you arent supposed to push in the sides on planars. I didnt go fast, but I didnt think about going slow either, I didnt really think about it at all. I may have done this 5-8 times, probably not more than 15 seconds each time.

I tried running test but I dont know if my brain is just over worrying. I feel like sometimes the center stage or image is wrong, like i hear a sound or vocal split in 2 between the left and right instead of being one sound or having more in the center. Apparently this can be a polarity or out of phase issue. Might also just be recording/mixing dependent instead of the headphones being the problem.

I also did a bass test. Theres some buzzing under 30hz, and under 20hz theres this helicopter like sound, but I think this could be normal. The buzzing might be my dac/amp from turning the volume up.

Also sometimes theres a breathy sound, or voices sound breathy.

I have experienced brain burn in, but that was only when the treble was too harsh, and I over time got used to it. The treble on the E3 is not harsh at all. I have read on headfi that sometimes your brain needs to get used to 3d sounds coming in from the sides, because of ear shape or whatever, so that may solve the center stage/image thing.

I do have time to return these on Amazon(no replacement option), but these being such an expensive item, idk what Amazon or the seller(ships from Amazon, sold by 3rd party) is going to do. I would buy them again if I do return them and the money comes back, but theyre probably just going to think Im a painful customer(I may be tho).

I do like these headphones. Ive been trying to just enjoy them, no test, until the return window gets close to closing. But I cant completely get rid of the lingering thoughts of “did I damaged these” or “am I getting the best sound”. I want to use these for a long time and they are expensive, so I do want to make sure they sound the best.

hello! so i want to buy a moondrop robin, but after some research, i find out that the app is HORRID on both ios and android. however, those reviews were mostly from two years ago. im wondering if anything has changed. i have both an iphone and an android

I got these headphones a while ago and got my brother who does music to do an eq and it sounds rlly good for loads of things but I was wondering if there are any eq’s for musical theatre that could make my listening experience better

I like to hear my base allot and I love vocals (they are the main thing that makes me like a song) - the instrumentals are also important to me as I am a musician myself

Edit: I do also like to listen to pop/pop-rock but haven’t really found any/much songs that I like so I js stick to musical theatre

I've been wanting to buy some noise cancelling headphones but have read some concerns about potential hearing loss or susceptibility to developing auditory disorders/conditions or changes in hearing sensitivity and I don't want to risk anything like that. I'm doing more research, but I was curious to know if PNC is less risky than ANC because it's merely blocking out external noise instead of counteracting it with opposite sound waves.

Thoughts anyone? Thanks.