Headphones to Acquire and Measure

I dont know how far along the decision-making process is here, but here are my thoughts on the results so far. Obviously most people voted for ridiculously expensive headphones: Which is fine, but SBAF will most likely not be able to purchase many of those. I concur with Purrins post from a few pages back:

Following that thinking I have grouped the headphones into three categories based on their approximate price:


>1000$:

Pioneer SE-Master1 2500$
Mr. Speakers Ether Closed 1500$
Mr. Speakers Ether 1500$
Enigmacoustics Dharma D1000 1200$
Technics EAH-T700 >1000$ (Unreleased)
Beyerdynamic T1.2 1000$


400-1000$:

Kennerton Magister 800$
Audeze EL-8 Open 700$
Final Sonorous VI 700$
Audioquest Nighthawk 600$
Alpha Design Labs H128 500$
Audio Technica ATH-R70x 400$
AKG K712 400$


<400$:

Sennheiser HD250 Linear II 250$
Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 250$
NAD Viso HP30 250$
Harman Kardon CL 200$
Philips CitiScape Fixie SHL5305TL 75$
Noontex Zoro II HD 70$


What the f**k:

Stax 2070 ? (Unreleased?)




I would suggest picking one from each category instead of a gazillion votes for the most expensive phones. Based on the current standings (October 9th), the top dogs in each category are:


>1000$:

Enigmacoustics Dharma D1000 - 47 Votes
Beyerdynamic T1.2 - 35 Votes
Mr. Speakers Ether Closed - 23 Votes


400-1000$:

Audio Technica ATH-R70x - 18 Votes
Audioquest Nighthawk - 17 Votes
Final Sonorous VI - 12 Votes


<400$:

Noontex Zoro II HD - 10 Votes
Audio Technica ATH-MSR7 - 6 Votes
NAD Viso HP30 - 6 Votes


My suggestion would be to have a second round of voting from these contenders + telling people to vote for one headphone from each category. (I couldnt fit in the Stax 2070, because WTF? Is that a thing? Cant find any information..) This way we might actually get more than just one super-expensive phone reviewed.

 

I suggest considering the new line of closed-back AT's

http://www.head-fi.org/t/783495/aud...or-series-refreshed-a2000z-a1000z-a900z-a500z

 

hello,

should be STAX 2170, SR207 and SRS 232S amp. I.w. the least expensive STAX full size combo.

 

hello,

please excuse typos I am on a tablet and I already suck with a real keyboard

 

Super late entry but I just remembered Kingsound.

http://www.kingsaudio.com.hk/headphone.html

Electrostatic headphones for <$1000. I don't see too many reviews about these but the few I have seen were good. I'd be curious to see how these are at least compared to the Koss electrostatics.

 

Kennerton Odin. So much talk on a french forum, I'm interested in knowing why...apart the Kennerton french dealer is kind of messiah out there.

Ali

 

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes

 

To me the Koss are not in the same league, yes, ditto get a pair to measure!

 

I agree, the last time I heard the Kingsounds they were a few rungs below

 

not to my ears, the Koss are trying to climb the Kings ladder

Then again, I have not spent a lot of time with either or was that ether

 

The Final Sonorous VI is on Massdrop now. Unfortunately only for US, AUS and NZ customers. Anybody going to take the plunge?

 

I know it is not on the list, but please consider measuring the T50RP Mk3.

 

Well... Livesoundwave is actually offering "auditions" for like $30 including --> https://www.livesoundwave.com/en-us/livesoundwave/headphones/final-audio-sonorous-vi-headphones

So... that's one way to go about it. I think they have most of their stock available for "auditioning"...
This is something that might be pursued...

 

What about the HiFiMAN HE-X? Lots of people on Head-Fi really liked it at whatever show. Not released yet, but it's supposed to be $2,000 or so and most of the impressions are really positive.

Also, there are no Grado measurements here at all, and I couldn't find many on Changstar either. I could send in my GH-1 for that, and even though I don't see anyone talking about any Grados at all, it'd be cool to know exactly where and why they 'fail' as a popular can here.

 

Since I finished my R70x review I'm going to offer metal571 the chance to review them, after that they should be free to be measured.

 

Only person that really knows about this is @No_One411 , but he won't share.

 

Technics 2-way could be a real sleeper.

I voted for Technics, Dharma, and Stax. Although I think most of us probably have an idea of how the Dharma measures I'd like to get your impressions.