Headphones with good staging

If we already have a thread addressing this, please just point me toward it and we can close this one.

I’d like for this thread to provide a listing of headphones that stage well (for headphones anyway).

I feel like having a set that stages well is a gap in my lineup. I’d like to begin the process of research to address this, but re-reading every post in the Headphones section is a bit too much. Instead, I will once again ask for the wisdom of this community.

If a specific dac/amp is required, please do make a note of that!

Thank you in advance to those who choose to share their experiences!

 

For size of stage, HD800 is an obvious choice.
For pinpoint imaging, I haven't found better than Utopia.

 

Raal Sr1a but largest headstage I've heard is HD800 + DNA Starlett, truly nebulous. I actually found it slightly overwhelming.

 

To my ears, the Stax Omega remains the king of headphone stage and imaging. Sony R10 is the best that can create a stage with a clear sense of height and room cues. Stax Lambda normal bias is well worthy of the manufacturer's "semi-panoramic" descriptor printed on the box. To a lesser extent, Utopia is excellent in headstage among headphones current in production.

 

You might want to clarify what's important to you regarding staging: size/width/depth? imaging precision? ...

As others have said, HD800 family has the most expansive stage of conventional headphones, but imaging tends to be fuzzy and nebulous. Like Utopia, Stellia doesn't have a huge stage, but I find imaging to be very precise in location and size. I suspect the top end Focal drivers have something to do with this.

I don't have experience with them, but the big boy tube amps are reported to "stage well".

SFD-1 Mk2 is amazing in its ability to increase stage size and depth.

 

I agree with the others that the HD800 stage is nebulous. In comparison, I've found that the Verite Open creates a space, albeit somewhat withdrawn, but once I step into that space, I'm very satisfied with the staging and layering it provides. It definitely gives a better sense of space than I get with my Focal Clear.

 

What are we looking for here, stage length, depth, height, or some other preferred shape? I personally like a round shape to the stage, I would say I have only experienced that with the ZMF aeolus on a "modest" system

 

Final Audio's D8000 Pro has a larger, wider, taller/lower, and deeper stage than the Utopia (out of DNA Starlett with Yggdrasil A2), is still very precise (though a half step behind Utopia), but is in no way nebulous like the HD800 series. Thus it is the best stage I have heard, with one caveat - a handful of tracks/recordings the stage collapses into a "three blob" effect, but his does not happen very often..maybe I need to pay more attention to placement when this happens.

 

Yep.

 

My LTS V1s have very precise imaging but no staging - just a left to right interval in my head.

However, using the free Sennheiser / DearReality plugin, I add staging up to expansive levels, with finegrained control over the location and reflections. This is much better than switching headphones. I believe @atomicbob does something similar with a different plugin.

 

The three VSTs I use are WavesNX, Redline monitor and dearVR. Of the three WavesNX works best for my system.

 

The v3 is the same, and by far, my biggest (and can say only) gripe with them. Still one of the best surprises in the last 5y for me. Is this free/easy to use? Want to try.

 

HD800S for stage, and I found that HD800S with Jan Meier's crossfeed has a little smaller sound stage, but the precision of imaging is greatly improved.

 

In my early days of head-fi-ism, I thought the Audio Technica ATH-AD### series always had extra wide staging.

 

I don't think that should be a gripe: if you think it through, the headphone is a terrible place to do your staging. You can only create an acoustic effect in the cups - you can't actually mix channels or account for headshape, like the digital staging achieves.

It's much better to do staging digitally into accurate uncoloured headphones like the LTS ones. You get better staging and control over how much and what type.

Sennheiser / DearVR has a free version which is all you need. I've just tried WavesNX and it seems better, but it is not free beyond the 1 week trial period.

 

How did you set up the DearVR Sennheiser thing? I tried it and cannot seem to make it run at all? I tried running it through simple VST host programs, but it just refuses to make anything to the sound at all :/

 

I'm using a MacBook and Audirvana for playback. Once installed, I can add Dear VR (and Waves FX) as Audio Units as shown. Other systems and software will have different settings.. the main thing is to have a player that allows plugins when using your DAC.

 

The Abyss 1266 has the widest soundstage I've heard, while still being decent with accuracy. The bass extension has the same impact on staging that adding a sub has in a 2 channel system.

 

I can add a few headphones to the discussion as well. There is the K700 series. K702 I had it personally, very wide, but super diffused and kinda "left/right" only sounding. K712 is much better in this aspect, it sounds fuller, more precise and gives a solid sensation of depth, but staging isn't as wide anymore (around twice as wide as the HD650 I would say).

The DT880 is actually really great for sound positioning. The width is more compact than the K712 (a tiny bit only) but way more precise. That would be my go to recommendation for a cheap headphone with a good and accurate soundstage.

Oh also, the T50RP Mkii I modded had very good imaging capabilities, but the staging was about as wide as the HD650 only.

 

Not hugely popular around SBAF, but I find the Empyrean Elite to have good / precise staging