Yet another closed back advice thread

What's up everyone. I am looking for advice for a headphone for everyday use.

I have done a lot of research but despite many similar threads, nothing seemed to have the same exact focus as I do, so I haven't really found a fitting pair. These are my main (super basic) needs / criteria:

• Closed back. I use headphones around other people, in a metro or library, so reasonable isolation is a must.
  
• Comfortable. I use headphones for hours a day sometimes, so 400+ gram heavy stuff, strong clamp force, stiff pads, etc. are a big no-no. Related to this is also "somewhat compact", as I bike and travel in public transport with headphones, so massive ones don't fit.
  
• Good sounding. By itself sounds obvious, but since this is very personal, it's good explain what kind of sound I am looking for. I "trust measurements" in the sense that I find that HPs that measure well (low distrortion, no resonances or intense rollercoasters in FR, etc) sound good to me, just a problem that most are open back. I enjoy a neutral sound, in the "close to Harman" sense, but FR is less important than distortion. A bit of extra bass usually doesn't bother me, but peaks in the high frequencies do. Ideally I want a headphone that measures extremely well, to have some confidence before purchase, as even in a large European city I have no option to listen to most models in person.
• Passive. No interest to throw away perfectly working transducers because a non replaceable battery got old. I have a Fiio BTR5 for bluetooth anyway, so I strongly prefer that + a good pair of passives over a Bluetooth headphone.
  
• Reasonably priced. Reasonable here is also personal in a way, but I don't have a possibility to spend 2K+ on a pair of headphones. Under 1K would be best, although the 400-600 space is most comfortable, willing to go higher for something that fits all the criteria very well.

For reference, headphones I owned over the years and general opinions on them:

• LIKED: Shure SRH1540 (my current pair, gets as close to my needs as possible, but a bit dark), Beyer 880 Pro (comfy, smooth, but not enough bass), Bose QC35 (comfy and light, but horrible with no ANC), AirPods Max (overall good although FR not fully my vibe, and a bit heavy), Audio Technica ATH-R70x (if only these exact headphones existed closed-back)
• LUKEWARM: Oppo PM-3 (nice sound but too heavy and clampy), Sony MDR-Z1R (comfy but too bassy), Denon AH-D7200 (OK, but too expensive for what it sounds like)
• DISLIKED lol: Audio Technica ATH-A2000Z (unbearable piercing highs, unbelievable to me that anyone enjoys this), Beyer T5p (bland somehow, no bass), Neumann NDH-20 (uncomfortable and underwhelming sound), Focal Spirt Pro (extremely uncomfortable), ZMF something or other (listened in a demo room, way too heavy and extremely expensive for what they sound like), Audeze LCD-XC (same demo room, good sound but it's so heavy that it seems entirely pointless)

Here are some models I was interested to check from reading up on them (please suggest others I might not know of):

• DCA Noire (people seem to love them, but hard to find in Europe), also Noire X just released and might be exactly what I am looking for, but still very little info out there. Would they sound considerably better than the Shures? idk
  
• Newer harman-tuned Focal closed backs: Azurys seems to have good impressions but I haven't been able to find distortion measurements, Lensys seems to be very new and barely available, so definitely still no proper info/measurements.
• Ollo S5X, Austrian Audio Hi-X60, Sennheiser HD620S seem interesting also, but polarized opinions out there, and might feel like a side-grade from SRH1540.
• If they weren't that expensive, Meze Liric and Sennheiser HD820 seem good. If a used pair for a good price appears in my area would consider.

In terms of sources, I either listen from the RME ADI DAC, or a Fiio BTR5 on the go. I think that's enough power for most planars, so no restriction in terms of driver type or sensitivity.

Any advice would be very welcome.

 

hello,

(verified that you posted in the place we ask new folks to post first, thank you.)

me thinks that you would LOVE these:

https://etaheadphones.com/products/mini-closed

i know, i know, i know... all the ETA headphones are sold out.

which f'ing SUX! (as i wanted to ask for the ETA Ada on my Holiday Wishlist. {as the only thing i wanted, Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS be damned!})

the ETA Mini Closed are wonderful, light in weight, very easy to drive, and let one disappear into the music. which, after all, is what we are here for?

i have absolutely no idea concerning availability overseas, sorry.

cheers!

 

Thanks for the suggestion, indeed these seem to tick most boxes! The FR from Oratory looks pretty good even without EQ, I don't mind a bit of extra bass at 200Hz.

I have never heard of the company, and just did some research. There seems to be very little info on them outside of this forum, but sounds interesting. I am slightly cautious of tiny boutique brands since they tend to have short lifetimes, so servicability in the long term is a risk. But quite interesting that a DIY effort could achieve results similar to multi-million audio behemoths with entire labs and teams (although the distortion measurement would be great to be verifiable from at least one other source).

I didn't fully understand if they plan to make more of these and when, and how easy it would be to get them in Europe, but will keep an eye out for updates.

 

This part confuses me as the DT880 is typically V-shaped with a fair amount of bass. I wonder if it was underdriven, or do you wear glasses which might break the seal of the earpads? The latter would suggest towards pad swapping as a big thing to experiment with once you find a headphone that falls within your sound preference.

 

I agree that the DT880s have a LOT of bass, much moreso than e.g. the HD600. The Beyers didn't have the fastest bass but the rumble was capable of sounding immense. These are measurements from my first MiniDSP rig which had the mics moved to the opening of the ear canal, so do not compare to any other measurements.

Also, I wore much thicker-frame glasses when I was using the DT880s regularly; I didn't find that to compromise perceived bass levels too much, so don't think that's likely to be it.

RED = DT880; GREEN = HD600.

 

Might be true, admittedly I owned them way back, it was the OG 250Ohm version, not the newer black one. I should clarify it didn’t feel like there’s no bass at all, I’d just prefer a tiny bit more, but I wasn’t at all unhappy with it - in fact I only switched away from them because I couldn’t use them in public places.

Maybe it’s also influenced by the fact that 1540’s have more bass than what can be called neutral. I do wear glasses though, which could be a factor!

 

But in any case, I’m essentially wondering which comfortable closed back pair(s) could be considered all around the best, sans semi-closed or heavy stuff.

Like a 2024 version of this thread from way back: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/the-ultimate-closed-isolating-headphones-reduce.697/

(unlike that thread my question also relates to price but also is pretty much implied with the comfortable/portable requirement, as the super expensive options are almost always heavy and huge)

On another note, crazy how few brands/models mentioned there in 2015-16 are around/relevant any more. I feel like many would benefit from a more up to date showdown.

 

I think the DCA Noire (X) is going to check all your boxes. Or try the DCA Aeon Closed X at Drop for a cheaper price on an older model. Light, comfortable, and (somewhat) portable.

 

I find it's less the thickness of the frames and more the curvature of your face/profile relative to the andgle of the frames/arms of the glasses. I used to wear larger/wider glasses and the arms were more perpendicular, meaning the angle coming away from my face was larger and started sooner, and I always had seal issues with circumaural headphones. Now I have smaller glasses that also sit slightly closer in, and the arms angle more inwards. I rarely have issues with seal now.

Anyhow, that's going off on a tangent.