wbass

They’re in my town. Great folks.

Yeah, really friendly. Great looking amps, too. I lived in C-Ville from 2005-2008 and was back for a job interview. Construction everywhere, and restaurant prices kinda went bananas.

I’ve only been here for six years, but housing prices went crazy right at the beginning of the pandemic.

Took the Link Buds out on a (literal) test run today. No occlusion effect/foot pounding. Stay in my ears. Not super comfortable, but need to try different tips. Decent sound, but not terribly convincing bass, even with a boost. Will have to play around with them more.

I bought a set and can concur that bass is pretty non-existent. However I didnt get for music but for podcasts and audiobooks. The open-ness is nice for that no occlusion effect as you describe, and soundstage feels much larger and outside of head compared to my Galaxy Buds Live.

Sony has a new no-occlusion wireless earbud. I dont imagine it having much bass either but the comfort looks better.
https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/all-headphones/p/wioe610-b

Meze Elite a strong all-rounder and easy to drive. LCD-4 just a basshead delight, but it's damned heavy. Verite Closed a fine closed back, comfy, and isolates well, but I think I want that last little bit of detail/clarity that comes from an open back.

So... whatcha gonna rock in the end? Major contenders?

See rankings in post 4 above. I think I’m reluctantly concluding that I’ll go Susvara. It’s the best I’ve heard. Very annoying that probably will need a new amp, but hoping the Topping LA90 integrated will suffice. Put on my radar by @Vtory

Would love a loaner on that bad-boy. Too bad the price is out of play for me. I'd have to sell all my shit.

some noises on reddit about brief demos, a what hi-fi review, nothing out there so far that seems trustworthy. what hi-fi does call them "analytical" (it should be noted they said the yamahas were driven solely by a RME-ADI-2—assuming the hp out) though, which was a little disappointing to me, but I'll wait to pass judgement until better ears here have had some time with them.

Wasn't a loaner for that one already in the cards @purr1n? Genuinely curious to see what folks here make of that.

Agree, great series.

Remind me, how are you doing this? Cable Company lending library? Dealers? Beg, borrow, and steal? ;)

Glad the posts are of some interest! It's pretty much all been at dealers in and around London. Mega-city with lots of small flats = lots of HP listeners? I've been a little surprised myself at how much there is to hear near-ish to me.

If I wasn't restricted to HPs myself for serious listening, for the next long while, I probably wouldn't be entertaining such summit-fi explorations. I'm sort of hoping I get along with a used pair of LCD-4Z or maybe Stax 007, but I expect I'll find them compromised in comfort and FR respectively.

@wbass - it's worth taking a 5-10 minutes to futz with the Abyss headband contraption. Unlike the LCD-4/z, you don't want the pads to seal tightly against your head; the pads should rest lightly against your head and even break the seal slightly to get the bass to sound right. You can also rotate the pads clockwise/anti-clockwise to get the right fit.

So, my Utopia/HD800/Starlett/EC Studio Jr. set-up is in storage for at least the next 6 months, maybe year. So, I'm looking for something till then but also a pair of HPs that won't feel redundant when I get stuff out of storage finally. Since I can't listen to speakers in this flat, I'm head-fi for quite some time, so want to go TOTL or close to it.

Makes sense, good luck in your search!

Pretty much.

Maybe it is all about moving mass and QTS

Yes. Even with an HE-60 or HE-90, you’ll still get a touch of paper bass texture. The compromise is worth it for many and it has its place.

Focal Stellia: pretty correct sounding for a closed-back. Controlled bass. Nice sense of detail, decent stage width. Pretty reminiscent of Utopia, minus some of the magic. Comfortable and light, esp. after the LCD-4. Fugly color. Makes me want to quote Streetcar Named Desire. Stellia!!!

You didn't notice a mid-bass bump with Stellia? That's my only issue with it. Love it otherwise, for a closed back.

Could be! It was a five-minute listen at a not pristinely quiet hi-fi shop, so drew no strong conclusions other than, Pretty good! I seem to make up my mind pretty quick these days and felt that I'd prefer the Verite Closed, which is probably more colored but also more fun.

Or I'll circle back to the HE1000SE or V2 or the new V2 Stealth.

Or I'll just lose my mind in the all-consuming vortex of consumer choice.

But have fun doing it.

Probably the latter option

Where did you get the chance to listen to all those headphones? I think it was ZMFs recently? In Europe?

Turns out there are some excellent headphone shops in and around London.

Ah! Hm, I’ll do a city trip with my daughter later this year. Maybe I can convince her to go to London, not to Paris. 0:-)

Atrium: Didn't have enough time to really form an opinion. Had them described to me as HD800-like. A bit brighter than other ZMFs. Could be very appealing. Connected with the V.C. more readily.

Aeolus: Not enough time to form a proper opinion.

Nice. What a ZMF day!

Mostly purchased used or on heavy discount, so luckily I've been able to make some savvy buys and not too many missteps. Started with HD650 and Jot 1 (never much liked it) and researched and auditioned most things along the way.

@wbass I'd rank Utopia the first for the overall bass quality (note that I hate to discuss heft only ignoring other quality components of bass) among the three you mentioned (IDK about o2 because I have zero idea). If you meant bass heft as weightness/density without sacrificing delicate expressions, Utopia was better to me among anything equal to or cheaper than its price. Quantity might be compromised tho.

@wbass I don't mean ca-1a is bad. It sounds great and tasteful in its own light. But for various reasons I don't quite feel like it can serve as a primary reference in evaluating music and audio.

The best I've ever heard a double bass sound? Atrium.

ESX900 also awesome; the Fostex/Denon closed backs as @Lyander notes are great.

Aeolus with Aeolus pads

Cougar--Patriot
Nine Horses--Snow Borne Sorrow
Joe Henry--Scar
Royal Canoe--Today We're Believers

Swans - To be kind

If, that is, you like the Phonitor sound. I hear it as quite linear, a touch lean, detailed, but not necessarily bright. Someone pointed out the unusual power specs to me, recently. I guess it's an unusual design?

Installing AutoEq, you can create your own stuff that doesn’t use Harman as a target. And also convolution WAVs for higher bitrates, though Roon will convert the ones you have as necessary, too.
I used to create EQ settings (and convolution WAVs) with AutoEq to make certain HPs sound like others (tonally, not technically, of course). :)

Working my way through HPs and IEMs I have with me, trying filters. Never really been into EQ before, but I can see how you can get lost in this. Suddenly makes frequency response seem much less important than technicalities.

Though tuning to Harman curve seems to suck a bit of life out of things, it does tighten up, in particular, the bass response. OG Andromeda biggest change thus far. Much cleaner for better or worse. I'm sure everyone knows about all of this already.

Affliction...with affection. Hahaha.