Omnivorous headphones?

Do you have preferred cans for specific type of music? Or, do you have an omnivorous cans?

I'm quite omnivorous in terms of music, basically listen to jazz in all form (excluding free) but very often I listen to classical (love Mahler and Wagner), rock/pop and even ambient/EDM/experimental.

Since some time ago I preferred to listen to jazz with HEK, and other genres with HE6 and HE500. Now sold to a friend, but when I had them I preferably used Stax 507 for classical.

Interestingly enough, since I have Utopia in my harem I'm using them for basically everything. Maybe I still have a slight preference for HEK when I listen to smooth jazz, but Utopia seem to be a really omnivorous headphone. Now listening for example to this (someone may think it's garbage.... I like it )

and I'm really enjoying what I hear from Utopia

Anyone with the same experience? I mean, using a single cans for all type of music and not finding any issue? Would be interesting in having a sort of list of cans that can do everything good, maybe not the absolute best for a specific genre, but reasonably good with every genre.

The closest cans to this (other than Utopia) in my experience could be HE6, while for example I think HEK is not perfect for rock/pop or EDM......

 

Omnivore here, well mostly. I enjoy all my headphones for all genres and uses.

Some are for enjoyment and others for work, preferred scenario, but not mutually exclusive.
My choice is AKG K240DF for work (excl. mastering) and K601 for enjoyment, paired with or without O2 and Clip+

There are genres with don't work well for DF, usually bass heavy, but for orchestral and folk it's fine and I usually don't listen to much else.

 

K240, how many good memories!!! An AKG K240 Monitor 600ohm has been my firt "serious" cans looooooooong time ago, and I still have it after more than 25 years. Perfectly working, I would add

 

My Oppo PM-3 are pretty omnivorous. They're not perfect, but extremely easy to live with both in office and on the go.

 

Not sure if you're aware of that, but I know of a person who makes genuine earpads for K240 range. Compared to faux leather ones being used on K240 since long time, these don't crack or harden. But they cost more, a bit.
BTW, K240M is also one of my favourites.

 

umh, interesting... do you have a link, also in pm if you prefer.

 

Of course, sent!

 

tnks!!

 

Omnivorous. Don't feel I can afford more than one pair of decently-moist midfi 'phones anyway.

Quite relieved to find that, on this seriously-headphones-as-hobby site, I'm not the only one!

 

My slightly modded HE-560's running on either speaker taps (at home), or a WA6 at work are pretty omnivorous for me (with slight EQ in the bottom end). I also find them less fatiguing than HE800's for long term listening like when I'm at work.

P.S. Love Conjure One. Was just listening to Holoscenic about 45 minutes ago.

 

The omnivore's dilemmma has been my iem blight. So many sound good... until you toss a cello at them. Suddenly... meh. And yet, having two iems, one for classical and one for everything else, is always an unsatisfying solution. The adjustment from one iem to another just takes too long to be natural.

I'm pretty happy right now about what I'm hearing from the ER4XR...

 

I've never been one to switch headphones or earphones for different genres. I use Utopia, HD600 and (rarely) Etymotic ER4P/S. If I had to keep just one, it'd be the HD600.

 

Except EDM, which I listen to very rarely, I am an omnivore. HD800S FTW.

For EDM I got the bassiest possible set, JVC SZ2000. Sounds like shit with any other genre.

 

HD800SD with eq can do any genre for me, basically turned them into super HD650's with much better extension up top and down below.

 

I tend to select headphones based on where I am (work or home) and genre of music.

For home use, I prefer to use my open Headroom Beyer-DT 880. These present the best soundstage and sound the most realistic for omnivore genre listening. They do lack a bit of the bass impact I crave and disturb my long-suffering wife if she is also working in the home office. These headphones also excel at anything with real instruments including Jazz, Classical, Country, and Blues.

I prefer to listen to EDM, industrial, and several unusual sub-genres of metal with my Mad Dog Pros. The isolation afforded by this close-backed headphone provides a noticeable bass bump at the cost of sound stage. Like @imackler said, cello solos and other quintets just don't sound right with these headphones.

At work, I listen to either a beat to hell pair of Beyer DT-250 (isolation) for omnivore genre listening. When I am writing and will be left alone for a while, I much prefer my Lyra II with Comply isolation tips.

 

On my way "up" before ever considering the notion of owning multiple open backs, a HE-500 and Lyr 1 did me right for a relatively long time. Good bass, clear midrange, decent soundstage and non-aggravating treble...worked for everything. Those were simpler times where I just enjoyed the music without thinking about all this optimization stuff too much. (it's also the setup that made this a "hobby")

Something like that would be my first thought for a secondary system, or a huge gear purge. Seems like HD650/Jot seems to fill that niche nowadays.

 

ZMF Eikon. Just straight to my sonic preference.
But probably need more time to verify this. It's been only half a month...

Anyway I am starting to think more which dacs and amps to pair with. Hope to end up with reasonable solutions.

 

As far as headphones go I basically use my modded HD800s for everything. My UERMs do the job others get planars for: Good subbass extension (down 1db at 24Hz or so). I use those in the subway. My HD600s are here to remind me that there's truly better than mid-fi.

For speakers I can see an 8" widebander with resonances all over the place coupled with 15"+ time-coincident, passive woofers (because 8" drivers that are 95db/2.83V at 500Hz and 105db/2.83V at 8kHz have no business reproducing bass) in my future for critical listening and possibly something without resonances (like an Estat) for falling asleep to music when someone gifts me a bag of money.

 

I used to use the MG6pros for everything, but now with the addition ot the Andromeda... That hasn't changed. I still use both for everything. Just depends which one I happen to grab first.

 

My Fidue a83 are pretty balanced at least to my ears. Can listen to anything while on the go and remain pretty satisfied until I can get home to listen to either my hd650 or paradox slants.

I know some people aren't going to like hearing this but I prefer my slants over the hd650s. Slants are much more pleasant. But both are such balanced headphones that I don't think I will ever go for headphones that aren't mostly neutral. Almost like I have some sort of "colored headphone" nervosa.