After a Long Day Reviewing the World's Best Headphones

[sweetsweatyfeet]

I've always liked Stax headphones (I own an old pair of SRX Mk IIIs) though some other electrostatics phones are arguably as good. Bummer is the need for a special high voltage charger which means you can't tote them around.

[Satfgk]

@gmahler2u They are so different. HD 800 is open, airy and analytical. LCD-2 is darker, warmer and more musical. Haven't heard the HE500

[MadCrokodile1]

wow.

[gmahler2u]

I'm searching for headphone and have some dilemma. If you have choice between Sennheiser HD 800 or Hifiman HE500 or LCD-2. which one would choose?

Thanks.

[JogBird]

why cant they make good electrostatic phones that are reasonably priced... ie. in the 1k range. it like 5k for the SR009 and another 5k for a decent amp to drive it.

[headampcom]

@JogBird an entry level Stax system is about $1k and there is also the Koss ESP950 system for $571 at Amazon

[1MarquisATorres]

i wish i was rich.... o.O

but very great reviews!

[hawaiiancerveza]

Could you do a review on the Newer 007 MK2.5? Do they sound very different?

[MrMPGamer]

could you please tell me with headphones I should get for a budget of like 200 euro and I really want a pair of awesome headphones and their base need to be good

[mrmadicbm]

I bet those SR009 sound great with that blue hawai amp, Im getting a stiffy just thinking about it.

[mrmadicbm]

Nice...fucking real nice,

[MusicDAnthony]

I was just in awe the entire time watching the video. Never seen such equipment

[bahathir]

Where isthe King of Dynamic headphones, the Sony MDR-R10. ? :)

IMHO, open headphones are not as hifi as the closed pair. Why? You still can hear your surroundings, and 'trick' you to believe that you are in a hall. Your listening experiences also changes when you change rooms or places. So you may get the 'best' headphones when you listen in your quiet listening room, and the 'worst' if you using them near the busy street or construction sites. :)

Clean power? Try battery operated amp. :)

[jonathanbbaa]

can you review the Sennheiser HD 201s please if you did not already.

[TheGGBProduction]

waste of money... no need to have such expensive and high quality equipment for headphones or even have really expensive headphones in general. the human ear can has a limitted hearing range plus all mixing and mastering is done on studio monitors where the speakers are much more responsive. not only that, but also only 1 person can enjoy the headphones at a time... i never see a point of spending above $300 on headphones if that

[Wormmmmm]

@TheGGBProduction That's because you just have no idea.

Try to listen to one hi.fi headphone and you will see that this sentence "human ear bla bla" just doesn't make any sense.

[RCPYROANDSOUNDKID]

where are the senn HE-90'S :(

[planeguy3223]

Oh.... my..... God..... I only wish that I could hear such beauty. You are one lucky man sir.

[BrianSou69]

LOL. Ten thousand-dollar headphone amp...

[strikerk]

You should hook up some Beats by Dre on there...

...

I'm just kidding, don't kill me! lol

[atilalexander]

I had an orgasm while watching those headphones



[Pnasalberta]

can u do something like this for cheaper headphones and proper amps for them?

[Kill0rbAg]

Where the fuck is the T1?! It definitely belongs to that headphones!

[theIDKer]

Does anybody know a good headphone that is under $1,800?

[shakeAbooty88]

@theIDKer Sennheiser HD 800 are selling for $1389 Australian dollars from Oz digital online store on ebay. They are a great headphone. The Stax which placed best in this review are over $4800.00; that's not something I would remotely consider paying and I'm a writer/singer/producer.

[pilus87]

@theIDKer watch the vid #facepalm

[stilldasayme]

Wow this looked like a Chamillionaire music video or something

[xZarakiix]

DUDE...  you're so loaded!

and great passion there! love all your reviews!

[ytfmichaelxu]

Thanks, finally someone on youtube who's knowledgeable in good headphones.

[ckscream]

what do you think are the best modern looking headphones under 300$? please respond

[chunky1x]

How about the best cheap headphones test?

[666megaslut]

hey. can you review the grado sr80i please

[juannspk]

This question might be dumb, but what are the differences among magnetic, electrostatic and dynamic headphones? , are there advantages and disadvantages?

[Satfgk]

@NewPSCity Go with the Audio Technica M50, they are great for the price and do not leak sound like the HD 595, which is a open design.

[chowychow]

Tried the SR-009s but sadly the price is really out of reach :(

[NewPSCity]

Have u tested the Sennheiser HD595? What headphones would u recommend for me, I want to spend less then $200 bucks, sound that does not leak so much that other people can hear it, and good noise isolation.

[baphomet58]

can you review the d2000, d5000, and d7000?

[Satfgk]

I WANT THAT PINNACLE!

[NewPSCity]

I was wondering if u could review the klipsch reference image one on ear headphones.

[InnerFidelity]

@NewPSCity My request is in.

[NewPSCity]

@InnerFidelity Great! Thanks.

[KRE8TVT]

@InnerFidelity Tyle, I have a question for ya. Why use a DAC? I mean there isn't a reason to convert digital to analog if you can get lossless digital audio right? In other words, FLAC files are digital which is currently the highest quality there is, even better than CD quality. So that means there isn't a need for a 10k cd player or a turntable anymore?

[InnerFidelity]

@KRE8TVT Yup. Yer right. But I knew the Wadia well, and I didn't have a kick ass computer DAC.

[megaohmz]

@KRE8TVT Actually FLAC is identical to CD, I mean exactly identical. The wave forms are perfectly matched in all detail as long as the guy who ripped the CD didn't clip the poop out of it and ruin the recording. So they (FLAC) are not better but the same, but the file size is smaller. CD is not the best quality digital recording out there anymore. 24/192 (Blu ray) is the best and that is what the pros are recording with now.

[50CentInPampers]

@InnerFidelity hey tyle how did you manage to get the stax headphones?

[Leoooonard]

@InnerFidelity no K-1000?

[melo15813]

Have you ever tried the blueant embrace headphones?

[InnerFidelity]

@melo15813 Yes, and they're pretty good, definately worth the money.

[melo15813]

@InnerFidelity thanks how do you think they compare tonthe B&W P5? I tried them in the apple store and didnt think they where that comfortable.

[melo15813]

@InnerFidelity No I really have a hard tike finding headphones that dont hurt my ears the B&W didnt hurt but I could tell if I wore them for a hour or so they would start to hurt but when I tried the ebats by dre it felt like I could wear them all day if I needed to but they cost to much and are huge leakers. That got me looking at the blueant but I really cant find that many reviews or info about them.

[OriginalMindTrick]

Why the heck would you buy a car that loses 50-100 dollars a day in value when you can buy second hand electronics that never loses value. I guess the same is true with old classic cars.

[juannspk]

Have you tried the Grado's PS1000 or GS1000i? What do you think of them?.

By the way, great videos!

[InnerFidelity]

@juannspk Don't like the Grados much ... not enough bass; too shrill.

[lantyboy696]

dont get me wrong i love headphones alot, hence subbing to you so i dont wish to offend you but....... Why on earth spend this kind of cash on headphones and headphone amps when you could get a real kick ass speaker set up? i only use headphones for recording music but there top end and a top end audio interface, but this gear above is just idk top top top end over the top lol. As long as your happy man its cool but to me it seems crazy lol. will you be reviewing the sony mdr-z1000s anytime??

[InnerFidelity]

@lantyboy696 SOme folks have the kind of dought that get you 99.9999% there. It's for them I wrote this article. Most everyone else in the world could easily live with the Creative Aurvana Live! at $100. It takes all kinds, eh? I've asked Sony for some Z1000 .... still waiting.

[barun432]

The T1s deserve a place in this session.. 

[whatup101ful]

what headphone do you think is best at the price point of 400 dollars or less ? mostly for ipod use

[sainteustatious]

can u use those headphones on an iPod

[pilus87]

@sainteustatious can u use a diesel engine on an elephant ?

[yeoldeengineer]

Nitpicking mode:

One probably could have gotten away with electronics at a fraction of the cost. I guess the things we see there sorta were part of the deal. Objectively speaking, nobody needs a $10k CD player, and I wouldn't be surprised if the dynamic headphone amp actually measured inferior to a "boring" ~$1k Violectric job.

Something like <$3k for a top-flight headphone setup (cans included) seems absolutely realistic... still not cheap, but a lot more affordable for sure.

[InnerFidelity]

@yeoldeengineer Initially I had a different set-up using a HeadRoom UltraDAC and a computer as source. It didn't have enough resoltion to separate the men from the boys. This gear is seriously top-notch, and a world class front end was needed to really pick out the differences.

[StringBoi]

Gorgeous looking table there =)

[spambucket99]

I have the HD800 and am fairly happy with them but I agree that the bass impact is disappointing.

The 009 are more expensive than my speaker setup at $5200! Wow. I'd love to hear how those sound.

[strikerextreme]

Wtf some Isane hitech shit dat is.

Its like wats scientists use for experiments ;-)

[misiek080]

You seem to be quite excited about all this stuff :)

Though, If I was there, I wouldn't be calm at all. I guess, I'd kind of burst into tears of happiness. I hope someday I'll get a chance to listen to at least one of these...

[OriginalMindTrick]

I've heard the Pinnacle isn't the best match for the HE-6.

That it was sounding underpowered.

[InnerFidelity]

@OriginalMindTrick Not my impression. The Pinnacle is extraordinarily good.

[Flobbies]

you bought headphones when you could have bought a car :P

[InnerFidelity]

@Flobbies Oh heck no, I can't afford any of that stuff. I've blown my wad on $60,000 worth of headphone measurement gear .... when I could have bought a car. :(

[ahgnfjie]

The k1000 is missing :D

[InnerFidelity]

@ahgnfjie I thought about it, but there wasn't room on the table.  :)

Actually, thought they're the other headphone that may come close to the imaging of the HD 800. But they don't have good extension in either the bass or treble. I will say, though, that you REALLY need the right amp to make them sing. I like the Pass Aleph One as a K1k amp.

[joe37pop]

Many thanks Tyll...Just what I have been waiting for an unbiased review of the creme de la creme of head fi gear (somebody with good ears)...great videos, great read...great job!

[arthimmig]

Now that is one epic pile of gear!

[Cr4Lx]

Innerfidelity, I got a tough one.... Sennheiser HE90 vs Stax 009?

[InnerFidelity]

@Cr4Lx I haven't done the comparison myself, but the Stax Mafia sez: 009+BHSE>Orpheus. Who am I to contradict.

[InnerFidelity]

@ontheedgeaustin Thanks. Just curious: what's missing that makes it "(almost)" the best gear? What did I miss?

[OriginalMindTrick]

@InnerFidelity

The gear missing with the Pinnacle would be the Qualia and R10.

I don't know if the K1000 would be a good matchup?

[InnerFidelity]

@OriginalMindTrick I wanted to review gear that is currently availble. Neither the Qualia (which absolutely sucks .... almost as bad as the Ultrasone Ed 10) nor the R10 (which is very good) are as good as the other cans in the test.

[flyjum]

damn

[TehJimmyman]

World's*

[InnerFidelity]

@TehJimmyman Thanks mate ... fxt

[Troothforc]

You forgot the link ;)

[InnerFidelity]

@Troothforc Still working on the article. Link should be up in about an hour.

[jmntrunks]

LIKE A BOSS

[InnerFidelity]

@jmntrunks Dude, I laughed ... repeatedly. Thanks! :)