bump: tried HD800s want something similar but fuller its 90% of what im looking for though in terms of soundstage and detail and now im ok with £2k budget HALP me. every time i ask on headphone forums they are not helpful!

if you have 2k why not just get some stax

they're just by default better? the idea of the electrostatic thing sounded like super niche and intricate and this is my first headphone coming from IEMs. if they are actually just infinitely better than what i heard in the 800S then yeah im up for it

i dont have a dac/amp btw so this is apart of the 2k bduget too

so far all ive done research on in comparison to the HD800s is the arya and the heddphone, but both seem to have really shit flaws. haven't researched any of the stax stuff yet

the thing is when i tell people about my budget and what i want and what im looking for and my experience with audio, they just keep telling me to not buy this shit and go buy an HD600 which probably isnt gonna cut it above what i already have as far as IEMs and then they keep telling me some other bullshit.

and also, by better than the HD800s what i mean that it has the most comparable imaging and soundstage but is more detailed. even though the HD800s was detailed, i felt the bass wasn't detailed enough. idc about slam or anything like that, and i'm sure i could hear every detail in the music from the HD800s, but for the bass particularly i had to like listen for it.

but if at the end of this shit and i had to settle for HD800s because it fits my niche the best, i wouldn't necessarily be pissed im just searching for the ultimate shit

so what i mean is a presentation where its detailed extremely clear. if its gonna be this price range, then build is important to me too

edit: ok so im doing my research on them they do sound super interesting and they are gonna be something i demo, but the caveat to this one is that they are not really the same as other headphones at all, and so to start there, like i thought, would be a bad idea potentially. obviously if i think its the absolute best at the time, ill do it, but unfortunately i'm still leaning to the ........arya............. which i hate the idea of

well if you want the best possible experience, stax are easily the best i've ever listened to. especially in detail and soundstage. however yeah i wouldn't recommend it for your price range / exp sorry.

personally i hate hifiman, i've had the he400is and sundra and both straps broke and it was just a mess. i don't think you are gonna find much better than hd800s as they are a really solid pair. audio is all about your niche so you prob will find those best, you can get different padding to improve bass and such. for example, my favorite pair of headphones are shp9500s and those are pretty cheap.

you might just be better off getting a nice dac/amp combo. i recommend schiit for their build quality but my favorite dac combo is my first one, the audioengine d1.

what made you not like iems anymore? i prefer them infinitely, i have er4xr's and like them so much i bought another pair after i lost the first at lan.

er4xrs were my intro into this and i adore them but i think that what i have suffers from two main things

my customs need lots of maintenance and you cant just like put them in and take them out easily which makes gfoing to the toilet or eating super annoying nd also in this form factor, as far as im concerned the soundstage is never gonna match a headphone, at least on paper. never experienced anything like the 800s before

800s was like an er4xr as a speaker which was cool and tgats why im like its almost there but idk. perhaps the best mindset is to go can jam and see if the auteur/heddphone/focal clear(which is dirt cheap rn btw) / DT1990 do anything for me and f not stick with the HD800s cause im sure to be comfortable with it.

im still very undecided. im getting these in octoberish btw because thats when cam jam is and ill make whatever im getting directly after

but now id like to ask what do you guys use when you are playing games? ive always wanted those audia technica things that banny uses ever since i first saw him use that. on crinacle's website, he has listed the R70x very highly and it seems to tick all my boxes.

do you guys think this would be totl as far as gaming is concerned?

The r70x is light weight and neutral, but imaging could sound flat with a bad amp.
I use my r70x with topping e30 dac + l30 amp.

e30 and l30 were the minimum things i was going to get

at the moment im leaning to thx 789 and e30/jds labs

i dont really intend on having multiple dac/amps so its got to be good enough to do everything

if a90 is really that much better ill consider that too and also rebel amp but i havent done much research on the amps

getting both e30 and l30 is kind of a waste since the e30 already has a higher output power than most headphone amps

I'm looking for new headphones and this thread is confusing to me
Any recommendations?

Raheadphones

info like budget, use case and what features are important to you help a lot with this sort of thing

update on this i've demoed everything and so far i think HD800s is my favourite, but i want to hear Arya again to confirm two things

Err budget at £60, using just for indoor gaming - want comfort over anything else tbh, so those smooth-leathery ones instead of the cotton-feeling ones are much preferred.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Technica-ATH-M20X-Professional-Headphones-Black/dp/B00HVLUR18
these are okay for sound but the earpads are uncomfortable as fuck out of the box so you could replace with something like this if you're willing to go slightly over the budget
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brainwavz-Sheepskin-Leather-Memory-Earpad/dp/B01J53KM32

id say get IEM at this price Rahmed. i think the cheaper IEMs > cheaper headphones

i think its easier to have a better IEM than a better headphone, but IEMs reach a ceiling where they can't really do much else quicker than a headphone