Can anyone help me choose?

[stevenchoi56]

I wanted to upgrade my headphones for a long time and I found this local store are selling some demo headphones and I am just wondering what your opinions on these are? I will be using a schiit valhalla and bitfrost for them.

 

The headphones are:

MrSpeakers Ether

Audeze LCD-2

Audeze EL-8

Hifiman Edition X 

or

Focal Elear( not open box)

[Shiv78]

How much do they all cost?

[SSL]

For that amp+DAC you should get the HD600 or HD650. At the very least, that's an amp that excels with high impedance headphones.

 

To guide his decision, you should decide what kind of sound you want. If you don't know, just get one and see if you like it. Sell it and try again if you don't. You've probably got a 60% chance of success the first time around.

[iShad]

What's the open box price for them? I'd just pick between the elear, hex, or ether. El-8 is not even the same league as the rest, and lcd2 is destroyed by the elear with better build and comfort and overall sound quality (except for the slight dip in upper mid).

[FloRolf]

I'd get the Ether or Elear. HEX if the price is right. 

IMHO the Lcd2 have nothing on either of the rest and the El8 are, like already mentioned, on a way different (lower)  level. 

 

Are you sure that you wanna blow that much money on a headphone though? Have you done enough testing that you can justify that? Because there are already headphones at like $500 price tag that are insanely good. 

[Shiv78]

If the open-box headphones are >$500, get some Sennheiser HD 700s instead. Not the crazy 1K+ HD800s but still very good and super sexy

[iShad]

12 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

If the open-box headphones are >$500, get some Sennheiser HD 700s instead. Not the crazy 1K+ HD800s but still very good and super sexy

Why hd700 when hd600/650 are better and cheaper? Don't recommend it just because it's a bigger number...

[stevenchoi56]

The LCD-2 are  about 800, and the HEX and ether are around the same price of 1500. So all but the lcd are around the same price. I have tried the lcd-2 and elear and found the lcd-2 a lot more crisp and punchy then the elear but the elears are gor sure more comfortable.

[stevenchoi56]

5 hours ago, FloRolf said:

I'd get the Ether or Elear. HEX if the price is right. 

IMHO the Lcd2 have nothing on either of the rest and the El8 are, like already mentioned, on a way different (lower)  level. 

 

Are you sure that you wanna blow that much money on a headphone though? Have you done enough testing that you can justify that? Because there are already headphones at like $500 price tag that are insanely good. 

Yes ive tested the lcd-2 and the elear and they gave me a sound I def would want over the 500 dollar price range cans

[FloRolf]

8 minutes ago, stevenchoi56 said:

Yes ive tested the lcd-2 and the elear and they gave me a sound I def would want over the 500 dollar price range cans

Okay good, fair enough. Have you tested the Ether and HEX though? Because I'd definitely recommend so. But as for the HEX, the v2 are available soon so I'd definitely wait for that even though the drivers are the same. 

I find the Lcd2 to be way to uncomfortable for being a flagship high end can, whereas the Ether with a similar design are much much better and imho also better sounding. 

The price difference is quite massive on the other hand. Have you also checked the Ether Flow? They're like an upgraded version. 

[Shiv78]

51 minutes ago, iShad said:

Why hd700 when hd600/650 are better and cheaper? Don't recommend it just because it's a bigger number...

oh idk if the 600/650 are better never tried either. I've tried the 700 and 800 though (at a store, I don't own either) and they were both phenomenal. I'm by no means an audiophile though as I couldn't really hear too much of a difference between the two.

If the 600/650 are really better than go for it

[stevenchoi56]

32 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

Okay good, fair enough. Have you tested the Ether and HEX though? Because I'd definitely recommend so. But as for the HEX, the v2 are available soon so I'd definitely wait for that even though the drivers are the same. 

I find the Lcd2 to be way to uncomfortable for being a flagship high end can, whereas the Ether with a similar design are much much better and imho also better sounding. 

The price difference is quite massive on the other hand. Have you also checked the Ether Flow? They're like an upgraded version. 

I have not tested the other two pairs as I was just planning on buying it from a local store(headphonebar) but I will look into it. My budget is about 1500 if I need to buy a high end pair.

[SSL]

2 hours ago, stevenchoi56 said:

Yes ive tested the lcd-2 and the elear and they gave me a sound I def would want over the 500 dollar price range cans

 

Be careful about stating that price has anything to do with the sound signature.

 

2 hours ago, stevenchoi56 said:

I have tried the lcd-2 and elear and found the lcd-2 a lot more crisp and punchy then the elear

 

What amp were you using for these headphones?

[stevenchoi56]

5 minutes ago, SSL said:

 

Be careful about stating that price has anything to do with the sound signature.

 

 

What amp were you using for these headphones?

i am using a schiit valhalla and schiit bitfrost

[SSL]

4 minutes ago, stevenchoi56 said:

i am using a schiit valhalla and schiit bitfrost

 

Yeah, I read that part. That's the amp you used to audition the headphones?

[stevenchoi56]

1 minute ago, SSL said:

 

Yeah, I read that part. That's the amp you used to audition the headphones?

yup