I grab them for just about everything. Music, creation, podcasting, and gaming. Use a lot of headphones but these always deliver.

you are not even close lol. a $200 iem upgrade will probably be night and day from the kz zs10 pro, maybe even with the $80 hexa, or a $20 waner, let alone an end game iem or headphone.

for example, crinacle rates the zs10 pro as a C tier iem, whilst rating the Moondrop Chu as a B tier iem and the Letshuoer S12 as a B+. the difference between the Chu and S12 makes the Chu sound low fidelity, granted however, i believe the chu is overrated and should probably be closer to C+ in the current market. The Variations is another iem i have spent quite some time with, and with crinacle rating it an A+, it is again night and day compared to the s12 in sound quality. the disparity between the chu - s12 - variations is pretty sizeable imo, with each sounding leagues better than the other, ie chu is 4/10, s12 is 7/10 and variations is 9/10, and i know you cant really quantify audio but variations certainly sounds more than twice as good as chu. so, with you on the zs10 pro, an end game level iem or headphone will definitely be quite the sizeable upgrade, probably the same level if difference between a $2 supermarket earbud and ur zs10 pros in the first place. i think diminishing returns only truly begin after like the variations, where id be surprised if you can squeeze much of a difference, though i havent tried anything more pricey than it.

if i were you, id really recommend getting a budget fi option like the tangzu waner, it is probably a sizeable upgrade from the zs10 pro, if crins ratings are to be referenced.

Aren't they the same cans with diffent paint?

The diminishing returns now start with Quarks DSP lol.

HD650/6xx is probably the best headphone in that range for the vast majority of people, me included.

At $400 limit, you maybe should get a (higher price) used one ;-) Just examples : Hifiman Ananda, Meze 109, etc.

I think I might check out fiio. Any recommendations on headphones? Just looking for opinions.

I have recently ventured into late 80s hifi. Love that hefty, mostly analog gear.

I wish they came with shorter or removable cables.

Any love for the MDR-6?

Does your phone have a 3.5mm jack? If not, then I highly recommend the apple / samsung dongle, or the FiiO KA1 as a more powerful alternative, or the quidelix 5k as a bluetooth dac/amp with eq capabilities.

As for the headphones, you just gotta try em out and find something that sounds good to you. Taste is subjective after all.

Haha thank you! I mostly into vintage audio

Nice rack

I was going to play off my phone. I want to get sennheiser or something good.

1. The bassX does NOT have a headphone out and even if it did, most speaker amp/avr hp outs are dogwater.

2. the bas x does not have a DAC.

What is your source? A PC? They have a DAC amd amp built into the mobo, which is enough for most headphones, unless you hear noise or distortion.

I agree with you, i once had an ATH WS1100IS and that compared to this sony at low frequency…Sony is the winner imo coz it has detailed bass not muddy as that ATH

I got them 3 days ago. They're perfect, never heard a closed back so spacious and dynamic. They seems they tame the low end a lot... Do you find that's the case? Why does it seem so to me? Is it because the other models pump them (I thin to the audiotechnika)

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For your first question, I wrote up a short test designed to make relative comparisons of headphones/IEMs as simple as possible, based on my own testing process derived from my listening experiences with a variety of gear. The BTR5 should be transparent with the ZS10, meaning it shouldn't audibly alter how the music sounds, and the difference between Amazon Music's V0 variable-bitrate MP3 and lossless FLAC isn't something I'd worry about unless you're an extreme stickler who can't live without flawless cymbal timbre at all times.

For your second, I'd say diminishing returns start hitting very hard at $250 for IEMs (Moondrop B2: Dusk) and $500 for headphones (Hifiman Edition XS, used Focal Elex, etc.). That said, chi-fi is still spiraling down in a pricing race to the bottom, which will probably keep on raising the quality-to-price ratio in the future.

I know that but like, these are obviously leagues better than £2 headphones from the grocery store that I used to get.

Would the world's best headphones (subjective, I know), with the best amp, sound leagues better than my current setup, or am I basically 90% there and would need to spend £1000s more to get to only get marginal improvements?

About 27 maybe 28,9. Some would argue 30 but I think thats a bit optimistic.

You cannot quantify audio quality, mate :)

I’m not acquainted with your particular setup but it sounds audiophile enough to me. Audiophile is a term with variable meaning, but in my eyes, having an external amp for headphones signifies far more -phile for audio than the vast majority of people.

Does it get better from here? Sure. If you haven’t actually heard better though, I might suggest leaving it at this. You could add an extra pair with a different sound signature so your brain does not “get used” to your setup, though I find that some car speakers alone will do that.

I can be reasonably considered to be on the deep end of the headphone pool, and I would never have done so if I didn’t already have a nice speaker setup at the time. And to this day I cannot tell if I came out better for it, in terms of enjoyment of sound quality— my headphones see <10 hours of use a week, and I often have to manufacture reasons to use them. So if you’re not looking for the hobby aspect of it (which can be very interesting, sampling gear is a good use of time), perhaps avoid the so-called rabbit hole.

Absolutely! That is the reason i bought it

Can i use it for music listening??

No.