The Element III is so understated that I could never spend $450 on it. I just can't see what justifies the price tag. It's a little square amp with a single ended out and a knob. And?

I definitely have an EF400 in my future though.

I came here to write the same, but not as beautifully as you did.

I'd say just to have a good reference, the Noire is half the price of mdr-z1r...Mdr-z1r is better to me, is it worth 2x as much compared to the Noire...you have to decide. I think you would prefer the midrange on the Mdr-z1r.

These guys are out of my home town. I really need to see if they'll give tours. I know the building they're in is pretty small though. I imagine it's not much space to tour.

Sennheiser IE Pro large tips

this man is a menace 💀💀💀

Sounds the HD 600 to me. So many people say there is no bass, but to me, in songs that had it, it was there. Just not bloated or anything? Are you saying to check out the Noire just because it punches above its price point, is it a real contender to the z1r?

You can mitigate brain adaptation by using EQ. If you’re used to EQ, you will never adapt to a headphone, which in long term actually develop your taste to a specific tuning.

I just tested mine vs my Salnotes zero and I can see what you mean. I’d agree with others commenting that they’re neutral and the zeros have a warmer tuning that enhances treble. The XR version is also supposed to have more bass, in comparison to the ER2SEs (have not tested those).

Personally, my Etymotics are a special use case where I need best noise cancellation possible. I would rather have neutral sounding and hear no noise than have warmer sounding but be distracted!

If you find a good way to EQ them I would love to try, so please update!

It's garbage even in its own price point

Yup! Worth it, going to use them a lot, so you can justify the cost! Enjoy the journey man! Definitely let me know what you think of those Clears and MDR-Z1R. I'd say try those Noire too for close back. I love rap on my Clears, bass is there when needed and not overdone. It's rap so if the song is supposed to have bass it's there just not exaggerated.

Where’s the CCA CRA, and the HD 560?

Looks like you and everyone sold me on the og clear. So glad I made the post. You also confirmed what I figured— at that price point I’m getting different brands. I want different sounds from my closed back & sometimes (especially with video games and movies) the V shaped is really nice. And when I’m in the mood to put on gangster rap I want that bass. So when I go to buy closed back, I’m first looking at the mdr-z1r. I know it’s expensive, but oh well. I want the clear first, and the much smaller price I can justify it for me getting a new job and it being my first salaried job. Gotta treat myself. The Sony— well we get a yearly bonus and I’ll be able to get them then & have left over money so I won’t feel bad. Figure if we reach our goals I can treat myself as well once a year. Not always headphones, but you get my drift.

Yeah, the hyperX are honestly on the better side of gaming headphones, not bad.

If you want to upgrade, there's things to have in mind, some sound preferences, and just keeping in mind that "real" headphones could not impress you or blow you away, specially at first listen.

That being said, if you're after neutral sound, and open backs, the hd560s/6xx is among the safest recommendation to give you a glimpse of all the good stuff associated with more "serious" headphones.

But it's always better if you have an audio store to try stuff out, or at least be sure you can return your purchases.

I would recommend that I'd you have more questions or want more advice, make a post in r/headphoneadvice instead on crowding the comments in a post lol

Are these new? Return them and buy a single thing but better

The airpods is nice, but maybe you can buy the 7Hz Crinacle Zero or Truthear Hola if you want a wired IEM. About the over-ear, the M50x is a great closed-back (it's not perfect, but the build quality is acceptable, and you can do some EQ on it), and the HD560s or Hifiman Ananda it's a good point to go if you want some open-backs.

Some may prefer the trap IEM

HD 560s hands down for less than 200$. Maybe the HD 599 if you have an story of hating treble

My testing Playlist has a ton of genres. I think the radiance are very good. For me I have a weird issue with the cups on the radiance my left ear feels a lot of pressure, no one else I let try them didn't have that issue, I've had it with other closed back it just depends. The mdr-z1r is just a different sound than the focals which i enjoy they are very v shape, but vocals sound great. The radiance are great but to me it just was a redundant sound as focal does have a "house sound" so they feel like Clears with more bass. Mdr-z1r is very warm, didn't really understand that term until I tried them. The noire the mids were just more recessed than the radiance you can easy eq that I just don't do much eqing.

For me the "clear" is emphasized on the Clears more than any headphones I have(besides some iems ive tried). The Clears allowed me to hear so much new detail from songs I've heard a million times. Some don't like the Soundstage of the Clear for open back it's very intimate, but not veiled it's very clear and forward. I don't want to oversell them but I just don't think you can go wrong picking them up. I've never heard the HD 600 but I know they are loved.

whats a good first pair to buy? reason im interested is bc i was in the market to buy a gaming headset and was told the hyper x cloud was made to sort of copy the beyerdynamic headphones. music on the hyoer x headset sounds great so now im intrigued as to the possibilities with real headphones

They’re solid for music depending on what you’re into. They excell in genres with many instruments like classical and jazz. I primarily listen to indie and hardcore though. The HD800S gets the job done but they aren’t as impactful as I’d like and can be a little too bright at times.

I haven’t tried watching a movie with the 800S but I’ve noticed the unnatural wideness with certain hip hop and r&b tracks.

Yes, i would say so.

The k72 are just a failure.

Hd200 pro are one of those weird Sennheiser closed backs, resembles aspects of the early momentums/hd400s and crappy entry level "studio" closed backs, so pretty lacking pinna gain, honky midrange, big phase cancellation dip at ~4khz, dip in the lower midrange, not much upper treble and a big, muddy bass.

Not the worst thing ever, but still at the very bottom of Sennheiser's releases.

Zsn pro x are just your standard chifi iem, bloated, not very dampened, and the zsn line in particular is really treble heavy and harsh.

The AirPods pro are the only ones in here that actually have some semblance of "balanced" sound.

Hd600 is objectively better though in terms of tonality

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I have the ER4SR, but I enjoy the Hexa and Timeless AE more. I’ll keep them around though. I like having a few different flavors around.