My new headphone and earphone setup

[rich51080]

As you might know I love headphones and love music.

My latest purchases are the B&W P9 Signature, Westone W80 and a Chord Mojo.

I have to say the P9 is amazing and I have since sold my Grado PS1000e as I find it more to my taste - big bass and great clarity.

My new earphones the W80 are phenomenal - Yes they cost me £1200 but they are worth it. Eight drivers per side.

The attack and rhythm of the W80 is like no other earphone I have tried. They surpass my expectations. They are audio bliss.

The Mojo is amazing and when used with these head/ear phones the sound is terrific and so detailed.

My question is what do i try now? Do i try the Audeze Insine 20 or do I go for a Astell and Kern Layla/Roxanne?

 

[dalethorn]

As you might know I love headphones and love music.

My latest purchases are the B&W P9 Signature, Westone W80 and a Chord Mojo.

I have to say the P9 is amazing and I have since sold my Grado PS1000e as I find it more to my taste - big bass and great clarity.

My new earphones the W80 are phenomenal - Yes they cost me £1200 but they are worth it. Eight drivers per side.

The attack and rhythm of the W80 is like no other earphone I have tried. They surpass my expectations. They are audio bliss.

The Mojo is amazing and when used with these head/ear phones the sound is terrific and so detailed.

My question is what do i try now? Do i try the Audeze Insine 20 or do I go for a Astell and Kern Layla/Roxanne?

Congratulations on selecting an outrageously good system. The Audeze should be interesting because it's planar, although at the small size scale, the difference from dynamics or balanced armatures(?) wouldn't be similar to headphones. Beyer also is getting a lot of attention now for the Xelento.

 

[rich51080]

Dale - What is your favourite headphone you ever had the pleasure of listening to.?

 

[paulkebab]

is right, you should try planars although I found the Audeze way too 'flat' sounding for my ears. I enjoyed the Fostex too.

 

[dalethorn]

Dale - What is your favourite headphone you ever had the pleasure of listening to.?

Wow - that's a lot harder to answer than I would have guessed. The Sennheiser HD800 had the best resolution I've ever heard, at least on the upper-end harmonics of wire brushes, cymbals, triangles etc. Of course, it's a little bright so if I were using it now it would be EQ'd down a little. The Focal Utopia may be competitive with the HD800, but the Elear (I haven't heard the Utopia) was too recessed in the mid-treble to play well without a boost there. Once EQ'd a little, the Elear presented something very unusual - an extremely clear sound free of earcup reflections. If the Utopia matches the HD800 resolution, and you combine that with the reflection-free aspect of the design, it might beat the HD800, but I can't say that I'd agree with the Utopia's default tuning.

Innerfidelity has one or more articles discussing the Utopia and Elear, but where they've praised the sound of the Senn HD800 (with less brightness) and the Senn Orpheus, not to forget the Stax SR009, they seem to be putting on different ears for the Focal headphones, opting for a very recessed treble. I've double-checked my references, and I do prefer a minimal treble, but I think they're hearing things that aren't there with the Focals.

For in-ear, I still prefer the Sennheiser IE800. It gave me the best fit I've had with an IEM, and in spite of different review criticisms, the sound had a liquid quality that I've heard only with single-driver IEM's.

For a portable headphone, the ATH ESW990h I have now is really nice. The Thinksound On2 is nearly as good at half the price or less. Neither the ESW990h nor the On2 have great earpads - the On2's are too rounded and slippery, and the ESW990's are too beveled. I had the ESW11-Ltd which had perfect earpads, but the midrange was very colored. I have the ESW9a, but the sound isn't quite as good as the ESW990h, and the ESW9a's beveled earpads aren't as comfortable as the ESW990h's.