innerspaceboy

I'm starting to feel the audiophile itch - the desire to upgrade my setup.

Headphones are easily the component for which an upgrade would yield the greatest impact to my listening experience.

90% of my listening is currently spent with my closed back circumaural Sennheiser HD380 Pro cans. I love the 32db passive cancellation, the comfort over extended periods of wear, and the neutral, accurate delivery of most classical, ambient, minimalist 20th century, drone, choral works, and other more delicate musics.

So I went on a hunt this evening (inspired by this thread) to see what fit the bill of the upgrade I was imagining. I wanted to see if there was a similar format of a monitor, with wood ear cups (for that regal look), in the ballpark of ~$600.

I know everyone goes for the Grado References at that price point, but the on-ear design would sacrifice comfort over my 8-hr nocturnal listening sessions and sound leakage would be an issue. Furthermore, I'm too neo-Victorian for the Grado Labs' minimalist aesthetic.

I'm seriously considering the AudioQuest Nighthawk headphones. They meet all of my specs and is from a trusted name in cables and portable DACs.

Has anyone in the thread tried them out?

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[MERIT]

I am in need of some good cans. I reminisce about the days when I could spend $500 on a pair of Beats.

debaserr

500 on Beats. The horror...

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innerspaceboy

I ended up ordering those liquid wood AudioQuest Nighhawks I alluded to in January of 2016 in this thread, but was disappointed by the pronounced dark sound signature of the model. I found that I much preferred the neutral frequency response of my Sennheisers which were several hundred dollars less than the Nighthawks.






Ever on the quest for better sound, I decided to take advantage of the discounted Kickstarter promotion and pledged toward the development of the revolutionary new ORA Graphene Q headphones. GrapheneQ is a revolutionary new nano-material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, making it 200x stronger than steel, one of the lightest substances on earth, and resultantly the most energy efficient speaker cone in existence. And because of its stiffness, it keeps its shape when it moves, eliminating the distortion associated with normal mylar speakers. The result is one of the most neutral frequency response graphs ever recorded from a speaker cone.



Montreal’s ORA, who developed and patented the 95+% Graphene material is about to debut their first GrapheneQ headphone, which in addition to its brilliant sound boasts numerous other features like my beloved liquid wood ear cups, the largest soundstage of any closed-back design, both cable and Bluetooth functionality, and gesture controls on the earcups. Swipe in a circle to dial volume up or down, tap once to play/pause, and tap twice to answer a call. The project gained the support of sound engineers and LA Philharmonic conductor, Gustavo Dudamel who fell in love at first listen.

I pledged to ORA’s Kickstarter campaign and they’ve made more than seven-times their goal for funding. The headphones are scheduled to ship in August. As a fan of studio monitors with transparent sound signatures, (and a fanatic for liquid wood gear), I couldn’t be more excited about this project and its potential for loudspeakers in the future.

I’ll be publishing a full feature once I’ve received and tested these cans. If you’re curious, check out their promo video below and explore all the details on their Kickstarter page! Once the Kickstarter promotion ends, these are set to retail for $500, and it will be interesting to see if they outperform mainstay models at the $1000+ price point.

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Lucem Ferre

I got Skullcandy's Hesh headphones which are basically as good as Beats but much cheaper because Beats are rip off headphones that are sold to gullible people.

I also got Klipsche ear buds which are decent.

And I have some AKGK240s. Cheap but effective studio headphones.

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Frownland

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro when I'm at home chillin on the laptop



Symphonized NRG 3.0 earbuds when I'm on the go (got these yesterday)

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innerspaceboy

Yes! The 380Pros have been my go-to monitors for years.

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Gaijin

I use Gear One G900DX Headphones. I really enjoy their balance between highs and lows. Really helps my mix.

Zhanteimi

Sennheiser HD 598 Special Edition

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Jnageb18

the best ive tried is the Bose noise cancelling headphones. shuts me off from the rest of the world. anyone else tried?

currently using apple iphone earphones, am gonna get myself a new pair soon!