I have currently visited a local headphone store in order to compare PMx2 rev2 with various full-size competitors (Utopia, LCD4, LCD3, LCDX, HD800/HD800S, T1 gen1, HD600/HD650, Edition X V2 and some others not so worth mentioning). The primary reason behind this visit was to challenge PMx2 rev2 from tonal as well as technical point of view, to find out what I could be missing should I stick with PMx2 rev2 for the years to come. I spent almost 2 hours doing comparisons on Burson Conductor and AK380 (Tidal) which I feel was perfectly adequate to my needs. Upstream gear sounded neutral-enough to my ears and the room was pretty much quiet. Having owned many high-end headphones (including some of those listed above) in the past and being able to directly compare with PMx2 rev2 on well-known audio tracks helped tremendously.
From the tested headphones, only HD650 and Edition X V2 came close to what I would call a versatile/neutral frequency response. HD650 were a bit too present in upper mid region and lacked cleanness in general while Edition X were too present in low to mid treble region and may had sounded a bit hollow. PMx2 rev2 were just spot-on, pretty much perfectly balanced. HD650 is probably the best pick for someone who would want a 'poor man's PMx2' since these two headphones actually hold a very similar character overall.
From the more technical perspective, I enjoyed LCD4 quite a bit. Only these particular Audeze cans seemed considerably superior in particular technicalities compared to PMx2
(the bass clarity and detail, sense of imaging in space and 'club feeling' due to large angled leather pads) while offering not so off tonal balance. Still, I would take PMx2 v2 over them in the end - better tonality, also top tier in SQ, much better construction and ergonomics, much better portability, much lower price.
As I said in my PMx2 rev2 review, I consider them to be a bargain compared to what is on the market currently. For the future to come, I would be interested in hearing Edition X V1
(maybe the treble is less pronounced and therefore the overall signature more full/balanced compared to V2?) and the new Sennheiser HD660S
(maybe sounding like HD650 with a bit more clarity and a bit less upper midrange?).
RANDOM NOTES:
- Another cheaper close-to-neutral headphone I can recommend is HE500, especially when paired with suitable mods to balance 6-12kHz region a bit. For those that value ultimate comfort, Sony MDR-MA900 could be the perfect companion.
- HD800 and Utopia are very good technically but not so good tonally. I would take modded HD800/HD800S over Utopia honestly since Utopia has a strange midrange tonality and timbre (due to berrylium drivers?) which is something mods cannot fix in my opinion.
- LCD4 is the only Audeze headphone that is clean, undistorted and detailed enough to be considered true high-end to my ears. LCDX was a disappointment (weird tonality, mediocre SQ) while LCD3 were just 'normal' (not bad by any means but not keeping up with current high-end from SQ point of view). I was surprised how easy it was to hear superiority of LCD4 to LCD3.
- I managed to confirm to myself again that HD650 is more balanced than HD600.