I'm looking for the best headphones sub $1300 or so for metal (think As I Lay Dying/Parkway Drive) and hip hop. Bonus points for being great with rock/folk as well. I currently own the ZMF Eikon but I feel they are a little laid but not and aggressive enough. Looking for something high energy and hard hitting. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I love the Eikons just saying. If you could spend a little more the AKG K872’s would do you well. Super comfortable and sensitive enough to use straight from a phone or iPad that I’m using now. Listened to a bit of As I Lay Dying and now Slayer with some Anthrax and Megadeth thrown in damn these will work for that. As for folk my new go to for test songs to evaluate headphones is Neil Young’s Old Man yes passed the test. Just as good with some Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan too. Blowin’ In the Wind is just a damn that is awesome song on them. Could say more but the wife is yelling at me have to go.
I'm looking for the best headphones sub $1300 or so for metal (think As I Lay Dying/Parkway Drive) and hip hop. Bonus points for being great with rock/folk as well. I currently own the ZMF Eikon but I feel they are a little laid but not and aggressive enough. Looking for something high energy and hard hitting. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I love the Eikons just saying. If you could spend a little more the AKG K872’s would do you well. Super comfortable and sensitive enough to use straight from a phone or iPad that I’m using now. Listened to a bit of As I Lay Dying and now Slayer with some Anthrax and Megadeth thrown in damn these will work for that. As for folk my new go to for test songs to evaluate headphones is Neil Young’s Old Man yes passed the test. Just as good with some Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan too. Blowin’ In the Wind is just a damn that is awesome song on them. Could say more but the wife is yelling at me have to go.
Interesting that it's another closed headphone. I was thinking that maybe the reason I thought the Eikons lacked aggression was because of the closed back. I'll have to see if I can find a K872 for around the same price as I can get for my Eikon used.
Interesting that it's another closed headphone. I was thinking that maybe the reason I thought the Eikons lacked aggression was because of the closed back. I'll have to see if I can find a K872 for around the same price as I can get for my Eikon used.
Unless OP doesn't have an amp that can get the K872 to the same output level with clean power. More often than not half of what makes for a headphone that people think is ideal for rock (imaging aside as with some subgenres, ex symphonic metal sounds like everything is just being thrown at you) is a headphone that is very easy to drive - they're actually listening louder and dynamic range is reproduced effortlessly by even portable amps, or mainstream devices they're plugged into don't work nearly as hard as other headphones.
Interesting that it's another closed headphone. I was thinking that maybe the reason I thought the Eikons lacked aggression was because of the closed back. I'll have to see if I can find a K872 for around the same price as I can get for my Eikon used.
The Eikons lack aggression only because their treble response is lower than other headphones, both in general and also relative to the mids and bass. Nothing to do with open/closed.
The AKG K872 will lack too much in bass for you. So will probably every other dynamic headphone except maybe the Auteur (but even that might). You saw my recommendation in the other thread, I'll just state it here so others who might be in the same position as you can see it.
The ZMF Ori is my recommendation ironically. Has a stronger treble response than the Eikon so is less laid back, super fun for rock and rap and metal. I don't know of a sub $1k headphone better for those genres, and I've listened to a ton.
In fact, the only headphones I can consider more fun are the HiFiMan HE-6 and Stax SR-009 (haven't listened to the SR-009S yet). But I personally immediately disqualify any headphone with a "V-shaped" sound signature, what most people typically associate with fun, since this just means the mids are sucked out and drowned out by the bass and treble. Nothing fun about having no mids to me which is why I prefer even the Audio Technica ATH-M40X to what is probably the king of V-shaped sound signature headphones, the Fostex TH900.
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