[Kmikko91]

Hey,

Any suggestions which hps would do well with these genres. Currently using LCD-3f and while excellent, I feel it lacks little speed and some impact. Also got HD800S which is lacking in terms of impact and sounds somewhat dry on rock & metal songs.

What I've been eyeing for so far:

elear
used stellia
clear
atticus
used VC (prbl hard to find)...
d9200
z1r

 

[NA Blur]

I recommend the Aeon 2. Super up-front sound, awesome build, and linear and deep planar bass.

I’m a little shocked the LCD-3f doesn’t do it for you. That is one of my favorite all time headphones.

What gear are you driving things with? Please list your amp and DAC and give us a sample link to some music you listen to.

 

[Maelob]

Agree with Aeon 2 or Aeon 2C, additionally I love Dan's customer service.

 

[Kmikko91]

Hey, thank you for the suggestions, seems like I need to add AEON 2 to the list.
About LCD-3f; I agree it is great hp, the best I've heard and the best headphone currently in my possession (haven't heard the "big BIG boys" utopia, stellia, lcd-4, he1000se, verite etc.). It does everything I throw at it extremely well and is very easy and enjoyable to listen to. For power metal I would give it 9/10 rating but what I'm craving for is that 10/10 experience. Like said before, it is almost perfect for the genre but I'd like some more impact (especially on the kick drums) and little faster presentation.

Here's few songs that I really like:

Avantasia - The scarecrow
Avantasia - The raven child
Dream evil - The chosen ones
Amorphis - The bee
Epica - Once upon a nightmare
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Killswitch Engage - Holy diver
Nightwish - the greatest show on earth
Rhapsody of fire - Dawn of victory
Xandria - Nightfall
Bad wolves - Zombie

few heavier songs (not a big fan of trash metal, death metal or "heavier" metal songs, but there's few songs in those genres that I like a lot:

Trivium - Down from the sky
Testament - More than meets the eye
Heaven shall burn - Endzeit
Children of bodom - Living dead beat
Scar symmetry - Moprhogenesis



My setup: spotify -> meier daccord -> corda classic -> hp

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Maybe try a different amp and a streaming service that offers at least 16/44.1 before you spend big money on another set of cans.

 

[Kmikko91]

What streaming service do you recommend? I was a long time subscriber to Tidal until I did a comparison between Spotify, Tidal and CD and found that to me they all sound identical. About amps, are there any non "big money" amps that outperform Meier?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I have Tidal and I had deezer but I just cancelled it because the app is so horrendous. Sound quality is excellent on both. In trying to understand what you are missing and wanting to achieve it seems like it should be based on lossless music rather than what Spotify is putting out. If all the services sound identical I am not sure where the problem could be or whether there is a problem until you find your secret sauce. You may want more speed and impact but I don't know if you can get it by asking people for recommendations. It is probably better to listen to your selection of music with different gear until you get the "this is it!" moment.

I have a Meier Corda Jazz ff and I am a fan of Meier amps. I just wonder if they have enough voltage swing for planars. A textbook choice might be the Violectrics since they swing a lot of voltage. I don't listen to the same kind of music as you do but my impression is maybe the LCD-3F feels slow because it's a little warm. I'm not surprised that you find the 800S dry, if not for the Meier or some EQ you would probably like them a lot less.

I think the question you are asking is very personal and the best way to answer it is to try before you buy. You have at least 3 variables here even not mentioning the DAC, the source, the amp, and the headphones. So maybe try changing one variable at a time. The headphones will have the most influence, then the amp. But I think you ought to be comparing FLAC from a good source or a good streaming service otherwise you could be simply disasstisfied with the compression and lossiness.

 

[AudioThief]

Hey,

Any suggestions which hps would do well with these genres. Currently using LCD-3f and while excellent, I feel it lacks little speed and some impact. Also got HD800S which is lacking in terms of impact and sounds somewhat dry on rock & metal songs.

What I've been eyeing for so far:

elear
used stellia
clear
atticus
used VC (prbl hard to find)...
d9200
z1r

Might be your mind playing tricks on you. The LCD 3 is fantastic for the genres you suggested, and I would probably pick that before any of those you listed. With that being said, if your budget allows it, a Stax 007 is the ultimate metal headphone to my ears. It is also the ultimate headphone for any other genre. I've never heard a genre it doesn't handle with ease, which is so rare in a headphone. Only caveat is that its not bright-sounding, which can be a pro or a con depending on preference

 

[Kmikko91]

@gimmeheadroom

Thanks for the reply, upgrading the amp is possible here. Long time ago I read that Audezes like a lot of power, just like you said. Now I wonder how much power is enough, Corda Classic already puts almost 900mW into 110ohms while Audeze recommends 250mW or more.

Also, like you stated, headphones themselves make a bigger difference than dacs and amps. By that logic should I not look for a new headphone rather than new amp and/or dac? IDK maybe there is a unit that would provide better "synergy" with what I have. That is to say, I don't feel that there's currently a lack of synergy, I just want more of the good stuff.

About the subjectivity of the hobby, while we all hear things little differently and value certain sound characteristic more than others, we still can agree on some specific merits that X headphone has compared to headphone Y. For example I think we can all agree that HD800S sounds wider and more dry compared to a LCD3f? So wouldn't it be a good starting point to ask people if there is a hp that is objectively faster than a lcd-3 with more impact VS blindly ordering gear and returning it? Just looking for a little nudge to right direction; a starting point if you will.

@AudioThief

Who knows maybe I'm going insane but I feel like I know when I'm content with what I have. For example HD800S is my endgame for trance music and soundtracks. For me they do everything perfectly for those genres and leave me wanting nothing more.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

@gimmeheadroom

Thanks for the reply, upgrading the amp is possible here. Long time ago I read that Audezes like a lot of power, just like you said. Now I wonder how much power is enough, Corda Classic already puts almost 900mW into 110ohms while Audeze recommends 250mW or more.

Also, like you stated, headphones themselves make a bigger difference than dacs and amps. By that logic should I not look for a new headphone rather than new amp and/or dac? IDK maybe there is a unit that would provide better "synergy" with what I have. That is to say, I don't feel that there's currently a lack of synergy, I just want more of the good stuff.

About the subjectivity of the hobby, while we all hear things little differently and value certain sound characteristic more than others, we still can agree on some specific merits that X headphone has compared to headphone Y. For example I think we can all agree that HD800S sounds wider and more dry compared to a LCD3f? So wouldn't it be a good starting point to ask people if there is a hp that is objectively faster than a lcd-3 with more impact VS blindly ordering gear and returning it? Just looking for a little nudge to right direction; a starting point if you will.

@AudioThief

Who knows maybe I'm going insane but I feel like I know when I'm content with what I have. For example HD800S is my endgame for trance music and soundtracks. For me they do everything perfectly for those genres and leave me wanting nothing more.

I have to say I'm pretty happy with my LCDs out of the RME dac which doesn't have much of an amp. The Corda Classic has enough wattage, but it is rated 15V out while the Violectrics are rated to 60V. I think it is more about the kind of power than rax max power ratings but then again I can't say my Violetric V280 is better than the RME at driving my LCD-3F at the levels I listen to. I can't exactly understand the issue yet

I think your comments surprised people who feel the LCD-3F is hard to beat for those genres and because of that there is no obvious answer. If you have shops nearby it's worth trying to eliminate variables. If you are live in a place where you have to buy online and can't try anything then yeah it's much harder. You have some pretty good cans already. After that things could get very expensive and still not hit it.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

There are numerous threads like this if you have time to kill. The first page looks helpful on this one though and you might post in that thread and get advice from guys with similar interests

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/headphones-for-metal-music-ultimate-solution.715478/

 

[FlowLikeWater]

Hey, thank you for the suggestions, seems like I need to add AEON 2 to the list.
About LCD-3f; I agree it is great hp, the best I've heard and the best headphone currently in my possession (haven't heard the "big BIG boys" utopia, stellia, lcd-4, he1000se, verite etc.). It does everything I throw at it extremely well and is very easy and enjoyable to listen to. For power metal I would give it 9/10 rating but what I'm craving for is that 10/10 experience. Like said before, it is almost perfect for the genre but I'd like some more impact (especially on the kick drums) and little faster presentation.

Here's few songs that I really like:

Avantasia - The scarecrow
Avantasia - The raven child
Dream evil - The chosen ones
Amorphis - The bee
Epica - Once upon a nightmare
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Killswitch Engage - Holy diver
Nightwish - the greatest show on earth
Rhapsody of fire - Dawn of victory
Xandria - Nightfall
Bad wolves - Zombie

few heavier songs (not a big fan of trash metal, death metal or "heavier" metal songs, but there's few songs in those genres that I like a lot:

Trivium - Down from the sky
Testament - More than meets the eye
Heaven shall burn - Endzeit
Children of bodom - Living dead beat
Scar symmetry - Moprhogenesis



My setup: spotify -> meier daccord -> corda classic -> hp

nice taste in music friend, a lot of your preferred bands and songs overlap with mine (Trivium ftw!!)

wish i could help you more but i am more of an IEM guy. I think Final Audio Design has a good sound sig for metal and classical, they might be worth checking out

 

[Kmikko91]

@gimmeheadroom

Thanks for the link, I'd better eye through it!

@FlowLikeWater

I would agree with your comment about the music!! since we have similar taste PM me if you got any recommendations, always looking for new bands.

 

[Kmikko91]

Little update:

Went to a local audio store to try out some gear, the chain was Tidal -> Roon -> HDV 820 (take that as you may)

Few quick thoughts:
Klipsch hp-3: Yikes.... NOT FOR ME
Focal elear: sounds muddy and uncontrolled, something definitely missing here
Focal clear: better, but still sounds like music was being played through some kind of filter...
HD820: Yikes again....
Ananda: Pretty nice, but quite lacking on the lower registers in terms of impact and quantity.
Denon d9200: Very impressive, definitely reference sound IMO. But I'm looking bit more impactful sound. Also got to try d9200 on a Hugo 2 and TT 2, again very good sounding. In the end sounded amazing on all 3 amp/dacs, but the TT 2 was definitely the star of the show here. Truly a remarkable piece of gear, wish I could afford it.
Focal utopia: Very good and impressive but not the HP for the genres that I'm looking an upgrade for
Focal stellia: Got to try this HP at my own place on my gear over a week. Just like utopia, excellent sounding. I feel like it provided ever so slightly more impact than LCD-3 and was little faster sounding. Still looking for more impact and while Stellia had some nice sonical character I feel like I lost too much on guitars and vocals when comparing to LCD-3.

@gimmeheadroom

Decided to give another go at Tidal. After volume matching Spotify and Tidal and doing comparision (eyes closed) I can tell the difference every time. Still very minute differences, but tidal sounds bit more full. Not sure if worth when double the price compared to spotify, gotta do some more listening. Too bad Tidal is missing lot of the trance music I love

 

[gimmeheadroom]

@Kmikko91 I would not necessarily go for Tidal without MQA hardware but I'm not surprised it sounds better than Spotify, especially if you're not comparing against the Spotify Premium. I guess since the Sennheiser amp is tested with dynamics it might not be a good match for planars. The LCD-3 sounds very fast to me out of my V280.