Hi, newbie here. I've only been in this hobby a few months so please be nice lol. And apologies if I put this in the wrong place. I just wanted to write my impressions on some headphones I've tried recently.
Note that these are impressions from demoing, not a review. If I actually had more time with each it's very likely my opinion would change. I repeat, these are first impressions. Still, I thought it might be an interesting read for some of you. Everything was off a gsx-mini and I think a chord qutest.
Meze Elite: Comfort is truly incredible, as well as the build quality and weight. It's just so premium. I found the sound to be really bad, though. In a word, veiled. Maybe it is just that I expect more from $4k, but it was so, so veiled and boring to listen to.
DCA Expanse: Also found this to be really boring. I could tell that this was resolving well, better than elite for sure, but it was presented in such a dry way.
DCA Stealth: Didn't have much hope after Expanse, so I was probably a bit biased listening to this one after. I found it a bit more interesting than Expanse, but for the wrong reason, which was that the tonality was wonky. I also found it to also be a dry presentation, everything just sounds far away from you.
Audeze LCD-4: I wasn't even going to try this one because I "knew" I would never buy it because of its weight, plus supposed off tonality. But I was definitely proven wrong. It emphasized parts of songs in such a different, yet good way from other headphones. I could definitely tell it wasn't neutral, and the mids sounded recessed a bit to me, but it didn't matter because everything else sounded so rich and exciting. The clarity of the sound was absolutely wonderful as well.
Focal Utopia: Honestly, what is there to say that hasn't been said already about the sound. Just wonderfully neutral and clear, yet also exciting and energetic. I do think the "punchiness" people always seem to mention is a bit overstated, but it is definitely there. Definitely the one I'm most tempted to purchase.
Audeze MM-500: Pretty good actually, neutral and clear. Didn't listen to it that long but to me it sounds like a worse, less interesting utopia, but the price obviously makes it a better deal.
Sound ranking: LCD-4 >= Utopia >> MM-500 >> Expanse = Elite > Stealth
Thanks for reading.
Tracks used:
Choucho - Melt
Hikaru Station - Kokoronashi
Zedd - Stay The Night
Falcom jdk - Solid-State Shard Blow
Falcom jdk - The Decisive Collision
Ellie Goulding - Hate Me
Note that these are impressions from demoing, not a review. If I actually had more time with each it's very likely my opinion would change. I repeat, these are first impressions. Still, I thought it might be an interesting read for some of you. Everything was off a gsx-mini and I think a chord qutest.
Meze Elite: Comfort is truly incredible, as well as the build quality and weight. It's just so premium. I found the sound to be really bad, though. In a word, veiled. Maybe it is just that I expect more from $4k, but it was so, so veiled and boring to listen to.
DCA Expanse: Also found this to be really boring. I could tell that this was resolving well, better than elite for sure, but it was presented in such a dry way.
DCA Stealth: Didn't have much hope after Expanse, so I was probably a bit biased listening to this one after. I found it a bit more interesting than Expanse, but for the wrong reason, which was that the tonality was wonky. I also found it to also be a dry presentation, everything just sounds far away from you.
Audeze LCD-4: I wasn't even going to try this one because I "knew" I would never buy it because of its weight, plus supposed off tonality. But I was definitely proven wrong. It emphasized parts of songs in such a different, yet good way from other headphones. I could definitely tell it wasn't neutral, and the mids sounded recessed a bit to me, but it didn't matter because everything else sounded so rich and exciting. The clarity of the sound was absolutely wonderful as well.
Focal Utopia: Honestly, what is there to say that hasn't been said already about the sound. Just wonderfully neutral and clear, yet also exciting and energetic. I do think the "punchiness" people always seem to mention is a bit overstated, but it is definitely there. Definitely the one I'm most tempted to purchase.
Audeze MM-500: Pretty good actually, neutral and clear. Didn't listen to it that long but to me it sounds like a worse, less interesting utopia, but the price obviously makes it a better deal.
Sound ranking: LCD-4 >= Utopia >> MM-500 >> Expanse = Elite > Stealth
Thanks for reading.
Tracks used:
Choucho - Melt
Hikaru Station - Kokoronashi
Zedd - Stay The Night
Falcom jdk - Solid-State Shard Blow
Falcom jdk - The Decisive Collision
Ellie Goulding - Hate Me
