My headphones and my favorite album for each! I saved my favorite headphones for last.

Focal elegia - Best Buds by Mom Jeans: this is the headphone that prompted me to make this post as without eq, I thought this headphone sounded awful until I listened to the album Best Buds by Mom Jeans. Elegia has a quite wonky tuning: the immediate dip at 3-4k after the ear gain makes the headphone sound extremely muted for instruments like piano, violin, any woodwind as well as female vocals. I believe this album works well because the guitar is already slightly hot in that region, which balances out the dip. However, why I really love this album with elegia is the drums. I think this album, while not the most well mixed, it highlights the punchiness and dynamics that focal is known for. Kick drums and snares sound incredibly lively and energy without being too distracting. Tom drums also sound realistic (especially with its trailing ends of tones).

HD6xx - [Self Titled] by Cigarettes After Sex: I still remember the first time I listened to this album on HD6xx with tube amp. It was genuinely an ineffable experience. The warmth of the HD6XX makes the reverb guitar sound very immersive and full. It's also the type of music where the intimacy of 6xx works so well as it's an album with only few instruments and an atmospheric sound signature so the enclosing "blob" sound of the 6xx only emphasizes the album's ethereal beauty. Vocals (obviously) also sound fantastic due to the headphones midrange emphasis. The vocals really sound like he's whispering to my ears, which is perfectly fitting for this album.

LCD2F (EQ'd) - [Self Titled] by Rage Against the Machine: I had to pick with the lcd2fs EQ'd since that's basically the only way I enjoy listening to it. With EQ, god this album sounds powerful. Even though I'm not a basshead by any means, I do love a massive bass shelf here and feeling the punch of the kickdrum and energy of the bass guitar. LCD2F sounds like there is this incredibly large wall of sound against my ears. I also really feel the "plucking" quality of a planar driver with this album, especially with the screeching sound at the beginning of the "Take the Power Back," which sounds incredibly holographic and realistic. This is one of few albums that makes me forget the annoying LCD weight.

HD560s - Talon of the Hawks by the Front Bottoms: This is possibly the worst mixed album on this list, and that really goes to show how incredible of a headphone the hd560s is. This I believe isn't technically too impressive, but it has one of my favorite frequency responses, which is neutral with slight brightness. This makes the album sound incredibly balanced and natural even though on some headphones, there's a quite distinct busy feeling. I think the 560s turns that into more controlled chaos. I do sometimes feel like it can benefit from a slight boost in the male vocal region just because I'm absolutely in love with the vocalist, but I still believe it's done incredibly tastefully. Again, I could have really chosen any album for this headphone since I don't think anything sounds bad with it, so I just chose one of my personal albums really.

Grado Hemps - 3 by Kirinji: Like the 560s, I believe that the hemps sound "fine" with majority of albums (that's not overly harsh), but unlike the 560s, this headphone really incredibly shines with some tracks and albums more than others. This is because of the hemps combination of incredibly natural timbre with somewhat controversial tonality (treble spikes). But when it works, damn it's fucking great. I would actually describe the hemps as somewhat of a midpoint between 800s and the 6xx because it has the 800s bright (sometimes sibilant) sound signature with 6xx style of lower midrange and midbass focus. This is one of the most well-mixed albums ive ever heard and it really pops with the hemps. It never once reaches sibilant and remains very smooth throughout every single track while providing that airy openness. DMS said that Hemps sometimes have a larger soundstage than the 800s, and this album shows that. I especially really enjoyed the brass section, which actually sounds even more natural than the 800s and has an incredible fullness to it. It's also probably the best acoustic guitar I've heard on a dynamic driver because you can really feel each pluck realistically. And the Hemps also does staging with this album is incredibly present. Vocals are quite intimate, but some instruments genuinely sound so far away that present this real clarity on the vocals. And while instruments do sound far away, they are never thin sounding. It really sounds like I'm shilling over the grados, but the credit is also largely towards the album itself because I do feel like grados are not very technically impressive and very hard to listen to albums that are mixed a bit hot on the treble.

HE560 v4 - Kid A by Radiohead: I kind of hate this headphone for most vocal music. I would describe the tuning of this headphone as a worse tuning of HD800s because it still has the same delayed ear gain region, which peaks around 4-6k region (even though HD800s is still slightly more delayed). But the region after that is quite unbalanced on the HE560 and even midrange seems slightly wonky. So while the general tuning is similar to the 800s, it doesn’t have its soundstage, detail, or the timbre that makes the 800s magical. My biggest problem with this kind of tuning is that it makes vocal sounds kind of hollow or muted. (800s somewhat has this problem too, but the presence region emphasis kind of makes up for it). However, this actually works incredibly well with Yorke’s vocals. It makes his voice blend almost exceptionally well with other instruments in a way that really makes the more experimental parts of the album work (it also certainly works well with the instrumental tracks). It almost makes his voice sounds like an instrument if that makes any sense. I know everyone says this about Radiohead, but listening to “How to Disappear Completely” on this headphone is truly sublime.

Focal Clears - Summer Death (2018 remastered) by Marietta: Wow, this headphone is just really good. It works with basically anything. But my mind was blown away actually by just how much I loved listening to this album with the clears. This is because I don’t enjoy this album a single bit with any of my headphones. It just sounds messy, busy, and undetailed. Even though I think the album is mixed in the ways that the artist want it, it’s not what I want to listen to with my headphones. I almost exclusively listened to this album with speakers or even just on my phone before the clears. But somehow, the clears fixes it all? First of all, clear’s vocal emphasis really helps as I find that vocals are often buried in the album. Second, it makes the guitar sound sparkly without fatigue. This is what I think really saves the headphones. All my headphones are either just dark to the point where the guitar is just straight-up muffled or it makes the guitar way too fatiguing. The clears is the only headphone that actually doesn’t suffer either of the problems. I think 800s does actually kind of make the guitar sound really nice, but that headphone basically has no dynamics, which is another reason why I love the clears with this album. It makes the album sound so energetic with possibly the best drums I’ve ever heard on anything. Let me remind again: clears are good with anything, I promise you, but the fact that it can even make this album sound amazing speaks to its strength. To me, the Focal Clears might be the “reference” headphones.

HD800s - Motion Sickness (Live Recordings) by Bright Eyes: This is my favorite headphone period, so I will be very biased. I thought about putting a classical or jazz album because HD800s truly work best with those types of albums, but this is my list so I’m going to choose my personal favorite, which is the live recording album by Bright Eyes. Truly, all of their better-recorded albums sound amazing on HD800s, but the 800s just has this magic with live recordings for some reason. The soundstage and possibly the most realistic timbre I’ve ever heard just puts you in the same room as the artist. I used to be somewhat picky about being the live recording being mastered well, but I’m at a point where I even enjoy the flaws of the recording because that genuinely makes it feel more realistic. If you own the 800s please go find your favorite band or artist’s live recording and listen to it. It’s just the most beautiful thing ever. Listening to my favorite track “Landlocked Blues” made me almost tear up because the vocals just sounded so incredible. People say 800s is too analytical, and I definitely see that point, but for me, it’s one of my favorite headphones to just relax to because, with this track, it really feels like you are just listening to Conor Oberst (the vocalist) singing in front of you and playing an acoustic guitar. For honorable mention, At the Moonbase by Slaughter Beach, Dog is also amazing with the 800s because it’s such an interesting and unique album, and the 800s allows me to pick up on every single detail that I can find. It really highlights the other best thing about the 800s, which is the sheer clarity that it allows, which I think is notably better than even the clears.

Like many remind us, we often forget about the music we listen to when we get obsessed with our headphones. And it seems like many of us have specialist headphones that we love for some genres more than others. So I'm curious: what headphones do you guys own and what's your favorite album? If you own headphone that I own and love a specific album, hit me up with some recommendations too!

As a bonus, let me talk about my two bluetooth headphones being sony xm3 and marshall anc. I mean, yeah, not great. The xm3s don’t sound terrible with eq, but its stock tuning is a bit of a mess. If I had to pick an album though, it would be Letting off the Happiness by Bright Eyes, almost only because the album itself is meant to be low fidelity and the lower midrange focus of the xm3s does actually kind of help. The warmth does actually make vocal sound quite intimate and enjoyable. And the fact that this album has very little bass counteracts the huge midbass bump. But the dark treble still does bug me.

My favorite album with anything is Fear Inoculum by TOOL. The thing is MASSIVE it terms of, well, everything. It's truly a masterpiece.

As far as headphones, I'm moderate. I rock the Hifiman Edition XS at my desk, driven by an ifi Zen CAN with a BTR5 that I use as a USB DAC. On the go, I rock the Etymōtic ER2XR and my BTR5 or just my Galaxy Buds Pro 2.

Edit: I hope one day I get experience Fear Inoculum in its entirety on a hi-fi sound system, in someone's listening room that costs almost as much as my house.

Wow, you're absolutely right. I'm currently listening to it, and the percussions are already one of the furthest sounding I've heard on a nonclassical album. Love it!

Same here. Currently on very entry level stuff but I can't wait to put my hands on something higher end to listen to tool. The drumming is addictive.

Fantastic. Enjoy, it only gets better! A few highlights that are some of my favorite moments on the album:

- The breakdowns in Pneuma, as well as the instrumental jam later in the song

- A heavy groove at 9:35 in Invincible

- Every aspect of Descending. It's my favorite song of all time, and a composition of epic proportions

Their sound is so massive. I've seen them live 4 times, 2 of which were on their most recent tour, and I would love an opportunity to hear something even remotely close to the power of their live shows.

Well, I've never seen them. Discovered them quite recently to be honest.

But yeah... I get the idea.

From their songs they seem to be quite interested in recording quality, the way their songs are mixed makes the drums feel so holographic, crisp... there's an excellent sense of imaging in their stuff.

And yeah, a pair of high end speakers might do the trick

What about that big orange black and white one in the middle? What’s that one called

Grado hemps 😂👍

I love posts like this. I will check your 800S recommendations. My favorites on the 800S are Amber Rubarth - "Sessions from the 17 Ward" (it's a binaural recording that sounds otherworldly), and Muddy Waters - "Folk Singer."

Right I think that's a vintage set that just came into my house from the streets one day. It's from this brand called nature and its part of their feline series. I think it's one of the smaller models in that line up and used a vocal cord drivers. No bass but decent midrange and treble, really "bites" you as the audiophiles would describe it

you may be able to get that rumbling bass if you pet/stroke it a little bit

Ohh right I totally forgot about the bass boost feature with this model. Yeah she sure does love that rumbling bass

Did you EQ the Clears?

I was going to ask you how's Elegia compare to the rest of the gangs, then I read reduction in 3k-4k then I'm like NOPE NOPE it's everything I look for in music (string instruments, female vocals).

LOL I was ready to buy Elegia but thanks for steering me away.

I own both Clears and Elegia and a bunch of IEMs and, yeah, the Elegia out-of-the-box has a kind of terrible tuning because of the aspects OP described. With EQ however, they can be a good budget alternative to the more recent Focal closed-backs (which, to be fair, I have not tested).

Keep reading Radiance is the best one, might give that a try at a later point. Just not a fan of the Bentley branding.

the branding locks tacky, otherwise very beautiful headphones. Seems to be a nudge ahead of the Celestee, according to Resolve.

How's the response curve on the feline?

How does that cat sound? Fluffy?

Big fluffy headphones with legs

Porta pros must be under the bed?

MeoW curve

I imagine SNR is iffy on that one

Fucking love Mom Jeans

Currently I've got the DT1990s which I mainly use at the desk, the LCD-R and Verite Closed as dedicated music open and closed backs respectively and the focal Bathys for out and about.

DT1990: Brightside - The Luminiers This is one of those Albums where the slightly bright beyer tuning just absolutely shines. The way the 1990s present vocals also works so well on this album, it honestly seems more natural here than the presentation on the Verite or LCD.

Verite Closed: [Self Titled] - Sir Woman The album is generally well mixed, but the Verite manage to strike such a wonderful balance between punchy powerful percussion and intimate soft vocals that I've not really heard on any other headphone.

LCD-R: Dance Fever - Florence+The Machine Whenever I listen to this album on these Headphones, I'm just blown away at how huge this very "pop-y" album can sound. Everything is also sooo well seperated, the bass is insanely tight and the speed and beauty of the LCD-Rs treble is really highlighted perfectly.

Room for sqares - John Mayer I could not choose just one album for the LCD-R so I'll just mention this one aswell. This can only be described as a detail fiesta. There is so much information here that the LCD-R just present to you with such clarity it is genuinely astonishing. John Mayers earlier songwriting is also quite nice.

Bathys: 30 - Adele Once I eqd out the awful dip at 1k and the overbearing bass, these turned into what I can best describe as a baby Clear. So naturally I absolutely adore female vocals on this headphone. So much detail and emotion comes through, I almost forgtet im using Bluetooth!

Take The Power Back was one of my primary test tracks back when I was still reviewing. Superb album and great choice

Omg hello metal! A legend commented on my post!! Yes it's genuinely one of the most "dynamic" track ever with a lot of interesting detail and texture. Genuinely one of the most revolutionary guitar work. I also absolutely love the lyrics in the song even though that doesn't have that much to do with sq.

“detail fiesta” — thank you for that little nugget

Listening to orchestral versions of the Nier soundtrack on the 800S is immense

Warm with occasional piercing highs.

Resolve has a good video about EQing it.

It's not great without EQ but apparently very salvageable. Oratory also has a Harman EQ.

$329 on Adorama, at that price I think could be worth it.

Relatable

The one in the middle is my fav. Every time I put it on it goes meow meow.

LOL yeah seems like Celestee has been an odd headphone in the lineup, only thing got it going is the price point.

Otherwise it sounds like Radiance is much better.

Ah I generally don't use EQ, but maybe I'll revisit this at a later point lol.

Thanks for the heads up!

Nope, one of the most perfect stock tunings for me. If I do eq it, maybe I might slightly boost the upper treble air region, but that's honestly nitpicking

Edit: just tried eqing, subbass boost is pretty fun and I think toning down the slight bump around 1.5k does make the treble more even (although depending on the track, I do actually enjoy the emphasis here since it makes vocals more forward)

YES it's so nice seeing a fellow emo enjoyer in this sub

LOL yeah the stock tuning is really not to my taste either. if you're looking for a closed back, I recommend looking into Aeon closed backs like the X or Noire if you can afford it. Their stock tuning is excellent imo. But to me, I do think eqing makes elegia so worth it because the technical performance really is up there for a closed back

Unironically so good

I recommend trying the oratory1990 EQ and see what you think :)