I learned by mistake that you shouldn’t just grab a multi-thousand $ headphone to “see what that is about”, as it ruined me for years. 12 years later I bought my first high-end headphone, when I could finally afford it. Start small and see what you like within your budget.

Haven’t heard many dynamic driver headphones in upper price ranges, but I can say that I dislike Sennheiser, while I love some Focals. Utopia only has weaknesses in rock/metal and classical music in my opinion, which I don’t listen to all that much. Stellia is a great closed option and a bit better at rock/metal, while not as good as the punchy planars. I’m not that interested in dynamic drivers overall, but Focal knows what they’re doing.

I’m mixed…. I hate the current Pro phone size, it’s too uncomfortable for me to hold it in one hand. I would love the mini size, but otoh, if the regular Pro is already uncomfortable, why not go with the Max… ugh

What you should do to not cause distortion is, think which frequencies you want to boost, and instead lower all the other a bit. The effect of the same, but the overall volume decreases.

YouTube does less compression, it is actually one of the most dynamic non-lossless „music streaming services“. That might influence staging, Spotify also uses a codec that is less good at stereo imaging. Sorry that I don’t have specific sources for this, for the first part I heard it on the mastering podcast with Ian Shepherd, the second part I remember from my audio technician training.

Thanks!

Do you have a link? I was just googling it and only found reviews and measurements of specific amps, no general writeup

Haha, I get why! I wouldn’t say metal is my main genre, but certain songs just make it into my rotation, and this is a great one as well 👌

Totally different genre than what I normally listen to… but this one certainly is a banger, very atmospheric

I don’t regret anything, because if I buy a headphone I’m not sure about because I couldn’t test it, I always buy it used at a maximum of 50% MSRP. I can easily sell it again and get all my money back.

Also, about non-audiophiles: If you think in terms of price/performance ratio, if you happen to like a headphone that costs 2000$/€, and the tuning is different from Harman in a way that you like, the AKG K371 might have a terrible price/performance ratio for you specifically, because you’re after a better build quality and a different kind of sound.

Sure! I just use a piece of rubber that you would normally use to protect toddlers from corners of furniture: link

I think it is very soft and doesn’t do any damage over time, and is easily removed if someone with a smaller head wants to have a listen 😊

For me, it’s 2 things with focal: even used ones have been very uncomfortable for me in the beginning, and then very, very comfortable after a while. I only have experience with the Stellia and Utopia, but I would assume this one is similar.

The second thing is, do you experience more pressure under your ear than above it? I always jam a piece of rubber between the top of the cup and and headband, to increase the pressure on top vs on the bottom, and then they fit like a glove.

So the way I see it: if I listen to a particular headphone and the song has drums in it - do I hear the impact from the very beginning, does it sound slow and sluggish, almost farty?

Do you hear echoes or reverb from instruments while other stuff is already going on, or is the whole image too mushy to listen for that?

The phenomenon that you described, hearing something new on a high-end headphone and then hearing the same thing on a cheaper one is your ears being trained basically. You know now what to listen for, but you needed the better headphone at least once to properly be made aware of it.

If you have the chance: try to compare the focal utopia to the Audeze LCD-X. You would assume that the Utopia, given it’s price, is better in every way - but I don’t think that is the case, I would describe the LCD-X as more detailed and faster, but the Utopia as smoother and more pleasant for longer listening sessions. I do think the terms make sense, but only in comparisons with relatively large differences.

yeah... we have such a poor selection of stuff here, and seemingly only one shop each in the 3 countries around me that don't require me to pay customs with a decent selection, that I'm forced to become my own shop as a side hustle.

Yeah, one shop where I already borrowed 2 headphones and bought one of them comes to mind… the owner simultaneously told me how awesome a certain headphone was and how he would absolutely not recommend that I buy it, and how much he dislikes the one that I have.

Okay, bought that headphone somewhere else, for much cheaper at that.

Which is also a DAC/amp, and a much worse one.

Oh that’s proper hifi, don’t let the existence of multi-1000-dollar/euro/etc headphones discourage you! It was never really my thing, but if I had liked it, I don’t know if I would have ever looked for more.

Believe me, it saved you 😅

I liked playing anno 1404 for a while while listening to music or podcasts

oh... good point, I currently have the Odin and AirPods Pro 😃 guess I know what I'll be using outside in the winter.

Lol… I was thinking of putting a TWS together with this and the Odin for shits and giggles

Muse - Supremacy

Haha, we have the same setup… not overkill 😄 just perfect