Agreed, they take well to an EQ. I 'upgraded' to the K712 from the ,702 and later regret it but managed to find a lovely sound with EQ.

That soundstage is brilliant also, even more so with the 702

Equalize K702 to oratory1990 preset and you will be close to that feeling.

Actually no stock headphones give that feeling to me. Including planars.

Needs better amp unfortunately. Even with the much recommended cheap Topping stuff they sound really quite shit to my ears.

It's just that they're still at $50 on most parts of the world, that's why the other newer and cheaper releases with a neutral-leaning tuning get more attention such as the Salnotes Zero and Moondrop Chu.

If you value the build quality and deem it worth the extra monnies, then the Tin T2 might be good for you.

Tin T2 user here and I love my set despite its flaws.

I got the XS for myself during black friday and absolutely love them. They fit my head perfectly too though i was worried they would be too big. I had sundaras before these and there is a pretty big difference in sound quality with the XS.

People like different things and if you don't like the XS then just return it and get something else. That is completely fine. Try to find something you like and stick with it. There are plenty of headphones for every taste out there.

Unfortunately in this hobby the only way to know if you’ll truly like a headphone is to buy it and listen to it. You can get a gist of it from people but everyone hears things different and has different perspectives on things. Ultimately you have to decide to take the plunge or not.

It seems you’ve just figured that out. Thats one thing that sucks about this hobby because not everyone can do that and it can be severely disappointing if it happens. If you bought them from somewhere you can return them then id give it until just before the return period if you still dont like them then refund them.

I recently upgraded from the HD560S to a Focal Clear, you can look at my recent posts for some opinions, or ask here for anything you‘re cutious about (I‘ve also tried a few Hifimans and then some)

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What are you gonna play?

I can only imagine if i play the same game as you are playing

Saw someone suggesting the hd800… meh, I wasn’t a fan when I tried it especially compared to the 660s. It just sounded so much thinner and less engaging. If you can stomach a focal clear then sure. If you don’t care about subbass then try a 660. The meze 109 was fantastic also. Something cheaper might be the edition XS however I think you might want to eq it since vocals might sound a bit thinner than what you are used to and the oratory preset works really well

username definitely checks out

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I’ll put my cents in here. I had one couple but returned both because of qc issues but that’s besides the point. Powering them off a fiio e10k was not enough (bass started to distort at higher volumes) and my smsl c200 made them sound much better imo. However I did really like to eq them. Try out the oritory1990 preset eq I think is what it’s called or just add a bass shelf but I think the preset is really good. Trust me, these headphones can literally please anyone if EQ’d

Tygr 300r if you like a fun sound but also great for gaming and BETTER imaging and soundstage than any HD 6XX series below

Instead of "next step" maybe a different flavor?

Thanks! I’ll look into them

> Yep. I've stopped to drink soda

Good on you!

Ok. That's helpful.

I always felt that way about Metallica with my Grado and V-Moda M100. The stood all in one place on stage in my head and I never liked them when going mobile.

Than I snatched a pair of Sony MDR-1a for dirt cheap off of eBay and the revelation came. The Sony have really good imaging and soundstage and if nothing else would be great, I would own them just for Metallica. They are great soll around though and super comfy. I will not give them away and they can be upgraded with a balanced cable.

So, hunt down some cheap used Sony MDR-1a as a complement to your Philips would be my suggestion.

Well I’m a mostly simple person I believe. I got my current set-up over the AirPods Max or Sony headphones because I wanted sound quality, not features. I already have AirPods for walking around.

Anyway, back to topic. Whenever I listen to busy music I feel like there could be some improvements on open-ness and instrument separation. Switching EQ profiles kind of help but I’m wondering if there are any headphones that can sound much more open and separated without costing much more than my set-up. Thoughts?

This amp shit is just foolish waste of money. If he doesn't like them, he doesn't.

Yep. I've stopped to drink soda, so sometimes I make my coffee quite sweet

It is normal, I had similar feeling for each headphone I bought after I owned BD 1990 pro. It seemed like I was giving 1-2-3K USD for 1-2% of difference in sound. And I am happy that made me stop spend more. Discussions here and on head-fi are dangerous, or maybe the word is toxic. It makes the brain think it is normal to have 50 headphones worth of 50k hanged on the wall.

My variations were FOUND! Thank you everyone for your input. Little did I know that the Qudelix 5k is magnetic and it got stuck to the top of my locker and was hidden in the corner

Almost any iem gets forgotten in a matter of months these days, the market evolves so fast to the point where there are iems for cheaper than the T2 that better adhere to common target curves or preferences, which could explain why the T2 isn’t as relevant these days

if i'm upgrading from the dunu titan s, which version do you think is better suited for me?

Try out Sundara. I found it to be similarly balanced in sound to 560s but much more exciting and 3d sounding. Costs 300€.