Probably still better than the Gen4 A50 Astros

Depends. Most of the time headbands and pads are worn out on used ones. I have gotten some used in great shape that I’ve just cleaned and been fine with.

Yeah that's an amazing first open-back setup.

Get some carbon fiber or Fiberglass strips. Some epoxy. Lay out the epoxy and put the strip down. smooth it out. Let it cure. Sand and paint. Bedliner would work or flex seal.

Ugly way would involve a strip of metal and a rivet gun. You could use threaded rivets, so bolts could be used.

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It only works when the signal is very strong, and it's an AM thing.

I've done this as a kid. There was a powerful AM station nearby, enough signal for listening in headphones. Using a huge wire antenna, good ground connection, and an output transformer, I was actually able to feed just barely enough signal in a small speaker. Placing the speaker in a small transistor radio box (like a DIY speaker box) made it audible in my room at a soft, but decent level.

There were no batteries in the schematic. All the energy came from the radio station. Since only one strong station was in the area, I didn't even need an LC frequency filter - a germanium diode was the only real component besides the headphones (or speaker + transformer). One side of a germanium transistor also works instead of a diode. Silicon diodes / transistors don't work.

The signal was plenty for comfortable listening in headphones. I was able to even use metallic rain gutters as an antenna, and my hand as a "ground connection" and it still worked okay. I could impress my friends by touching one wire to the rain gutters, and AM radio would play in the headphones.

High impedance headphones worked better. For the speaker, the transformer basically was just an impedance adapter - speakers have low impedance, but the schematic required high impedance for best results.

Here's the schematic for headphones:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Simplest_crystal_radio_circuit.svg/515px-Simplest_crystal_radio_circuit.svg.png

Replace the headphones with transformer + speaker if you wish, but don't expect a lot of volume even in the best case.

If there is no strong AM station nearby, then it will not work at all.

General info and more complex schematics:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio

The fact is that probably >90% of the people posting this sub have never heard anything close to 'Summit Fi'. Also >90% have probably never tried high end closed backs. There is nothing valuable to be learned from this poll.

Does the balanced jack sound different than the unbalanced on or does ist just give more power?

I'd definitely get a hard case, you can find some pretty cheap ones on Amazon with good reviews.

Wow, you're completely right. I just tried setting the dips in upper base/lower mids and it gave the body back to vocals. Overall it feels exactly how you described still, a bit of a u shape

headphones.com

audio46

Musiteck

Zeppelinandco

Bloom audio

Linsoul

HifiGo

ShenzhenAudio

In order of decreasing trust but make no mistake these are the shops I trust as a whole so even the last ones lower in the trust scale, I've not had problems with yet

This subreddit would drive their cars with that thing if there was a port

They used to play kid rock during executions, but it was deemed cruel and unusual

Cadenza for sure

They are both laid back but the 650 is more laid back. Even less high end and more low end.

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*fray

Headphones.com, Audio46, and Bloom Audio are the main 3 I'd recommend

I've heard Mimic Audio is good too, but I don't have any experience with them

I've been in kind of a similar situation as you. However, I have not tried the big flagships, and only owned one pair of Planar Magnetics. But other than that, over the years I've owned probably around 30-50 headphones total. Never really found that exact sound I was looking for. Been happy with a lot, but. There was always something missing. My most expensive cans was around 400 dollars. All the ones I've owned have been over-ear and almost all open-back. I remember trying on-ear a long time ago, and I swore never again. I guess they had too much clamp. Then however, because of all the rave. I decided to try the KSC75. My mind was blown away regarding the sound quality for so little. The sound signature I already knew wasn't to my taste, but the sound quality for such a low cost. I was hugely impressed. I've always heard about the Porta Pros for years. But them being on-ear, I've never cared to try them. Trying the KSC75 changed that. People said they fdidn't find them uncomfortab le, so I took the plunge. I'm so happy I did. The sound is what I've been looking for all along. I now have 3 pair and 2 KPH30i's. The Porta Pros being my preffered because I like the comfort better, but they sound very much alike. Awesome cans! I always say to people instead of starting out getting a pair of HD600's or something like that, they should try one of the 4 amazing Koss headphones they make for a cheap price, and see if they are happy with that. I sold everything else, and only have Koss headphones now, and Monk Plus for train rides/bus, since they don't really leak sound compared to the Porta Pros.

Thank you, this is the exact sort of cost based quality ratio information i was looking for. There’s always a point with gear where the diminishing returns take a huge drop off and it’s nice to know where that is as an entry point to a high-end hobby.

Thank you!

My Headphones came with a flimsy bag to store them in, but i went to the dollar tree and found a circular container that fit them perfectly while they are folded and that has worked great for me! Im sure there are (nicer) ways to protect them, but i will say it worked great for me and i decorated the container with stickers! At least i dont have to worry about water damage! its air-tight

Headphones.com . I've bought from them on numerous occasions and have returned items without hassle. Bloom Audio is solid too. I haven't purchased from any other retailers.

Hey! Also a data scientist reporting in. I'm passionate about headphones and have spent a lot of time reading forums and watching videos on the topic. Frequency response is the only measurement that matters for headphones (CSD and waterfall are useless).

Measured frequency response (at least for over ears) will not match exactly what you hear because the measurement rig has a different anatomy than your ears.

This is a graph of 40 different peoples perception of FR, and the divergence starts at 1Khz.

So how a headphone looks on its FR, and how it is perceived by the individual, is subjective.

Check out the paper: https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/227875122/1995_M_ller_et_al_AES_Journal_a.pdf

Now assuming your headphone is tuned to the same target by referencing a measurement rig, they still sound different. I'm with Resolve as far as explaining as to why- the reason being diaphragm material. I've EQ'd my HD660 to my LCD-5 stock FR and vice/versa using Crinacle's paid graphing tool. And they just sound different- especially in the leading edge (attack) and decay of notes as well as the LCD-5 imaging is far more accurate (the HD660 is blobish).

I recommend trying two separate headphones and EQing them to the same target and you'll experience that they sound differently in areas other than tonal balance.

I wish I could do this! Choosing a room instead of choosing a headphone :) But I get the idea. You probably have different ambiance set in each room. It seems that you go a lot with the feeling of the moment. I like that. Thanks for sharing!