I listen at 75-80 dB at most, it's not that loud. It's very specific to the 6X0 series, is the thing. I usually don't have this problem with other drivers.

Then again, I listen almost entirely to planars. There is something about that driver that just works better to my ears. Dynamics always have some quality to them that sounds... I hate to use this term for audio because it's stupid, but low-res. Details are meh, separation is meh. It's like the sound is blurry. Even the best of the best, it has this quality.

Except for speakers, but that's a whole different can of worms.

As anyone who played CS 1.6 with the worst headphones you can imagine will tell you, if you need any fancy software or headphones to "help with gaming" that is a skill issue.

A good player will shit on you, even if you bust out the HD 800S and atmos.

These plugins are gimmicks and imho make everything sound DISGUSTINGLY bad.

Hm, I have no audible distortion with the Oratory preset. Maybe my listening levels are just not loud enough for it to be an issue.

Like, people complained about the clear driver clipping and I make fun of it myself, whenever I can, but I needed too boost the bass to ungodly levels and listen louder than I normally would, to get it clipping.

This, just like your tale and all the people complaining about powerful enough amps being to quiet, just reinforces my belief that many people in this hobby are listening at ungodly levels.

Stay safe, people. Hearing aida are expensive!

I power all my IEM's through a FiiO BRT5 which is a portable dac / amp combo.

Surprisingly it has even more of a punch than I didn't think BA drivers could manage. Even at lower volume levels.

[deleted]

Hey guys.

Hope everyone’s enjoying their weekend :) So, as some of you may know, I'm not a big fan of Planars. Mainly, I find their treble and dynamics to be uneven and harsh, but I saw the graph of the HeyDay one day and it was very close to the RSV which is my favourite vocal set - that, along with many positive reviews had me thinking, why not? New driver, better tuning, it’s now or never. So I asked Chris, or Badguygoodaudioreviews for a review unit - and to my surprise he actually sent me one! So, thanks again HBB and Linsoul for this opportunity - go check them out, I’ll drop the link below. But that aside, let’s just jump into the review.

Video for those who don’t want to read the entire thing

So, the overall sound signature of the HeyDay is very neutral, clean, with sharp transients. Starting with the low-end, the newer driver used is noticeably fast with the attack and decay, allowing separation and clarity that punches above its weight and competing with sets like the SA6 Ultra. Bass notes are cleanly separated and incredibly fast with a subtle punch - now, it’s definitely not a basshead set and it’s not going to have the same air slam and physicality as a dynamic driver, especially with its less low-end focus, but the bass quality is fast, precise, and takes a backseat allowing the midrange and treble to be the main focus of the show. Even though the HeyDay graphs more bass than the RSV, the RSV when listening actually has more bass, where the HeyDay can feel too light at times with hip hop libraries.

On the other hand, the mids on the HeyDay are very cleanly separated with great instrument layering and imaging. It handles busy tracks like Venice Bitch, New World, and any Pink Floyd and Radiohead album with ease. At mid-volume I found the HeyDay to be a great fit for rock, punk, and alternative libraries. There’s plenty of energy from electric guitars, drums, and male/female vocals, and it brings forth a sense of liveliness to the music like you’re at a venue or small concert. Normally the added mid-bass would affect mid range clarity, but I don’t know if it’s because of the driver or what, but the separation is still very clean with little masking to my ears.

I think you’re really going to like this set if you’re a treble head because the HeyDay is very airy and has great upper extension to its notes. On the strangest things by War On Drugs the electric guitars are energetic and have plenty of bite and sharpness to the notes. The presentation just like the midrange isn’t in your face and too forward, but sits at a good distance giving space for instruments and vocals to breathe. Cymbal crashes are very airy and reminds me of the treble on the SA6 Ultra, and the decay in particular is nicely extended but doesn’t overstay its welcome. Notes from electric guitars give me goosebumps especially starting from the 4:30 mark. I honestly think HeyDay was made for this song and similar libraries like it.

However, the downside to this energetic treble is that it can get fatiguing at times. Now, I haven’t ran into any issues at mid-volume or around 70-75dbs, but once I try to crank up the volume the female vocals, cymbals, and electric guitars do start getting sharp and a bit much. So scaling wise, I don’t recommend listening at a loud volume on the HeyDay. But that aside, the treble is actually very natural and doesn’t sound oversharpened or artificially boosted like the Oracle MK2s. Personally, I’m not much of a treble guy, but I think it’s nicely done on the HeyDay - gentle, open, and not in your face while providing you with lots of micro-nuances.

So, back to the original question that started it all: does the HeyDay sound like the RSV? To me, not even close - and not in a bad way, but not close because they’re two entirely different experiences. The RSV is more forward in its midrange and vocals with smoother treble and more bass, while the HeyDay is laid back all around with a slight focus on upper frequencies, so neutral-bright, with noticeably more micro-nuances and better separation. Personally I like to listen loud and love forward vocals, so the RSV is the set for me, but different cakes for different people. If you listen at a normal volume, enjoy treble, or have a very rock/alternative focused library then the HeyDay is perfect for you.

Again, shout out to Crhis and Linsoul on this collab - they really did a great job from the design, packaging, and most importantly the sound, and the fact that I’m comparing the HeyDay to much more expensive sets more than double its price should be enough of a statement on its own. The cable and plate design is also cool af.

Thanks for reading!

Wow.. Yeah, the volume thing, I noticed the S8 to be a bit power hungry, or maybe I just love to turn them up. You mean bass gets more energetic at the same volume relative to unbalanced? There's no way I can demo it, so I guess I'll just go balanced then, thanks!

Also, what kind of a dac would you recommend? I recently learned about the moondrop dawn, would that be a good match? I don't want to use a DAP and would gladly just continue with a dongle

Really the biggest changes from what I can tell is the power in the delivery of the bass. Also male vocals become more prevalent and less recessed. Everything else stays pretty similar but with a noticeable bump in general volume.

I highly recommend you try it, it's pretty night / day difference to me.

Yeah, I was playing around with wavelet on my old iems, EQing them to Harman and IEF target, and came to a conclusion that the Harman has just enough bass to sound substantial, but not overly bassy. IEF neutral tune sounds pretty brittle. OFC there are limitations to EQ, I understand that, but otherwise I had no opportunity to fiddle with different targets, so.. I was shocked by the sheer extention of the S8's bass, like, all the music just has an extra sub bass layer now that I never heard before. That's crazy to me. Maybe that's cause of its unvented fit, I dunno

Well yes it’s a K5 pro. I’ve never had an amp before so I can’t really compare them to others but they look nice, the knob turns very satisfyingly and it’s able to run pretty much every headphone so I can recommend it for sure.

Yeah, there is an issue with the monarch that it's shell is very large, so that's a no go without a demo, however I would consider S8 to be a relatively safe purchase because of the safe tuning and adequate fit

To many people overlook EQ and never realize what it brings to the table. The only thing I don't have to EQ is my JBL 305s, aside from that, I run EQ on my DT990s and LCD2Cs. EQ 9/10 wakes up every headphone to what it should be.

Edit: never listened to 660/6xx, etc never been a big fan of the Sennheiser hype I guess.

Oh, really? That's super interesting, can you please tell me more about the differences? I am a little skeptical about the balanced connections, but was considering upgrading the dac, so why not?

AKG 955 eartips don’t reach far enough to make a seal. Any suggestions on alternative/longer tips? I have no idea what to search for on AliExpress

Well if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Looking for innovation in the 600 lineup is probably top tier time wasting.

Bro you need to fix your site nothing will load.

Appreciate the comment! A lot of people hate on the S2 because of the price tag. I can’t wait for a big discount so they can put the price aside and focus on purely sound quality. I find it funny that a lot of people are being very sensitive about price in this hobby and at the same time owning at least 2-300$ worth of headphones which are insanely expensive from a non audiophile standpoint.

I dislike guitars on them, too soft/veiled or emotion-less sounding

Idk they have a hot spot in the treble

Holy shit your review and feelings on the edition xs is my exact reason for not like them. A weak sound that lacks the nice vocals of my HD650s.

The sound is just fine, it sounded just as there isn't any dongle plug in. Even without APO, still no volume differences with dongle or not

Well if you don’t like her music just replace bad guy with another bass heavy fun song you like it’s simple as that. As the other comments say the production quality on her song is very good and I really recommend listening to her brother Finneas’s album called Optimist. One of the best produced albums in todays music IMO.

> A 600 series with Oratory EQ does the job just as well

It really doesn't do it even close to as well. I've toyed around with the 6XX for a long time, I still do. EQ is like, my personal magic bullet for SO MUCH SHIT in headphones, I love it.

No amount of EQ makes the bass sound like anything but a mud cannon with zero definition, nothing makes them feel larger or more clear with good separation, nothing fixes the three blob imaging. They have timbre and mids, two things you CAN fix with EQ, and... that's it. Everything else is pretty damn bad. And I've fixed tons of headphones with similar issues, and none of them have this problem...

The drivers on them are over-dampened to hell and it's unbelievably audible.

HD600 are much better in my experience, but that bass roll-off isn't really fixed by EQ either, because it distorts the whole damn thing when you do it. Those drivers are very dated and it shows, when it comes to boosting frequencies in EQ.