Did you replace the pads on the SR60x? Grado pads are terrible.

I mean don't get me wrong Opus is great, but I am not converting my entire collection to Opus. I just don't even fucking care. Who needs that space? Why? Any phone with 128GB of storage and that is literally all I need for work and way more. Hell, I am getting by with 70GB of music in FLAC on my phone. I rarely have too many issues with albums. I could save some space going Opus, but I really just don't care.

The whole debate is pointless right now. I don't even understand the obsession with lossy at this point in time. I guess if you are dirt poor with only 2GB of space on your phone it could help.

what helped mine significantly was putting them over the box overnight whenever i went to bed, few days of that and they got to an extremely comfortable level of clamp force that ended up being about perfect for my head shape

It's worth it going with lossless even just for the gapless playback.

You get me man. I did the tests myself because I wanted to see where I should spend my money, the answer was very clear.

It is QUITE audible. I am a bit of a audiophile myself

it solely depends on the headphone. i have a 7hz timeless and a focal clear. The focal clear beats my timeless in imaging. However, headphones like the Arya and LCD X have more spacious imaging than the clear apparently and they'd be better.

Even on some of the tougher tests, you can still hear differences with 320 vs lossless MP3. Opus at 320 is pretty damn good, but there are tracks where you can still hear something.

Now your typical zoomer isn't going to give a shit. They don't care about anything. But if you don't care about space, then who gives a fuck? I'm not putting my collection on 128 OPUS lmao. A bunch of fools convince themselves that their shitty equipment or some random ass study with random ass people and samples couldn't 100% the differences so fuck it gotta go OPUS for my 1000000000 zoomer rap and fake alt punk singles. Gotta fit them all.

That doesn't say much though. The differences are there, and people with great hearing and a sense of musical knowledge know what to look for. It might not appear on every single track, but it's there, and some people care.

I mean these people can't even type out a coherently written meme. Don't trust these fucks with your audio needs.

You'll get downvoted by angry tweens who only have their entire collection in 128 or some shit. Opus is transparent guys. I've never heard audio except on my airpods and shit, but I read some studies, and they 100% definitive. Your ears can't hear the difference.

LMAO. If you pinpoint a lot of specific tracks and areas in tracks in particular, you can easily hear differences. It's really not that hard. Double Blind studies don't give one enough time with a track. When given the time, you start spotting the differences in back to backs. That alone is enough for me to stick with FLAC. It might not really be huge all the time, but it's a difference.

First, to answer your question, I use sundaras for gaming and I think they work pretty well, but imaging leaves a bit to be desired depending on the game.

Headphones for gaming is a strange world. I work in audio and have a few friends who work in the video game industry doing sound design/implementation, so I have a bit of a window into that world. Most games seem to be "mixed" (programmed really, but similar enough process) using either stereo speakers and/or whatever headphones the people working on the sound engine use. This is fairly commonly gaming headsets like astros, less commonly hifi headphones (which makes sense as the majority of gamers will be using gaming headphones, so you want the mix to sound best on what most people will be using). I don't know for sure this is the case at all major studios, but at least 2 of the big ones I can say for sure this is the case.

Because all headphones image differently you can't really make a game work perfectly on all of them. I generally got pretty fantastic imaging back when I gamed with Astros, but hated the sound, now I love the sound i get from my sundaras, but the imaging can be a bit off, particularly with sounds that are supposed to come from behind me (using in engine 3d/surround/atmos emulators). I prefer better sound quality to imaging, though if I was trying to be more competitive in pvp situations I might look for a different pair of headphones or iems that image better with specific games.

So basically no one headphone or driver type will be best for all games, and it's ultimately down to what you like best and what compromises you prefer. Ideally we'd all play on surround or Atmos speakers for the best experience, but very few actually do.

Thanks for this detailed writeup! Did all the legwork for me! I'll definitely be picking up a pair to try myself in the near future, even if I do end up with an Arya as well.

I had the same experience with the Elear and the Utopia as well. Focal is not for me.

I highly recommend you to go with the ZMF Aeolus or the Auteur Classic if you have the budget.

Something seems screwy. Assuming Philips's sensitivity spec is accurate and the input signal to the amp is enough to get it near the limits of its power capabilities at low gain, 150mW should be sufficient for hearing damage inducing SPLs.

Ah well, if low gain is busted, new amp solves the problem.

Your claim here is a fallacy though. You should realize that.

>AKG K712

So these are dark ? that's interesting, can't wait to try them then, they are about 150$ in my country (not sure if that's a good price for them)

I thought they were gonna be the same with K701/K702 where both of these have peaky upper mid and elevated low to mid treble, at least that was what I heard when I auditioned K701/K702 in the past.

My curated collection is like 4TB, also minus all my physical I don't have in digital yet, which is a lot, and I can't even imagine 20 lmao. I have so much classical even. I could only see 10TB MAX for me without crazy blurays or some shit getting into the mix.

I mean just saying 90% of tracks, it means nothing. To one's personal ears it means nothing. What you are saying is that YOU and a designated group of people cannot tell the difference. That's all it means. You guys are convincing yourselves that 128 Opus is transparent, when it isn't. You shouldn't use that word. Because it means nothing without the user and gear in question.

Thats the first i noticed. Felt a little like surround speakers. I actually could sense more when some one came right in front of me, it was not just left and right

Yeah, not sure why that was the case for you. I regularly flip between high and low gain, when swapping between a wide range of headphones, and I have not noticed any noise or distortion - despite how it can come across in measurements. To me, whatever it takes to get it to the right volume is fine, so long as the signal remains perceptibly clean; and so far, I have not had any complaints.

No matter, though. So long as you found something you're happy with, and enjoy using, then it's all good. :)

Yes

Bass attack and decay, basically how well the headphone can keep up with fast percussion

I don't think gaming differs much from music, it's just preference.

Unless the headphone in question has awful imaging it'll work.

I use my lcd-2 (planar), Focal celestee (Dynamic) and Blessing 2 Dusk (iem dynamic + balanced armature) for gaming and comparing any of them I feel no extra advantage between any of them. If anything I'd say iems have the best accuracy when it comes to imaging compared to most headphones I've tried, but I don't think it matters at all, even at high skill lvl.

However wider soundstage tend to feel more immersive which is nice.

Ah my bad.

Perhaps coincidence that this happened after you showered? The filters on my moondrop Starfields used to be finicky and I’d have to replace them every so often as they’d dislodge.

You can order replacement filters for these from places like linsoul audio, but for the CHUs it’s not really worth the hassle.

yea my prediction is "bad"

> Once you start to hear it

"Honey, where's your car?"

"Sold it, taking the bus now. Hon, you gotta hear the senny's on this new tube amp..."