You're right in your assumption, I haven't heard any estats. The only one I have accessible to me is the Audeze CRBN which is apparently not very representative of that driver technology. And yes I'd love to hear older versions of the Utopia because this one sounded amazing to me.

I haven't listened to even one of these, very interesting list! And surprised to see the dt 990 for how much flak it's gotten recently.

Nice, I would love to try the SLJr. at some point, and you actually own one!

I'd also have to agree on the LCD-Xs comfort, weight feels very evenly distributed on my head.

Good to know that about the CRBN - it's the only e-stat readily accessible to me so I don't wanna get the wrong idea about them.

DCA headphones dont really grasp my attention, but I'd love to come across them someday due to their popularity.

Sorry, haven't pulled the trigger on an OG pair yet.

Thanks lol.

Oops, the new Utopia should really take a spot up there. I haven't had a lot of time with those, so they escaped my mind for a moment.

The 660S is an awesome headphone too (my pick if I could have only one headphone under $2k USD), more of an all rounder than the 650, but since you're getting the Sundara too you will be covered and having variety is so much fun.

Ah yeah, I get that. Maybe in the future, you can buy used to try stuff out. You can sell back whatever you don't like and usually make all your money back. To be honest, you probably dodged a bullet by going with Sennheiser. They're just way more reliable than Hifiman at the end of the day.

Yeah, I got that. I was more so trying to point out that the 660s improved on some of the "shortcomings" of the 650/600 (e.g., soundstage, imaging, instrument separation, and perceived detail retrieval) in attempt to assure you in your 660S over other 6x0 headphones.

Of course that's all imo.

Did you find the Sundara to have recessed vocals as well?

600 owners are such snobs, lol. 660s has the best (read: widest) soundstage to my ears out of that lineup. Although if you wanted more bass and treble, the other two do have more quantity. Then again, to my ears, the treble is better defined in the 660 (especially with a smidge of an air boost via EQ).

The maxes are really nothing to scoff at! Much more refined than the sonys, boses, and beats of the world. Maybe not Bathys level sound quality (I haven't felt like trying them at my local dealers), but from what I've seen here, Focals build quality can be a bit sketchy.

Well, that's what matters sir.

Your Sundara's pads are also crying.

Fair enough!

Wait, I've always heard the Arya V2 has weaker bass than the V3. Might be worth looking into if you'll want the same slam as before.

For metal I would really recommend looking into the 1990 or 1770. The 1990 is just a tad bit better but the 1770 has great isolation as a close back.

If you want more bass, then tubes are the way to go.

Or we just let people spend their own money how they want without being an ass about it.

No set criteria. Like most terms in the community, lo-fi, mid-fi, etc. can mean vastly different things to different people.

Probably because part of their enjoyment of the hobby is derived from partaking in the community, and they've been around long enough to see the meta shift from something they had fun with to something less appealing to them.

Come on man, use your imagination a little bit lol.

He means as a community. Hence "we."

"Instant replay" by m-cubed

I love this song and the Sundara plays it better imo than even the Arya.

I'm just here to corroborate, the blue tint is hard to notice in warm leaning lighting. I thought I'd hate it too but it's a very deep blue.