HE-6

In my opinion, the LCD 5 is *not a* great endgame headphone unless a mid-forward tuning and aggressive detail presentation are your preference. I know that sounds ridiculous for something so expensive. EQ helps them in terms of FR. They also pair reasonably well with tube amps and that takes the edge off. But unfortunately, the LCD-5 is an aggressive headphone with crazy details and some folks like me find that enjoyable, again as ridiculous as that sounds. The LCD 5 is an old school kind of sound, very reminiscent of the HE-6/HE 500 series from Hifiman. There is a reason Hifiman moved away from that signature because some types of music just sounds harsh on them. But if you like that signature, there is nothing better in the market today. And I agree. Endgame does not exist because all headphones are about tradeoffs. People with 100K dollar setups still jump on the new hype train when it is available. The LCD 5 is a great addition to a collection but unfortunately can never be the *only* headphone that someone owns long term.

For the price my OG HE-6 pretty much beat out anything a normal human can afford. Even now, 10+ years later and looking at headphones up to triple the price, I haven’t found a pair I actually prefer. Sadly, you cannot get them new and only rarely do you see them pop up on auction sites. The subsequent iterations, while they’ve improved on some aspects, cannot match the sound quality.

I’ll stick with my OG HE-6, as they’re my daily drivers and I still can’t find anything better.

Are you looking for bass boosted headphones or headphones with flat extended bass? Sony Ult Ware = ridiculous bass boost Airpods Max = Excellent tastefull low sub bass centric frequency response In my opinion, the kings of bass arent those 40mm dynamic driver bass boosted ANC headphones, for me the kings of bass are large diameter sealed planars and electrostats like Stax L series with bluetac mod or Nectar Hive XS, for magnetic planars pre fazor LCD 2 or old HE6, all of these are flat into the infrabass with low distortion.

Na, i owned for a bit (OG 6 screw), it's an old relic from the past that sounds very aggressive, the bass is good and punches hard, but it's not up to date anymore. The Tungsten Double Sided has the same bass (with spacer rings) as the OG HE6, get that one, it has a marvelous tonality and a super good bass (not 1266TC but very, very good). Sadly you'll need to wait a long time for it and it's hard to power.

Estats NOT fragile at all, i have still perfectly working Sr Omega (original from 1993 in my collection), also for other people HE 60 / HE 90 works like a charm 20 years later. Its myth. If you treat your equipment with respect, it will last a long time. And yes, I don't want to get into the controversy, but if you read a physics textbook, it's obvious that a diaphragm of estats/planars of 0.5-1 micron thick offers a huge advantage over the thick rubber in dynamic headphones.

There arent many openbacks that are true basshead sets. Best youll get is a properly EQd LCD-X or HE6. Dunu Arashi might be a contender with some EQ as well, although Im not sure if it takes a bass shelf like the other 2.

Awesome collection! I never tried the ZMF’s yet, but my favorite right now is the HE6se with EQ in the bass. I’m also approaching 13 years in the hobby, definitely agree with you it’s about the journey not the destination. Endgame is what you are currently enjoying right now.