HIFIMAN - HE6SE v2

He6se v2. They shine on dubstep and bass imo

Agreed, not likely to buy any of these. I might buy the Audeze Maxwell on a great sale. I have a couple of headphones for console that can be powered by a potato, the PC38x and Aune AR5000. For PC, where I'd play competitive games, I use HE1000se, HE6se V2, and HD490 Pro. I've heard the Arya Stealth is also excellent for gaming, but I don't have that one.

Hifiman He6se v2!!!! god damn these sounds soooooo freaking good!!

My closed back Sony MDR 7520. Not the most transparent, not the best bass, pretty narrow soundstage but easy to EQ and drive with my Qudelix 5K. Decent noise isolation, too. I’ll be taking it with me on an extended tour through Asia and Europe. The Hifiman HE400i comes a close second. Pretty neutral and easy to drive. (My Hifiman HE6SE v2 sounds remarkable but it’s too hard to drive with anything portable)

350-400 you should have HE6se. Nothing touches it in that category. Need to add Tungsten to the expensive category.

I have he6 se v2 and am curious if I upgrade to he 1k will unlike then the same. I bass boost my he6 and they are heaven

This guy’s got it right. Personally I’d find a pair of used Elex if you want to try Focals; they’re basically a super 6XX with bass. Very little will sound “better” than the Arya at this price point. I prefer the Meze 109 Pro and the HE6se V2 over the Arya, but I wouldn’t say they’re objectively better.

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.

Fun can w too much bass and treble for me.  HEK Stealth and Arya U both better as is a refurbed or used HE-6 SE or SE 2.

If mid timbre and no EDM is your thing: Senn HD-600, OTL amp, Schiit R2R DAC (all used saves money) If you want some dynamics/bass/all around: Refurbed HFM HE-6 SE, amp with at least 2 wpc@50 ohms (if lots of bass EQ make it 6 wpc), same DAC as above, really needs some PEQ to max those.

I had those for a few weeks, long before I had the hekse though. All I can say definitively is their soundstage is "shorter" while the hekse is ridiculously "tall" - in vertical space to be clear. People describe the hekse as a sphere of sound around your head and it's a very accurate description. The difference in detail retrieval I don't think is that substantial, but the hugely tall soundstage with Hifiman's excellent imaging (in all their headphones) can make it seem like the hekse have better detail retreival even if it's hardly different. Plus, a brighter tuning with mids also more prominent. The treble in the hekse is really incredible, in the sense that it's prominent and clear yet even at high volume it never sounds piercing, to me at least - the Sundaras I would have to EQ the treble down when bass boosting and listening at louder volumes. From what I've heard, other hps in the HE1K line have those treble characteristics too and it's a big reason as to why the line is so respected. I don't remember piercing treble ever being a problem with the he6sev2 either, I recall it having a slightly dark tuning, and I don't remember what EQ I liked using with it. Ultimately, I wish I hadn't needed to sell my he6sev2, but I had to at the time (talking like 2018 or 19). Would love to still have them to compare better and have a more intimate and darker option - I miss having Sennheisers as well, some day I'll go back to em, but no idea when. My Utopia hps already hardly ever get listened to because they're just not substantially different enough from the hekse to me in the mids and treble departments, while the bass blows the Utopia out of the water.