Sundara

A lot until I bought Sundaras and finally figured I should EQ. I think I can stop getting headphones now, unless something crazy grabs my attention.

I have the Sony XM6, I am happy with it, I had a couple of Boses in the past. I think I would have bought the HDB 630 instead of the Sony if I was about to buy a new one today, but since i travel a lot I really need good ANC for long flights. I also have a Sundara which is alright. I think I am still looking for that pair of headsets that become my end game so I focus more on the music and less in the endless rabbit hole this hobby is :D

I've been enjoying the hifiman sundaras with rock and metal. They are under $90 with coupons from aliexpress with local shipping if you are in the US.

Not saying there's anything to be worried about. But I'd be more wary about some of the smaller company headphones than I would be about hifiman. The eris feels like a toy compared to most hifiman. Heard some really bad things about fosi audio customer support. The reason you hear about so many hifiman horror stories is because they sell a lot of headphones. They're very popular on this sub so there's more exposure to bad cases. They definitely had more questionable build quality in the past but they've really improved over the years. I've owned about 7 hifiman products and have never had issues. I did have IEMs break but that was after over 5 years of usage and I didn't baby them at all.

I sell my headphones to fund the next one. Had the HE-4xx for 4 years then sold it for a sundara. Had the sundara for 5 years then sold it for an Arya stealth. Both headphones were perfectly fine when I sold them. I also briefly owned the Arya v2 which does not have stealth magnets. It does have a bigger soundstage than the Arya stealth but I much prefer the overall sound of the stealth. The soundstage on the v2 made music sound distant and wonky. Some songs were incredible on it but for the most part I wasn't a fan. I've listened to the HEK stealth, HEKse, and HEK Unveiled. Don't think I've listened to the original non-stealth HEK. I'm sure it's good but I'd probably opt for a newer model unless it was an incredible deal like $600 or less.

I don't really understand. Is most of your music from obscure websites or something? Are you downloading music from youtube or something? No artist is purposely releasing music at 128-200kbps. It's not like it costs more to release music at 320kbps. I don't see how you couldn't get this music at a higher bitrate. To answer your question, get a fiio FT1 or a Sundara or something.

Similar issues with my Arya. After going from a Sundara to Arya, the clamping force is substantially weaker on the Arya. The Sundara is like a vice grip in comparison. It isn't an issue anymore, I sort of grew into it and actually prefer it now. But they could clamp a little tighter for my liking.

I'm by no means an audiophile, I just like to waste money on the next "upgrade", be it PC hardware, or headphones. However, I recently rediscovered my HyperX Clouds (they are "gaming headphones", but phenomenal for the price back in 2016), they actually sound good. I think I paid around £60 for them 10 years ago, I wouldn't be disappointed with them if I were dropped on a desert island with a decent battery bank. I prefer them to my mid range wireless BT Sony headphones that I typically use for travelling. My first pair of real headphones after the Clouds were the HD598SR, I only bought them because of the soundstage, and I was obsessed with CS:GO at the time. I was a bit disappointed with those, but the HyperX clouds were actually decent. I just expected more from a non gaming oriented product like the 598SR. And sure, my HD600s, Sundara and now Arya Stealth shit on all of them, but I still pull them out now and again. EDIT; Just to my nostalgic brain, the Clouds were my favourite headphone of all time. Not because they were great, but because they were such a leap over my previous £10-20 actual crap budget headset I found on Amazon because my previous one died.