HD 620S

If you do try the HD620 based on the other comment, make sure you have a return policy where you buy them from. The headphone is highly fit dependent. They wouldn't even sit straight on my head and kept getting off my head because of the insane clamp. And I use HD660s/600 as my daily drivers (when I'm not using the Koss KPH40), so I'm not new to clamp. Plus I found them to be a bit boxy in sound. I'm still waiting for a good closedback from Sennheiser for monitoring, I was hoping HDB630 would be it, but the latency due to the in-house dac makes it a no go, hopefully they make a passive closedback with the HDB630 sound as well.

I find it hard to believe that the comfort between a Sennheiser and the D1 would be similar. The thing that bothers me the most about the D1 is the price and the comfort, when compared to the HD6 line. If you wanted more subbass in those, you could surely get a zen dac to boost the bass up, or a pair of tubes to upgrade them even more. But the additional weight and build of the D1 concerns me. The weight is likely to cause discomfort in long listening sessions, and in terms of build - if anything breaks, I doubt its as user servicable as the HD6 line of open-back headphones. That coupled with the addional price increase of these headphones, is why I'd probably never recommend anyone these over the HD6 line of open backs. Plus the company doesn't have good rapport either based on the DMS video.

Understand where you're coming from. My point was price, comfort, ease of user serviceability, and company goodwill. (In that order of importance) I really appreciate you addressing the latter two to a certain degree. But to clarify, regarding the brand bit, I wasn't alluding to where they were located or their products, I was referring to dms video about how they try to snub critical user reviews by pressuring mods into removing user posts. The longer warranty is certainly nice. But i don't think that's a concern sennheiser wise, when we've seen them last decades already. Also the d1 certainly does not seem as easy to service as the sennheisers (and by that I don't mean partially like earpads or headband, but the rest of the chassis as well). You can open up the whole chassis of senns without any tool, I haven't seen any breakdowns of the D1, but it doesn't look as easy. Not to mention THE most important factor, the comfort. Good sound means nothing if you're constantly uncomfortable wearing them, I prefer lighter weight, a lot. So ultimately all I'm trying to get at, is that while your points about the longer warranty or the stock sound are valid, considering the d1 an all around upgrade is a stretch when you're compromising on comfort, and price. You said that the d1 needs juice because the mac wasn't powering it to sufficient levels, so the cost of a dac or amp I wouldn't consider additional costs for senn but rather something that you'd need to invest for d1 as well. Both have their advantages and tradeoffs. And personally for me, the tradeoffs of d1 are not worth it.

I recently bought the HD620s, probably the most detailed closed backs I've ever used!

I find open back while playing instruments to be distracting, and the musicians I've had try them have agreed. So if that is going to be important I would stick with closed backs. The FT1 is a very cool choice. I find it to be a great value, but you may need to get pads and a head strap to help with the fit. Many have. Just remember to consider that in the cost. Their are a lot of option in this range, but you also can't go wrong with the tried and true sony mdr7506 either. Great for instruments and an easy daily driver for other things.

The Sennheiser HD 620s might be better for you than the FT1 for what you're looking for. For IEM i would suggest the Moondrop Kato. Even though they are a little V-Shaped, i found the included brass nozzles quite pleasing for vocals and the rest you listed.

The Fosi doesn't do much to the sound other than provide more power. You might not need it for most things, but something like a dongle dac will choke out as frequencies peak and the impedance curve of the headphone gets very high. Something like Why So Serious? around 3:20 in is a decent sub bass test track that is pretty obvious when the stack falls apart. Superstition by Stevie Wonder has very clear cymbals and tambourines, that will clip and sound weird without enough amplification. Also the hd 6xx are 300ohms and really shine on OTL tube amps imo. Something like the ta-26 is a good start. lol, if you don't hear a difference between that the Fosi, you'll need to get your ears checked. Also, when auditioning new stuff; I recommend spending a week or two using only the 6xx and fosi as much as possible. Make sure you get well and used to what it can do on your head and in your environment. Then when switching to something else the changes are more obvious.

Using the ARC/eARC HDMI port out of your TV into something that takes in ARC is the only good way. Optical out is okay for speakers in general, but for headphones it's too easy to pick up on the poor quality imo. Fosi Audio ZD3 is a budget option with ARC support. Ferrum Wandla is a summitFi option. Bluetooth is completely terrible and generally should be avoided. There are exceptions, but not with a Hisense. If you really need wireless and already have an iPhone and Air Pods, you could get an AppleTV. The newer air pods support their low latency spatial audio and work very well.

It looks like it's poorly made and a risk to anything plugged into it. On the USA Amazon we have access to UGreen products which are still cheap chinese garbage, but generally have a reputation for meeting specs and being durable enough. Still, we have a lot of problems switching USB inputs at CanJams. When you plug in USB there's power, data, a handshake, all sorts of stuff going on. A DAC is not a PC made for USB fast switching. Even the best devices get annoyed with constant switching and often start needing restarts for a variety of issues. If the topping is working well for it. Great. You're lucking out. BUT, if you introduce a switcher, it might keep providing power while only switching data and a lot of DACs i've dealt with HATE that. When i can for peace of mind, I usually turn off the DAC before plugging/unplugging USB. Just food for thought.

Momentum 4 are great, don't get me wrong. It doesn't touch my list because I don't have any need for wireless headphones. If you want/need a wireless headphone, momentum 4 is by all mean a great pick. If you need isolation and don't mind wired, hd620s is another fine choice. In the end, it's about your wants and needs. Our life differs and so will our choices

shp9500, makes me value good mids over boosted bass. Now I'm happy with both my hd660s and hd620s. I also got a few pair of iems which are great, but never actually use anymore. Still wondering if I should sell them lol

full sized. I pick my hd660s and even my hd620s over my ier m9 anytime

hd550 is a fairly affordable and safe pick imo. If you don't mind eq the 560s is another good set. If you love vocals get something from the hd6-line. HD660S2 can be found anywhere near $400 these days

**Sennheiser HD 620S** \- Nice relaxed Sennheiser sound but with more bass than 6-series open backs, has that beautiful Sennheiser midrange, slight bit of treble weirdness, nothing too crazy and quite easy to correct, lacking a smidge of bass impact, nothing a bit of EQ can't rectify. Sound stage was quite good for a closed back, as was imaging, exceeded my expectations in this area. Respond to EQ fairly well, they do distort fairly quick if you feed them too much bass without enough negative gain. Absolutely fantastic build quality, these things are built like tanks, lots of clamp but rapidly loosening up the more I use them. Only negative in the build department is the stock cable kinda sucks. It's thin and holds it's shape too much. 150 Ohm impedance pairs nicely with a tube amp, love how they sound on the Valhalla 2 in high gain mode. 8.5/10 would recommend. **EQ settings:** \-7.8dB preamp gain | (1) Peak Filter 24Hz @ +6.0dB Q factor 0.71 | (2) Peak Filter 64Hz @ + 1.5dB Q factor 0.71 | (3) Peak Filter 118Hz @ -3.0dB Q factor 6.00 | (4) Peak Filter 238Hz @ + 3.0dB Q factor 5.00 **Sony MDR-MV1 -** Wow, how much bass can an open back have? These have a ton of bass impact and slam, and nice deep bass that's also tight. Listening to The Weeknd on these was a blast. Midrange was quite pleasant as well, treble definitely on the brighter side of neutral, just a bit peaky for my taste, but boy can these reveal some fine detail. Super low impedance so best to drive these from a source with very low output impedance, these do not pair well with an OTL tube amp at all, even on low gain. These EQ really well, generally require less EQ to get them where I like compared with the 620S (I do love me some bass). Comfort? PHENOMENAL. 11/10, super lightweight, aluminum ear cups with nice plastics, headband is comfy and spreads the weight, pads are excellent, my ears don't get hot in these at all. Might be the most comfortable pair of headphones I own, maybe the most comfy I've ever worn! 9.5/10, highly recommended! **EQ settings:** \-3.3dB preamp gain | (1) Peak Filter 23Hz @ +2.8dB Q factor 1.00 | (2) Peak Filter 6000Hz @ - 2.2dB Q factor 3.00 | (3) Peak Filter 7000Hz @ -1.5dB Q factor 3.00 | (4) Peak Filter 9450Hz @ -3.0dB Q factor 6.00 I've really enjoyed both of these, both had me grinning from ear to ear listening to different tracks. I honestly wasn't expecting to like both, and figured I'd surely be returning one or the other. Guess it's time to offload some less used headphones to subsidize these haha

I kinda thought the same at first but felt they are kinda boring and lifeless. Ended up returning them.

I did, but it didn't seem to help much. The biggest issue for me was lack of bass impact and definition. I know that on a graph these technically have more bass than a 660S2 but I honestly couldn't hear it. I actually prefer the bass on the 660S2's.

HD620S is my Roman Empire. Maybe it’s just because it was the first headphone that really hit “audiophile sound” home for me, maybe it’s because it’s one of the few where it feels built for my huge head and gigantic sticking out ears, but I just love em. The sound has problems, but not unfixable problems.

Sennheiser HD620S are the most comfortable closed backs I’ve ever tried 

HD620S are the only headphones that Sennheiser sells that have a bass shelf of any kind with the exception of the HE-1. The don’t slam a ton but it doesn’t roll off either.

“Best” really depends on what you want. If you like the way your Beats sound but just want something of higher overall quality, check out the Meze 99 Neo or 99 Classics. For a different sound, I just listened to the Sennheiser 620S (which is on sale for $300 now) and *loved* it enough that I might sell my Azurys for them. Ditto the HD 550, a really great choice for your price, albeit a much different tuning. Finally, the Aune SR5000 is an EXCELLENT choice. I just listened to it for the first time and only didn’t buy it because I already have enough headphones. But it’s truly excellent for $300.