Best High-End Headphones of 2017

www.themasterswitch.com/best-high-end-headphones

WayneWilmeth wrote: Enjoy Em84!!
I think the Mojo go a long ways to make lesser sounding sources sound MUCH better, I have read a lot about it. It was made for folks who only have a mobile phone or laptop as a source.
But I would not have chosen the Senns. That is why the market is so big and diverse, different sounds appeal to different folks.
And your choice reminds me of the futility of our trying to recommend equipment (likely music as well) to others, as a bass head like me needs/wants a different sound than you do.
But it is great that you found your dream system. That is all that matters, ENJOY!!!!!
God Bless,
Wayne

Well said Wayne! Yes in my quest for that Triton sound when auditioning all these cans mentioned and plenty more these past couple weeks, it was mid and high's that I was looking for. Certainly the bass is not prominent but I could look past that (or hear past that lol) if the high's were there and compared to all others I tried (including JH Audio and Nobe Audio In Ears) I found so many lacking in high's - too smooth for me. Btw with my Tritons I have a tube amp and silver interconnects so you can tell I'm not after an overly warm sound.

The Mojo is in an incredible Dac, not only for mobile devices. I've tried it in my main system as a Dac, where my PS Audio DirectStream Dac is and left scratching my head, when considering the performance for the price differences. And I have the same problem John Darko had in his reviews - having trouble telling the difference between the Mojo and the x3 priced Hugo. While I can tell the difference with the DirectStream Dac it's more the price difference that shocks me with the Mojo. The difference in performance isn't what the price differences would suggest.

But if I need the tube power and sound for these Senns, I just plug into the headphone output of my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP

I've been enjoying my HD800-S's for a couple weeks now with my Mojo and I REALLY love this pairing.

As mentioned before, these cans are not for bass heads. In fact, for long listening sessions I EQ my music through Roon, to drop the <80Hz frequencies. I can hear all you Triton owners shouting at me ! "LESS BASS!?"

I sold my PS Audio DirectStream Dac to fund the Mojo + HD800-S purchases. It was extremely risky to part with the best Dac I've ever heard and one that Sandy uses at shows, but when the Mojo is fed a low noise input, the performance is way way way above it's price would suggest. I feed the Mojo from a rechargeable battery powered HiFiBerry Digi+ PRO using Toslink (no RFI, EMI, ground noise). Jitter is eliminated by the Mojo's FPGA Dac. So that's battery powered source and battery powered Dac. No ground loops, no leakage current causing noise and no RFI and EMI to worry about and it brings the resulting smoothness in sound eerily approaches the DirectStream Dac I had.

So I use the Mojo at my desk for headphone listening and in my music room with my PrimaLuna Premium HP Integrated.

I've replaced the DirectStream Dac with a <USD1000 combination (HiFiBerry DiGi+ PRO + TP-link tl-pb20100 recharegable battery + Analysis Plus Toslink cable + Chord Mojo + Analysis Plus 3.5mm to RCA Silver Oval interconnect) and am blown away at how close the gap is for much much less money.

And it funded an awesome desktop setup and I have some cash leftover for, ummmm, Triton One Reference upgrade???

If I had the funds to purchase the Triton One Reference and the desktop listening setup, I would never part with the DirectStream Dac. It's THAT good, in case anyone is interested. But if you'd prefer to allocate more of your budget to speakers (or headphones, or both in my case) then I can highly recommend the above combination - especially if you're a Roon user.

Here is a pic of the new headphones setup ! I'm really happy I've found a nice sounding pair of headphones (HD800S) that fit my big ears and are comfy for over an hour !

Chain is:

Surface Pro 4 & Roon > Blue Jeans Cable Cat 6a ethernet (floating shield) > Apple Airport Extreme Router > Blue Jeans Cable Cat 6a > sonore microRendu & Uptone LPS-1 > Curious Cable Mojo Silver Link > Chord Mojo > Sennheiser HD800S

I've never heard this much detail in a pair of headphones - a slightly different sounding top end to the sweet Triton tweeters but still all the detail I love

This setup will do nicely until the new Triton cans arrive !

Well, I have definitely gone through some headphones changes in my audio world. My last set when we talked was HiFiMan. Since then I have "discovered"....a brand I have known about for a while but never tested.

Enter a search for my search a quality set of "Open Back" headphones for work. I need open back to listen to my music at low volumes....and still have the open back to let in my environment so people do not have to perform gymnastics to get my attention. It also has a side benefit of protecting my hearing by forcing me to listen at lower levels. So that also was a prerequisite that the headphones not need to be at a higher volume to be able to hear it at its best.

Enter the Grado SR80e. After a break in @ 40+ hours these headphones for under $100.00....they were about 9/10ths of my HiFiMan units at home. That got me to thinking....if the second cheapest headphones in their lineup almost best my current "best" headphones....this needs more exploration.

I went to my nearby hifi store I bought the 80's at and they have almost every headphone Grado makes on display for listening. I brought my Microsoft Surface 3 and my DragonFly Red....and I listened to every headphone on the wall....up to and including the GS2000e and the PS1000e. From 79.00 - 1695.00. As we all know doubling the price in an audio product will not give you 2x the upgrade in performance. With that in mind I found the best "bang for the buck".....in the RS2e $475.00.

This truly is the finest headphone for the money I have ever heard...and probably the closest to the Golden Ear sound I have heard in a headphone. The other units higher in price did provide a smidge better quality...but nowhere near the implication of the dollar difference. The closest was the PS500e was the only other contender, but it was much more clinical. Purists would like that one quite a bit. I liked the subtil warmth of the RS2e.

Now to find the best "bang for the buck" for a desktop DAC/AMP. I think I have settled on the Schiit JOTUNHEIM with the add in DAC for $499.00

Hope this helps anyone on a journey looking for amazing headphone experience.

Roman

Hi Roman,

I have owned a Grado SR125 headphone set for 20 years. About 5 or 6 years ago, one of the cables failed at the earpiece. Grado repaired the phones for me at a very reasonable price. I have always enjoyed listening to these phones when private listening is required. I listen mostly to classical music, so the Grado's natural sound appeals to me. I would imaging that their higher-end units would offer an even better sound.

Log on to Grado's website and read their story, if you have not already done so.

Best,

Art