What are you top 5 fav Headphones or Speakers?

Ryanr1987

Ryanr1987

Ryanr1987

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And why?

I'll start

1) AKG 65th Annies - Because they are the most neutral, balanced headphone that doesn't have any trades offs. Warm and lovely.

2) Focal Spirit Classic - Because they sound like liquid gold! Warm end of neutral, looks how it sounds and epic bass.

3) HD650 - Because they are also like liquid gold. Beautiful mids, good bass and no sign off harshness.

4) Audeze LCD 2 - Gorgeous mids, linear bass and fatigue free treble! HD650 on steroids.

5) Nad Viso HP50 - Not as warm as the others mentioned but have a great balance and a touch of warmth to give them a little bit of lushness. Love this headphone.
 
Headphones - AKG K712. Love them for Music (My second ever set so not much to go on TBH.

Speakers - Tannoy berkleys. Old speakers from what we have nower days but they make air move with the large dual concentric speaker, paired with a Quad pre-amp & power amp it's ear bleedingly good !
 
top 5, hmmmmm. of the top of my head then

1) se530 - super mids, good bass, tame treble

2) re600 - super mids, good bass, tame treble

3) re262 - super mids, good bass, tame treble

4) KC3 - super mids, good bass, tame treble

5) R3 - love the airy, flighty delicacy of it

in fairness there are a few handful more things i could have easily put in top 5 too.
 
headphones,

X1's

my eltax's monitor III's are the only speakers I've had since I bought separates and for the price i paid 12 years ago you won't see much better. They are selling for just over half what i paid for them in 2002

They will be downgraded to TV speakers in the next 6 months as a dual monitor setup for 27" is too wide for them on my desk.
 
Boston Audio A26
Boston Soundware XSE
Denon AHd2000
Sennheiser Amperior
RHA T10i
Denon Music Maniac 120
Bose QC15
Couple of Sony and JVC
 
Sennheiser HD 555.

The only pair of non basic speakers/headphones I've owned :p
 
Bit of a Sennheiser fanboy here...

My favourites and what I use most days:

Sennheiser HD600 - for when you really want to know whats what.
Sennheiser MX580 - forget I have them on both comfort and "sound fatigue" wise, surprisingly capable for ear buds just the bass is underwhelming, separation and clarity puts many full sized headphones to shame and you'd swear (bass aside) they were 40mm drivers and with 100+ hours through them mid-range has developed a surprising airy signature. Flattering to most genres of music.
Sennheiser PC163D - can wear them for gaming for hours without discomfort, sound quality is good enough they don't have glaringly objectionable flaws as a gaming headset.

Also get a mention:

Sennheiser Momentum while not my favorite set of headphones the bass presentation if gimmicky and unfortunately comes at the expense of lower mid-range clarity is fun - had to explain but the bass delivery is like hearing a train/plane coming in the distance and you know its going to be fast and then it hits you.

Would love to own a pair of Sennheiser HE90s just for the styling - bit of a sucker for that wood look.

Speakers wise has to be the Edifier R1600Ts - with the grills off have the perfect look I want from speakers, practical and easy to work with and tune well to fit most uses with surprising sound quality for the price - sadly living at home again I don't have much potential for using speakers, do miss having a higher end speaker setup.

EDIT: Really need to get a full size set of headphones for enjoying music - I keep going back to the 580s as the sound signature (bass aside) is exactly my tastes and they are completely comfortable, been through a few Beyer (700, 900 series), Sony, other Senns like the 598, etc. etc. and not found something I find comfortable for prolonged every day use.
 
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Speakers: (My preferred listening method)
Tannoy Super Red Monitor 10's - 10" dual concentric studio monitors, used for mastering in the 80's and I can fully understand why. Very accurate sound and a treat to have it all from a coherent source. God do I want some Kensington Gold reference models.

Celestion Ditton 25 - Whilst not as accurate as the tannoys, they have thunderous presence with enough LF to negate the need for a sub. Can be truly deafening with little power.

Spendor SP2/3 - Not far off the tannoys for accuracy, but I found that I preferred the projection of the dual concentric design. They have slightly less LF and the mid range is more forward. (8" woofer vs 10")

Headphones: (for when I can't listen to music via my speakers)
Beyer Dynamic DT770 - Well known favourite where isolation is needed.

Beyer Dynamic DT250 - A flatter presentation of the 770, more mid focussed.

AKG K601 - Nice clear sound, with an annoying bump around 3KHz. (not nice to listen to at higher SPL's) Knock ~2.5dB off at 2KHz & 4KHz makes them far more pleasant.

AKG K240 (original sextet edition) - Impressive to listen to, haven't heard them for years as mine need a new capsule. Slightly uncomfortable as the pads lost their springyness.
 
I feel embarrassed when I see other peoples audio setups, but I listen to mine and I think I just cannot improve on it, so its old as hell, but it sounds great even after all these years Im just not willing to spend money to get very little improvement.

My setups
My PC ( Creative ZX )
Speakers = Altec Lansing 995
Headphones = Tinchy Strider ( the sound is comfortable for my ears - Im partially deaf )

Lan Room ( Xonar Essence )
Speakers = Bose Accoustimass
HeadPhones = Nokia Purity Pro

MediaCenter Living Room ( Xonar D2X )
Speakers = Adam & KTX amp
Headphones = SONT MDR-150 ( ridiculously good for only a tenner )
 
For headphones:

1) HiFiMan HE-6 - Probably still my favourite all round headphone that I've heard. When amped properly, they sound pretty amazing. Well extended, punchy bass, good detailed mid range, and a bright but not fatiguing treble.

2) Stax SR-009 - The best electrostatic headphone period. Transient response is unreal leading to amazing speed and clarity in the upper ranges. Paired with the Smyth Realiser, it's probably the closest I've come to speaker-esque sound reproduction from a headphone setup.

3) Audeze LCD-2 (rev2/3) - Still the favourite out of my current headphones. Can't beat that lush, dark, and warm sound. Mmmmmm, these are the one pair of headphones I won't part ways with.

4) Sennheiser HD 800 (Anax 2.0) - Modded, these become something special. Soundstage is unmatched (even the SR-009 doesn't sound as expansive), and imaging is spot on. They also happen to be pretty damn comfortable.

5) Sennheiser HD 650 - The headphone that started it all for me and the one pair I regret selling. It's all about the mid range with these, so lush.
 
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