Interestingā¦ I donāt consider the utopia to have great bass (in terms of quality) compared to others. To me it sounds more āone noteā but it does have nice slam
Iād do this but I donāt think Iāve heard enough hps to give an opinion lol
I prefer bass texture in dynamic driver headphones over planars, I think planar bass sounds too snappy and unnatural. I would take a dynamic driver headphone over an abyss (or any other planar) headphone any day if I only wanted bass.
The bass on the D8kp is more enjoyable than other planars for me, but it still wouldnāt be in my top 3 for bass.
I can see that but I think if you have an amp that has great control of the driver you can get some of that lingering decay generally associated with dynamicsā¦ At least with the d8kp, Iāve heard no other planars
Best Bass? - Full range & quality, but also quantity!
(1st Onkyo A800, 2nd Bass King ATH-L3000)
Best Treble? - All the lifelike detail, natural tone, and spatial realism, without all the artificiality!
(I personally donāt like headphones with high treble, sounds artificial to me. But headphones with lifelike details and natural tones are 1st Onkyo A800, 2nd Sennheiser HD580 Jubilee. But if you actually talking about bright headphones instead of your description of being lifelikeā¦ Sony CD3000, then Focal headphones in general like the Clear and Utopia.)
Desert Island Headphone? - The ONE you take to your one-way trip to Mars, or to serve your lifetime prison sentence.
I never will get a lifetime prison sentence, as I am an outstanding citizenā¦ but the Onkyo A800 with any source/dac/amp.
Interesting topicā¦ My choices would be different due to the fact that my equipment is different whether it be Dac, Amp, cables etc. Also someone else might have the same headphones but due to what I hear versus what they hear is going to be much different. Also how each is connected is going to change things. Example would be Sennheiser 650 on a SS amp versus a bargain tube amp versus a higher end tube ampā¦ Or whether if you are running one headphone dual 3 pin xlr versus just 4 pin balanced. I find a major difference between all so each headphone changes drastically per connection and per amp. I think I have a serious challenge to complete before attempting to answer this. Tough choices for sure.
Best Bass? - For larger quality focus: Final D8000 Pro or Mysphere, for larger quantity focus Abyss 1266 TC or Hifiman HE6 6 screw (or potentially Fostex TH900). For all out quantity focus: idk one of those bloated sony bass cannons or something of the similar.
Best Treble? - Mysphere or Focal Utopia
Desert Island Headphone? - Mysphere, Iāll end up dead before I end up in prison, you arenāt allowed to have anything remotely valuable in there anyways so a more realistic answer would be ksc75 since you can buy koss in canteens
Including estats:
Best Bass? - For larger quality focus: Sennheiser HE90 or Mysphere, for larger quantity focus Abyss 1266 TC or Hifiman HE6 6 screw (or potentially Fostex TH900 or older SR 007).
Best Treble? - Hifiman Shangri La SR or Sennheiser HE90
Desert Island Headphone? - Mysphere
All depends on source at this point anyways, depending on the chain everything could change, so what ends up being ābestā typically will come down to the rest of the chain as well
Was thinking the same thing, thereās a lot of categories that could be added but this one seemed like the most obvious one to add considering how things were laid out. You can probably guess what my pick for that would be
I never tried the Utopia but given the descriptions here I think that would also have been a very suitable HP for me. Still wouldnāt change my desert island cans though.
I guess Iāll give this a go.
Itās limited to what Iāve personally heard, preferred, and with the chains these were used with.
Best Bass? - Final Audio D8000 Pro LE (quality) or Abyss 1266 TC (quantity and impact)
Best Treble? - Stax X9000 or Shangri La Sr
Desert Island Headphone? - if I can bring any system with me, Susvara. If Iām limited probably D8KP LE or Utopia 2022, both less picky and can run off portable gear.
btw headphones dot com had a similar but different thread where you needed to pick a single headphones, then two headphones youād keep and then three headphones and explain how and why you decided about each answer and a lot changes between them. Itās not like your single necessarily was selected for the duo or trio. Interesting.
Mids donāt count in a sound signature? Curious omission.
I also would have included comfort, as even the greatest headphone on Earth is shit if itās uncomfortable. I know thatās subjective due to head size, ear size, etc., but analysis of the sound spectrum also is objective.
"Onkyo A800 was released in 2016 with a retail price of $399. A headphone with close to zero press and acknowledgment. A headphone that was forgotten and quietly discontinued a few years after, and right after, the company went bankrupt in 2022.
The A800 has a 90% Harman Curve Target, with a bass response at 40hz frequency. The A800 is a HD600 on steroids. The HD600 are known for its timbre, accuracy, naturalness, curve rating and excellent voice reproduction. The Onkyo A800 has all that and more with better bass, subbass, texture, airiness and body."
Wow, what a sad, powerful story! Havenāt heard of these before.
