The Best Headphones for Metal Music

Headphones
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If they’re driven well it’s very good, they have surprising bass presence and extension and the timbre really is among the best across the board. It would be the 1 headphone I kept if I could keep only one, though there are days I couldn’t do without the mySphere and I listen to a lot of Rock/Metal and a small amount of more recent Metal.

As I said above a lot depends what you value, I am very much a timbre person, in particular when I listen to guitar, I’m listening for how it breaks up at the edge of distortion, along with the attack and decay. But with that focus I can enjoy Rock/Classic Metal on the MySphere, and it has no sub bass worth discussing.
Headphones like the Fotex and Gjallarhorn with Bass focus I find are just too much for my tastes most of the time (I enjoy them occasionally as a change of pace), I just end up having to listen louder and I find the presentation unbalanced…

The D8000Pro has better bass presentation than either the MySphere or the Susvara, in terms of texture and portrayal of the subtleties of the sound, but it’s probably not the quantity of Bass some are looking for, and you do tend to have to listen a little louder (though not excessively) to get great dynamics.

There are certainly more forgiving experiences and there is a lot of poorly recorded material in that genre. I’ve been impressed with how the Utopia doesn’t destroy terrible masters on the DNA, and that is a great headphone for Rock. I find the same thing with the 1266, the Bass slam and presentation just bails out some otherwise pretty terrible recordings.

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42

Gotcha. I understand about the Gjallarhorn…my LSA HP-2 Ultra (which has less bass than the Gjallarhorn) was a bit too heavy in the bass at times, even for me.

I certainly dont have the gear to properly drive the Susvara optimally at the moment (though ive heard the V281 works well in a pinch).

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I enjoyed some Motorhead on the Sus last night. It’s such a fast headphone that as long as there’s not too much distortion in the recording, it can articulate it really well and I think is well balanced.

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44

Re: the live stuff. It also depends so much on the venue, not small bar vs arena but holy geeze the difference between a good and bad sound system in some big arenas is vast. And then if you have a bad seat at a weird node.

Even more classical performances there is more bass and fullness all around. Recordings try to capture specific things but in person you get all of it. Its not just a big piano making noise. Its that whole body vibrating and echoing our. That wide flat body sends out those waves differently, and even the clack of the pianos feet against the floor (uneven floors) adds to that live sound/experience

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45

A good example of that is an indoor venue versus something like an outdoor pavilion/amphitheater where the acoustics are completely different.

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46

Loudest concert I ever attended was Motorhead concert at Leeds University Refectory, tiny venue, probably 1000 people total, with amplification that was clearly designed for a much larger space.
Just totally overpowered the space.
Ears rang for weeks afterwards.
My primary observation from that is the band played at a much faster tempo live than they did in their recordings.
Concert also gets my prize for worst opening band FWIW.

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47

Update:

The other day I visited a kind local dealer and tried a number of headphones that I have yet to try.

These were fairly brief demos, so take my initial impressions with a large grain of salt.

I tried and was able to A/B the following headphones:

  • Meze Empyrean
  • Meze Elite
  • Raal SR1b
  • Raal CA-1a
  • ZMF Verite
  • ZMF Atrium
  • ZMF Verite Closed
  • Warwick Acoustics Bravura
  • Abyss 1266 TC (my own personal unit for comparison and my point of reference)

Demo source gear:

Roon on Mac > Holo May (Level 2 or KTE) > Raal PDA-1a/ Feliks Envy

Quick rankings:

Ranking for metal music (disregarding all factors except sound quality for metal music):

  1. Raal SR1b (extremely impressive TOTL technical ability, resolution, speed, detail. It’s only missing the sub-bass (completely) and odd-ball design/fit. It’s possibly fatiguing due to the forward and aggressive presentation but didn’t listen long enough to find out though)
  2. Meze Elite (reminds me of D8000 Pro in a lot of ways. Brighter with less bass than Empyrean, almost the opposite signature of Empyrean. Slightly better resolution and detail. I think for less money I’d take the D8000 Pro instead based on my memory of the D8000. This should be priced the same as the Empy, not significantly more.)
  3. Empyrean (less fatiguing but not as balanced as Elite, I could live with this headphone though, very comfortable)
  4. Verite Closed (It has good resolution, detail, slam, bass quantity, and quality. Technical ability is decent, but not overly impressive, lacking speed compared to the planars and the Raal. I could live with it.)
  5. Verite (I slightly prefer the closed version but pretty much has the same signature, it’s fine, didn’t impress me though. Lacks the speed, dynamics, and technical abilities that a lot of the above have)
  6. Atrium (It has slam/punch but less bass quantity than the Verite, more mid-forward, mid-range quality is amazing, very sweet, lush, beautiful and natural timbre. I can see many fans for this, not my ideal signature though, not for metal music anyway)
  7. Bravura (Only here because it doesn’t really have much macro-dynamics/punch/slam for metal. If it did, it would blow everything else away, it sounds beautiful and ticks almost all other boxes)
  8. CA-1a - (Big trade-off with big brother, you get a more comfortable and conventional fit but lose most of the TOTL level qualities of the SR1b. It is very neutral and decent sounding but not overly impressive anywhere either.)

Ranking for bass-heads like me that prioritise having strong, impactful, plentiful bass:

  1. Empyrean (Thumping but very boosted mid-bass, could do with some more sub-bass quantity though, kick drums are more emphasised on this than any other headphone… including Abyss… can see why people think it’s too much, Alcantara pads tame this a lot, and silver upgrade cable also helps tighten things as well.)
  2. Verite Closed (has slam/dynamics and decent quantity of bass, missing the technicalities and speed of the planars)
  3. Verite (Similar to above, but closed just slightly better in bass quanitity/slam)
  4. Atrium (Is quite similar to Verite but with less quantity of bass. Similar levels of impact and slam and other qualities are in the same ballpark, would need a longer a/b comparison to really know.
  5. Elite (Much more neutral in bass compared to Empyrean, I tried pad rolling with Empy pads, not a first choice for a bass-head, but far from the worst)
  6. SR1b (has mid-bass, has strong macro-dyanimcs too with lightning fast attack/decay, zero sub-bass though, not recommended for EDM or other bass-heavy music.)
  7. Bravura - has TOTL bass quality certainly and decent quantity (volume) but very little dynamics or slam, you hear the bass notes but don’t feel them in that visceral way at all, with no real attack or impact to the sound)
  8. CA-1a (It has just adequate levels and quality of bass compared to the others, not bad at all, but not immediately impressive either. I do believe it is the cheapest headphone of this bunch, so to be expected I suppose?)

Ranking for non-metal, non-bassy music listeners (you don’t care about strong, impactful bass or listen to much metal music if any at all):

  1. Bravura (incredible, has it all… except macro-dynamics)
  2. Raal SR1b (Would be number 1 but has a weird fit and no sub-bass. The Bravura has sub-bass and is more comfortable)
  3. Atrium (beautiful and natural timbre, amazing mid-range, would be great for vocal heavy music)
  4. Elite (Good all-rounder and would work great as a one-and-done if you couldn’t swing for a Bravura or Raal.)
  5. Verite Closed
  6. Verite
  7. Empyrean (smooth and non-fatiguing, nice mids, but slightly behind in detail retrieval, resolution and speed)
  8. CA-1a (I’m sure this will win some fans, but there are other options that are better, even at the price level I’d rather a ZMF or HD800S or Focal Clear etc. Living in SR1’s shadow permanently)

Would any make it into my tier list?

If you can live with the weird fit, amp/source requirements, and the complete lack of sub-bass, the SR1b is Tier 1. No debate. It’s a bona fide TOTL headphone/ear speaker. Competes easily with the likes of 1266 TC, Susvara, Stax, etc.

Verite Closed is probably Tier 2 but other than the sweet, lush ZMF mid-range and decent level of detail/resolution, it’s pretty ‘ok’. Not boring, but not overly impressive. If I heard it in isolation I’d be much more impressed, but compared to the higher-end planars… it falls short of being the best, for my personal tastes.

Empyrean and Elite I’d put in Tier 2 as well for sound, but Tier 1 based on comfort, build, being non-fatiguing, and relaxing to listen to. I think I’d take a D8000 Pro over the Elite for less money though. Would need to A/B them to be sure though. They have a similar-ish sound. The Empyrean is much warmer and reminds me more of like an Audeze LCD-3 or 4.

Bravura is Tier 1 easily but lacks in impact/slam/macro-dynamics. If it did have the slam and macro-dynamic ability… it would be game over for everything else, period. I’d sell my Abyss, my amps, everything, and live happily ever after in electrostatic bliss… oh well.

Atrium if you like softer, more old-school metal/rock/blues or if vocal presentation/mids are the most important factor in your listening. Again, I wasn’t really blown away by any of the ZMFs. But I didn’t dislike them either. I just preferred the others more for their technical ability, speed, etc. I’m still keen to hear the Caldera at some point in the future. Maybe a planar ZMF has the qualities that the dynamic models are missing!

CA-1a was just mediocre to me, I don’t think I’d really recommend it to anyone or for any use case specifically. Although I wouldn’t dissuade you from trying it for yourself if you get the opportunity either. It’s kind of jack of all trades, master of none type thing, but I think there are better headphones you could choose in every category (better bass, better technicalities, better timbre, better mids etc.)

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48

Great writeup and great line up of headphones thanks for sharing!
First time I see someone mentioning the D8KP to be so close to the Elite. I’ve only listened (and owned) the Empyrean but you made me curious to try it out. Meze definitely are some of the comfiest headphones around and I definitely love my D8KPLE.

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49

Thanks, I actually think the D8KP is better than the Elite, especially considering it is like 2k cheaper here in Australia at least. Although the Elite is lighter and more comfortable.

The SR1b was extremely impressive to me and has me interested in the Mysphere now. Especially because the Mysphere is cheaper and is seemingly less source/amp restrictive.

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Haven’t heard the Raal but the Mysphere is really impressive. Don’t expect too much sub bass though lol

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51

Were you using the enclosed pads by any chance? they totally destroy what it does well, it’s much better with the pads that have 4 gaps.

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I don’t listen to a ton of metal or hard rock… Perhaps the occasional SOAD, Disturbed, Mudvayne or Metallica is about as far as I push the envelope. Out of my headphone collection probably the OG LCDX is what I typically will use because it offers a darker presentation.

What HP qualities do people that listen to Metal typically value?

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I think it really depends on the person. A lot of metal listeners seem to prefer a fairly studio ‘neutral’ presentation and whilst I don’t disagree, I think the bass response is a crucial factor for metal music. Too much bass and it’s just a muddy mess and too little and it’s just underwhelming and also unrealistic/unnatural to real live music. You need a fast transient response, so planars really excel for this. You also need some degree of forgiveness to the sound as a lot of metal is poorly recorded. Some high-end, extremely resolving transducers can make a lot of metal sound harsh, fatiguing, and unpleasant to listen to.

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It had the 4 gap foam pad, not the fully enclosed one. I need to emphasise that my demo was quite short, maybe 10 min and 3 or 4 songs. I definitely noticed it had quite an ‘analog’ sound for lack of a better term. I’m not denying that it might be a headphone that grows on you and perhaps needs some careful matching with source gear. But in my short demo, it didn’t impress me in any area really, although not bad in any area either. Especially when compared to the SR1b, which was extremely impressive immediately.

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If RAAL could somehow put the SR1 sound (with sub-bass) in the CA-1a form factor… wow, that would be a winner.

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56

I tend to agree with you, though I do prefer more bass than most. I partially attribute that to my experience playing drums and bass guitar. If I cant hear and feel some of those lower mids and bass, it really ruins metal and some alternative music for me.

On the flipside, when im listening to progressive or orchestral, I prefer a much more neutral sound.

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Bass is an interesting aspect of reproduction, the fact that most people actually expect there to be more than there is in most recordings.
It used to be the case that audiophiles preferred less bass than the “man in the street”, which was almost certainly because they’d been taught what was neutral, and there wasn’t really such a thing as an audiophile subwoofer until well into the 2000’s.

I find a lot of bass just tends to overwhelm everything else, but I started listening to Hifi in the 1980’s, and my preferences are heavily influenced with what I spent decades listening to.

I have little to no interest in recreating a Metal concert when I’m listening, I’ve been to my fair share, and as much as I have enjoyed the experience, the defining feature has always been ear damaging volume levels as much as anything else and the content always comes across as a compromise.

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58

Exactly! When you’ve heard/played live acoustic drums then you know that a lot of headphones are seriously underplaying bass notes in terms of quantity and attack/impact.

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I 100% agree with you about live concerts being extremely and excessively loud, that’s certainly true. I just mean if you have played/heard live acoustic drums and bass guitars, then you know most headphones and even speakers too underplay bass reproduction compared to real-life. Perhaps most people aren’t bothered, but it bothers me if I find bass to be lacking. Obviously, the recording quality and how the track is mixed has a lot to do with that as well.

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60

I totally get where you’re coming from having been to my fair share of many bad venues and bands which were just painfully loud but occasionally you do get really good venues/seats/locations and bands who really care about live reproduction of their studio music and even though its still loud, it can be a really pleasant experience. One such experience that comes to mind is Opeth at Radio City Hall in New York (although this was after Sorceress and they didn’t really play any of their older stuff so it was more prog metal than “real” metal).

This. I mostly play electric guitar but also dabble in bass guitar which really made me appreciate the presence of bass more and as you said I notice it more when the bass isn’t present to the extent it should be. A good example of this is music like Meshuggah where especially after seeing them live I appreciated the importance of both quantity and quality of bass in their music.

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