Rank Your Headphones

[Salt Peanuts]

Weird that I've never owned the RS-1, and I love them so much.

I wish I still had my old pair. I don't know what I was thinking when I sold them.

[grawk]

Does this mean you're no longer going to claim roam's gear as your own?

As of 3 hours ago;

RS-1 --->K340 --->SR225 --->Senn 580 --->Senn 495

RS-1 with vinyl is fucking awesome beyond fucking awesome.

There are no words to express the sheer fucking awesomeness.

[philodox]

Congrats on the RS-1's buddy! I'm so jealous.

I hope you didn't pay full price for them Eaphan... the MS-Pro's are so much cheaper given the direct from Alessandro price and the strength of our dollar.

[aerius]

Did you get an older pair?

Unfortunately not, it's closer to golden brown than dark red, and the cable "Y" looks pretty shady.

Does this mean you're no longer going to claim roam's gear as your own?

Buh??

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Congrats on the RS-1's buddy! I'm so jealous.

I hope you didn't pay full price for them Eaphan... the MS-Pro's are so much cheaper given the direct from Alessandro price and the strength of our dollar.

Come on, this is our cheap ass friend Aerius here. Give the guy some credit.

Biggie.

[philodox]

Good point.

[Nanoha]

Just a rough ranking. Red represent headphones I currently own.

Two other headphones are arriving within the next month or so.

Tier A

Audio-TechnicaATH-W11JPN

SennheiserHD650massive scaling

Tier B

Audio-TechnicaATH-W10VTG

AKGK701

SonyMDR-SA5000insane separation

StaxSR-Lambda Nova Signature(average amplification)

StaxSR-Lambda Pro(insufficient amplification)

SennheiserHD600

Tier C

StaxSR-Sigma Pro(insufficient amplification)

StaxSR-Lambda(insufficient amplification)

SonyMDR-CD3000insane comfort

Audio-TechnicaATH-W2002(non-ideal amplifier)

StaxSR-X MKIII

BeyerdynamicDT880huge soundstage

Audio-TechnicaATH-W100

Tier D & E:

Audio-TechnicaATH-W1000

GradoSR-60

SonyMDR-V6

SennheiserHD555

EtymoticER-6

Audio-TechnicaATH-A500

SennheiserPX100

KossKSC-75

BoseTriport

AKGK271S

SennheiserHD497

UltrasonePROline 750

BoseQuietComfort 2

SennheiserMX500

[Nanoha]

*Yes, insufficient amplification is exactly that. Insufficient amplification. We're looking at most likely an entire tier jump up (or maybe even more) if I had the right amplifier.

Lambda, Lambda Pro, and Sigma Pro should be at the top of B if it were not for my own lack of good amplification.

[xand1x]

1. K1000 (Currently Own)

2. K340 (Used to Own)

3. K701 (Used to Own)

4. HD280 Pro (Used to Own)

[jinp6301]

I'm currently studying a bit regarding statistical algorithms for one of my classes and thought this might a good chance to test things out. I know there is a rank-your-headphones thread on Head-Fi, but that one has a lot of rubbish mixed in with the gems. I'll take a look into that thread after testing out a smaller data set (Head-Case). Hopefully I can finish the data analysis in a week or two after the data is gathered. Hopefully this turns out to be fun as well. (We can get an idea of what kind of sounds you guys like! )

Try to rank all the headphones you've owned. (Post what amp you used the headphones out of, for perhaps a deeper analysis later.)

Tiering is fine. If you've posted something like this in the "best headphones" thread or some other thread, try to regroup it here as well. I'll post my own rank later this afternoon after class.

Thanks guys!

*Rank based on how much you enjoy those headphones and how you regard their overall performance as opposed to comfort, usage, value, etc.

hows the algorithm gonna work?

[Nanoha]

hows the algorithm gonna work?

Not sure yet. I'll probably do something very simple for now.

[Elephas]

ok, my ranking of phones i've owned:

Grado HP-2>Sennheiser HD650>Sennheiser HD600>Etymotic ER-4S>Shure E5c>woodied Grado SR-325>Grado SR-225>Grado SR-60>silver Grado SR-325>wooded Sony CD3000>Sennheiser PX-100>Sennheiser PX-200>stock Sony CD3000>Koss PortaPro>Shure E2c>Sony EX-71>Sony EX-70

i'm sure i've forgotten some, and i didn't care enough about replacement cables to list those separately. i've also had a bunch of phones for so long they felt like i owned them, courtesy of GoRedwings19

Oh, my. I don't know what to think here.

The HP-2, HD650 and HD600 fall in the middle lower group of my rankings.

[Chekhonte]

hd650>silver sr325's>shure e5c, that wasn't difficult at all.

[Salt Peanuts]

K1000 >>> K701 > K271 > ER4S

If I still owned OII and RS-1, they would be right up there with K1000.

[Salt Peanuts]

you really think the K271 is better than the Etys? wow. i guess i just don't care for the K271

I was including comfort into the ranking, and having a decent amp (i.e., with balls) to drive K271. K271 also has an option of upgrading the cables. I guess Etys do, too, but aside from Alex, I don't think anyone's offering upgrade cable for Etys.

Of course, if I rank them by usage, Etys trounce everything else I've owned.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Hmmm, here's all the headphone/earphones I've been through since the beginning of the path to enlightenment. Ranks within tiers are based on how much I'd want to listen to each one, including experience with them AFTER I'd owned them (hence the lower rating of the CD3000 than it would have merited based on my feelings when I owned it). This is basically a sound quality-only based list. It would just be too hard to figure out how much to penalize poorly built, stupid looking, uncomfortable, or otherwise annoying cans. Those listed in red are headphones I feel might have the potential to move up the list if used with just the right equipment, but I've yet to hear the fulfillment of such potential. It's also been quite a long time since I've heard an HD600, and never did a direct comparison with the HD650, so that ranking isn't quite concrete.

Tier 1: L3000

Tier 2: W5000, W11JPN, SA5000

Tier 3: HD650, RS1, DT990 (2005, 250ohm), E500, HD600, DT831 (modded), DT880 (2003), CD3000

Tier 4: DT531, K271S, E5, DT770 (80ohm), SR325, HD590

Tier 5: HFI-700, DT770 (250ohm), K26P, KSC75, HD201, Metro.Fi 2

Tier 6: MX400

[laxx]

Am I the only one to put the E500's dead last on my list?

[boomana]

Maybe we've owned crappier headphones than you.

[jinp6301]

or his ears are broken.

[purk]

Tier 1: HE-90, R10 (both versions), and Qualia respectively. (I suspect the K1000 will be on this tier too, but the best I've heard them was with the RKV MKII)

Tier 2: HE60, L3000, SR-007II, W2002 w/ L3000 drivers, HP-1/2, K1000, and HD-650.

Tier 3: W2002, W5000, K701, W11JPN, Ediiton 9, JVC DX1000, CD3000, RS-1, RS-2, SA5000, HD-600, D5000, and W10VTG.

Tier 4: DT880, HD-580, CD1700, A1000, SR-325i, HF-1, A950LTD, A100ti, E500, and Ety ER-4s/p.

Tier 5: E5c, DT-531 SR-325, SR-225, and HD-590.

Tier 6: SR-125, SR-80, MDR-E484, MDR-V7 & MDR-V6, HD-280pro, JVC HA990, and Denon D950.

Tier 7: KSC35, E2c, MDR-E888, PX100, and E565.

Tier 8: Bose stuffs, Sony MDR-NC11, and EX70LP.

I still can't believe that I've owned or auditioned the above headphones in my system. It has been a great journey and a dream comes true for me.

[Elephas]

I'll also use the tiered system to rank the headphones I currently own:

Tier 1: HE90, SR-007

Tier 2: R10 (both versions), K1000 (driven by demo unit Cary 300SEI), L3000 w/APureSound V3, HE60

Tier 3: W5000 w/Enigma Oracle, 4070

Tier 4: W5000, L3000, AD2000, W11JPN, PS-1 w/Black Dragon, K701 w/Black Dragon, Airbow SR-SC1

Tier 5: RS-1, HHF-1, HP-2, HD650, HD600, K701, W2002

Tier 6: SA5000, MS2i w/Silver Dragon, HF-1, DT880-'03, Lambda Pro, Shure E500, PFR-V1

Tier 7: ES7, CM700Ti, HD25-1

Tier 8: KSC-75, PX100, K26p, SR-40

Three headphones I've sold: A700 = Tier 8, Proline 2500 = Tier 7, A950LTD = Tier 6

Amplification and source synergy obviously are factors, as well as type of music. I'm hoping balanced amplification will boost many of the dynamics and improve the electrostats even further. Maybe the rankings won't change much?

I'm disappointed with the HP-2 and PS-1.

[Nanoha]

what amp are you using?

OP, some posts here have an extra helping of attitude, keep an open mind and don't take anything too personally.

I've been a member here for about two months. My opinion of my RSA amps haven't changed, I still like the Raptor and don't think much of the Hornet and Tomahawk.

[Elephas]

I'm using the AT-HA5000, Lehmann Black Cube Linear and the RSA Raptor.

The PS-1 sounds good with all three amps, it was just a bit disappointing based on my high expectations. I wouldn't say it sounds bad, it ranks fairly high on my preference list. It was recabled by Moon Audio with a balanced Black Dragon and Furutech XLR plugs, so I use an XLR to 1/4 plug adapter.

The HP-2 sounds veiled and lacking in details or clarity with all three amps.

I'm bringing them to local shops soon to try with their demo amps, such as Grado RA-1, X-Can, Corda Opera, Sugden Headmaster, CEC HD53R, etc.

[boomana]

I'm using the AT-HA5000, Lehmann Black Cube Linear and the RSA Raptor.

The HP-2 sounds veiled and lacking in details or clarity with all three amps.

Something must definitely be wrong. Those are antonyms for the HP-2 sound I know.

[Elephas]

Yeah, that's why I was disappointed.

I bought this HP-2 from another member here. It is pristine-looking, with 100% lettering intact, so I don't think I can recable it.

Mamma, mamma, I wanna new amp!