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List your state of art headphones for smart phone use!

I am looking for over the ear headphones that can play at a satisfactory volume and do not drain the battery.
I currently have Sony Pro MDR 7520 headphones that list at $500 and are on Amazon for $275.
They are comfortable and fairly good for the price.
I use an Audioquest dragonfly cobalt D/A with my iPhone, iPad, and laptop.
If I moved up to $1000 or more what would be much better?
Are earbuds an alternative at all?
At home I use Stax L700 and get very close to SOTA sound quality with a Stax tube/fet driver amp.
I do not expect the same Stax sound quality.
Can I get close to my home headphone quality?
don_c55
don_c55 OP
1,025 posts
 
The Fiio FH5 looks interesting.

I do not want wireless bluetooth, due to poor sound IMO.

I want to use the Dragon Fly cobalt D/A converter, which I like.
erik_squires
16,007 posts
 
I have the Fiio FH5 and have used it with two different portable amps.

The Hifiman wireless spanks it in all ways.
don_c55 OP
1,025 posts
 
Eric

Bluetooth is not even CD quality!

Have you ever even heard Tidal lossless ?

Your ears are not to be trusted IMO.
shkong78's avatar
shkong78
1,475 posts
 
I paid 1K$ for Massdrop Empire Zeus earbud.


That is the best piece for smart phone with nice dynamics, nuanced details and high efficiency.

I had been happy with it for more than 4 months of use.

https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-empire-ears-zeus-universal-iems

I also have Stax 009S driven by Carbon amplifier.

Empire Zeus sounds almost 90% as good as Stax 009S.


asahitoro
244 posts
 
I don't know about state of the are but my iBasso IT01 IEMs and AQ DragonFly Red combo sounds really good through my iPhone. I'll probably grab a Cobalt if I see a deal on one but I'm happy with the Red.
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