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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
shkong78's avatar
shkong78
1,483 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.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Easy. These guys are the pro's.  https://www.etymotic.com/er4-new.html
You can not control the frequency response without isolating the ear canal. These are the only plugs that do that effectively. They also have a 31 dB noise isolation factor, better than any head phones. Most people use these as their only headphones. No weight on your head. No sweating under the seals. They are also tough as h-ll. There are kevlar strands in the wires. You can hang yourself and you won't hurt them. If your wife accidentally throws them in the blender with your strawberry daiquiri they will send you a new pair at 1/2 price. Great Company! 
akg_ca
2,232 posts
 
MASTER & DYNAMIC

Best of breed build and performance 

https://www.masterdynamic.com/collections/headphones?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-LmPws3...

Pick your model .... highly recommended 

REVIEWS
https://www.masterdynamic.com/pages/reviews

Dealer told me that Sir Paul McCartney outfitted his whole band and road crew with M&D’s.


don_c55 OP
1,025 posts
 
I think I will stick with my Sony studio professional headphones which are comfortable and have a frequency range of 20 to 80kHz.
Earbuds drive me crazy.
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