Best sounding headphones you have owned?

I have several Sennheiser Grado Audio Technica and Sony (used to have Stax as well) and EQed they all sound nice but each a little different

I needed to replace a pair of ancient Klipsch earbuds that were showing their age. Picked up a pair of Truthear Crinacle Zeros Red buds recently and gotta say these things are top notch even without EQ. Crystal clear and balanced top to bottom and very affordable. Perfect for just taking in the details of whatever happens to be there in each recording even simply straight off a smart phone.

And if you have a TOP speakers/room anyway have you heard all headphones ?

Yes. Pretty much. By ownership over decades and headphones meetups. Including those (you will never be able to afford). And also pretty much every single highly rated headphones amps. Because? Life… and convenience. Headphones are way more convenient and cheaper than speakers. So …. To answer your question. YES

The only factor that rules audio is acoustics not gear choice

Pretty much irrelevant with headphones. Room excluded. So other than little mods on the caps (Believe me I have tried them all), not much left. And EQ? 🤯🤯🤯😂😂

You cannot had listen mine...

The AKG K340 and even if you did, they must be optimized and it takes me 6 months to do it rightfully with 6 modifications...

Anyway, the ratio price ( 100 bucks used) sound quality beat anything and perhaps your own system...But only seeing an image i am pretty sure your system beat headphones...But not all , give me the BACCH filters and i will stay with them ....

by the way the reason why the AKG K340 beat all headphones i had listened to is precisely the acoustic patent of the designer the two hybrid cells , dynamical and electroacoustic are distributed along the same axis in a dual acoustic chamber with 5 passive tuned resonators...And my own modifications are acoustics too ...Remember that the shell of an headphone is a room...😊 Even if most headphone designer ignore this because of cost and profit even high end one ...

Kennerton representative when i ask him why they do not design an hybrid as the K340 answer to me: it is too hard to do with too much cost in research... Thats say something ...

You go too fast to your conclusion...

And even if you are right i am not too far behind you for a ridiculous price...

Eq. is an acoustic controls i used it with my headphone optimization , I dont use it as a toy for each songs...

By the way i always disliked all headphones... Till i was in the obligation selling my house to use one before setting my small speakers right ...Now i love headphones at least mine ...And remember it is recording dependant, but the K340 is able to reproduce the acoustic atmosphere of the recording ...The sound of many albums is out of my head speaker like so much i keep my eyes open to "see" the musicians... I only need the BACCH filters as upgrade to refine that...

Anyway at 100 bucks i am envious of no one... Even of the headphone you claimed i could never afford...😊

With your budget you could not do what i did even with a pair Of K340... They are not ready out of the box... We must learn how to use them... An astute headphone critic of stereophile  do a negative review bec ause he did not understand what they are and how to optimize them... It is the most complex headphone designed...

only factor that rules audio is acoustics not gear choice

Pretty much irrelevant with headphones. Room excluded. So other than little mods on the caps (Believe me I have tried them all), not much left. And EQ? 🤯🤯🤯😂😂

@thyname I see you commenting as an expert on phones, and also stating you have Meze Elite. As someone who at one time owned the top end Meze, I find your comments about your expertise interesting.

For the rest of you. Some interesting things are happening in the world of RAAL. To prepare I bought back the RAAL VM-1a amp (getting it again on Saturday) that I sold last year. I also sold my RAAL SR1a earphones yesterday.

This Saturday, I am going to do a comparison of the RAAL VM-1a with the RAAL CA-1a headphone and the following gear:

• RAAL VM-1a amp | Schitt Yggi+ LIM DAC
• modded PeachTree GAN1
• Schit Mjolnir preamp | Schitt Aegir amp | Schitt Yggi+ LIM DAC
• Holo Serene preamp | CODA #16 amp | Schitt Yggi+ LIM DAC

It will be interesting to see if the low-cost solutions can reach near the VM-1a level. When I did a similar test with my old VM-1a the low-cost gear came close. My new low-cost gear is even better.

@yyzsantabarbara Why did you sell your SR1a ‘phones?