Headphone Tier List

Headphones & IEMs

I prefer open-back headphones, and most open-back headphones tend to be wired and over-ear. I run most of my headphones through the iFi Zen Air CAN headphone amplifier, or through the Qudelix 5K if I’m mobile. For EQ I use parametric EQs such as Peace Equalizer APO on PC or the Qudelix 5K on mobile.

Preference:

• Mostly flat frequency response, slightly warm or dark is ok, but not the other way round
• Low mid boost (200-500Hz) is good
• Slight dip or slight peak at 1.5-2kHz is fine, both sound different and good to me
• Peak at 3-4kHz or 6-8kHz is bad

Preferred Frequency Response

This post helps me keep track of all the headphones I’ve sampled.

Headphones I’ve tried

Rank	Type	Headphone	Status
1	Open-Back	HIFIMAN Arya Organic	Want to Buy
2	Open-Back	Sennheiser HD800s	Want to Buy
3	Open-Back	Focal Elex	Owned
4	Open-Back	HIFIMAN Edition XS	Owned
5	Closed-Back	Focal Elegia	Owned
6	Open-Back	HIFIMAN Deva Pro	Owned
7	Closed-Back	Focal Celeste	Used to Own
8	Open-Back	Sennheiser HD6XX/650	Owned
9	Open-Back	Sennheiser HD600	Tried
10	Closed-Back	Fiio FT1	Owned
11	Open-Back	HIFIMAN HE400se	Used to Own
12	Open-Back	Sennheiser HD 560s	Used to Own
13	On-Ears	Koss KPH40x	Owned
14	IEM	Letshuoer S12 Pro	Owned
15	On-Ears	Koss Porta Pros	Owned
16	On-Ears	Koss KPH30i	Owned
17	Open-Back	AKG K702	Used to Own
18	Open-Back	Audio-Technica ATH-AD700x	Used to Own
19	Open-Back	Audio-Technica ATH-AD500x	Used to Own
20	Closed-Back	Monolith M1070C	Used to Own
21	Open-Back	Sennheiser HD 599SE	Used to Own
22	Open-Back	Sennheiser PC38X	Owned
23	Open-Back	Philips XHR2	Used to Own
24	Closed-Back	HIFIMAN Sundara Closed	Used to Own
25	Closed-Back	Meze 99 Classics	Tried
26	Closed-Back	HIFIMAN HER9	Used to Own
27	Closed-Back	Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro	Tried
28	Closed-Back	Epos H3 Open	Used to Own
29	IEM	Galaxy Buds Pro 2	Owned
30	IEM	AirPods Pro 2	Used to Own
31	Bluetooth	Sennheiser Momentum 4	Owned
32	IEM	Tangzu Wan’er	Owned
33	IEM	Moondrop Chu II	Owned
34	IEM	Moondrop Space Travel	Owned
35	Bluetooth	Sennheiser Accentum Wireless	Used to Own
36	IEM	Galaxy Buds 2	Owned
37	Bluetooth	Bose QC35	Tried
38	Bluetooth	Sony WH-1000XM5	Tried
39	Bluetooth	Anker Soundcore Q45	Tried

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Headphones I’ve tried but forgotten how they sound 🤡

Type	Headphone
Open-Back	HIFIMAN Sundara
Open-Back	HIFIMAN Ananda
Open-Back	Sennheiser HD660s
Closed-Back	Sennheiser HD620s

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Headphones I want to try

Type	Headphone
Open-Back	HIFIMAN HE1000 V2
Open-Back	HIFIMAN HE5XX
Open-Back	HIFIMAN Susvara
Open-Back	Audio-Technica AD1000
Open-Back	Audio-Technica AD2000
Open-Back	Audio-Technica AD5000
Open-Back	Audio-Technica R70X
Electrostatic	Any Stax Electrostatic Headphones
Bluetooth	Focal Bathys
Open-Back	Focal Utopia
Closed-Back	Focal Stellia
Open-Back	Focal Clear MG
Closed-Back	Focal Celestee
Closed-Back	Sony MDR-Z1R
Open-Back	Audeze LCD-X
Open-Back	Audeze LCD-2 Classic
Closed-Back	E-MU Teak
Open-Back	AKG K712 Pro
Open-Back	ZMF Verite
Open-Back	ZMF Auteur