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The other issue is that if I decide to spend $1k+, I would prefer to be able to audition the headphones before buying them. I live in the Boston area and know of a couple of shops that carry specific lines but I'm not aware of any that have several different lines (and their top or near top models). I've been browsing reviews of a few different models online, but as I'm sure you know, what you read in a review can be quite different from how the headphone sounds to your own ears and when listening to your own music.
Toocool4 is right, the better the headphones the more resolving they are, crappy recording sound like crap and great recording will reward you.
I own the HD6XX/650 and after all the research the conclusion I've come to is anything more expensive gives you a different choice of presentation but not necessarily resolution - and those that do have superior resolution come with other trade-offs. No free lunch.
I'm going to push back on this because it's become a worn trope when discussing gear. Especially with headphones. You can have gear be 'resolving' and sound just as good with 'crap' (whatever that means) as with 'great' (whatever that means). When I read that something is too resolving and you need great recordings etc. then what I pay attention to are things like the frequency response and the distortion profile, because it tends to mean that there is an overemphasis in the mids to high frequencies and/or higher order distortion. That's not the same as resolving. Just means the mid/top end is perceived as accentuated and therefore 'detailed' etc.I own the HD6XX/650 and after all the research the conclusion I've come to is anything more expensive gives you a different choice of presentation but not necessarily resolution - and those that do have superior resolution come with other trade-offs. No free lunch.In the headphone world for some reason accentuated upper frequencies are linked to 'transparency' and 'resolution' and people are willing to accept that because it's supposed to mean it's good. Whereas I don't think most audiophiles would listen to speakers that are voiced the same way because their ears would bleed.
Freo-1 your prerogative to disagree. I don’t go by reviews, I go by my ears and I have listened to all 3. When I first heard the Elear it was before the Utopia and subsequently Clear was released, I thought the Elear sounded wonderful which indeed it does. The Utopia came out and did make the Elear sound broken then the Clear came out did the same to the Elear.Put them all on the end of high-end headphone amps / source, them you will hear what I mean.
I am sure Ultrasone Edition 10 measures well,
Agree that headphone measurements can be a bit tricky, BUT, they damn sure are engineered to production with measurements dictating the overall success of the final product going to market. The sonarworks correction curves are designed primarily for professionals who use phones to mix music releases. I wish I could apply this to my A/K KANN for the Sony MDR Z7 cans. Therefore, when making a list of what headphones to consider for purchase, I'll use reviews that actually have some real world data to assist in the evaluation. The final decision always comes down to what sounds the best for the price range I'm willing to spend. So, if I find that headphone A is 50% of headphone B, and headphone A gets 95% or closer to headphone B, then I'll chose headphone A, and use the savings elsewhere. An example of that IMHO is the Stax SR-007 vs the SR-009. The SR-009, to me, is not worth the extra cost, as the SR-007 actually sounds better (to me). I totally get the concept of letting one's listening experience be the final judge of what cans to get. Since all of our hearing is different, getting a group of audiophiles to agree on what headphone setups are best is a bit like herding cats, Sadly, I think price subconsciously drives opinion as to what is better.
For many people, price does indeed drive a lot of subconscious decisions. Which is one reason, when I attend a show, or go to a dealer showroom, or attend something like Canjam, I never, ever ask the price of anything. It makes the whole demo/listening process so much simpler.
Grado Labs is a Brooklyn based company that hand makes headphones and cartridges. Family run since 1953, Grado has seen three generations: Joseph, John, and Jonathan Grado. As Ars Technica says, “…on a quiet street in south Brooklyn is a manufacturing operation that produces some of the most renowned headphones… it's just the Grados in their narrow townhouse making the little-known, well-loved line of headphones.”
