Best quality headphones for under $800

[Josh Mound]

I’ve owned (past tense) the Mezes, 1540s, MSR7s, and Aeon Flows. The Meze and 1540 both have really flabby bass. (Supposedly the initial Meze run didn’t. But since they changed the pads, they’ve suffered from this problem. Read Tyll’s analysis of the early and later pads on Innerfidelity.) The MSR7s sounded thin to my ears and the build quality felt cheap. The Aeons are nicely built, but the ear pads are odd, and I found the sound to be just so-so for the price. 

 

It’s really hard to find good closed-back headphones! 

 

The NAD HP50, which Mich reviewed here, remain a great pair, and well under your budget. I also think Monoprice’s M565C are underrated (better price to performance for a closed planar than the Aeons, IMO), and they’re easy to try yourself given Monprice’s return policy. (I still own both.)

 

To to get to really excellent closed cans, you probably need to exceed your price range, but ZMF Atticus and Eikon can be had used near the top of your range, and both will readily exceed the sound and build quality of anything mentioned above.