Best quality headphones for under $800

[asdf1000]

On 12/5/2018 at 11:55 PM, Kelly said:

The MrSpeakers Aeon Flows (both open and closed varieties) are at the upper end of your range but are definitely worth considering. They definitely need an amp to shine but they are probably the most complete and competent top to bottom cans in your price range.

 

Love my Aeon Closed. One of the best Tyll ever measured:

 

"The first thing you'll notice about the raw frequency response is how close it is to the Harman Target Response curve. Maybe the closest I've seen of any passive headphone."

 

And very low distortion in the low end, one of the lowest he's ever measured.

 

13-ohm impedance though, so you want an amp with very low ohm output impedance and very good current delivery at 13-ohm.

 

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/mrspeakers-aeon-over-ear-sealed-planar-magnetic-headphones-measurements

 

My iFi DAC/Amp has a headphone output impedance of ~4 ohms. And doesn't do well below 16-ohm cans. It's primarily a DAC, with the headphone amp function suitable only for certain cans (certain impedance range and current/voltage range). iFi themselves recommend a separate headphone amp for my case.

 

I have the THX 789 headphone amp on the way. THX have confirmed to me it can pump 0.5A  into 12-ohms cans easily. And the amp has ultra low distortion figures and ultra low output impedance.

 

[asdf1000]

11 minutes ago, Miska said:

After the HiFi-News review, I've been eying the Benchmark HPA4 headphone amp also based on the THX modules...

 

 

I have the THX 789 now. Very very good.... underpriced for sure. No doubt the Benchmark will be better again.