I have Audeze LCD2 and they are among the best investments I ever made. They make what you play through them really sound like music. First I bought the Sennheizer HD 800. They were extremely detailed but totally dead, no feeling, no swing. You should definetely look into planars, the best of them are truly amazing. The ones I have are made out of wood snd heavy, so they bother me after a while. Keep us posted about your journey into music heaven. The best planars are a life changer for many.

 

If they are worth that depend, if you find their sound better, different. Some people do, some not. Some even can't tell difference between 100$ and 1000$ ones. "Planar magnetic" doesn't mean automatically better is just type of technology that indeed do have some pros just by the way how technology work. For example it is easier to get good quality low end from planar on average. By that i don't mean quantity of it but precise, quick and especially not distorted low end, even if you crank volume up. In general with good over ear planar magnetic phones most cons are not in sound, but weight(comfort) and on average you need quite substantial headphone amp.

My experience with planar magnetic is my personally modded Fostex t50rp. I did own some conventional headphones in past. So if i compare with them, and would want to express myself with words, fostex sound is more lush, liquid, more organic, warm. On the other hand they eat power like a cakes. Some even connect them direct with 20watt-8 ohm per channel speaker amplifiers and reporting further improved sound. Have in mind planar magnetic headphones are by physical design mostly current hungry, so they work best with powerful solid state amplifiers, and in general don't like tube amplifiers, which are voltage driven.

Of course best bet would be if you could go to store and try them personally in some quiet room.

 

I bought the Oppo PM-3 after reading the "recommended Headphone" section on Sonarworks. They wrote the PM-3 are by far the most neutral closed back headphones and that Bob Katz likes them. I owned several expensive Headphones from Beyerdynamic but like the Oppo PM-3 the most. They sound very neutral and have perfect Stereofield. They are very easy to drive and can be used with a smartphone too. It's a shame they are not produced anymore.

 

I have some lower end Fostex T50Rp - I really like them. They are one of my favourite (and the dt990) in my small collection of low-mid priced headphones I gathered over the years.
(Beyerdynamic - 990, 770, 880 AKG 701, k240, K182, Shure shr 440, Sennheiser HD 25, HD 600, Superlux)

I don't know if the driver makes the difference or if the T50 is simply a good headphone. In my collection, it is a winner considered the price and the sound. And I can easily blind test recognize them in my collection, I would describe them as, well "snappier" and really "clean" compared to my other headphones.

 

the fostex t50rp benefit alot from modding especially the mk2 the mk3's are starting to see mroe mods but peopel do prefer the mk2 for modding a good starting point are trying some different pads depending what you want to bring out i think alot of people use brainwavz sheepskin or pleather pads to bring out some extra low end but dont hold me to that i can put you on to a friend fo mine who knows alot about the t50rp's also the new t60rp's are beautiful and lovely woodent cups with a nice finnish :D heres a pretty nice guide on modding the mk3's https://www.headphonesty.com/2019/07/how-to-mod-the-fostex-t50rp-mk3/ and mayflower electronics sell a mod package for them here https://mayflowerelectronics.com/fostex-t50rp-mod-kit/ and heres another guide for moddiong by someone else https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/6deitq/doctor_edgys_t40rpt50rp_mk3_modding_guide_album/

 

When I bought my Final B1 earbuds about three weeks ago at a high end store in Zürich called K55, I tried a pair of those Audeze LCD-5 headphones and had a positively heavenly experience. I was blown away by how amazing the music coming into my ears was. However, I was not close to being tempted to buy them and dropping 5 grand on them although the devil on my shoulder brother-in-law was pushing me to do so. They weighed a ton which was a great turn-off and am VERY happy with the Shure 1840 cans that I bought which were about 8x less expensive.

 

It is advisable to look at objective tests. And they show that Audeze for example is in general extremely bad for their price.

In addition: IEM's are superior in every aspect compared to headphones. If only because of the price. (You may have worse comfort, but that's it)

The Hifiman are good. But for the price of Audeze it should be rather Dan Clark anytime.

 

There's these...https://www.amazon.de/HiFiMan-Anand...words=hifiman+ananda+bt&qid=1685276346&sr=8-3

These...https://www.amazon.com/HIFIMAN-Ananda-BT-High-Resolution-Bluetooth-Full-Size/dp/B07X52DHH8

Or maybe the closest to wired...https://www.headamp.com/products/dan-clark-aeon-2-open

 

I would strongly advise anyone that is serious about mixing music not to go into the IEM world unless they are custom fit.

I owned a set of 64audio U12t for a moment and oh boy was I disappointed. Totally unusable in a mix situation.

The difference in between sessions is huge and all depends on how deep they sit in your ear canal.

To give a real life experience comparison, to have such discrepancies with a set of monitors that would be comparable to different in ear insertion point, you would need to be placed side ways to your studio monitors. That's how uneven the experience is without custom made ear tips.

I'll be looking into Planar headphones soon and see where it lead me. I recently jumped into the Beryllium drivers and love the result but could definitely use something more musical.

 

Agreed. I've been using IEMs for music listening for about 15 years, and while I like them for that purpose I would never use them for mixing for the reason you mentioned. Furthermore it would uncomfortable for longer sessions with a real danger of hearing loss as sound is directly injected in the ear canal. Ever accidentally hit 0 dB in your daw? Unpleasant with monitors/headphones, but outright dangerous with IEMs.