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So lurked around here and bought a pair of awesome IEM's for an unbelievable $20 - The Salnotes 7hz. The detail and out of the box tuning impressed me greatly. So wanted to see the hype with open backs and got the highly reviewed HD 560s. They are doing everything well, I use wavelet for EQ but They sound pretty flat out of the box. It blows my Sony ANC headphones out of the water in terms of comfort and fidelity. I've put in a few days of heavy listening and this is my verdict. They are great headphones that suit my sound profile perfectly. I despise bloated bass and really like the refined midrange. these are resolving but not as much as the 7Hz. Soundstage is slightly bigger than the the IEM. But I have really well setup speakers - 2 pairs for stereo and a dedicated home theater setup and I can tell you soundstage is nowhere near what my speakers can do. The imaging is good and the low end extension is a little bit better than the 7Hz. I guess with the open backs I was hoping for the best of both worlds in terms of sitting between an IEM and my speakers. But really I am not feeling the open back hype, it still sounds enclosed and the narrow soundstage just makes it still pretty much a headphone experience.

I reach for my IEM to catch the details I miss from my speakers but really default choice for listening are my speakers because of the 3d soundstage and imaging.

So I guess in my Audiophile Journey I am going to stick to the experience that a good pair of IEM's / Headphones for detail but for a great listening experience for my personal taste speakers cannot be replaced.

Just picked up a set myself! It really is such a great bang for buck and teaches you appreciate more aspects of music at a beginner level.

Nice dude! Enjoy!

I have the 7hz zero and it's hard to beat for the price! I can't comment on the Sennheiser because i have the hd600. Cheers enjoy

HD560s have a small soundstage still. K 701/702 is a few steps more open, but Edition XS is probably the cheapest that sounds really open.

I almost treat my gear in the same way.

Iems for detail/working at the office or commuting

Headphones when working at home and need to focus, also when I want a intimate listen and just want to focus in music

Speakers when want just to have that closest feeling of listening to music as in a live concert, soundstage is just unmatched by headphones. My only concern with speakers atm is that I just got a class D amp and an inadequate room (for now)

Edit: formating

Ehhh you can definitely spend less than $500 to get a big, open sounding pair of headphones

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I've owned some pretty fancy IEM's but none have really blown me away compared to a decent speaker setup, in nearfield all the details are available (room characteristics play a reduced part) and soundstage / imaging are incredible, the ear was never designed to have stuff shoved in it, its great for what it is and I listen to IEM's more than any other transducer but speakers are god to me

Pretty much my experience. They are great. But considering I live in a warm environment, I never use them really. Soundstage is great but it's not really ultra super duper big.

Like what?