Just use whatever fits best with the sound signature of your headphones.

All right, who is going to tell him that IEMs can have mid bass?

>And the highs did sound veiled - quite noticeably so. Such a stark contrast with the HE400i's somewhat sparkly and forward treble.

The HD 6xx have a warm neutral sound, the treble is supposed to be recessed. HE400i is neutral but it does lean towards the treble. People could argue that it is a bright neutral sound so they would be polar opposites. You can easily compare them with this graph:

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/graphtool/?share=IEF_Neutral_Target,HE400i_(2020),HD650_S2_(2020)_(fresh_pads)

I am still salty over some of the other changes that he made (some of which I disagree with like the Drop JVC HA-FDX1 which can easily compete with the Blessing 2). The tonal ranks are only useful when they account for the sound signature first (which people seem to miss for some reason when they talk about the rankings). For example, having A rank for a warm sound should not sound the same as A rank for a bright sound.

The list is mainly for sound but there are flaws in that. It is a tragedy when people buy expensive IEMs/headphones that have a high ranking, only for them to die a month later. It doesn't account for quality control issues, durability issues, comfort and fit issues, etc.

At the end of the day, his list is useful but you are not supposed to agree with it entirely.

I tend to always see photos of Hifiman when they are new or when they are broken. They also have quality control issues (and durability issues) with the Sundara so this isn't a surprise.

Older people tend to enjoy the Grados as they cannot hear treble frequencies like younger people can, so the treble emphasis tends to work out.

This is likely it. It is at a lower volume and so, people often describe the louder volume as the music being "opened up" or clearer.

The same description that comes from people using amps.

Moondrop and QC issues?

It could be possible next year in Q3 but I doubt that it will be anytime before that. I doubt it would be in Q4 for the holidays, considering how Sony usually release their products.

Unfortunately, we haven't had any indications that they plan to release a XM5 wireless earbuds. They do tend to release their wireless earbuds with a two year gap between them, so 2023 does make sense. If I had to guess, the MSRP will be the same or slightly higher at $300 USD. The problem is the international chip shortage that has delayed a couple of products from other companies, that could be an issue if it gets worse.

I would be interested in the XM5 for sure, but we shouldn't be expecting it anytime soon.

Nostalgic songs tend to be the trend but that is highly subjective. I have found that soundtracks (particularly for orchestral renditions) tend to be great for this. Even if you are not familiar with the source material, it can be an enjoyable experience to hear the whole thing from the beginning to the end (as they are usually prepared for a live audience). The effect is stronger if you are familiar with the source material and I do encourage people to look for series that may have an orchestral rendition.

I included an album that is an example of that.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMWQMqE7m7Pqt6e7ptBJcvJL-O67ARZi_

That's an issue with not doing any research on sound signatures, not a problem with the headphones themselves. People buy the HD 6xx for the tuning, comfort, durability and how good their vocals sound. Nobody buys them for their bass for EDM.

HD 6xx are worth it at full price so anything below that is a steal. I just wish the import tax wouldn't be a problem with Drop, if only they had a Canadian branch.

Earwax impaction is likely the cause. The doctor will be able to tell quickly.

For me, it is blocking out the sound that pulled me into this hobby. I help people find their choices on r/headphoneadvice, like people helped me.

When you have the option to listen to a full orchestra or to the typical traffic noise that you hear walking in public, the answer is obvious.

Have you considered selling or trading them? I am sure that you would be able to get rid of the ones that you don't use often as there are plenty of places for selling used equipment.

I had a small collection (in the lower and mid tier) but I got rid of them as I didn't use them. Now, I barely buy anything as I do a ton of research before buying anything. EQ can help to try something new without needing to buy it.

If you have the itch to try something new, use EQ. If you want to get something simple to EQ the sound to another headphone, use the Morphit plugin on USB Audio Player Pro. Worth every penny and that app is the best one for playing lossless files.

You can use it with your HD 560S and Sundara (as they are both on the Morphit list). I use it all of the time and it is worth it. There is a trial for it if you are interested.

The Sennheiser CX300 ll were decent enough for the price. They were pretty comfortable, the tuning wasn't terrible and when I gave them as a gift, the person loved them. They lasted a while so that's pretty good.