I live in France, have easy access to Focal headphones. But I would buy none of them. I took the time to listen to all of them, except the Elex, which may be the best suited one for me (because it is relatively cheap). As the Audeze headphones, I find them boring, way overpriced and pretentious. I find the build and comfort meh, feels fragile. Only the Celestee and Radiance look almost appealing to me. And regarding sound, none of them was brows raising. One exception : the (sick poo colored) Stellia, which sounded nice to me the first time, and meh the second time in comparison to other headphones at the shop.

Inverted channel and phase on Aeon closed, sent back, wanted to charge me.DCA never again for me.

EDIT : of course bad earpads, and cable

Convenience.

The HE400i is an excellent sandbox for modding ;-)

In a way, you're right.

At the same time, maybe you should try good (not necesseraly expensive) headphones, especially an open back. Headphones does not compare to speakers, still.

But if you still want to compare (and if I understood the problem in this comparison) : the Koss KPH40 and Grado SR80x should beat your bluetooth speaker, and your 3 headphones by a mile ;-)

Aeon closed...

No pb !

I said that on another thread, but with my PM3 it works perfectly, with the Aeon almost perfectly, and average with my HE400i.
My bad you're right it's better for him to test on a friend's amp than on an Apple dongle. It's just that it was the cheapest way to compare with the Fiio.

Personal journey with them, 3 product I bought from them, 3 pieces of garbage.It's personal. I would not judge nor argue if other people like the brand.Actually I understand that they are somewhat important regarding the chifi realm history.

EDIT : the only other company I have a gripe with is MrSpeakers/DCA, so Fiio is not alone ;-)

Sorry for the (caring) spam. Last but not least : DSP

Akg K1000

Mysphere 3

Try with an Apple dongle, it's cheap.Perso I hate Fiio, so I'm heavily biased toward them. Maybe it's the culprit, but maybe not.Or at least try on the amp of your friend who has the Sundara.

Maybe Raal SR-1b

IEMs are so different than headphones. Like headphones are so different than speakers.The experience I mean.

I think it's like comparing cars and bikes.

IMO, the only thing I can say is that disregarding the experience, and these days, cheap IEMs compete easily with midrange headphones.

Katamari Damacy !!!

Final Audio D8000 Ltd, not owned, too expensive.

What I have >>>>

Headphones : M40x, M60x, PM3, Nightowl Carbon, Aeon, DT990, 1More Triple, Porta Pro, KPH30iClear, SR80e, HE400imodded...maybe I forgot 1 or 2

Iems : too many !

-----------------

What I would keep >>>>

Headphones : Oppo PM3

IEM : Senfer DT6...or Zero Audio Zirco Pezzo I hesitate...

At $400 limit, you maybe should get a (higher price) used one ;-) Just examples : Hifiman Ananda, Meze 109, etc.

Hi just try them on a different amp on a hifi store before selling them.

My first "higher end" headphones were the DCA Aeon, I blind purchased them...and I really hate them. I have 10 bucks IEMs that I prefer over them.