Glad i'm not alone in thinking you should return everything but the Airpods. I recently tried an EQ on my gen 1 Pros and they sound decent enough to not want to bother with my Tin P1 and Penon Vortex. The P1 is married to a quadelix cause it sucks without EQ, and the Penon has to have a cable.

It's honestly not a whole lot that needs pushing. So it's quite minor. Unless I go on/off I'll forget the difference in a few minutes.

The Aeon Noire are up there. They sound fantastic without an EQ, and with an EQ I can bring the mids back slightly which is their only flaw for me. Single best headphone purchase I've made. No need to worry about exterior sounds at all, and can listen at a lower volume because of it.

However for gaming I've been using the DT770 since I can't be bothered to move the Noires to the living room everytime. They live at my desk. I prefer the T1s for gaming, but being open I have to be picky about when to use them.

I broke the cable on mine the very first day it just got stuck to the mmcx adapter. Mind you at the same time I got the Tin P1 for $70, and after EQ those demolish anything the FH3 had to provide. But I did prefer them to the Starlight

He mustve not gotten a good seal! It's not good bass, but it's a lot of bass.

I also dislike the 6XX and the Starlight lol. After 3 years with the 6XX I never felt inclined to use them, even when they were my only headphones.

On the fiio, the bass was overpowering, the mids were tonally wrong (similar to how HE400 OG just sounds wrong) and EQ could fix some, but not all the issues I heard. But my main issue with it was the fit. I couldn't wear them longer than 20 minutes, and I have big ears.

I also found out not to follow the herd by buying overhyped stuff. Luckily I only got burnt on the $100 FiiO FH3.

Beyers don't have that bass unless you get the real V tuned ones, and they're meh. Check out the DCA Open X or Drop version. Actually if you don't mind EQing, the K702 can take a mean bass boost, and once you fit their 5khz rise they sound surprisingly solid and well rounded. The bass really slaps

Try this EQ on the K702

https://i.imgur.com/ELAEvJU.jpg

The pair I had sounded tinny due to the push at 5khz so I could not stand to listen to them without EQ. But man can they hold an EQ without distortion. The bass is much better with this EQ than they were with the sticker mod (don't even bother, it ruins bass detail/texture and makes the treble way harsher).

I sold my Giulia before it burned me, just like I sold the HE5se and HE500 lol

They held up to a 10db bass shelf without distortion and the rest was a matter of defucking the hollow mids and nuking the mt everest peak around 10k.

They were then quite pleasing and balanced while keeping the planar traits like speed and detail. Still a smaller head stage by being IEMs, but very impressive for their size. I only use foam tips with them. They aren't quite as natural sounding as some dynamics, but it didn't bother me considering their other traits. And I genuinely couldn't go back to non EQ. Even my wife was surprised by them and she hates treble.

I do wanna try the Max, but just looking at it I know it won't be comfortable. I couldn't wear the FH3 or the Zu tan wu, I get ear pain/sore spots a after 15 minutes.

I used it as a starting point but I made a couple of changes. I kinda mixed 3 separate EQs I had used on them.

It's kinda wild though, they're genuinely good after EQing. I liked it more than the 6XX, ZMF Classic and HE500 I had at the time

Unlistenable lol Like a pair of skullcandy

I have the original P1 which I also got for $70. They sound honky AF stock, but man do they transform after an EQ. Solid buy OP.

If you can solder you can make them have a removable cable

I also loved the K702 EQed. Unfortunately my TWO doesn't EQ as well, but luckily it only needs a few dbs boost at 100 and 2700.

I'm a tube slut so I'd recommend the Vali 2 over Magni, but congrats and remember it's all about the music.

I just sold most of my headphones, but ideally the Beyer T1.2 are married to the DarkVoice by the night stand for night sessions. And whatever headphone I'm feeling like using is used during the day to edit and listen to music.

Right now it's the T1.2 doing double duty, but might get an Aeon Noire to have a closed pair. I have IEMs, but I don't think I want to own more than 2-3 headphones at a time. Feels like a waste.

My amps are basically stations. DarkVoice = bedside, Lyr = Desk, MCTH = living room for gaming

The peak at 5000 is the serious killer, it ruins vocals and pushes then into uncanny valley. Luckily they EQ very very well.

Try this EQ https://i.imgur.com/ELAEvJU.jpg and don't even bother with the bass mod, it's a bad mod. Once I found this EQ I have not been able to listen to them stock. Fixes the weird voicing issue and gets the bass to be present and fun.

My T1 can't handle EQ for shit whereas this one never clips or sounds stressed.

I'd suggest you spend that on a different headphone to have a different sound. It's not really necessary with those.

I haven't heard them, but I own the T1.2 that had similar criticisms and boosting 2500khz by a few dbs fixed the missing warmth in vocals which was the only thing I felt they weren't doing for me.

At the end of the day you get high tier technicalities at a lower price, as long as you can EQ or tubefy the sound to your preference and be happy.

Which is why I kinda wanna try the HD8XX to try and defuckify their mids with the sticker mod/EQ and save a grand.

It's called an upgrade path

I use it on trail runs and for skateboarding with Tin P1s. They're otherwise awful sounding without an EQ lol. I do have some Penon Vortexes on their way for this duty though. Sold my ES100 for it and don't regret it one bit. What's the point of an EQ if it's not parametric.

I did fall asleep with them once and it wasn't great for that (battery life) lol