My personal favorites are planar magnetic headphones like the Meze Empyrean, Dan Clark Audio Ether 2 and Aeon 2 closed back, and Audeze LCD-3 and LCD -4. Focal and ZMF make some amazing headphones too.
Beyerdynamic Amiron Home. I’ve never met a headphone I liked comfort wise until these. And the sound is splendid - very easy to just get lost in it.
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Focal Stellia with SPL Phonitor XE.
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ZMF Verité. I own one open and two closed pairs (for different locations). Pi2AES Pi-based streamers, several multibit DACs (Schiit Yggdrasil, Sonnet Morpheus, and my current favorite, Holo Spring 2 KTE), solid state (ecp DSHA-3F, SPL Phonitor XE) or tubes (Eddie Current Aficionado).
You need to be patient with ZMF Verité as they are made to order. Same for Holo Spring 2 KTE (which is now being replaced by Spring 3). Phonitor XE is (relatively) easy to get, but DSHA-3F or Aficionado are only available on the used market, rarely.
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Hifiman HE-560s here, connected to the PC via a Fireface UCX and Violectric V100.
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Another vote for Focal Utopias, driven by a Sparkos Labs Aries headphone amp. Love the Audeze LCDi4s too with the appropriate Roon presets: amazing soundstage for such tiny things!
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Fair call.
These “low end” earbuds go into “hear through” mode at the quick press of the button of either earbud go from ANC mode to letting you hear everything around you. With incredible transparency too…
They also do a basic hearing test, each ear separately for a custom EQ based on your hearing profile… which can still be tuned to taste.
In many ways I’d say they’re probably the most advanced sound producing things I’ve seen mentioned in this thread…
Cheapest too 
All the best with the high end search.
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Well I don’t know about “high-end” but I use Meze Classics 99 with XLR cable (AudioWorx) connected to a Schiit Magnius/Modius stack + Bluesound Node 2 which receives the music from NUC ROCK. I’m happy with it.
Also have Beyerdynamic DT880 250Ω which are no slouch.
I am actually more of an IEM fan and have a plethora of earphones from Campfire Audio, Etymotic, AKG, Noble, Westone, Sony, and others.
Sennheiser HD800S and a Meze Empyrean driven by a Questyle CMA Twelve Master Dac/Amp.
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ZMF Aeolus Bubinga/Zebrawood
Senn HD800s
Focal Clear/Elegia
Dan Clark Ether 2/Aeon Flow C/Ether CX
HIFIMan HE-6se
Shure SE420/SE535
Ampsandsound Kenzie/Encore
Headamp GSX-mini
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Am I really the only one with a love for Stax? 
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I was expecting more Stax too. Not surprised at the lack of AKG though!
There was a time when I thought listening on Stax was the audiophile equivalent of driving a Porsche 
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It still can be! Stax is not really hyping up or marketing their headphones as heavily as some other brands, but they still sound great (in my humble opinion).
One downside perhaps of electrostatics is that there’s less variety. If you like to swap your headphones once in a while, you can only replace them with … more Stax 
Same story with the amps, unless you go boutique or DIY. Which I can highly recommend btw.
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DIY is something I’ve been looking into … very expensive for me as I have a desire to set up a “little” lab and the scope I’m looking at alone makes any kit look like chump change!
I was halfway there before we made our tree change ~5 years ago.
Focal utopia and Chord TT2. Also have a Chord mojo and Aedle VK1 which, to be honest, don’t get used much.
I owned the Sennheiser HD800 on the Merging Nadac, I listened to the sennheiser orpheus 2 (60k) and many many others, but nothing ever gave me the wow feeling. Until…… the Stax SR-009. Never heard anything like it. That is on the top of my wishlist. Very expensive though. Waiting for the lottery 
Yeah, I like them quite a bit.
Another perk is that, since they have no enclosure to worry about, they respond extremely well to EQ. If you want a little more bass, you can dial that in through Roon.
I have an EQ setting with +8 dB at 40 Hz and no distortion whatsoever.
Focal Elear, RME ADI 2 FS DAC, or Meze 99 Classics SMSL SU9 Schiit Heresy 3 or Hiby R5 and Meza Rai Sole. Just ordered some Shure SE535 as they are a steal from Shure at the moment.
Hi,
Chord Mojo/Poly, AKG K712 Pro / Shure SE 846
Marco
I have two amplifiers and three headphones (including one in-ear):
- Chord Hugo2, mostly used with Audeze LCD-XC.
- Chord Mojo/Poly with Campfire audio Andromeda and Meze 99Classics (and the Audeze LCD-XC).
The Meze99 do not break the bank and are fun headphones. The Audeze is my favourite.
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