Long-form headphone reviews across open-back and closed-back, dynamic and planar magnetic, full-size and IEMs. Every pair heard on the headphone reference chain printed on this page, compared head-to-head against the category reference list, and scored on the one published rubric before a verdict ships.
30 reviews published so far, scored against the same reference list.
Highest-scored headphone review so far: HIFIMAN HE1000se, 9.3/10, Reference. Rank the list by score
Filter by form factor, driver / topology, price, impedance and connectivity. Pick within a row to widen; combine rows to narrow. Only options the catalogue actually covers are shown.
Form factor
Driver / topology
Price
Impedance
Connectivity
Open-back HE1000se9.3
An ex-$3,500 flagship, now $1,700: nanometer diaphragm, Stealth Magnets, a holographic soundstage, and state-of-the-art detail - bright, honest, merciless with bad sources.
Open-back HE1000 Stealth8.5
A years-old HIFIMAN flagship, cheaper than ever: Stealth Magnets, a nanometer diaphragm, a wide open soundstage, and a fun, bright tuning - mind the treble peaks and the large fit.
Closed-back SV021 Pro7.6
A $179 wood-earcup closed-back with a fun, bass-forward sound. A revised driver fixes the original's treble sibilance, though isolation and midrange refinement still lag.
Open-back 105 Silva8.7
A $499 open-back dynamic with hand-polished walnut cups, a custom 50mm carbon fiber-reinforced dome driver, and a warm, fun, easy-to-drive tuning that punches well above its price.
In-ear (IEM) Belle, Cadenza II, Orchestra II8.1
Three Kiwi Ears IEMs head-to-head - the $30 Belle with a mic, the $50 Cadenza II with KARS 2.0, and the 10-BA $350 Orchestra II flagship. Which is the value pick?
Open-back Arya Unveiled9.1
An open-back planar that strips away the outer grill entirely - exposing the driver to deliver dead-silent backgrounds, holographic imaging, and the smoothest Arya treble yet.
Closed-back Atheia7.9
A closed-back hybrid headphone pairing a 50mm dynamic driver with a 14.5mm planar - dynamic slam on the bottom, planar speed on top, in a walnut and aluminum chassis.
Closed-back Eris6.8
A semi-closed dynamic with 50mm ceramic-metal drivers and a deliberately overwhelming sub-bass tuning - tactile, fun, and tailor-made for EDM, hip-hop, and bass-heavy genres.
Open-back X18.9
An open-back studio reference headphone with AI-assisted per-unit calibration (±1dB), modular design, real wood cups, and a flat tuning that works for both mixing and music.
Open-back Anser8.0
A $200 open-back dynamic with real wood cups and a tuning that delivers springy, bouncy mid-bass you won't find on $2,000 headphones - musical, fun, and built to last.
In-ear (IEM) KB026.9
A $40 hybrid IEM combining a 10mm beryllium-plated dynamic driver with a bone conduction driver tuned for sub-bass - V-shaped, punchy, and surprisingly capable.
Closed-back Max 17.0
Hi-Res certified wireless over-ears with LDAC, a 20ms ultra-low-latency wireless DJ mode, dual jacks, and 120 hours of battery life - all for €180.
Open-back Luan8.1
A semi-open dynamic with real wood cups and a natural, chocolatey midrange - $360 at launch, now $299.
Open-back Verum 18.0
A $350 open-back planar that goes the opposite direction from most of the market - smooth, refined highs, full warm mids, and ruler-flat bass to 20Hz.
In-ear (IEM) Orchestra Lite8.0
An 8-balanced-armature IEM with a 3-way crossover at $250 - mid-forward, naturally warm, with depth-focused staging that's the opposite of most IEMs in its class.
In-ear (IEM) RE2000 PRO Silver8.8
An older HIFIMAN flagship IEM with the same topology driver as the RE800 but a CNC-machined aluminum shell - by far the most detailed IEM I've ever heard at $350.
In-ear (IEM) RE800 Silver8.0
An older flagship IEM with topology driver tech, now $100 (down from $600) - audiophile-grade performance with surprisingly wide staging and an interesting non-target tuning.
Open-back Arya Organic9.2
A continuation of the Arya series at $1,300 (or $1,100 on sale) - the most resolving headphone at this price, with spectacular detail and bass you can feel.
Open-back Arya Stealth8.7
An exceptionally comfortable HIFIMAN flagship at $759 with a rare warm-leaning balance, unbeatable imaging, and a taste of high-end sound at a non-flagship price.
Closed-back Robin SV0217.8
A $150 closed-back dynamic with real wood earcups, masterpiece-level build, and a fun, exciting V-shaped sound that breaks the 'budget closed-back' mold.
Open-back Ananda Nano8.6
A nanometer-thickness diaphragm trickled down into the Ananda line - one of the best picks in its price range, with detailed treble that can occasionally cross the line.
Open-back Ananda Stealth8.8
An overlooked HIFIMAN planar at $360 with a slightly warm tonality, fantastic imaging, and a 'pleasantly wet' sound that beats the Edition XS in almost every way.
In-ear (IEM) EM6L7.6
A budget hybrid IEM with 1 dynamic + 4 BA drivers, a 3-way crossover, and an attempt at the Harman 2019 target - mostly successful, with a fun 'weirdly big' soundstage.
In-ear (IEM) E-PROTOTYPE8.0
Unlike anything you've heard or seen. The E-PROTOTYPE goes to extremes - both positive and negative - using proprietary technologies you won't find anywhere else.
In-ear (IEM) Svanar Wireless7.8
A $500 single dynamic driver TWS with an R2R DAC and LDAC. It's both lacking and feature-packed at the same time - and it actually delivers where it matters.
Closed-back Sundara Closed-back6.8
Sundara, but cheaper, better isolation, easier to drive? Nope, not even close. An entirely different headphone that manages to be mediocre in every way that matters to me.
Open-back Sundara9.0
An amazing value proposition - the latest Sundara revision performs exceptionally well at $300 in the open-back planar market. It's just steel.
Open-back HE400se7.6
A stupidly cheap open-back planar with Stealth Magnets technology at $109 - loved by some, criticized by others. So what's actually going on with it?
Closed-back HE-R96.9
Both terrible and amazing at the same time - the HE-R9 is a closed-back bass monster at $200 with a tuning that's either perfect for you, or completely wrong.
Open-back Edition XS8.7
An exceptional open-back planar at $269 with a sound signature that's hard to find elsewhere - held back only by a controversial headband design choice.
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Curated shortlists and free calculators to take you from browsing the list above to a decision you can act on.
The headphones we get asked about most, compared on one page - scores, sound signature, and which one to actually buy.
Every headphone review on this page is the result of weeks of daily listening on the catalogue's reference chain: the HIFIMAN Serenade amp/DAC (Himalaya Pro R2R) fed bit-perfect by the Hermes 12th transport over USB, with the HIFIMAN HE1000se sitting in as the open-back planar reference. Each new pair is volume-matched at the output, compared head-to-head against the published reference list in its price tier, and scored only after the listening window is complete. No first-impressions takes, no demo-room verdicts, no review-on-arrival pieces.
Judged against Denafrips Hermes 12th Transport HIFIMAN Serenade Amp / DAC
Standards behind the method IEC 60318-4 Headphones Olive et al. (2018) Headphones ITU-R BS.1116-3 Listening tests ITU-R BS.1770-4 Level matching
The scale is normalized across categories: every score is built from the same five weighted axes (how a score is built), each judged against the reference at the product's own price tier. What earns the points on each axis is specific to the category, and in headphones it is this.
Tonal balance scored under Sound 30%
Frequency response evenness across the band, with extra weight on the 2-5 kHz presence region (where mistakes are most audible) and sub-bass extension below 50 Hz (where most headphones fail or fake it).
Technical performance scored under Technical performance 25%
Detail retrieval, soundstage width and depth, imaging precision, dynamics, and transient speed. The "wow on first listen" factors that fade or strengthen across weeks of use.
Build and comfort scored under Build & comfort 15%
Materials, pad design and replaceability, headband ergonomics over multi-hour sessions, cable hardware and connector type. A flagship that hurts after 90 minutes is not a flagship.
Drive requirements scored under System fit 15%
Sensitivity, impedance, and the actual amplifier voltage needed to reach reference listening levels with proper crest-factor headroom. Hard-to-drive flagships get scored against amps that can drive them, not against dongles.
Value at the tier scored under Value 15%
Performance versus the reference for the price bracket. A $1,500 headphone is judged against $1,500 references, not against $500 ones, and a $500 pair that holds its own against $1,500 references gets the score it earned.
How to read the scores: A 9.0 on a headphone means the pair sits in the top decile of the reference list, genuinely flagship-class performance, comparable in stature to a 9.0 on a DAC or a speaker. An 8.0 means the pair is the best in its bracket without being a category benchmark. A 7.0 means competent and recommendable but with at least one clear weakness; anything below 7.0 ships rarely and only when the piece is genuinely interesting at its price.
We do not score headphones by marketing tier, by brand prestige, or by what the rest of the audio press has said. The reference list is the only anchor, and pieces that fail against the references get the verdict they earned regardless of how the manufacturer markets them.
Buying advice, terminology, and how the headphones category is reviewed on The Audio Stuff.
It depends on the use case and the budget, so sort the headphone reviews by score within your price. Of what has been reviewed here, the top of the open-back field is planar magnetic - the HIFIMAN HE1000se and Arya Organic - while the HIFIMAN Sundara is the benchmark around $300, and the best dynamic open-backs, the OLLO Audio X1 and Meze 105 Silva, sit close behind at around $500. Anything marked Reference or Highly Recommended is worth a serious listen at its price tier.
Open-back leak sound both ways but reward you with wider soundstage, better imaging, and more natural air. Closed-back contain sound for office, commuter, and studio tracking use, with stronger isolated bass but a more constricted stage. For pure home listening, open-back almost always wins; for any other context, closed-back is the practical pick.
For technicalities (detail, bass extension, low distortion at high SPL), usually yes, especially at the high end. For tonality and naturalness, a well-tuned dynamic still trades blows with them: in this catalogue the dynamic OLLO Audio X1 and Meze 105 Silva score within a few tenths of planars that cost more. Planars also need more amplifier current. Read the review of the specific model rather than buying by topology.
For low-impedance, high-sensitivity headphones (most IEMs, many closed-backs under 32 ohms), no, a phone or laptop drives them fine. For high-impedance (250+ ohm Sennheisers, Beyerdynamics) and demanding planars (HIFIMAN flagships, Audeze), yes, a dedicated headphone amplifier matters. The headphone power calculator gives you the exact power requirement.
For your ears, not the drivers: 2-4 weeks of regular listening for tonal acclimation. Driver burn-in itself is largely myth for modern transducers; measurements before and after dozens of hours rarely show differences. Treat the listening period as ear training and stage break-in, not driver conditioning.
