All about use cases. In the open back, those are hard to beat. You are obviously a person of good taste as these are generally considered a flat and true headph

All about use cases. In the open back, those are hard to beat. You are obviously a person of good taste as these are generally considered a flat and true headphone. I would however recommend buying used, and that might get you something nicer, like 800's. The other hifi headphone that everyone in the "know" seems to love is the Dan Clark aeon 2, open back. $900 new, $600ish used. https://danclarkaudio.com/aeon-2.html https://danclarkaudio.com/aeon-2.html The other thing to consider is amplification, but at the $500 price point you can probably get away with feeding it from a phone or entry level DAP. Once you get above this price point, there is a balancing act of signal and amplification Vs headphones, and you are into the thousands of dollars range. I would recommend an older used astell and Kern DAP to pair with a headphone like the HD650. Being free of the noise on your home electrical circuit and using battery will get you very close to ideal for very little money. Something like this: https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649760711-astellampkern-ak120-ii-portable-high-definition/ https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649760711-astellampkern-...