TOP HEADPHONES
The various headphones listed below are our subjective picks for the top headphones in the world, based upon our reviews. That said, the list is a dynamic list and as we review new headphones that we feel deserve a spot on the list, the list and the ranking will change to accommodate the new headphone. Things do change.
Natural more so than any headphone that I have heard to date and matched with its superb technical abilities the HiFiMan Susvara is, perhaps, that desert island headphone or, in this day and age, that deeply buried, post-apocalyptic-bunker headphone that will see you through until septic failure or water/food shortage or catastrophic disagreement with your bunker mates. $6,000
What happens when transparency is, seemingly, exceeded? Realism? Or, perhaps, seeming realism? This is the conundrum raised by the Abyss AB1266 Phi TC and its easy ability to make the best of the best headphones sound dull, uneventful, while it waxes on clear as a well-made bell, even upending electrostatics. Yikes! $5,995
The Meze Empyrean Elite represents something new. New in that it appears to sit at the crossroads of a hybridized sound and technological profile—planar magnetic as wed to electrostatic. Perhaps the loss of 30% of the driver’s mass was sufficient to couple it to, at the very least, the boundaries of the electrostatic universe. I say this, again, after having been deeply immersed the past two years within the electrostatic universe via a number of electrostatic headphones and electrostatic headphone amplifiers, that were the best on offer. I have come to know this world quite well. $4,000
Wow! I’ve just come upon a headphone—the ZMF Atrium—that bridges three separate headphone technologies/worlds in a single form. And not in a slipshod fashion, as it rises to TOTL status across all three worlds and at nearly half to one third the cost of the reining TOTLs. Further, it does all of the above while being absolutely gorgeous. $2,499
The Dan Clark STEALTH planar-dynamic headphone is a revelation. It exceeds its prescribed edict—to excel in planar magnetic duties—and goes on to become exceedingly familiar with, if not master of the edicts of the other headphone worlds and technologies. Again, there are very few headphones capable of doing this and fewer still with such compelling musicality. You and your music, regardless of genre, will be well served. $3,999
Apart from its compelling modern design, the Empyrean’s sound is exquisite, in the manner of its function following its form. The Meze Empyrean ($2,999) is an anomaly, in that it handles the entirety of the frequency spectrum spectacularly well. And it eschews contradictions across this spectrum by delivering an “evolved experience” that ‘harmonizes’—gorgeous musicality, exquisite transparency, unparalleled comfort, and truly fine, functional, Modern Art. $2,999
Gorgeous. Incredibly transparent, resolving, detail rich, fast, fast, fast, and astonishingly musical. The sum of the Véríté’s talents speak to something other than a dynamic headphone, something imbued with a good measure of the planar magnetic tribe, and, at times, the electrostatic tribe as well. An exceptionally talented chameleon able to meet the task at hand with all its best skill forward! The Véríté is a TOTL headphone that will sound marvelous with a DAP, but it will be at its very best with top-flight, read, TOTL components of uncompromising abilities… $2,499
As mentioned above, the LIRIC is, in many respects, a synergistic coupling of the traits of its pricier siblings, each distinct in its own way, and its less expensive siblings as well. And thus Meze has superbly synthesized these various elements within the LIRIC at a price point that puts it at the center of the family line and with a voice all its own.The LIRIC’s combined traits will challenge not only much more expensive dynamic headphones but planar headphones and, perhaps, an electrostatic headphone or two. $2,000
