In the past year I've owned the 7Hz Timeless, the Truthear Pure, the Aful Explorer, and the Letshuoer Astralis, and I've learned a decent bit about what I'm looking for; it's been funny to learn what little gripes I have about each set here and there.
What I'm looking for is something with a bit of a bass boost that doesn't cloud out the resolution of the mids and highs, and I'm sensitive to treble sibilance.
I thought that the Timeless set was quite solid, but this was what led me to discover that I'm sensitive to brightness in the treble region, and while the bass detail is great, it was still lacking a bit of punch that I've really enjoyed from other sets.
The Pures make me feel a little crazy and I almost wonder if I received a defective set? I've seen people talk about them having great bass impact but I genuinely didn't have that at all, no matter what tips I tried. They were warm in tuning, yes, but there was genuinely no feel in any metric. Any mid bass kick was only there in sound but it was "tin-y", and there was virtually no sub-bass rumble or anything.
The Explorers were pretty great but just lacking in any separation between instruments, I found myself actually missing the technicalities in synths that I would hear from the Timeless. Tuning was GREAT on these though, really enjoyed the warmer sound signature that had great bass presence and perfectly good highs to me; I just really wish that there was better separation between sounds, things sounded a bit too smushed together for me.
The Astralis so damn close to being satisfactory that it hurts. I truly do love the bass presence on these. I wonder if I might actually be a basshead at heart, but I just can't imagine wanting any more bass than what these offer because it is already a LOT. Reviews for these are fascinating because most don't describe harsh treble, but I definitely wince here and there listening to these unfortunately. The mids are also too recessed for my liking, I didn't really like hearing synths feeling they were pushed away in the mix. The detail is GREAT though, it was a noticeably better Timeless for what I want. The transient attack of a bass kick is exactly what I'm looking for; Just too v-shaped overall. The mids were too recessed and the treble could be a bit too sharp at times.
This brings me to the difficulty in trying to find anything else, because I just keep finding downsides that prevent me from making a jump. The Tea Pro looks great, but I see people noting QC issues, and occasionally noting harsh highs. Same highs problem with the Odyssey and Performer 5+2, and the Volume S! The Dunu x Koto Ito looks quite solid, but I'm worried it would be too much bass. Other Ziigaat sets look solid, but I've read about issues with driver flex and I'm worried about the long-term of the cheap resin shells!
My budget is around $250. I would be willing to spend more if it really makes a difference, but I'd love something really well-made, I'd want these to last years, I'm just not really interested in owning multiple sets. Just want the one that works right.
Worth noting that I basically Do not want to EQ. My work requires that I put away all devices, but they allow us to listen to music on the desktop OCs throughout the day, so I'm unable to bring EQ to a significant portion of my day. I really need it to sound good right out of the box.
I listen to primarily electronic music, lots of artists like Deadmau5, Disclosure, Justice, and Mat Zo, but also lots of indie/alternative like Tame Impala, Men I Trust, and Phoenix.
Let me know if there is any more information I need to provide! I'm still quite new to all of this, so I'm sorry if my descriptions were a but lacking, I'd be willing to answer any more questions!