Both are great. Variety is the spice of life. Need one of each driver type open and closed. You can then experience your favorite songs multiple different ways. With a change of the amp and DAC you can have unlimited combinations. Rinse and repeat until bank account is empty.

Do you prefer dynamic or planar? YES!!!

for the kind of music i like, metal and electronica, planars make it more euphoric and the bass is incredible. i also like classical and new age and film music. planars are my favorite cans.

Well thought out and made video! Subbed for future videos brother.

Every day we get closer to having you go full Stechner. Can't wait.

"plucked" is such a good word to describe planars and their speed, it just makes perfect sense if you've heard one. If you haven't though, these words must sound weird lol

Thanks for the video. Keep'em coming

Sweet. I love both types of drivers. Also the type of music you listen to the most has a big influence on the right driver for you. I find that the he6se plays quite well across genres. It’s a planar but it sure sounds like a dynamic driver imo.

I was looking for opinions for a new IEM set and this video pretty much summed it up! Thank you

Just wanted to say... I don't really comment, but your channel needs more attention! Fantastic content.

Great, informative video!

Wow, what a nice video! Thanks! Please keep up!

This was very helpful! 👌👌 Thank you!!

I prefer planar overall. I love the sound precision. But when it comes to the hip hop, country and pop genres I think dynamic sounds better. It has a bit more warmth.

Perfect explanation, fast and clear!

Great summation!

I own Audeze planars and Audio technica dynamics, planar can play such detail in piano or violin that my jaw dropped first time hearing them

Great stuff!

After I have got Roon with the DSP changes so the frequency get more flat in the 2000-5000 hz area, I’m blown away with my LCD-X.

I like this kind of videos. Thank you

Need both. Its apple and oranges

I recently bought a pair of Avantone Planars (Black). Love 'em. Not looked back..

Great video and many thanks for the comparison. Any chance you could do a comparison between shure Aonic 4 and SE 535. With the price drop they are effectively the same price. Looking for a good workout set of earbuds. Keep up the great videos. Many thanks.

very good explanation, im subs

excellent comparison, for games and music, which of the two would go better with equalization?

When I got my HD6XX they blew my mind, first "high end" pair ever. Now I've just got my Ananda's and the difference is substantial, I'm still burning them in and have a new pair of pads but they sound gorgeous!

I almost always hear the sound of the driver in dynamic headphones, while less so with planar headphones. I prefer the transparency of planar magnetic and electrostatic headphones.

I'm guessing it must be similar to ribbon tweeters vs dynamic tweeters on traditional stereo speakers. I have a set with ribbon tweeters and the clarity is just phenomenal.

I don't think planar timbre is necessarily bad. I'd have to hear an LCD-4 or some other top of the line planar to have a better idea but for the most part they sound a lot like dynamic drivers to me, even in the treble (if tuned or EQ-ed properly). The texture is a bit different though perhaps due to the way they shoot sound into your ears.

I would love to hear your take on estats. I know you have said they sound kind of lean, while referring to the Shangri La Jr. It would be interesting if you tried those comparable to susvara, arya, HD800’s, such as the L700, SR007, Voce driven through good amplification like a Blue Hawaii or even better a KGSSHV Carbon. I for one, am not familiar with the “lean” quality often attributed to estats but I reckon that it’s because of the amps I have used with them.

I think it's good to have both type of HPs in your collection. I've recently got my first ever pair of planar headphone (Hifiman HE4XX) and was seriously blown away by it. I still go back to my dynamic headphones here and there (AKG K240, AudioTechnica M50, V-Moda M100) but my current obsession is to get a high-end planar simply because a cheap HE4XX (around US150) is so freaking amazing.

Can you do a video that compares tube and solid state amp set up similar to this?

I have an Audeze pair, and i love it because i didnt need to get a DAC. already has it built in If your watching this for gaming, the Cloud Orbit S from Hyper X licensed Audeze planar magnet drivers for this specific model only and theyre closed back. Theyre like 400$ but they are inssane for gaming. Also used for VR because they have sensors for head tilt built in.

Thank you

I have Sundara and Elegia. Between them I have just about any musical style covered really well.

Edifier Stax Spirit S3 is a closed back Planar Magnetic Driver headphone. It's pretty good.

Being honest, I listened to Zombie bythe Cranberries on my Logitech Pro X (which is several order of magnitudes below anything shown here but you get the idea), and even while playing with the EQ I didn't feel it right, I liked the sound of my HS 50 more than the Pro X which should have been better. Then I plugged the Cloud Orbit that had just arrived (which are a re skin of the Audaze Mobius) and I can't ever go back to any of the other headsets. The clarity, volume and bass that they had were amazing. While it's true that it depends on the content or use that you give to a headphone, I simply can't go back to something else after hearing something in the Orbit, if all planar magnetic sounds like this, then I don't see myself going back to a dynamic driver headset.

Very good points on this video. The Hifiman planars I've tried (HE-400i and 4XX) were very tight and plucked as you say, especially with a little EQ in the sub bass they really hit low. I'm sure the Sundara is similar in that regard. Ever since I got the Focal Elex however, It's hard going back to something like a 600 series Sennheiser because everything is just so much more dynamic and clear on the Elex. I definitely want to try the Sundara or LCD-2C as my intro back into planars, to see how they compare to the Elex.

Would someone mind explaining to me if this “punch” and “slam” talked about requires a high volume level to appreciate? I’ve only got Senn. HD25 headphones so I haven’t heard anything like these before but I did want to better understand exactly what this was referring to.

I think that dynamics have usually smoother midrange while planars have usually more natural bass and soundstage. Am I right?

Whatever headphones can keep the sound pounding in my ears for long listening periods of time are ok for me.

I do feel that planar seem to give more holographic soundstage, while dynamics are more in your face. Love both, but there is a reason you don't see (a lot of) $4k dynamics vs planar....

my mad dogs bass is quite inaudible sometimes. whereas the th-x00 is very capable with bass, if you raise the volume enough you can get the headphones to vibrate.

👍🙏 thanks from Mumbai City, India

Argons MK3 Show what closed planars can be... Damn that thick base!

I am grabbing a pair of QUAD ERA-1s. If you wan to have some time with them I can send them to you for your review. I will review them as well.

I've never had planar magnetic anything. I have had electrostatic speakers, (Martin Logan) and I really miss them. They where like opening a door on the music! No speaker I've had since can match them. That is what divorce does to you! The only other component that has matched the impact to me was my Sony XA777ES CD player, WOW! If you want dynamics and clarity ...well, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

I'm not really a headphone guy or an audiophile but after long long years I switched over to the HyperX Cloud Orbit S which is planar. It was amazing. Yes the bass isn't as punchy but everything else is so crisp and detailed. Great for music, films, gaming. The only issue is the build quality, the hinges holding the earcups snap very easily and home made replacements snap even easier. Any traditional headphones I tried after the Cloud Orbit S sounded tinny, shallow, lower quality. So now I'm desparately trying to find a good planar with a sturdier build that won't cost an arm and a leg... It seems like an impossible task.

My favorite headphones are the ATH-M50x, the AKG K712 Pro and the Focal Clear. Close second place are HD600 and Fostex TH-X00. I kind of know where I am standing :D

As a mixing engineer, I love the detail and separation I get from planars. That said I have always noticed the less natural character without being able to put my finger on what it was. I'll probably get a dynamic for my next set to have some variety.

I agree with most of this video. They have already made a great closed back planar-magnetic. The oppo pm 3 was the 399.00 closed-back planar-magnetic headphone that was very well executed. Timber, tone, & coherence is great. Discontinued :(. still some great good reviews on you tube if you are curious. It can be done. Is there a market for it?

I hope headphone manufacturing tried to do hybrid headphone from planar magnetic or electrostatic and dynamic driver. Sound could be more superior than current market one.

I've never heard a planar magnetic driver before, but I did order a HyperX Orbit S which has 100mm Planar Magnetic Drivers, so in a couple days I am going to find out. OF course I'm coming from the likes of a Razer Kraken as the best I've ever owned/heard, so I can imagine that the sound quality will at least be a few notches up.

Yeah ... I bought the Sundara and was missing the punch profile of the dynamic... They were soo amazing tho, so I was about to return them for a nice set of dynamic headphone. Instead I kept them and also ordered a set of dynamic headphone (facepalm)

Hmmm looking at FR graphs, dynamic drivers (some) are tuned fairly flat across the board but roll off in the bass. It's like they can't get the whole FR in a straight line. It's either you get good bass and wonky treble/midrange you get lean bass but reference mids and treble. With planars you get that amazing straight line from 0 to around 1 or 2Khz which is when they start to go a bit crazy. I still haven't seen a planar that responds as well as a dynamic driver in the mids and treble. Like is there a planar that measures as well as a Shure 1840 or a HD600 in midrange and treble? On the other hand is there a dynamic driver measuring as well as a planar in bass? It's a pick your poison kind of deal. Look at what you listen too and pair. Electronica? Planars. Classic Rock? Dynamic.

Nice I learned something today... Just like everyday

Good thoughts. How do you feel about balanced armatures and electrostatics?

I feel like dynamic drivers does best in retrieving complete detail i dont know why but every planner i tried feels like the midrange can't come through properly it always feels like there is a cloth between my ears and the driver that is restricting me from hearing the final detail in the midrange.

im a sound engineer and have owned a pair of dt1990 , m70x ,hd 800 in the past didnt like either of them currently using m50x looking to upgrade to focal elegia or Hifiman exition xs im a lil confused though please help me

Has there ever been hybrid headphones, i think conceptually could be a cool concept. I am one of the weirdos that want Semi Closed back, and Open Back headphones, Closed back, especially a good seal hurts my ears very quickly very rarely does it matter about volume, something about having the audio leak and what not just makes it more comfortable with me, I started with SR 850s and Currently am using HighfiMan 400SE and they are my first owned Planar, even at the lower end, the reduction in bass, but having that higher clarity and room scale has really made the product worth it to me. Even though i am largely a metal head and typically people in the community prefer a V type curve, i.e Skull Candy Higher end products or some Sony Offerings, i still prefer the Sound quality on planar. Even for every day use i still go for my Sony Linkbuds rather than a typical IEM/Eplug style bud. I have seen some people messing around with sound dampening and custom grilling for some open backs to mute/ dampen leaking audio, but over all doesn't seem to be a real worth while effort. However i would personally love to find and try a Pair of Hybrid headphones if that is even possible, i feel a combination of both technologies even if it has a slight delay from playback (which would eliminate their usefulness for gaming etc) could be a really interesting product.

If anyone is curious about gaming, in my experience planar headphones are more for competitive gaming where I want footsteps and accurate positioning while dynamic headphones seem to serve me better for casual, immersive gaming where I just want to enjoy the game world and its sounds.

So Andrew, would a planar HiFiman Ananda have noticeably better instrument separation than the Focal Elegia? I think I've narrowed it down to these two choices!

Focal's formaless transducer a lot more close to loud speaker, not the traditional dynamic transducer. Traditional dynamic driver uses diaphrame that flex to create piston motion while focal driver uses surround just like loud speaker.

I have Monolith open and closed planars and Focal Elgia and Clear on the way. I think that should be end game headphones for me.

Hi, I have the focal clear og worth upgrading to hifiman Arya?

You say planar magnetic sound better for music that has a lot going on. This may sound like a stupid question, but does metal fall into that category? What about if the music in question is generally lo-fi and meant to be lo-fi (such as in black metal- think Jesu 'Dod by Burzum; you'll hear the "wall of sound" immediately). Also, what's the big difference between open and closed back headphones. Do you have a video on that?

Bismillah I think a video discussing dynamic cans that sound most like Planars and vice a versa would be cool, or cans that overcome the limits of their driver tech. Manufacturers are trying to develop that headphone that does it all. HD800, Utopia and Adx5000 are trying to bring that clean, vast and fast planar like sound to a dynamic. The Abyss V2, Final D8000, LCD 4 and empyrean are trying to bring dynamic slam and warmth to a planar. Or how the Heddphone which is using different tech altogether. Which of these in your opinion gets it right?

The only high end headphone (IEM) I currently have is the Tia Fourte Noir from 64. I’ve been tempting to get into the over-ears, but the necessity of a good amp and therefore poor portability always keep me away :(

In the highest price segment there should be no difference. In the 50-500 bracket it is dynamic. In the 500-3000 bracket it is Planar

Planar bass is a thing but I personally don't think the ab1266 applies. Their bass response is unlike anything I've heard, it has this crazy visceral quality that no other headphones seem to match. And their treble presentation is more stats like than any typical planars.

I wish more people talked about "padgate" with the Dan Clark Audio Aeon closed back planars, since you mentioned Dan Clark Audio doing closed back planars. The Aeons are terrible headphones because of padgate, and we need to be talking about it, not ignoring it.

I prefer my cheaper planar he4xx with games and movies than my Clears. But I prefer dynamic for music, except rock. It sometimes sounds messy. I guess it's for the separation

I am thinking about getting the HIFIMAN HE4XX for gaming. would they work well or should i stick with something like the SENNHEISER HD 58X.

Which is best? You will soon have many of each if you go down this rabbit hole. No headphone is perfect so having a variety is the only way to go.

I want headphones for producing / mixing / mastering house and techno. I do want excellent detail, separation and extended sub (very important for club music) but really want a punchy engaging character so you can feel the transients of the kick, bass and sub etc

I'll say the speed and the volume of the accelerated air a driver can push is the only matter.

Since excursion is higher on dynamic, does it mean it's generally able to produce higher volumes? Will you get the same volume on planar if you increase the power?

In general, Dynamic are mostly vibrant and very energy synergy feeling, very dynamic more in your face. Usually bass more texture detail and punchy. Plannar more dry and liner; cleaner and clearer usually. My only experience. Am I right? Or am wrong.

It is nice if you can measure the frequency response and the distortion characteristic (THD and FFT or harmonic profile). Wit your explanation, I suspect the planar have extended high frequency but higher distortion.

Dynamic driver is always there for every hybrid like eim's and earbuds

I 'll keep my Grado sr225's, thank you very much. The price/quality factor can't be beat. As for which driver type is better, there's no clear answer as this video pretty much pointed out.

Ive had the Hifiman HE400se for not even a week now and I cant go back to either my K702 or DT990. They needed a fair bit of EQ but now they show their planar magic: They sound simply fantastic compared to my other headphones. And the HE400se were just 149€ here which is cheaper than even the Drop x Hifiman Planars and those seem kinda weird on paper compared to the 400se. The Sennheiser HD6XX (which I wanted to buy initially) would have easily cost me 250€ with shipping and customs which is a bit excessive and their HD560s seemed like a boring "sidegrade". So I went for the 400se and don't regret a thing. Might upgrade in a year or two and give my 400se away to family or friends. Hifiman HE400se > most sub 150€ dynamic headphones that I know of. Not sure about the HD560s yet. People have been saying they are even better than the HD58X Jubilee so they might surpass the 400se in some disclipines. I need to see if I can listen to them somewhere.

I prefer warm electrostatic headphones with strong bass and lows such as Sennheiser HE-1 and Warwick Acoustic Aperio.

Sundara vs DT880 600 Ohms? Which has better sound quality?

Unfortunately planars seem to be plagued by build quality/QC issues until you get into the higher end models it seems. Sure there are dynamics with issues but nowhere near the widespread issues with Hifiman, Audeze, Verum, etc. Don't know why there are so many growing pains with this technology. Even delicate electrostatics don't seem to have so many build quality issues... It seems a lot of manufacturers cut corners on planars. No idea why this is...

Hey there. I know you quite like the Sundara but how Amiron Home stacks up against it if we ignore the price. I love Beyer build quality, comfort and durability. I can totally trust them. However Sundara is a risky buy and even if i got fully functional perfect unit i feel like it will get old much faster. I can rely on Beyer for a lifetime :) Anyway sound is the most important thing. I listen every genre of music and i play games, watch movies as well. So we can say 33% music, 33% movies, 33% gaming(not footstep gaming, immersive gaming) I like laidback sound, big soundstage and rich imaging along with impressive bass when it's necessary, detailed and smooth treble. I'm not really after the vocal quality too much. Instruments and atmosphere more important for me. I like cinematic sound and i hate forward sound especially the forward vocals. I like having a bit breathing room. Former headphones: HD598CS: very thin and vocals are too forward. i didnt liked it. DT 1990: Extremely forward, aggressive and fatiguing. I didn't liked it. It's not immersive. I feel like i'm analyzing the recording quality with this. Movies and games lost all the immersiveness. It's really really good with rock/metal though. DT 770: I quite liked this one. Movies and games are very immersive. Vocals not overwhelming and in my head. Actually nothing in my head. Sound stay back and let me listen unlike DT 1990 which forces sound to my brain. Creative Aurvana Live: I like this one as well but it sounds congested. It's like mono audio compared to stereo DT 770. So Aurvana Live lacks the ''hifi'' quality. Fidelio X2: I personally find them worse than DT 770 sound quality wise but being open back helps a lot when it comes to naturality but ironically soundstage and bass feels artificial on this headphone. Soundstage is way too big and bass is very seperate and monotonous along with grainy, a bit metallic and fatiguing highs. So i like DT 770 and Aurvana Live. I'm fan of DT 770 soundstage and atmosphere. I don't know how it manages that atmosphere. Subbass or airy trebles ? I don't know which one have objectively bigger soundstage open back DT 1990 or closed back DT 770 but i feel like DT 770 has bigger soundstage. I guess forwardness effect my judgment of soundstage. Which one should i buy ? Is Sundara sound forward, bass lacking ? does it give some breathing room like DT 770 ? How about Amiron ? I don't have any problem with DT 770 treble. DT 1990 treble is too much but it's not the main reason why i dislike them. DT 1990 feels like everything is too much not just treble. Bass and vocals are too much as well :) It's weirdly aggressive and forward with it's every aspect.

The excursion isn't really mattered but the sensitivity. The dynamic driver simply much more efficient than planar, and requires less power for the same punch. Planar is close to an ideal no mass membrane with no resonates withing audio-band(ES driver even closer though). For the better membrane, we need more power to drive that, that's it. If anyone feels dynamic driver sounds more natural, it is perhaps because of his speakers are dynamic as well, and the "natural" rather means habitual.

For the music I listen to late 80s to mid 2000s heavy/power/prog metal planars just sound much better to me and I own many headphones. The Hifiman HE400SE I prefer less than the HD 560S and multiple of my Sennheisers but the Sundara DCA Closed X and Edition XS I prefer over my AKG K712 Pro Grado SR80x 6XX 58X 660S 600 560S DT 770 X2HR Sony 7506 and others I've had.

In the end it's more like an argument of faith with electrostatic as the snob king of the hill in this hobby. I stopped comparing one over the other a long time ago and decides to focus on headphones that makes me enjoy the music I like. It's like arguing over manual and auto cars on which is superior while in the end they're just damn vehicles. Oddly enough, it seems I have more of a personal preference to dynamic drives as most of the headphones I had an interest and collected lands in that category.

Planar sounds more natural to me in timbre as a guitarist, but that's just cause I grew up playing string instruments.

3:15 you can't "not like" this quality, the audio was probably intended to be plucked and you are just hearing it correctly. You can blur it back with software if you like weird effects on your audio but you can't unblur audio of blurry headphones no matter how clever your software is. 4:54 I see where this is coming from but once again, this is just distortion, pleasant but distortion nonetheless. If you like that quality you can apply it with software but can't remove if your headphones are distoreted.

Bismillah Great video as always. I think the Utopia to Susvara comparison is unfair due to price. Interestingly there is no dynamic that I can recall that cost more than 4K. Considering price, a better comparison is the Utopia vs LCD4 or D8000 or Diana. For me I would take Utopia every time. How would you vote? The 2k range is really interesting - there are not a lot of good Planars in this range but a lot of dynamics. Like you I don’t own a planar and find myself gravitating more toward dynamics because of the form factor - most good totl Planars are just too big.

So if I get it we need a focal clear and a Arya

Focal elegia or Hifiman Ananda ? i have the budget to get one of this and im gonna match with a Zen Dac

Yup...my dilemma. Natural timbre or detail and soundstage. Guess I still need BOTH!

I have tinnitus and had to give up listening to dynamic driver headphones a few years back. The slam factor was just too much for my ears to handle. Since then, I've really come to love planar magnetics. The detail and instrument separation just knock me out.

Not big news. Ordered LCD 1 headphones for WWW.AUDEZE.com and no product or money. Someone can advise what to do?

Dynamic is great for bass music "closed -back" the rest will be for planer

I don't remember ever having the "wow, this sounds so much more REAL" experience when moving from one dynamic to another dynamic with better FR, so I can't resonate with all this talk of the realism of dynamics. I only had those eye-widening moments when switching to faster drivers, first from dirt cheap Philips to Superlux to Beyerdynamic, and later even more when switching to HiFiMan and Verum. The only thing that can still wow me and "sounds more real" in dynamics these days is the (sub-)bass punch, and that's hardly ever a reason to pick up a dynamic over my Verum 1. (Most times I use shuffle to get surprised and carried away by songs I haven't listened to in a long time, which means I don't really sit down for "bass punch sessions", so I can't justify picking up a bassy dynamic just for that one advantage it has.)

There are pmh with anc?? Are good?