List your state of art headphones for smart phone use!


I am looking for over the ear headphones that can play at a satisfactory volume and do not drain the battery.
I currently have Sony Pro MDR 7520 headphones that list at $500 and are on Amazon for $275.
They are comfortable and fairly good for the price.
I use an Audioquest dragonfly cobalt D/A with my iPhone, iPad, and laptop.
If I moved up to $1000 or more what would be much better?
Are earbuds an alternative at all?
At home I use Stax L700 and get very close to SOTA sound quality with a Stax tube/fet driver amp.
I do not expect the same Stax sound quality.
Can I get close to my home headphone quality?
don_c55
My new favorites are JH Audio Roxanne custom fit IEM. They are molded to your ear so they seal perfectly and are extremely comfortable. Dynamics, Treble, Bass are all excellent. I replaced Audeze LCD-3 and Foster THK900Mk2 and haven’t looked back.
For casual iPad and cassette listening the vintage Sony Walkman ultra light headphones are excellent. I recently reported my disappointing results 😩 with higher end HIFIMAN ear buds, even after more than 250 hours of break-in. No bass. For that reason I’m out. I like the inexpensive Grados with CD and cassette due to their full natural and dynamic sound - but not until foam and ear pads are removed.. My new favorite for CDs is the SONY MDR-v700 sealed headphones. But whatever headphones one uses their performance can always be improved by careful system tweaking.
and everything else is going into a box I’d like to be buried with so no one else knows of my mistakes.

Thx Erik!

Made my day, glad to see somebody else honest enough to admit they are capable of making a mistake.... or three!