Physically Comfortable Headphones

I have a big head as well. I am sure lots of folks can attest to that.😊

I have had a headphone system since the 70’s. Over the last fifteen years I finally went all out to put together a really great system. Among others I have Focal Utopia, Sennheiser 800s, Audez LCD 2, Ultrasond Edition 8, Denon 5000, Grado, AKG…. And many others.

I have had many DACs, streamers and many headlamps with these headphones. While this is off topic… the thing that completely changed the game… after decades of upgrading was the Woo WA5 headamp with Takasuki 300B tubes. Unbelievable power, rich, warm musical sound… every set of headphones were so upgraded it was miraculous… the differences between the sound of the headphones became much smaller because this headamp simply took charge regardless of the quirks of the headphones and made them sound great.

In comparing my headphones in this system (see it under my userID, under virtual systems), I would usually conclude the Focal were a tiny bit better sounding than the Sennheiser and all the others. But over the last three years I migrated again and an again back to the Sennheiser. They sound so good, they are big and open… but not heavy like the Focal, Audeze, or Denon. They are so comfortable… I can wear them for hours and completely forget I am wearing them.

My partner wears Sennheiser 350 all night every night (she sleeps during the day). Now, these would not be for you, because the fit snugly… and she has a small head. But the 800 series are really comfortable without the closed in feel you get with many others.

While I have not heard the Arya Organics,I can attest to the superb comfort & light weight of the design they are based on..I have the Ananda Nano’s,which are 1 level down from the Arya’s..The tuning is superb,very nuetral with excellent bass & good slam..
The HFM sound is no where near as warm & darkish as the LCD-2,which I owned & sold because their weight wasn’t a good match for my bad neck & upper shoulders..Never had any trouble with HiFiMan..
Another headphone I HIGHLY recommend for comfort,lighter weight & SUPERB,naturally warm,highly organic tone, is the iBasso SR-3 with the caveats that you change out the cable to one using Silver plated copper & give them several hundred hours run in before critical listening...The Bio Cellulous driver they use has that slightly dark,warm tone similar to the LCD2 & the silver over copper cables opens up the treble just enough to add a touch of detail & transparency to the tone..I have the original Limited Edition SR-1 with upgraded cable & the tone is absolutely glorious,dripping with honey rich,golden glowing tonal colors,extended,tight bass & just enough on the top end to bring out low level detail without ever being harsh..I liken their tone to the finest 300B SET amplifiers...
Check out reviews of any headphone on your short list at head-fi.org.....

Check out Sony MDR-Z1R. 

Here’s a third recommendation for HiFiMan’s big head designs—in my case, the HE 1000. They LOOK massive and awkward, but they’re exquisitely comfortable, very open-sounding (and sound-permeable: others can hear you, and you will hear ambient sounds in the environment), really deep and natural bass, extremely "fast" (those nanometer membranes, I guess) and transparent...I’ve owned a lot of headphones over more than 50 years, including STAX, and this will be my endgame pair. Of course, there’s a cost—namely, cost! They’re ridiculously expensive. I’m guessing the Arya are similar in comfort at least (very likely in SQ as well; I got my HE1000s from a friend in the biz; would never have spent so much on headphones otherwise).

FWIW, I also love the Headroom headphone amp. It eats batteries, but the cross channel processing circuit is a very subtle wonder. You know that feeling when one channel goes out while wearing headphones? Like your head suddenly got cleaved in two, or your hearing went out completely on one side? With the Headroom circuit engaged, disconnecting one channel sounds much more like what it would sound like with speakers: you lose one channel, yes, but you still have a sense of three dimensional space. This effect contributes to the realism of headphone listening in a magical way.

I use Grados on my large Norwegian head with the large pads that sort of surround your ears instead of being on them. Problem solved for me anyway.