Why do people make comments like this? The OP says they like the sound quality. Why crap on someone else's purchase and opinion?

Just run it under your shirt :-)

Assless, I presume...

I didn't know "the Abyss" was one of Detroit's nicknames 🙂

Dekoni makes pads for them, so it must not be that difficult...

Uh oh, she's in The Bad Place...

Just make a playlist of some of your most familiar, best-liked music, and enjoy hearing the differences when your cans arrive 🎧😎

Ask not what your headphones can do for you - Ask what you can do for your headphones.

You've answered your own question.

Are you running it balanced? The balanced output has something like four times the power of the single ended. My WM1A is more than powerful enough for my Aeon Closed X over balanced. You will of course have to purchase a 4.4mm cable for your Aeons.

https://imgur.com/a/87SARCl

So I am using only a 10 band EQ, because that's what my device has. But as you can see in this image, since I have the Z1R, I actually tune the low end shelf down just a touch, then I've boosted a few areas of the higher range to bring a perception of more detail in strings/piccolos/triangles etc.

Because the Z1R is already quite bassy, to get the mild v-shape I am after, this EQ curve works with the head phone's native FR to achieve it.

Really just basically Harman 🙂

So what are we looking at here, OP?

I don't think it's "bass." It's just bass. Pad material and shape can have a major effect on FR.

Personally, as both a bass head and someone who listens to classical about 90% of the time, I don't think flat is the way to go. I want a nice meaty bass shelf to represent the contrabass, percussion, and cellos - and some nice zing in the upper range to represent the high strings and woodwinds. So basically mildly V-shaped. Most classical music is heavily mastered towards mids anyway, so you can sacrifice a bit there in order to get a truly enveloping "concert hall" sound. IMHO, bass is sorely underrepresented and underrated in classical recordings and playback.

It's worth remembering that "absolute sound quality" (whatever that is) isn't the sole criterion for what makes a headphone valuable. Comfort, isolation, durability, compatibility with your existing devices... these are all important concerns that might justify paying more.

Is there a way to EQ out the honk/shoutiness?

The advice I've seen is to cut a hole in a piece of cardboard that is large enough to pass the meter's microphone through. Then you push the pads of the headphone against the cardboard to create a seal, placing the terminus of the meter very close to the driver (like your ear is). It's not a head or a head simulation, sure, but I don't think the difference matters that much when it comes to a regular consumer grade dB meter.

I mean, you do you, but most health organizations say that listening above 80dB will damage hearing over the course of several hours. 81-82 is too close (and too loud) for my comfort.

Yeah, most dB charts you find indicate 70 as "loud traffic." And as someone who lives by a major Chicago highway in Lake Shore Drive, I can tell you that that's more than loud enough for music listening. My measured listening is generally 60-65, with peaks around 70, and I never feel like I'm missing anything - and also never experience ringing afterwards.

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html

Seriously, buy a decibel meter and make sure you don't listen above 80dB, EVER. Your hearing will never come back, and you can acclimate yourself to 75dB music very, very easily.

I'm only at around 1TB, but yeah.

Buy it outright as a FLAC file or as a CD.

There's nothing wrong with having a particular set of use cases in mind (e.g. "I want an open back, closed back, and wireless set of cans) and then auditioning/returning headphones to meet them. Where you get in trouble is the "grass is greener " mentality, which plays into our worst consumerist impulses. If watching headphone videos triggers that, then stop watching them 🙂

I prefer a nice Gewurztraminer, but otherwise yeah.