I’ve owned my pair of MDR-V6s for 4 years now, and I absolutely adore them. They were my entry into headphone collecting and headphone repair. They sound amazing, everything is crystal clear.
I’ve tried a lot of headphones as well. Things like MDR-V600, V700, V900/HD, SHP9600, Superlux HD681, Grado SR60, ATH-M50X. And now I’ve tried HD 599s and HD 6XXs… And my V6s STILL sound better than all of them. That can’t be right.
Nicer and nicer headphones close the gap, but nothing does it like my 7506s and my V6s. Some have bass that sounds as good, some have mids that sound as good, some have top end that sounds as good… nothing has the whole package.
I’m just so confused… each time I go into a pair of headphones finally expecting to have something that makes me say “wow, this is better than the MDR-V6.” And then I go back to V6s, and they sound better.
V6 is already one hell of a good headphone. A lot of the headphones you mentioned have a very different sound signature to them except maybe the V900HD. I can definitely recommend the CD900ST as an upgrade to them.
If you don’t mind older headphones, the SA3000/5000 as well to my ears is CD900ST on cocaine and still remains one of my all time favourites.
If you don’t mind EVEN older headphones, the original CD900 might catch your attention. They’re the father more or less of the V6.
For more current offerings, the CD900ST as mentioned, you might also be interested in the audio technica equivalent of the SX1a which is also terrific.
Of some I haven’t really heard, there’s the M1ST and Victor HA-MX100.
If you really want the ultimate however, any of the Stax Lambdas, even the vintage models, as well as the vintage SR-X mk III are similar to the V6 in tonality
That’s a ton of models! Very insightful comment. CD900s amd CD900STs are on the list to get. But I will look into some of these models as well! Ohh someday I will be worthy of owning stax