If you dont mind the smell of coffee perhaps buy a container of cheap coffee beans and dip the headphone inside the container until the smell goes away? Coffee is perfect to absorb smells, though your stuff will smell like coffee afterwards
Been interested in Asgard 3 for 2-3 years now. Seems like a solid no bullshit amp. The only thing stopping me from getting it is the shipping cost and custom tax in my country. I also have a really decent amp now.
Even at endgame levels, each heaphone is good at particular things. There are allrounders but that will mean they are not excelling on a particular aspects but is quite good at everything.
If you want your headphone for listening to every genre of music, to watch movies and play games at the same time you might need an allrounder. One I could recommend is ZMF Auteur. They are no longer in production, but it is succeded by ZMF Auteur Classic, they are tuned quite similarly with improved dampening system.
It is tuned very close to neutral with a little bass boost, which I think is perfect for every genre. They just sound so right and natural. I remembered listening to piano on them and it is able to show so many details in a single note which I never heard before in any other headphones, not even on HE1000 or Abyss Diana that cost twice than this headphone.
I think around $1000 - $1600 is the sweet spot for me and anything past this point is a huge diminishing return where you only get very little improvement for the additional price you pay.
For dac/amp pairing Auteur are not very picky about this so you can go for a good solid ones like the Schiit lineup or JDS labs. ZMF used to recommend JDS labs for the budget DAC/amp that would pair well with most of their headphones.
This is my recommendation. However, you should demo everything yourself, and see what suit you.
I would recommend selling another kidney from my personal experience.
Once you’re out of organs that is when you reach the true HiFi status.
Fidelio X2 non HR, I haven’t find anything like it until today.
Very good for immersive gaming and movies. For music is not bad too!
Joshua is a good salesman but not a good reviewer.