TLDR: Aside from sound-signature, would there be a notable difference in dynamics, soundstage and imaging between the Focal Elex and a headphone such as the HE-1000 Stealth? Assuming any replacement's sound signature would be EQ'd to taste.
I've had a Philips X2HR, HD650, Audeze Mobius and now use the Focal Elex for context paired with the DX3 Pro+, through Roon/Qobuz and WASAPI.
The HD650 had silky instrumental presentation, the Mobius while anemic on soundstage had amazing bass and handled modern music well, notes hit hard and music felt 'full', however it needed heavy EQ to not sound dark.
I'm now using the Focal Elex EQ'd to the orratory1990 preset, with around +6db on bass. It sounds neutral, nearly complete in terms of sound signature, very detailed and clear. However when the music speeds up, has a rapid bass line or needs to hit notes rapidly, this kinda breaks down, and idk if its just my expectations for an AUD $1000 headphone, the limitations of recordings, a specific problem of the Elex or if I just got used to Planar drivers with the Mobius, but my $400 bookshelf speakers seem to handle some tracks noticeably better than the Elex.
Would a headphone like either the HD 800S, the HE-1000 Stealth or even the Arya Organic be a noticable technical improvement over the Elex when it comes to the overall presentation of music? Bass I assume is a given improvement as the Elex have a literal hard limit on EQ'ing the bass before horrific sounds occur. Sound signature wise I'll be happy and will EQ whatever I buy, my hope with the Elex was to have an endgame headphone however I don't think I've reached that yet.
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