I spend a ton of time reading and researching so I am the definitive educated consumer. It was down to the PSB active or passive and I went with the passive and all I can say together with my Audioquest Dragonfly I am in sound heaven. Their biggest strength is room presence and vocals. It felt like Sgt Pepper and his band were in my room. I have never heard the Beatles so clearly and so defined. It gave goosebumps to my goosebumps. A fantastic nuanced beautifully engineered product by a world class speaker company. Astonishing work of aural artistry. Bravo.

After using some decent earbuds for years I decided to bite the bullet for a pair over good over the ear headphones. I got a pr of beats for my son for Christmas (which were not impressive), so I figured if he had some I should get a pr too. These sound quality is sooo much better than the muddy sounding beats. Nice and crisp, not a ton of bass, but I'm not a fan of the heavy bass. They don't need an amp with a phone of ipod but if you want to listen loud you will need an amp.

I bought the PSB M4U 1 headphones as a closed-can alternative to my Sennheiser 590's (which I love, but they keep my wife awake when I listen late at night). I don't listen to cans a lot, but I have been a fan of open air cans in genral, and Senn's in particualar since the HD 424's. In fact, the 424's were my only headphone for decades, until they finally gave up the ghost and I purchase the 590's. So, the PSB's are my first set of closed cans in almost 40 years...forty years...four decades...you get the picture.

My reference system is a Rega RP1 through a vintage NAD phono preamp into an NAD 2400 that has been upgraded with new relays and caps (and this and that) into a pair of pristine KEF 103.2 loudspeakers (solid teak; not for sale). The secondary source is a digital feed of lossless flac files on a Linux server through a Maverick D2 (hot-rodded with tube rolling and new OpAmps). On the same source is a fully restored Kenwood KA-7300 (welder) feeding a set of vintage Jamo Sat 300's with sub, a ripping good speaker system by any measure, and absoulutly stunning with the Kenny. I sold these speakers to a customer 20 years ago, we've been happily married ever since (Coincidence? Perhaps, but just saying, really good speakers).

The cans are comfortable to wear. Heavier than the Senn's, but not oppressive. That being said, a couple of hours with these will make you want to take a break, whereas the Senn's feel practically weightless.

My cans are played through a Linux client accessing the same lossless files, a Maverick D1 DAC with upgraded OpAmp, Blue Jeans Cables to a Project Sunrise tube headphone amplifier. I have also run the cans through this system with the Rega/NAD as a source.

My home theater system consists of PSB Stratus Mini's and a C5 center channel coupled with a Velodyne sub and polk bi-polar surrounds, all driven by a Yamaha RXV 1600 Receiver. This system sounds remarkably neutral an musical and was the motivation for taking a flyer on the PSB cans.

The first thing that struck me is how much more efficient these cans are than the 590's. They play much louder at the same gain settings. The second thing that struc me is how well they stack up to the Senn's. These are very good cans. I prefer them to the Senn's in some ways. They are very dynamic and quite impressive, I mean really, profoundly impressive, on rock and blues tracks.

Specifically, the bite and impact on GT & D's Delaware Slide is really something to hear. Quadrophenia through these cans is a real revalation. The piano at the begining of "Love Reign O'er Me" is reason enough to buy these cans. Likewise "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts" from Abraxas. Whew! "Joan of Arc" from the reissue of Famous Blue Raincoat was the first tune I listened to through the PSB's and I found them to be as tight and detailed as the Sennheisers, a bit more dynamic, but a bit less open. More pop, less air. They fall down a bit on Alegri's Miserere. They can't match th

Very impressive headphones that exceed performance of others under $1k. The soundstaging is remarkable, with oodles of dynamic capability. I'm amazed at their truth of timbre, presentation of scale from the entire frequency range, and overall clarity. Comfortable and great looking too. What more could you ask for at this price point!