New addition to the stable.
I made the decision to take advantage of the $600. price on the HiFiMan Arya Stealth, here pictured with the Meze 109 Pro. I think 2025 is going to be a really uneventful year so far as new purchases. I've also upgraded my Fiio BTR7 to the newly released BTR17 and I purchased the Earmen stack which consists of Amplifier, Linear PS, DAC & Streamer.
Dec 19, 2024
Mind you, they're VERY close to each other. The K553 just seems slightly better in almost every way to my ears. My one nitpick is that the pads feel slightly larger on the inner diameter on the K553, which causes them to touch my earlobes, where they do not on the K550. In this way, I find the K553 *slightly* less comfortable than the K550, but it hasn't hindered me from long listening sessions as I feared it might.
At the same price level, I'd choose the K553 over the K550. At the Massdrop price, it's a no-brainer to go with the K553. My K550's are going on Ebay.