u/After-Ad-4103

Finally found a desirable, used car for my daughter but what a journey.

Bottom Line Up Front: Call ahead to the dealer and ask whether the car is FULLY serviced and clean before visiting a location. If the answer is no, DON’T GO. Otherwise you may be shocked.

Our Story

After driving several types of cars she wanted a Honda Fit. We couldn’t find any private sellers who responded to inquiries. We had to drive all over the SW Ohio area to find something that sounded decent, at last on paper.

We went to two independent lots and one was a little shady, as expected, but the other was ok. Even so their offerings were a little “off” so we passed.

The BIG surprise was branded dealers. At a Ford and also a Honda dealer I was shocked at the condition of cars they showed me listed for $12.5k and $14.5k with about 100k miles .

Granted they were new listings but appeared on their websites with at least one photo and a CARFAX. However neither had been serviced or cleaned yet. Literally dirt on seats and the floor, smoke smell and indicator lights galore. One had nearly bald front tires and pulled strongly to the right. It was like they found an abandoned car on a roadside and listed it immediately.

The Honda dealer knew I was driving 35 minutes to see it and was very eager to show the Fit, with repeated comms to setup a meeting time.

At the Honda and Ford dealers I told salespeople how ridiculously bad these are and asked, “Why are you advertising a car that clearly is not ready to show”? They both said people are desperate and will put down a deposit on a vehicle even if they haven’t done anything to it yet.

Wow times have changed. Is it just the high gas prices that breed dealer laziness?

Happy Ending

In the end found a Honda dealer 90 min away with a 2015 Honda Fit EXL that looked nearly new, rode great and had only 50k miles. Even so it needed a brake repair after I pointed out an obvious issue. My daughter also noted it still hadn’t been detailed yet, and they were lucky the prior owner was a neat freak.

I had to spend $2k more than planned for something worth having. But I’m glad the search is over.

Finally found a desirable, used car for my daughter but what a journey.

Bottom Line Up Front: Call ahead to the dealer and ask whether the car is FULLY serviced and clean before visiting a location. If the answer is NO, DON’T GO.

Our Story

After driving several types of cars she really wanted a Honda Fit. We couldn’t find any private sellers who responded to inquiries. We had to drive all over the SW Ohio area to find something that sounded decent, at last on paper.

We went to two independent lots and one was a little shady, as expected, but the other was ok. Even so their offerings were a little “off” so we passed.

The BIG surprise was branded dealers. At a Ford and also a Honda dealer I was shocked at the condition of cars they showed me listed for $12.5k and $14.5k with about 100k miles .

Granted they were new listings but appeared on their websites with at least one photo and a CARFAX. However neither had been serviced or cleaned yet in any way. Dirt on seats and the floor, hazy windshields, smoke smell, and indicator lights galore. One had nearly bald front tires and pulled strongly to the left. It was like they each found an abandoned car on a roadside and listed it immediately.

The Honda dealer knew I was driving 35 minutes to see it and was very eager to show the Fit, with repeated comms to setup a meeting time.

At the Honda and Ford dealers I told salespeople how ridiculously bad these are and asked, “Why are you advertising a car that clearly is not ready to show”? They both said people are desperate and will put down a deposit on a vehicle even if they haven’t done anything to it yet.

Wow times have changed. Is it just the high gas prices that breed dealer laziness?

Happy Ending

In the end found a Honda dealer 90 min away with a yellow 2015 Honda Fit EXL that looked nearly new, rode great and had only 50k miles. Even so it needed a brake repair after I pointed out an obvious issue. My daughter also noted the dealer said it hadn’t been detailed yet, and they were lucky the prior owner was a neat freak.

I had to spend $2k more than planned for something worth having. But I’m glad the search is over.

I’ve been doing a two-phase listening comparison to figure out which open-back headphone I actually enjoy most for music. I’ve owned the Hifiman Edition XS for several years and decided to try some other models I got from Amazon (which allows returns).

This is not a measurement-based review, and I’m not claiming a universal ranking. These are just my subjective results from track-by-track listening. I’m also not super serious listener like many posters here.

The headphones involved were:

- Hifiman Edition XS
- Hifiman Edition XV
- Sennheiser HD 490 Pro
- Focal Hadenys

My listening chain was:

iPhone → Qobuz / lossless local files → Cayin RU6 → Topping NX7 → headphones

No EQ

I used a mix of 15 tracks of rock, pop, acoustic, and more energetic/technical. Artists included The Fixx, Fleetwood Mac, Milky Chance, Polyphia, A Perfect Circle, Billy Squier, U2, Heart, and lesser known Komeda, Benee and Keith Green.

I focused on four categories and with each track assigned a value of 0-10 on:

- Naturalness
- Detail
- Imaging
- Energy / engagement

Phase 1: Edition XS vs Edition XV vs HD 490 Pro

The first phase was a three-way comparison between the Hifiman Edition XS, Hifiman Edition XV, and Sennheiser HD 490 Pro.

In Phase 1, the Edition XV was a clear step up from the Edition XS to me, with better overall refinement and enjoyment, so I stopped treating the XS as the main Hifiman contender and focused more on the XV against the HD 490 Pro.

In that comparison, I found myself leaning toward the HD 490 Pro overall. On most tracks the 490 sounded more natural to me on vocals and many rock/pop tracks. It did not always have the same planar spaciousness, but it was easier for me to enjoy across more music.

At that point, I thought the HD 490 Pro might be the keeper.

Phase 2: HD 490 Pro vs Focal Hadenys

The second phase changed the picture. I compared the HD 490 Pro directly against the Focal Hadenys, again using track-by-track listening and scoring for naturalness, detail, imaging, and energy.

This was the surprising part: I preferred the Focal Hadenys over the HD 490 Pro on every track.

The HD 490 Pro still sounded good. It was clean, comfortable, and easy to listen to. But the Hadenys consistently sounded more lively and engaging to me. Vocals and guitars had more presence, the music felt more immediate, and the overall presentation had more energy.

The Hadenys did not just win because it was “fun.” I generally preferred its naturalness, imaging, and engagement, while detail was close enough that I did not feel like I was losing much technically.

The one area where I prefer the HD 490 Pro is comfort. The 490 has larger pads that fit fully around my ears. The Hadenys pads make more contact with my ears. Since I usually listen for around 45 minutes at a time, the Hadenys are probably acceptable, but I prefer the Sennheiser/Hifiman pad design.

My preference path ended up being:

Focal Hadenys > HD 490 Pro > Hifiman Edition XV > Hifiman Edition XS

Price also matters. I got the Hadenys for about $500, only around $70 more than the HD 490 Pro and $100 more than the XV. At that price, the Hadenys feels like a very strong value.

I’ve considered trying the HEDDphone D1, but at around $800, I’m not sure it makes sense unless I can audition it first. Not sold by Amazon but I may drive to Sweetwater in IN. My concern is that it may be technically impressive but not necessarily more lively or enjoyable than the Hadenys.

For now, the Hadenys are my front-runner: not my favorite pad design, but the most enjoyable sound of the group.

Thanks for reading 🙏