Post your HeadPhones!

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The difference between a custom built rig and say a normal dell is huge, espeically in games. You can get a much higher framerate. The price difference in that isn't nearly as dramatic as between a $500 pair of headphones and a $5,000 pair.

You can't seem to answer what the question is, why is it $4,500 more. What is $4,500 better about those Audio Technica's? I can buy a used car or build 3 high end computers with that money. You guys keep trying to argue with me using sloppy analogy's. My final thought on this is that those AT's = rip off.
 
The price difference in that isn't nearly as dramatic as between a $500 pair of headphones and a $5,000 pair.
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Have you heard a $500 pair, let alone $5000? A few more FPS in a game versus complete audio summersion.. different strokes for different folks I guess. What about benchers, with 2x 512mb 7800 GTXes, to push a few more points in 3DMark (and otherwise unnoticable in real gaming situations)? Isn't that an even bigger waste of money? I'm done playing games and I prefer my music to be as realistic as possible.

I got way too far off on a tangent with my post as I was quite tired and blown away by the price of something as simple as headphones. Just, in a dumbed down version, what makes these so more more special than say, HD650's, to make their price that much higher? I mean, shouldn't there be a massive difference between the quality of the two? Like the difference between a freebee pair of headphones that come with a $20 portable cd player and a pair of HD555's?
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I have a pair of HD650s and they aren't even anywhere close. Besides, it's not like one day I suddently decided to plop down 5 grand on a headphone setup.. I went gradually, from SA5000s, to HD650s, to blah and so forth. It is a hobby, just like any other; photography, with cameras going up in price to the thousands, to computer hardware, with computers going up to the thousands, and so forth.
 
The second part of your reply made a lot of sense. The first part, well, you just can't compare that. I personally think SLI is a waste myself. But that's buying two of the same product for a minimal performance increase. It's not like you bought 2 of those $5,000 headphones because together they sound better. Poor comparison again. I'm not raining on parades or anything, but y'all are trying to justify the amount of money spent on a pair of, for heaven's sake, headphones. I just wanted to know why they are that much.

Comparing it as a hobby to say photography as you said, now that is a good comparison. It seems logical when put that way. I just doubt the cost to produce those isn't even in the ballpark of $5,000.
 
Actually, I think both of comparisons were relevant - perhaps you misunderstood him. If I understood him correctly, he was only comparing price; not the technology behind it. You have to pay much more to have an SLI configuration, but the performance increase is minimal and not worth the extra money to most people. However, there are the select few who are passionate, dedicated, and willing enough to spend that extra money for that extra boost in performance/quality to satisfy their desires. In that aspect, it makes your "two separate products" comment irrelevant to this situation; in my opinion, of course.

I don't anticipate ever building an SLI configuration nor spending $500+ on any pair of headphones/amps (especially while I’m a poor college student :p), but to each their own.
 
My point was the price difference between PCI-e 16x and PCI-e 16x in SLI is still a minimal price difference when compared to buying HD650 and those Audio Technica's. I fully understand what is being said, but the pricing of it all makes it hard to grasp why you would still pay that much. I assume if you are well off it's not that big of a deal, but even making $60,000 a year it's still nearly a months worth of pay to buy them. My entire basis of my first post was that they are entirely too much money for what it is, regardless of how much of an audiophile you think you are. I guess if the obsession for audio quality is that consuming of somebody's life, then that would be why they purchase it.

Thank you for explaining how he was comparing them. It is a valid comparison in explaining the more passionate spending gross amounts of money to have the finest, but at the same time, with computers the price difference is not that dramatic. The latter invalidating the comparison to price differences between top-end and overboard. IMO, overboard in PC components is still at a "reasonable" price, while $5,000 for two cups to go on the side of my head with speakers the size of my eye is not.

As you are saying, to each his own. Let's just leave it at that since nobody can explain to me why they are as much as they are.
 
magnetik said:
ok.. this thread is getting completely off topic.
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Yes it is. Sorry for hijacking it in a sense.

I suppose people took offense to what I was saying and simply could not answer me
threedd97 said:
I am just having serious trouble fathoming how those can possibly be priced at $5,199.00, even with an amp.
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and rather chose to argue with me and justify the ridiculous cost. I'll make up for it and post my cans when they arrive.
 
I suppose you get that sort of non-understanding in any product class. It's just that unlike cars for example, headphones aren't what you could call stuff you can flash around (except in the enthusiast arena) so don't actually generate the same sort of envy, just a sense of incredulity like yours. The negative feelings of the narrow-minded who have never used whatever's being discussed and who can't afford it are the same though. For me, I'd say I got what I wanted in that I have a phone which allows me to concentrate on the music instead of the equipment. Worth it? On a cost/benefit analysis, probably not. But then I'm not in the position of needing to wonder if I have enough money to buy whatever I want.
 
In summation, that was basically my ending analysis on the situation. If you can easily afford it, why the hell not get it? In ALL honesty if I was making a 6 figure salary, hell yes I would buy them. Hypocritical, yes. But from my current standpoint, I could not justify by any means buying something as meaningless as a pair of headphones at that price.

I never intended to create a sense of prejudice against those with the financial means to have the finer things in life nor belittle anyone for buying them. If you were in my shoes, you would have a better understanding of how I cannot grasp the price tag. Then again, I'm not in your shoes either so I cannot grasp how it is worth it.

I think the finest example would be in comparison to financially lower-classed individual finding a 2000 Acura to be a fine car indeed, seeing how it can be feature-rich and nicely built; while I'm toting around in a 2006 BMW 7 Series. An Acura is a nice car and does the job above and beyond many of vehicles as does the BMW, but the BMW does it at an insanely higher price tag. Me, being the filthy rich sob can justify and accept the fact that I just dropped over $100,000 on my vehicle is okay, while the Acura driver just can't possibly fathom it. Acura = HD650 and BMW = AT.

In short, I see your point fully. I'll revoke my previous comments and simply say you have a beautiful system there that anyone should be envious of.
 
Ahem...
magnetik said:
ok.. this thread is getting completely off topic.
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I got a pair of Studiophonics a few days ago. Hardly worth posting a pic, everyone knows what the Ety ER4s look like :p
 
threedd97 said:
I suppose you made my point with the H2 and a $20,000 vehicle. You pay more to impress at a minimal difference in quality. It is technically a poor analogy considering the expensive cars are typically bought by the people with a larger bank roll, and they buy these more expensive vehicles for features and simply to state "hey, I'm this well off". I don't think it is like that with something with headphones.
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So, um, are you saying that the people who buy $5-10k headphones are poor?

Because...I kinda doubt that. :)
 
threedd97 said:
...but even making $60,000 a year...
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threedd97 said:
In summation, that was basically my ending analysis on the situation. If you can easily afford it, why the hell not get it? In ALL honesty if I was making a 6 figure salary, hell yes I would buy them. Hypocritical, yes. But from my current standpoint, I could not justify by any means buying something as meaningless as a pair of headphones at that price.
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It's an interesting figure that you bring up in a previous post. According to the currency site xe.com, I pay my assistant ~$61,000 a year before taxes. And I'd say you're right, it would probably be difficult to justify extravagances such as an $8K headphone-based system (assuming $3K phone, $2K amp, $3K source) in addition to a reasonably comfortable lifestyle, other hobbies and the paraphenalia that demands on that sort of salary without going into debt. I'm sure some people would do it though, but that will definitely depend on your priorities. Just because you can't see the point, it of course doesn't mean that others can't. Some people like making this a hobby, and I certainly see why (but then I'm a geek :p ). My own main hobby is arguably even more obscure than headphones or audio in general.

Higher-end headphones are a great way to connect you more intimately to the music, and do have a charm of their own when compared to 'traditional' hi-fi. Although I started discovering high-end phones purely due to social concerns (I live in a very quiet street with until recently a number of elderly, fussy homeowners) there's no doubt that compared to an equivalent-priced speaker-based set-up, you hear more in terms of detail and nuance. Ultimately I prefer speakers, but that's just me.
 
prod_100063.jpg


I love these.
 
AdamW said:
So, um, are you saying that the people who buy $5-10k headphones are poor?

Because...I kinda doubt that. :)
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It was a shotty attempt to invalidate his broad analogy. I meant that people who buy and can afford those expensive headphones don't buy them to show off their wealth or to impress others, they have a more meaningful reason to spend that amount of cash. They want to immerse themselves in what they are listening to. You can't exactly "immerse" yourself in driving with an expensive car as that could possibly lead to a wreck. With that said, I was getting at the two can't compare because they are bought for different reasons.
 
I'm not _entirely_ sure that's true. There's certainly a status symbol element to some phones. For e.g. the L3000s in question, which really don't cost so much because they necessarily sound that good, but because they're limited edition and made of leather. By all accounts there's cheaper phones that sound better, even by the accounts of some of the people who own L3000s.
 
AdamW said:
I'm not _entirely_ sure that's true. There's certainly a status symbol element to some phones. For e.g. the L3000s in question, which really don't cost so much because they necessarily sound that good, but because they're limited edition and made of leather. By all accounts there's cheaper phones that sound better, even by the accounts of some of the people who own L3000s.
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The W5000 isn't anywhere near the L3000, and I've known a couple of people who've got theirs but haven't posted impressions yet. It's more of the W1000 sound, rather than the L3000 sound.
 
I got a pair of E4C's a few weeks ago. I love them to death. I'll try and post pics a little later...
 
akwok said:
The W5000 isn't anywhere near the L3000, and I've known a couple of people who've got theirs but haven't posted impressions yet. It's more of the W1000 sound, rather than the L3000 sound.
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I don't think I mentioned the W5000s at all...what made you think that's the phones I was thinking of? :)
 
Audio Rig: X-Fi Coax Out >> Dialogue II >> RnB Audio Starquad RCA >> Headroom Millet Hybrid (Home Module) +DPS >> DT880
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Elderblaze said:
Audio Rig: X-Fi Coax Out >> Dialogue II >> RnB Audio Starquad RCA >> Headroom Millet Hybrid (Home Module) +DPS >> DT880 http://photo.head-fi.org/data/500/hr_desktop.jpg[/IM][/QUOTE]

All I can say is niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. ;)
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Actually Towert7 i've only had it for a couple of days, I love it so far, but 2 days is not enough time to form a good opinion of audio equipment, i'll get back to this thread in a couple weeks hehe :)
 
Does anyone have the Sony V500s? I was looking into them. For only about $65, they seem decent. If anyone has any "value" suggestions, they would be appreciated.
 
EgyptBoy20 said:
Does anyone have the Sony V500s? I was looking into them. For only about $65, they seem decent. If anyone has any "value" suggestions, they would be appreciated.
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check out head-fi.org

stay away from those sony's v500 v600's etc.. if ya really want sony's on the budget, I recommend the V6's not v600's and the MDR-XD400's .
 
EgyptBoy20 said:
Does anyone have the Sony V500s? I was looking into them. For only about $65, they seem decent. If anyone has any "value" suggestions, they would be appreciated.
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I threw them away. Look good, well built, sounds crap. Stay far, far away. aZn_plyr has the right idea for the alternative. The V6 folds into a slightly smaller package too.
 
Ronco said:
I threw them away. Look good, well built, sounds crap. Stay far, far away. aZn_plyr has the right idea for the alternative.
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wow...thanks a bunch. Again, value suggestions appreciated.
 
Value phones.. Koss KSC75, Sennheiser 201's, Grado SR60's, Sennheiser 497, Beyerdynamic DT231.

My suggestion is KSC-75 for the best bang for your buck. 18 bucks shipped and they sound damn good, in fact no tmuch under 100$ can top them.
 
threedd97 said:
My point was the price difference between PCI-e 16x and PCI-e 16x in SLI is still a minimal price difference when compared to buying HD650 and those Audio Technica's. I fully understand what is being said, but the pricing of it all makes it hard to grasp why you would still pay that much. I assume if you are well off it's not that big of a deal, but even making $60,000 a year it's still nearly a months worth of pay to buy them. My entire basis of my first post was that they are entirely too much money for what it is, regardless of how much of an audiophile you think you are. I guess if the obsession for audio quality is that consuming of somebody's life, then that would be why they purchase it.

Thank you for explaining how he was comparing them. It is a valid comparison in explaining the more passionate spending gross amounts of money to have the finest, but at the same time, with computers the price difference is not that dramatic. The latter invalidating the comparison to price differences between top-end and overboard. IMO, overboard in PC components is still at a "reasonable" price, while $5,000 for two cups to go on the side of my head with speakers the size of my eye is not.

As you are saying, to each his own. Let's just leave it at that since nobody can explain to me why they are as much as they are.
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I think the better comparison would be an agp 7800gtx w/ a 3700 sandiego would be the equivalent of 500 dollar hd650's, which would run you ~1500 dollars (for full system) to hd650's+amp (~700 dollars w/ decent amp on decent deal) being equivalent, while a dual opty 280 italy system in a tyan sli mobo w/ 8gb ecc ram running dual Quadro FX 4000 running 1tb in raid (20,000usd+) would compare to the 6,500 dollar Audio Technica+amp setup.

Not meaning to fan the flame; but to each his own. Remember when someoen posted benchmarks of their rig similar to what i'm outlining here (the opty i mean) a while back and everyone flamed him for wasting his money? To each his own; if you enjoy it and have the money to go, its well worth it.

And i'll just sit here hugging my shure e2c's and 3200venice setup dreaming of both possible upgrades.
 
EgyptBoy20 said:
I guess I could squeeze in the money for a Sony MDR-V700 set...can anyone reccommend these?
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They aren't as terrible as the V500, but you can do better. I personally think apart from a tendency towards wooliness, the V700 doesn't sound too crappy but they're heavy and don't fit that well. The Sony V6 is better than any of the current Sony DJ lineup.
 
i've got a pair of sony mdr-v900....i really like them, better than the lower models by a longshot
 
EgyptBoy20 said:
Thanks. How are the Sony MDR-7506s then?
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Same as the V6, only more expensive. I remember comparing the two side by side and with the 7506, you get a sticker and cold-plated jack. Who knows there might be other changes, but both sounded as near enough to be the same.
 
Ronco said:
Same as the V6, only more expensive. I remember comparing the two side by side and with the 7506, you get a sticker and cold-plated jack. Who knows there might be other changes, but both sounded as near enough to be the same.
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I see. These V6s, are they good? Are the pads covered in that "leather" kind of stuff, or is it cloth? Thanks.
 
I know...I just want the stuff that looks and somewhat feels like it. :) Take the Sennheisers for example...they look like the pads are covered in cloth. Though I wouldn't know, I've never tried a pair of quality cans before. :D
 
EgyptBoy20 said:
I know...I just want the stuff that looks and somewhat feels like it. :) Take the Sennheisers for example...they look like the pads are covered in cloth. Though I wouldn't know, I've never tried a pair of quality cans before. :D
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Very soft velure to be precise. Very comfy for hours, and they breathe.
 
EgyptBoy20 said:
I know...I just want the stuff that looks and somewhat feels like it. :) Take the Sennheisers for example...they look like the pads are covered in cloth. Though I wouldn't know, I've never tried a pair of quality cans before. :D
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Yea, the velour is an amazing material for headphones (although it absorbs oils from your head like you wouldn't belive).

They don't get hot on your head, and are soooooooooooooooooo soft.
My beyerdynamic DT990pro and Sennheiser HD590 both have the soft stuff, and its amazing.
 
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