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Why are headphone amps so costly? - Page 7

post #91 of 123
11/29/05 at 1:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by av98m2
The flashlight guys probably think its retarded to spend hundreds, even thousands on interconnects and powercords! People always think others who are not like them are crazy. A good flashlight has helped me out of some hairy situations in the past. And I'm very glad I had something better than a maglite then!
I'm probably an audiophile based on my hardware and still think its retarded...
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post #92 of 123
11/29/05 at 2:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fewtch
Music is a universal human interest
i'd say that being able to see is a more univeral human interest than music
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post #93 of 123
11/29/05 at 3:38pm
As far as musical equipment vs flashlights go, I acknowledge that different people have different interests and often people spend much money on things that are of little utility without being criticized. However, I think most people who own expensive musical equipment listen to music every day, whereas I would like to know what the people with expensive flashlights do. Do they often go on, like, camping trips or something and shine their flashlights for long periods of time then?
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post #94 of 123
11/29/05 at 4:19pm
There are quite a few law enforcment people who use their flashlights every day. There are some who just like to collect them. They mod their flashlights and compare beam shots and battery life.
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post #95 of 123
11/29/05 at 4:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by K2Grey
...whereas I would like to know what the people with expensive flashlights do. Do they often go on, like, camping trips or something and shine their flashlights for long periods of time then?
Your comment cracked me up; I started imagining what the flashlight version of a Head-Fi meet would look like...
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post #96 of 123
11/29/05 at 4:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by meat01
They mod their flashlights and compare beam shots and battery life.
...
and errr... that doesn't come across as strange? It's like doing something for the sake of doing it. At least for headphones there seems to be tangeable returns by trying out different cans. With flashlights, I think I'm totally missing out on the "and therefore" portion. Okay, so mine's brighter and lasts longer... and...? I can understand if you're a ranger or police or whatever and therefore has a immediate application where the benefits can be realized. But for the average joe who doesn't use it for work and doesn't spend his free time always wandering around in the dark... There's where I'm having trouble finding a connection, something I would need to overcome if I were to hypothetically get interested. Needs to have a purpose. Benefits of getting good sounding cans seem obvious enough.
Hopefully I'm not presenting a biased viewpoint - I'm trying my best to be objective.
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post #97 of 123
11/29/05 at 4:52pm
Hehe.. next time you tell someone how much your headphones cost and they give you that funny look... that's what your doing right now to people that have the same passion for flashlights. I, myself am not a flashaholic, but the "Enthusiast" culture is all the same for all genre's of said enthusiam. People that are passionate about their hobby. I just can't get over the judgemental attitude of folks. And yes alot of flashlight hobbiest (probably most in fact) do indeed use them on a regular basis, security people, police, mechanics, electricians, exterminators, hiker/campers, etc. There is large differnces in size and brightness. Im not joking when I say there are thumb sized lights that are as bright as 2d or larger mag's. There are mini-mag sized lights that are brighter then the massive club maglites that are like 18 inches long. Of course those lights are dual purpose

Lol im not a flashaholic really
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post #98 of 123
11/29/05 at 5:04pm
I don't understand why some of you have trouble understanding why there are flashlight-aholics.

The fact of the matter is: some people have interest in buying/collecting/modding/diy'ing flashlights. It comes out of a simple need that you want to see in the dark, and it's just like collecting any other tool, people find enthusiasm in optimizing for a particular condition.

any hobby consists of some of the following:
- the thrill of the hunt.
- some kind of DIY aspect.
- gadget aspect. Exploring the limits of technology.
- the tool aspect. People like collecting things they have basic needs for. Just like people collect knives, guns, tools even though people have satisfied their basic needs long ago.
- the social aspect. Sharing the collection hobby with other people.
- people who collect things might actually use/rely on them day to day which drives the need for an improved version of the said item.

all my above points apply to flashlights equally as well as headphones.

I bought this after visiting the Candlepowerforums



I never thought I would spend $50 on a flashlight but this little beauty goes into the same "purse" that I carry my Ety's/Airhead/iPod in. I'm always amazed at how well made and how much light this little sucker puts out. It's a little work of art, just like how one can marvel how small the Hornet amp is.
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post #99 of 123
11/29/05 at 5:05pm
And where did that "live and let live" go?

Some people like flashlights, some headphones.

If it's not away from you, and it brings joy to othes, why not be happy of others joy

regards,
Halcyon

PS This place really is bad for your wallet and this thread should be a warning to all who ponder why headphone amps are so expensive. You may think it's silly now, but after you've upgraded from that $80 portable DIY amp to that custom-tailerd desktop amp, to that balanced dual-mono... you start to understand why you should have stuck with the original $80 amp in the first place. But by that time, it's too late (in a good way, I might add)
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post #100 of 123
11/29/05 at 5:24pm
It's annoying when you are in a sedan and a pick-up/SUV with high beam gets to your rear. This is when I want to push a button and have the rear window to turn into a mirror.
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post #101 of 123
11/29/05 at 5:36pm
Warpdriver, I have been looking for a decent flashlight for browsing CDs late at night when I can't turn ON the lights (my main rig is in the masters bedroom and I listen really late at night). Ideally, the flashlight may be used for one handed operation with a handgun. Is the Fenix the flashlight to get? If so, where is the best place to get one?

(sorry for the OT)
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post #102 of 123
11/29/05 at 5:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PATB
Warpdriver, I have been looking for a decent flashlight for browsing CDs late at night when I can't turn ON the lights (my main rig is in the masters bedroom and I listen really late at night). Ideally, the flashlight may be used for one handed operation with a handgun. Is the Fenix the flashlight to get? If so, where is the best place to get one?

(sorry for the OT)
You need to find CD's with a handgun????

The Fenix L1P is a high powered pocketlight that works off 1AA battery and provides a runtime of about 2-3 hours off one battery. That might be overkill for what you need it for, it's more of an outdoor use flashlight. If you want one, there is a guy distributing them in the USA

The Fenix is a great light, if you ever think you need a good bright flashlight, I recommend it.
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post #103 of 123
11/29/05 at 6:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by t_s
Oh and one last thing. I actually had quite a bit of luck getting my friends to despise bad sound. Perhaps not at a uber hardcore level, but at least they need high bitrate mp3s and something at least the level of KSCs to listen on. For my latest purchase, I somehow got 3 of my friends to order new cans with me - this will be their first "hifi" can ever. It probably helped when I had a HD600 and AKG240DF handy from another friend for them to try out Talk is cheap - you gotta show them the difference. I have to admit I was really really underwhelmed by the SR60 though... barely an improvement over KSCs. Maybe I expected too much - but maybe it's cause they weren't an entry into the headfi world for me but rather something I'm going back to after having heard much better stuff. People say I'm evil cause I show them there's something better out there and now they can't go back and are "forced" to spend money. So what I'm trying to say is don't give up They can still be converted.
.
Another interesting observation - headphones are far more saturated compared to amps which explains why their prices, though still expensive, are more down to earth. But then everyone insists that you "need" an amp with most of them which leads me to conclude that all those people doing the insisting already bought one... so then how can there be so few customers for amps compared to headphones? We're not just talking about some 2:1 or 5:1 ratio... we're talking orders of magnitude fewer.

I've been demoing systems for years now. I even keep a bag of extra foamies at a dollar each or $2 per demo. I've had eight people listen to my ER-4S + amp + Lossless Encoded Files on iPod setup. All of them loved it. All of them thought that buying an iPod in itself was a stretch and now adding a pair of headphones that cost almost as much as an iPod is absolutely not going to happen. People would rather drop $150 on a night of drinking around here than bothering to drop even $80 on a pair of phones.
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post #104 of 123
11/29/05 at 6:04pm
I have a little flashlight in my bag that my wife got when she went to the Glamour Magazine Women of the Year awards show. It's basically Swag. I should put a pic of it up and you candleguys can tell me what it is.
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post #105 of 123
11/29/05 at 6:20pm
Thanks warpdriver. I just PMed the guy to send me a Paypal invoice for a Fenix L1P. That flashlight looks tough and ergonomic. My current flashlight, a cheap maglite, aint cutting it because the illumination has this dark image in the middle. You also need two hands to turn it on and off.

(Sorry for the OT again. I figured there are candlepower guys reading this thread so I might as well butt in with my question )

---Pat

EDIT: I just ordered the Fenix L1P and checked out the threads at Candlepowerforums.com just for kicks. Those guys are hardcore with their flashlights I guess the Fenix L1P is kind of like the Gilmore Lite of flashlights, not totally expensive but sort of popular for the price and size.
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