Overrated
 
Sony MDR-V6 and MDR-7506
 
These are most widely used Studio Monitors? I don't get it. What am I missing? Why would I want to use a studio monitor with such a huge mid-bass hump?
Level of detail and clarity isn't even that high for a headphone at this price. I guess it's smaller, more portable and more easily driven than a K240 Studio, so I'll give it that..
BTW my KRK KNS-8400 makes these things a complete joke as a studio monitor. I imagine the 6400 (which I haven't tried, it's $99) would too. Of course I make these out to be worse than they really are. They're not horrible in any way.
 
Severely Underrated
 
Koss Pro DJ 100
 
Yeah, I'm a fanboy of these, so sorry for that. I've had these since the summer of 2010 and it's my most used headphone. Even after getting my ATH-AD2000, K702 and K601 I'm still impressed and "Wowed" by the sound of these when properly amped. It's just a fun signature and seems to have my perfect sound signature. It has quite a good amount of bass and still has those forward sounding mids I love, but still feels very balanced. Now this may be crazy talk, but I haven't found anything open or closed headphone I've LIKED more under $250 that was somewhat portable. My KRK has better clarity and more detail, but it's not as fun to listen to. The HD-598 is the only thing that has come close really. My ATH-AD2000 is basically collecting dust because of these. As you may know, I love my mids and prefer forward sounding mids. I always look for a headphone with good vocal quality and this is it. I even recently did some modding on them and they sound even better! I keep saying it, but this one deserves to be as well known as the Porta Pro and KSC75! I think there is a total of 3 or 4 people on here who have heard it?! BTW I think fans of the Sextett LP would love these, but only when amped well.

I should have mentioned that I feel the most underrated pair of headphones are the Audio Technica Ad900. They have great comfort, an amazingly balanced sound despite the rolled off lows, and have a ridiculously large soundstage.

Quote:

keanex said:

I should have mentioned that I feel the most underrated pair of headphones are the Audio Technica Ad900. They have great comfort, an amazingly balanced sound despite the rolled off lows, and have a ridiculously large soundstage.

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Ah. I found an owner that loves the AD900 as much as I do.
 
Yes, I will admit, I think they are the most underrated headphones. They've beat everything I've tried to date.

Overrated?
None I can think of, maybe the AKG K701/702s
 
Underrated?
Denon D5000.
 
Obviously there are a lots of people who (still) own them and I imagine there to be lots of owners that never post a message at Head-fi and just go on with their lives, but at this forum these headphones are commonly seen as...
 
1. ...overpriced D2000s with wooden cups
2. ...phones that are Inferior to the D7000s. They're not seen as great headphones in their own right. For every enthusiastic new D5000 owner there are at least ten D7000 owners who try talking the poor guy into the D7000s.
3. ...headphones that merely sound decent without a MarkL modd.
 
 
 

Quote:

keanex said:

I should have mentioned that I feel the most underrated pair of headphones are the Audio Technica Ad900. They have great comfort, an amazingly balanced sound despite the rolled off lows, and have a ridiculously large soundstage.

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I think the 'ridiculously large soundstage' might be the part that has held back their popularity with Head-Fiers - many feel the same way about the K701 soundstage - but I could care less. The AD900 are fantastic mid-fi cans that will work well straight from a DAP, dont require a bank loan and are comfortable to boot.
 

K1000 for me. I had it with me in my setup for a couple of months, and in the context of my setup - it had the best soundstage I ever heard. It taught me a little more about the "soundstage" phenomena on headphones for which I was really appreciative of.

But how others cannot hear how the actual transducers of the K1000 are two generations behind the current flagships like the HD800, is a mystery to me. They compared directly to the transducers in my HD595s in terms of sheer resolution capability - but without the cup resonance of the HD595, so overall a bit better. The transducers in my HD650s and K701s were clearly a newer and better design with a higher resolution output capability. The T1/HD800/LCD2 made mince of the outdated K1000 dynamic drivers.

Feel free to shoot me with a 12 gauge double barrel .

sp wild said:

But how others cannot hear how the actual transducers of the K1000 are two generations behind the current flagships like the HD800, is a mystery to me. The transducers in my HD650s and K701s were clearly a newer and better design with a higher resolution output capability. The T1/HD800/LCD2 made mince of the outdated K1000 dynamic drivers.

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This is one of the things that puzzles me when I see how enamoured many here are with the idea of owning a pair of R10s - it would be analagous to owning a MiG fighter plane from the 50s. Audio doesnt move as quickly as aviation in terms of quantum leaps in technology, but we are talking decades here ......

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estreeter said:

Quote:

sp wild said:

But how others cannot hear how the actual transducers of the K1000 are two generations behind the current flagships like the HD800, is a mystery to me. The transducers in my HD650s and K701s were clearly a newer and better design with a higher resolution output capability. The T1/HD800/LCD2 made mince of the outdated K1000 dynamic drivers.

Click to expand...

This is one of the things that puzzles me when I see how enamoured many here are with the idea of owning a pair of R10s - it would be analagous to owning a MiG fighter plane from the 50s. Audio doesnt move as quickly as aviation in terms of quantum leaps in technology, but we are talking decades here ......

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I can't comment on the R10 as I have never heard them.  But to put things into perspective the R10s were very, very expensive and targeted as such in the upper leagues of exotica.  At release the K1000s were priced at 500 bucks, not in the same league as the R10 by far.  AKG is pretty up front about their K701 having a more advanced driver than their K1000s.  Nevertheless, it wouldn't be bad advice to take the "untouchables" with a grain of salt.  The T1 and HD800 as an example - if we could some how blind test those with past legends, I would have my bets placed on modern engineering.
 
Same analogy with cars, I love how nostalgic cars handle.  But any stock European / Japanese hatchback will kick the rear end of most classic Italian supercars around a race track.
 

I believe strongly that I can only give an opinion on the headphones I've actually had. I live rather far from where meets occur (ie: not in california) and I don't have a car to get there. Since that's the case, I have to buy heahphones unseen and unheard. Thus, I only have experievce with (in order of the amount of time I've had)
Audio Technica ATH-AD900
Grado SR-225i
Meelectronic M6
---
I have my complaints about the grado, mostly about comfort, but of these three, the Meelectronics M6 is the most overrated for me. What's the point of an IEM if it takes so long to put them in? Maybe it's my ears, but they can never get a good seal, and when they do, they don't sound that great.

I mean, for the price, they are pretty good, but I really don't like them that much.

I prefer the AD900 to the SR225i, though I don't think either is underrated.

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permagrin said:

Quote:
 
So when you auditioned the LCD-2s you didn't feel they stood up to the praise we give them?
 

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You do realize that the LCD2 is so FOTM here that it might as well be called the head-lcd2 forum.

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eugenius said:

Quote:

You do realize that the LCD2 is so FOTM here that it might as well be called the head-lcd2 forum.

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Of course, but there is a reason why it is considered a FOTM(Y).
 
 

Audiophile Headphones:
Full Size - Sennheiser HD650's (Overrated Only Among Non-Audiophiles In my honest opinion)
IEMs - Shure SE535 (Overrated By both Audiophiles and Non-Audiophiles alike)
Non-Audiophile Headphones:
Full Size - Monster Beats by Dr. Dre (The old Noise Canceling Model Not the new "Pro" model) - These were once one of the best selling headphones and might still be. 
IEMs - Every Single One for most Non-Audiophiles
Noise Canceling Headphones - Bose QC15 (Dare I start with the sound? They are not even proper headphones.)
 
I have never heard the SE535's or HD650's but I hear about them way too much, even though they both seem great.
However I have heard the Beats and QC15's and I must say they are both pieces of plastic with terrible drivers inside.
I'm sorry but nobody in this world really deserves to have to listen to them, even as a punishment.
Wearing either one of them would be an affront to one's dignity and should not call themselves Audiophiles.
All those two headphones do, especially the Beats, is make Audiophiles look bad for spending a lot of money on
REAL headphones and appreciating them as they should be. 

Audiophile1811, I sincerely hope your post was an attempt at humour. A pretty lame attempt, I might add, but then I have never considered myself an 'audiophile'.

Quote:

audiophile1811 said:

Audiophile Headphones:
Full Size - Sennheiser HD650's (Overrated Only Among Non-Audiophiles In my honest opinion)
IEMs - Shure SE535 (Overrated By both Audiophiles and Non-Audiophiles alike)
Non-Audiophile Headphones:
Full Size - Monster Beats by Dr. Dre (The old Noise Canceling Model Not the new "Pro" model) - These were once one of the best selling headphones and might still be. 
IEMs - Every Single One for most Non-Audiophiles
Noise Canceling Headphones - Bose QC15 (Dare I start with the sound? They are not even proper headphones)
 
I have never heard the SE535's or HD650's but I hear about them way too much, even though they both seem great.
However I have heard the Beats and QC15's and I must say they are both pieces of plastic with terrible drivers inside.
I'm sorry but nobody in this world really deserves to have to listen to them, even as a punishment.
Wearing either one of them would be an affront to one's dignity and should not call themselves Audiophiles.
All those two headphones do, especially the Beats, is make Audiophiles look bad for spending a lot of money on
REAL headphones and appreciating them as they should be. 

Click to expand...

 

Lol, I own both the SE53X's and the HD650's so I guess I'm a Head-fi sheep .
 
Seriously though, I think the main reason they are so hyped (along with my other cans, the LCD-2s) is that they are so well-rounded. It's tough to displease when you do most everything right as opposed to doing a very specific thing more superiorly (sic, spellcheck didn't catch it...).
 

Quote:

permagrin said:

Quote:

audiophile1811 said:

Audiophile Headphones:
Full Size - Sennheiser HD650's (Overrated Only Among Non-Audiophiles In my honest opinion)
IEMs - Shure SE535 (Overrated By both Audiophiles and Non-Audiophiles alike)
Non-Audiophile Headphones:
Full Size - Monster Beats by Dr. Dre (The old Noise Canceling Model Not the new "Pro" model) - These were once one of the best selling headphones and might still be. 
IEMs - Every Single One for most Non-Audiophiles
Noise Canceling Headphones - Bose QC15 (Dare I start with the sound? They are not even proper headphones)
 
I have never heard the SE535's or HD650's but I hear about them way too much, even though they both seem great.
However I have heard the Beats and QC15's and I must say they are both pieces of plastic with terrible drivers inside.
I'm sorry but nobody in this world really deserves to have to listen to them, even as a punishment.
Wearing either one of them would be an affront to one's dignity and should not call themselves Audiophiles.
All those two headphones do, especially the Beats, is make Audiophiles look bad for spending a lot of money on
REAL headphones and appreciating them as they should be. 

Click to expand...

 

Lol, I own both the SE53X's and the HD650's so I guess I'm a Head-fi sheep .
 
Seriously though, I think the main reason they are so hyped (along with my other cans, the LCD-2s) is that they are so well-rounded. It's tough to displease when you do most everything right as opposed to doing a very specific thing more superiorly (sic, spellcheck didn't catch it...).
 

Click to expand...

Hey, there is another example of overrating right there^^