Most overrated headphones? - Page 38

 

Oh - how many have you heard (and I don't mean a 2 minute listen either)?  Why would you say they are over-rated?

I heard all the SRs. They are all great, but the SR60 and 80 are praised way too much, as they are the best value headphone in the world. I listened to all of them for an hour, and listened to them extensively. I can name five headphones that are better than the sr60 and 80 for the same price.

and all grados are a little too overglorified.

Have you heard all of them?

 

Which ones?

@pcf i mean all the sr ones

@ishcabible sennheiser hd 280 pro, audio technica ath ad700, senheiser hd 555, denon ah d1001, and CAL!. (I have listened to all of them)

@pcf I have only listened to the sr series

 

 I'm taking a guess here that you like a nice amount of bass response, if so then the SR60/SR80 are not

 really for you - most of the Hi-Fi praise for these two cans is assessed occasionally on the iPod but

 mostly via a decent CD player and receiver or pre-amp with a headphone out - the material is usually typically

 'Audiophile Country' - Jazz and Classical, maybe some female vocals.

@Gwarmi yeah ur right..... haha. I loooooooove bass. The grado sr series just had too much treble for my taste. The perfect sound for me is the ultrasone hfi 580.

Hifiman He-400s.  Although I did pre-order these and get them during the 1st batch where many were defective, they did absolutely nothing for me in terms of sound quality.  While both channels worked I found their sound underwhelming in almost every regard.  Needless to say they went back.

LCD-3, and HE-6. Overrated (specially when compared to HE-500, or LCD2 if you dislike treble that much, and even HE-5LE if you need/like a more "U curved-like" type of sound).

 

It just seems that planar-magnetic headphones got so hyped everywhere that Audez' and HiFiMan just decided to suddenly go premium on their price... 

 

 

 

Best (still in production) headphones, to me (with no budget restrains and considering the SOUND only -- and not convenience, isolation, etc.): Beyerdynamic T1, Sennheiser HD800, Stax 009. Period.*

 

 

 

*Then there's the Symphonie's Magnums, the PS1000 and the PS500, but Grado's have a very specific type of signature (that I do like a LOT with SOME but not with every music) that's just not for everyone...

 

 

 

EDIT: thought I must say that I only heard: PS1000, HE-500, LCD-2, HE-5LE, HE-6 and HD-800 from this list. The rest of my assumptions is based in looong readings here and other headphone websites (inner-fidelity, headfonia, 6moons...) and performance graphics (frequency response, square waves...). Can't say, having heard HE-500 and LCD-2 that either HE-6 and LCD-3 would be worth more than USD$1'000.00 while you can have a headphone like HD800 for that price. But that's MY taste, of course, some might disagree...

Edited by faverodefavero - 7/9/12 at 2:25pm

 

Uhh...yeah we can agree to disagree. 

 

Did anyone actually like the Image One?

Yeah, I think there's a big disjoint between "headphones you dislike" and "headphones that are over-rated" - and I don't mean to be rude, but all of the Grado comments seem to come from people who haven't really used them. An hour is not "extensive."

I would agree though, that the SR-60 are not the be-all, end-all of all headphones, and the presentation of all of their awards and press praise is a little bit overwhelming compared to equally good competitors (like some of the models listed), so that's a valid point and I can go along with it. They're kind of a living legend, if you will, but I don't feel that status is entirely undeserved or purchased.

Lets see, I think the last time I posted in this thread I said the ATH-M50's and the HD25's were the most overrated.

 

I'd like to take back my vote for the HD25's though. It was only after I got them into a loud environment that I understood why they are so great. It really does sound like they were tuned to sound normal in loud environments, which makes total sense, since that's their intended use. However in a quiet environment, they always sounded a little weird to me, and I never could put my finger on it.

 

Anyway, the ATH-M50's are still the reigning king of overrated headphones. I don't think they will ever be topped.

Edited by Kukuk - 7/9/12 at 4:27pm