What would you like to see more of in headphones? - Page 2

More orthos.  Open orthos, closed orthos.  Orthos by the companies that make studio headphones.  Orthos by the companies that make consumer headphones.  Orthos by Skullcandy.  Sub $500 orthos, sub $200 orthos, sub $100 orthos.

I totally agree. I would love to see manufacturers find a way to get the sound of the very best open 'phones in a closed model, and I wish that that would be the focus of a major R&D project like the one that led to the HD800.

Also, would it be possible to have open headphones with active noise cancelling for home use? If so, I think that would be an awesome product!

Finally, I would like to see a lot more research into wearing comfort. Even the most comfortable headphones in the world become annoying to me after wearing them for more than about 30 minutes at a stretch.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MalVeauX 

Heya,

 

My first reaction to the title: "Need more closed headphones."

 

I like headphones because they're private, isolated, and block out noise. Open headphones don't do that. I live in a world full of noise. House noise. Fan noise. Whatever. I like closed headphones more than open headphones because you can block it all out for the most part and just have the music and nothing else. But it's very hard to get higher end headphones that are excellent and closed back. I don't need 100% isolation. But better than open-air isolation. Currently Denon & AudioTechnica really offer the "high end closed back" headphone market something. No one else really offers that. Everyone else offers open-air. Sure, there's likely some high end closed backs out there that I'm obvious to (some old high end sony's? some other vintage things? I'm sure there's other high end closed backs, but lately, the big flags from dynamics to orthos are open air).

 

I'd love to have a closed HE-500.

 

Very best,

Quote:

Originally Posted by catsndogs 

I totally agree. I would love to see manufacturers find a way to get the sound of the very best open 'phones in a closed model, and I wish that that would be the focus of a major R&D project like the one that led to the HD800.

 

Also, would it be possible to have open headphones with active noise cancelling for home use? If so, I think that would be an awesome product!

Finally, I would like to see a lot more research into wearing comfort. Even the most comfortable headphones in the world become annoying to me after wearing them for more than about 30 minutes at a stretch.
 

 

I mentioned the cancelling inside open phones earlier. I think it'd be a pain in the ass for manufacturers to get to work, but it might be possible. The typical result of using active cancelling is some sort of SQ loss or things just not sounding properly.
 

More headphones done as technological show pieces. Like the Bugatti Veyron - it's not done because it's economically reasonable... it's done to prove they can. Flagships that are the pinnacle of engineering achievement... let's get the excitement back in the industry. The innovation. And spread those ideas down through the lineup at different pricepoints (if we are making a wishlist). 

Closed phones that don't sound like closed phones would be nice. I've not tried the new Beyer T70p, but that is promising... but most of them sound either really congested and without soundstage - or boomy and hollow. I love open phones not because they are open, but because they sound better. We can do better. 

What I want to see...

More closed headphones (like everyone else)

Enough with plastic, use durable but light metal

Biggest Issue

Cheaper headphones, the demand for high-end isnt big

Basically a monopolistic competitive market but with more competition =/

cheaper average pricing..

I don't have problem in choosing closed headphone (in fact most manufaturers do produce nice full size closed phones except the Senns), finding a good all-rounder open headphone seems more difficult to me.. Orthos currently available are practically useless to me due to their weights, I do like flagships like hd800 and 009 but those are out of my range at this point..