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I am wondering if it's not intentionally designed this way.
Sorry for dredging up an old post but I just noticed these on my TH900's too. My right earcup can swivel outward more to the right, or swivel back forward (but not inward). Similarly my left earcup can swivel inward to the right but swivel back parallel but not outward to the left.
Other TH900 owners notice this idiosyncrasy too?
Brand new but it's been announced since October 2011... so not that new.
"This video is private"
True, but it hasn't been hyped like Sennheiser headphones are as soon as they're announced. Most people aren't going to buy a headphone without hearing it first or reading a lot of reviews for it, and the TH900 has only made a few appearances at select head-fi meets in the US, with the majority of its appearances being in Japan thus far. The impressions prior to its release were pretty few in number and pretty mediocre. Plus even if it was announced months prior to its release, it was still a Japanese-only release and the price tag was set at almost three times the cost of the D7000. So factor in the whole "exotic and expensive import" thing with the pre-existing reluctance people have to try new headphones sight unseen.
With the usual head-fiers' "arithmetic" you're just as likely to get D7000 owners saying "I like my D7000, but the TH900 can't be three times as good."
It makes me understand better the strife of making a super-headphone and then not being able to sell it. It took 5 years to Grado to get rid of all their HP-"1000". Sony could make the successor of the R10 and beat the heck of out of the HD800, yet nobody would buy it; I understand them better now (the reason why they chose to focus on making plainer headphones). Money is still a concern for even the most hardcore Head-Fiers I guess. Talking about my own person, 1-2-3k more wouldn't change much, and isn't going to stop me. I'll work hard and save up. Talking about the others, it seems like they expect the world's best headphones' price to remain within a certain margin of affordability.
But "best" doesn't rhyme with "affordability", and it's only because we're so used to cheap plastic goods made in China. I would give you the link to a video of how a Japanese Katana is made... it takes like two weeks, three people, and costs 15 000 dollars, yet it's the most solid, versatile, and effective sword in the world.
Customer's review on Amazon.com about the MDR-R10 are all like "A bit less than 4000$ for a headphone that is going to playback heaven to your ears, every time you ask for it, anywhere you want it.. what are you waiting for?"
Japan or Germany, shouldn't be a deal breaker. I mean you're on a hunt, right? You use Tenso.com, pay for customs, costs a lot, you have to wait, but the reward will be immense... The TH900 isn't a good example actually, it has been on B&Hphotovideo since day one (US), and in the first week I also found it available in Canada, by looking only a bit further.
The people that expects 1.3-1.7k dollars is going to get them both the best headphone in the world and the red carpet to it are wrong. They will buy a HD800 ± T1 ± LCD-2or3 ± HE-5or6, but not a SR009, because it's just too good, too prestigious and would make them too happy... and you have to use Pricejapan ohnoes scary
We could draw a line between the consumer's best headphones and the truly best headphones. Sennheiser is like going at Wal Mart, Stax is that small regional company that get's bought (eaten) for almost nothing by Edifier. I'm exaggerating but...
One thing I really love about the TH900s is the way they deal with glare, especially digital glare on regular CDs.
They don't blunt the highs at all, but upper-mid peaks, especially in centered higher-pitched vocals on popular music, are handled well, avoiding a common source of pain.
They seem to do this better than Audezes (all models, which can have a trace of ringing), HD800s, 009s, and bass-light R10s.
To me, this makes them, well, superior, just based on this personal preference.
By the way,
B&H did the same offer-but-not-in-stock thing with the T1s when they first came out a few years back. You had to wait months for them.
Regardless of how much it costs to make the TH900s or the value of the exotic wood (I think Grado says the same thing about the special wood they use in the RS1 and some others),
they lack some of the flaws of the HD800s and LCD3s (and even 009s and R10s), and I think the sonics easily justify the price.
The others do some things better than the Fostexes, but overall, the Fostexes seem to have all the major common flaws minimized.
An the natural tonality on top of this makes them great for me.