Fostex TH900 Impressions & Discussion Thread - Page 78

"most people" being those who aren't audiophiles.   

I think the enemy of the R10 drivers is the humidity.

If the R10 is used with care, in a dry room without smoke and stay in the case with the anti humidity little bags, R10 can sound like a charm for a very long time.

Mine is really in a good condition, handle and use with care, only one owner before me. I don't regret, and i will sell only if i really need money. The price of the R10 is not only because it sounds good but because it is really rare and collector. 

I put the R10 investment exactly like put money on amazing bottles of wine or smoking two cigares a day during less than a year (a good small cigare is around 20$).

But for the R10, you know that the pleasure will last more than a bottle of wine or cigares :)

I think if the R10 would be popular like PETRUS or ROMANEE CONTI, the price could be more than 10 000$ for a nice pair. 

It is luxury, high level of pleasure, exception, rarity. I will say : no price on it.

The rest is just words IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrainFood 

That depends on your perspective;)  If you lived in a third-world country and had to worry about your next meal, instead of (I assume) the US, you might think very differently 

This has always been a really annoying type of argument. What point are you trying to make? Guess what, if you were a bird, or a cat, or a fish, you would spend ZERO dollars on headphones or anything else. You'd be livin' free man!

Everyone can make their own determination as to what they think is a rational amount to spend on a headphone. For me personally, I think the Omega 2, LCD-3, and TH900 push the limit there. For the price of the SR-009 or an R10 today, you can get some absolutely stupendous speakers. For awhile I was in a living situation where speakers just were not workable, and its only in those types of situations where I would really consider spending over $5K on a headphone. This is also due to the fact that I listen to a lot of early stereo jazz recordings, with instruments panned hard left and hard right. These just don't work on headphones, not without lots of crossfeed or something like the the Realiser in the chain.

At the same time, $10, 20, 30K or more speakers don't make me even blink. Yes, if I were a pelican, I wouldn't think that would be a reasonable amount to spend on speakers. I would never spend thousands of dollars on a high-end golf resort and golf clubs. That's not my hobby. But I'm not going to say to someone, "you spent how much on a titanium/carbon fiber club? You realize that if you lived in Ethiopia, and had to worry about your next meal, you might think differently". Maybe you'd use a wooden stick. Maybe you wouldn't play golf. There's no point to saying it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

There are always going to be big spenders and people forking over crazy sums for things other people wouldn't consider, and while they're in the minority, there's quite a variable range in this hobby.

I did pay an unhealthy sum of money for my/the Grado RS-1 prototype, and although I'm still not sure if it was worth it, I'm very much the only one in the world with one, and it's the kind of thought that satisfies me to such an extent, but would probably not be enough to satisfy another. I bought it from an eBay auction winner who himself paid 1500 for it. Of course I had to offer him more than that.

And I'm not missing an occasion to show it off, lol, it led to the inception of the RS-1, is anterior to the Super Vintage RS-1, etc.

So I just got interested in possibly buying my own pair of the TH900 but wanted to ask here first: are there any other headphones that sound remotely similar to it, other than the R10? I have no memory of what the R10 sounds like and the only thing I can remember is that I disliked it the few times I've heard it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveBSC 
For the price of the SR-009 or an R10 today, you can get some absolutely stupendous speakers. For awhile I was in a living situation where speakers just were not workable, and its only in those types of situations where I would really consider spending over $5K on a headphone.

I definitely agree with this and for the price of an SR-009, I'd personally rather buy a pair of speakers made by Monitor Audio instead of the SR-009 - well, if I was in a living situation where I could really listen to speakers, but I'm not, so I have to make do with headphones. $5K is definitely at the pricepoint where I'd rather buy speakers over headphones, and it's not just the Monitor Audio models that interest me at that price either.

Besides, I'm sort of cynical towards the SR-009 anyway, mostly because I've been spoiled by the SR-007. Maybe I might have been more amazed by the SR-009 if I hadn't heard the SR-007 before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrainFood 

 

That depends on your perspective;)  If you lived in a third-world country and had to worry about your next meal, instead of (I assume) the US, you might think very differently 

Deleted my rant.  U.S. isn't that much better than those next meal scenarios of the third world contries if you look at the median income and rent costs after taxes, i got rid of the numbers to back it up, got too involved for this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by devouringone3 

 

I did pay an unhealthy sum of money for my/the Grado RS-1 prototype, and although I'm still not sure if it was worth it, I'm very much the only one in the world with one, and it's the kind of thought that satisfies me to such an extent, but would probably not be enough to satisfy another. I bought it from an eBay auction winner who himself paid 1500 for it. Of course I had to offer him more than that.

 

And I'm not missing an occasion to show it off, lol, it led to the inception of the RS-1, is anterior to the Super Vintage RS-1, etc.

Let me know if ever you want to get rid of them.

I will! (it's in very good condition, I don't see its drivers failing anytime soon)

One can never have enough RS-1 eh? lol :P

Ok.. finally I have read all 78 pages of this thread and notice that the Next button is greyed out, I then make a cup of coffee, have a sip and close my tired eyes .. and so I  breath in, I said to myself "I know I am thinking of th900" and breathing out "I know I need to have th900 tommorrow" open my eyes, called 800-828-8184  & make myself $2,039 poorer...

Despite all these feed the third world or worry about next meal.. I prmoise this will be my last headphone.. for this year at least.

Quote:

Originally Posted by devouringone3 

I will! (it's in very good condition, I don't see its drivers failing anytime soon)

 

One can never have enough RS-1 eh? lol :P

I have downsized to 8 pairs of those.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audiowood 

Ok.. finally I have read all 78 pages of this thread and notice that the Next button is greyed out, I then make a cup of coffee, have a sip and close my tired eyes .. and so I  breath in, I said to myself "I know I am thinking of th900" and breathing out "I know I need to have th900 tommorrow" open my eyes, called 800-828-8184  & make myself $2,039 poorer...

 

Despite all these feed the third world or worry about next meal.. I prmoise this will be my last headphone.. for this year at least.

I'm assuming the extra $40 is from rushed delivery? Since headphone.com has free shipping - you must really want them..! congrats on the purchase hopefully you are as impressed with them as I have been.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcf 

I have downsized to 8 pairs of those.

In giant zip-lock bags ;) I definitely think you'd be a good owner!