These comments assume that the headphones I discuss in the videos or forums represent every headphone I come across. As anyone who's visited my office can confirm, more headphones and other audio gear come through here than I could ever cover in the videos, or post about on the forums--
far more. Different things motivate different people; but what motivates me to step in front of the camera (and/or to hammer out text) more than anything is sharing my feelings about (and experiences with) products I think sound good, products that excite me.
Like I've said before, at any given time--and even more so in the weeks before we update the gift guide--it looks like the 4th floor of Yodobashi Akiba blew up in here, and most of it is gear I'll probably never utter a word about (on posts or video).
Actually, it was the Shure SRH940 and SRH1440 that I didn't much care for--both are too bright to my ears. I didn't review either (see the two paragraphs above), but did mention this in a video we shot about the Shure SRH1540 (which I do like very much).
@DreamKing, I'm certainly more inclined to agree with what you're saying. Mine is still just one opinion, and I've never claimed otherwise. Tyll's is also just one opinion. Mike Mercer's is just one opinion. Digital Trends' is just one opinion. John Darko's (digitalaudioreview.net) is just one opinion. Etc., etc. They're early opinions of pre-production headphones.
There's only one set of ears and opinions I trust 100% of the time--mine. I haven't heard the AKG K3003 yet, but I've read enough opinions (rather wildly varying opinions) about the K3003 to have some expectations; but I'll only know my truth when I've heard it.
I feel I've seen an increasing tendency to try to find the truth too fast, too easy. Whether it's reading different early impressions, and then conclusion-waffling with each; or expecting (and often counting on) measurements to give firm answers on how a headphone sounds. (I've commented on some of the different headphone measurement systems and methods we've seen in use around here (
CLICK HERE to read my post about several headphone measurement rigs), and will be expressing more opinions and thoughts about that down the road.)
The answers don't come that easy. Read. Wait. Or dive right in and buy. It's up to you how you go about it. But stop expecting the answers to become crystal clear--much less the unassailable truth--with each early post.
As for the EL-8, here's what I think so far (and will post as much in my CES recap and thoughts in the next day or so): The only open EL-8 I've heard is the one I have here. It is pre-production--which is why I'm very hesitant to say too much about it--but it sounds quite ready (to my ears) to call done. At CES, I heard two different closed EL-8's at Audeze's exhibit. Those closed ones did not sound done to me. They were bass-lighter and not as refined through the upper mids and treble as the open EL-8 prototype I currently have here. The closed EL-8's I heard at CES reminded me of one of the prototype LCD-XC's I heard early on (which I felt sounded similarly unfinished), and which I felt came
around
very nicely as it approached its production form (enough so for me to buy one). I expect and hope the closed EL-8 will come around similarly before production.
It's early. Stop trying so hard to figure it out so fast. I've read several impressions of the headphones so far (here and elsewhere), and almost as many opinions. Give it time. Let it breathe. It'll sort itself out. But stop looking for cheap, fast answers, as you're not likely to find them.
) Head-Fi reviews for both EL-8s!
