[drez]

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I strongly expect them to be rubbish. Very strongly. Even if they somehow aren't...$8k? We don't need a company trying to make headphones more ridiculous than the ED-10s.

If these sound better than a SR-009 I will personally eat a pair - no kidding, as long as someone else buys them.  This company though has a history though of making headphones that sound slightly better in some areas than headphones costing a fraction of the cost.  This is not to say that I expect this headphone to be anywhere near the SR-009, or even the HD800 - it is simply far too insensible to expect this level of serious, no fooling around engineering.
 
This is probably another pointless critique but with 16 Ohm impedance you would need almost 0 output impedance amplifier to get tight bass response.  Very sensible yet again...  But...
 
Still I can't help but admire the obstinate resistance of all common sense and reasoning which Final Audio Design stand for - it is actually quite compelling and in a certain manner reminds me of certain examples of Japanese modern architecture such as Tadao Ando's Azuma House, and Ryue Nishizawa's Moriyama House in terms of the single minded rigor applied in the pursuit of very specific corporeal relationships.  These headphones are perhaps best understood as pieces of Japenese contemporary conceptual art expressed in the field of industrial design.  There is also something quite immodest and down right kinky about these headphones in their fetishistic pursuit of extravagance and raw materiality that liberates this product above the mundane world of consumer, mass produced industrial design.  I would also go so far to say that this headphone is the clearest expression of FAD's design philosophy to date - it is a hero product by which all their other products will be better understood, it demonstrates a renewed design conviction that seems to have filtered to the Piano IEM range as well - silicone eartips are simply not fit for a FAD piece of high industrial design-art.  
 
Without a doubt I am glad that FAD produce such outlandish and strangely compelling products, but I just don't see myself buying a pair - in the same way as I would like to be a patron of the arts but not a life-drawing model.  Maybe after I buy some 100% stainless steel slippers and trousers...

 

[bizkit]

 
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you must use his hair style to make it up for the lack of headband padding.

 


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Those pads look absolutely crushed to his head. The weight and the clamping force are both far higher than could be considered comfortable, imo.

 I believe he is a she.....
 
 
But, I have been fooled before.


 
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who cares, they shine.

 
Exactly! It's all about the bling.
 
 
In all seriousness, as with almost all things FAD, everyone is just battering these things because of the price. A persons inability to financially swing a set doesn't not automatically dictate that the Muramasa's are crap. The FI-BA-SS proved that FAD was able to create a quality sounding product and I'm hoping that these will follow in those foot steps. Are they going to better than Stax SR-009's? I too doubt that, but what if they do.....

 

[kiteki]

 
When looking at this list, I don't know... it just feels like the Muramasa VIII is an owl, perched atop the looking glass - http://www.head-fi.org/t/577039/every-top-end-product-of-every-headphone-and-iem-brand-currently-in-existence-forever-current-list
 

 

[Maxvla]

In all seriousness, as with almost all things FAD, everyone is just battering these things because of the price. A persons inability to financially swing a set doesn't not automatically dictate that the Muramasa's are crap. The FI-BA-SS proved that FAD was able to create a quality sounding product and I'm hoping that these will follow in those foot steps. Are they going to better than Stax SR-009's? I too doubt that, but what if they are.....

I haven't battered it based on price at all, honestly. I think it will sound alright, but nothing special and certainly not worth $8,000, but so far my only complaint is the weight and clamping pressure.

 

[bizkit]

The price thing wasn't aimed at you (just the "bling" comment). Maybe I'm just a gulton for punishment, but I really don't think the weight is all that bad.

 

[drez]

Quote:

 
In all seriousness, as with almost all things FAD, everyone is just battering these things because of the price. A persons inability to financially swing a set doesn't not automatically dictate that the Muramasa's are crap. The FI-BA-SS proved that FAD was able to create a quality sounding product and I'm hoping that these will follow in those foot steps. Are they going to better than Stax SR-009's? I too doubt that, but what if they are.....

Honestly the price is only one of many practical shortcomings of this headphone - expecting a high level of performance commensurate to the price is not really the issue.  The SR-009, or even the LCD-3 for that matter is way too expensive for most people but those are well engineered headphones that actually hold there own in terms of sound quality.  Some people onthis thread keep on grasping the FAD-BA-SS as some kind of indicator that FAD can produce high sound quality but that is a coloured IEM with SQ similar to IEM's costing a fraction of the cost - It's price is the same as UERM.  There is no logical basis for this argument.
 
I am guessing that the main thesis of my previous post seems to have gone without being understood - this is a headphone where the sound quality really does not matter - FAD simply have not shown precedence to demonstrate a level of engineering resources necessary to match even a HD800 let alone a SR-009.  To put it bluntly, these headphones are practically incapable of being on the level of HD800 or SR-009 - further I sincerely doubt that is what FAD are setting out to achieve with this headphone.  To expect SR-009 performance is to fundamentally misunderstand FAD and what the stand for as a company.  It is like expecting the new Grado headphone to be technically superior to a K701.
 
But yesss... they shiiiny...  and priceeey...  and Japanese...  must be good ear sound...

 
I should probably unsubscribe from this thread and direct my efforts somewhere they will actually make a difference.

 

[Maxvla]

Yeah I didn't take it as aimed at me. Just responding to your point. As for the weight, imagine wearing 3 and a half pairs of HD650s. That's the equivalent in weight.

 

[kiteki]

 
The fact is no one has any idea how they sound.
 
I don't know if these are artwork / design and use the speaker from a pinball machine that only plays circus tunes, or if they are using a speaker driver from a 50 million Yen ($600,000 USD+) speaker, and refined it for the headphone application?
 
On second thought, I'd rather one of these two outcomes, than it sounding very similiar to a particular Audio Technica, Sony, STAX, Denon, or Tesla.
 

 

[MuppetFace]

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...use the speaker from a pinball machine that only plays circus tunes...

In that case they should just melt all the pinballs down to make them.

 

[bizkit]

 
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Honestly the price is only one of many practical shortcomings of this headphone - expecting a high level of performance commensurate to the price is not really the issue.  The SR-009, or even the LCD-3 for that matter is way too expensive for most people but those are well engineered headphones that actually hold there own in terms of sound quality.  Some people on this thread keep on grasping the FAD-BA-SS as some kind of indicator that FAD can produce high sound quality but that is a coloured IEM with SQ similar to IEM's costing a fraction of the cost - It's price is the same as UERM.  There is no logical basis for this argument.
 
I am guessing that the main thesis of my previous post seems to have gone without being understood - this is a headphone where the sound quality really does not matter - FAD simply have not shown precedence to demonstrate a level of engineering resources necessary to match even a HD800 let alone a SR-009.  To put it bluntly, these headphones are practically incapable of being on the level of HD800 or SR-009 - further I sincerely doubt that is what FAD are setting out to achieve with this headphone.  To expect SR-009 performance is to fundamentally misunderstand FAD and what the stand for as a company.  It is like expecting the new Grado headphone to be technically superior to a K701.
 
But yesss... they shiiiny...  and priceeey...  and Japanese...  must be good ear sound...

 
I should probably unsubscribe from this thread and direct my efforts somewhere they will actually make a difference.

Have you actually spent some time with the FI-BA-SS? Or are you just assuming that it's a "colored IEM with SQ similar to IEM's costing a fraction of the cost" because you read that in some post? The one thing I've learned in the seven years of visiting this site is that there is small faction of Head-fier's that purchase/review four figure plus products that don't come from the likes of Stax/Audez'e/Etc. Outside of that, most of the "popular views" of a phone come from people that haven't owned or have heard them. While I'm willing to agree that FAD comes across as a fashion product, I'm also aware that creating a headphone is not rocket science and that small companies are capable of build things able to surpass the offerings of the more established brands (IE Audez'e). Which is why I reserve judgment towards most phones until I get a chance to sit down with them for a few hours. You really never know what you're going find. So, to put it bluntly, you don't know if these headphones are incapable of being on the level of the HD800 or SR-009. None of us do!
 
 
Also, are you trying to say that FAD ignores SQ/performance because they have the word "Design" in their name? 
 
 
Sorry for being dickish with my response, but I'm firmly against judging a product before trying it. I would have missed out on a lot if I took opinions as fact. 
 
 

 

[drez]

Quote:

 
I don't know if these are artwork / design and use the speaker from a pinball machine that only plays circus tunes, or if they are using a speaker driver from a 50 million Yen ($600,000 USD+) speaker, and refined it for the headphone application?

 
To be honest I would also be disappointed if these sound like other topflight headphones - I would kind of hope they would be like FAD's earlier IEM's where they tended to do only one thing well, if they actually sounded amazing it would ruin the gratuity of the exercise lol...  
 
Still a 2-way driver without crossover could be interesting - unless that is also lost in translation.  I kind of wish they would make the earpads out of metal also - I think they have gone a bit soft there.

 

[Maxvla]

Good points all around. Being colored, itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. If it truly does not perform according to it's price, then that's a problem, but pre-judging is the worst thing you can do in this hobby. Never know when you find 'the one' that checks all your boxes.

 

[Currawong]

Honestly, how can anyone take these headphones seriously? They'd have to sound like angels kissing your ears and even then, have waterfall plots that embarrass 'stats...

 

[smial1966]

Where do I sign up for the loaner program?
 

 

[MuppetFace]

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Honestly, how can anyone take these headphones seriously? They'd have to sound like angels kissing your ears and even then, have waterfall plots that embarrass 'stats...

Does the Orpheus justify its $12,000 price?
 
I think it does, as a collectible. It also happens to sound really amazing. FAD makes collectible headphones that happen to sound really amazing in my opinion.