[Povell42]

Is anyone else sick of reading/watching headphone reviews to hear the reviewer say...."For this price range, you will not find better" ?  
 
I know some of you may be mad (

) that I am making a thread about this topic.  However, I am making it in hopes to point this out to whoever reviews a headphone.  And hopefully they will not use this phrase unless they have really listened and compared  almost all headphones in that price range and below.
 
I mean, I feel like any headphone that is somewhat decent...a reviewer states this too often: "This may not be the best headphone I have ever heard...but for the price range you will not find better". (or something to that regard)
 
Also what gets me is when you see the SAME reviewer state something like this more than once, in separate reviews, for headphones in the same price range. 

 
I know reviews are very subjective and the person making this type of claim may feel like that at that moment, but it is a very ludicrous accusation to make and it is way overused in reviews.  
 
Just hoping to point this out to the community and see if anyone else shares this frustration with me. Hopefully those who are writing reviews will not make such claims off of only listening to a few headphones.   This phrase has lead me astray too many times now. 

 

[pp312]

Perhaps you're easily led astray.

 

[Povell42]

Quote:

Perhaps you're easily led astray.

 
Perhaps 

haha
 
But seriously, I am newer to the whole "audiophile/headphone" world and at first this phrase seemed to carry some weight to it (before I realized that it was used in almost every review)

And after hearing this several times, even by a "professional" reviewer, I realized that this is just a common saying in a review.
 
I know now to take it with a grain grain of salt - as the phrase goes.  But, I just wanted to point it out and hopefully make future reviews aware of how absurd it is to claim this.  
 
This is something I have heard so much while researching the vast amount of options out there.  But that's my point, there are so many options out there, it is ridiculous to state such a thing....especially in a topic so subjective in nature.  
 
                                                             

   

   

 

[streetdragon]

It's really fishy when every headphone gets praises like it's the best one out there by the reviewer. Because not every headphone can be the best headphone because another headphone would be the best headphone too, it just doesn't make sense.

 

[Baxide]

Each headphone has its own place with respect to where it would best be suited for use. That begins with the impedance first of all. Low impedance cans are able to work well with portable players, whilst high impedance cans struggle to achieve the sort of dynamic range a low impedance can would manage in a portable player.
For desk top set up the opposite seems to work best. Low impedance phones can sound very loud very quick on a desktop set up. High impedance phones give a far more usable gain level that makes bets use of the dynamic range.
The next thing is then the required emphasis in the various frequency judging points. You might want more bass, or more laid back sound, etc.
And then you have the amount of detail that can be reproduced and heard. To get to that level requires the use of more expensive material.
 
So when a good reviewer writes that the cans he is testing is the best for the price, he is using parameters that a particular headphone is capable of. It is quite difficult to come up with a headphone that is all things to all men, so many headphone users have more than one pair to suit different requirements.
 

 

[Povell42]

yeah, I can see what you are saying.   I guess it just bothers me because it is such a subjective topic that it just seems absurd to claim such a thing unless that person has tried all the headphones in the same "parameters".  
 
Now there may be some people who have tested all of the same "parameter" headphones before reivewing it, but that does not happen very often.
 
I am just hoping to bring it to future reviews attention, so their review can be accredited as less of a "FANBOY" review.  (unless they have actually tested all the other cans in the price range and "parameters") 
 
 
I have come across reviews and forums where someone claims this about a headphone, just to find out that a few months later they sold the headphone and found a better one. (yet never updated their review/forum)  I know that is in the nature of the hobby of collecting headphones.....hence, I think it is even more silly to claim such a thing.

 

[jerg]

A more feasible claim would be "for the price...you will not find a better headphone for _____(music genre)", that does apply albeit only in a few cases.

 

[Povell42]

Quote:

A more feasible claim would be "for the price...you will not find a better headphone for _____(music genre)", that does apply albeit only in a few cases.

 
Yeah, I agree to a degree. That would be better.......but again, only if they have tested the other headphones they are ruling out of the equation.  There is still a huge variety of headphones out there that can pertain to a certain genre.  And when someone claims that it is the best for the price,  Im my mind that also includes all headphones cheaper than that headphone.  
 
For example, I have heard some review the Pro 900 as the best "bass head " headphone for under $300 out there.  However,  I purchased it to see for myself and I was not that impressed with it. (Again subjective).  I actually prefer the $35 Panasonic HTF600-s over the Pro 900 when I want a little extra bass.  But that is just me. 
 
 
I have no problem with comparison reviews where someone claims that this is the best headphone out of xyz headphone list for the price- as long as they have listened to the other headphones for themselves. 
I just highly doubt that many people who claim that "this headphone is the best in this price range have actually tested all the headphones in that price range.....so why say it? It is usually a way for them to convince others that the purchase they just made was the best one and a lot of it is excitement of a new product.
 
Hopefully, this thread will bring to some reviewers attention to be a little more specific with their "personal" opinion and claims.  Instead of making these extreme statements with no validation.   I guess I am the type of communicator that tries to stay away from saying extreme or absolute statement without evidence or experience.   
 
 
I just feel it would benefit the reader of  a review/forum if it was clarified as to which headphones they think it is better than in its price range, instead of just stating that it is the best headphone in the price range.  
 
People will say what they want to say. I just hope this thread reminds people that reviews and discussion is best when it has more context to it. And that is one reason we search these forums.
 
Appreciation Threads would be a more fitting place to boost about your most recent purchase and express that your new product is the best in the world. 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
Yeah, I agree to a degree. That would be better.......but again, only if they have tested the other headphones they are ruling out of the equation.  There is still a huge variety of headphones out there that can pertain to a certain genre.  And when someone claims that it is the best for the price,  Im my mind that also includes all headphones cheaper than that headphone.  
 
For example, I have heard some review the Pro 900 as the best "bass head " headphone for under $300 out there.  However,  I purchased it to see for myself and I was not that impressed with it. (Again subjective).  I actually prefer the $35 Panasonic HTF600-s over the Pro 900 when I want a little extra bass.  But that is just me. 
 
 
I have no problem with comparison reviews where someone claims that this is the best headphone out of xyz headphone list for the price- as long as they have listened to the other headphones for themselves. 
I just highly doubt that many people who claim that "this headphone is the best in this price range have actually tested all the headphones in that price range.....so why say it? It is usually a way for them to convince others that the purchase they just made was the best one and a lot of it is excitement of a new product.
 
Hopefully, this thread will bring to some reviewers attention to be a little more specific with their "personal" opinion and claims.  Instead of making these extreme statements with no validation.   I guess I am the type of communicator that tries to stay away from saying extreme or absolute statement without evidence or experience.   
 
 
I just feel it would benefit the reader of  a review/forum if it was clarified as to which headphones they think it is better than in its price range, instead of just stating that it is the best headphone in the price range.  
 
People will say what they want to say. I just hope this thread reminds people that reviews and discussion is best when it has more context to it. And that is one reason we search these forums.
 
Appreciation Threads would be a more fitting place to boost about your most recent purchase and express that your new product is the best in the world. 

Of course there is a subjective component toward such claims, but when a certain headphone has largely subjective consensus on a certain aspect (e.g. HE400's uncompromising performance on EDM genre) then there is validity to it.
 
Again, these are very rare cases, even in genre-specific and price-specific scenarios. Most of the time there are overlapping competing headphones that do as well in their own regards.

 

[stacker45]

I for one never make such claims, first, it might be offensive to people that own similarily priced headphones, and second, it might also not be true, if i haven't heard all the headphones in a specific price range.
 
I just posted this in the Summit forum, if i can see, X headphones, i'll comment on how they look. If i can touch, X headphones, i'll comment on how they're built. And if i can hear, X headphones, i'l comment on how they sound.

 

[streetdragon]

True but it still takes a while to settle in on the sound to make a accurate impression. It takes a while for out mind to get used to the new signature and start to appreciate it.

 

[1manband]

I think it almost makes more sense in really cheap headphone and flavor-of-the-month reviews. I know I heard the phrase thrown around a LOT while I was researching the Monoprice 8323, (and the phrase was also applied to the similarly priced Panasonic offering and countless others within the price range), which was overwhelming to me. What is "best for the price" is a very veeerrry subjective thing I've found in my extremely limited audio experience.

 

[Povell42]

Quote:

Of course there is a subjective component toward such claims, but when a certain headphone has largely subjective consensus on a certain aspect (e.g. HE400's uncompromising performance on EDM genre) then there is validity to it.
 
Again, these are very rare cases, even in genre-specific and price-specific scenarios. Most of the time there are overlapping competing headphones that do as well in their own regards.

I am not 100% sure if I agree with that reasoning. I can see what you are saying though, and by all means in a review the reviewer can state that it is a very popular headphone for a specific genre.  I also think that a reviewer is entitled to his own opinion to state that within that price range he has not heard a better sounding headphone for a specific genre/purpose.  But again, unless he has fairly heard all headphones in that price range, then a reviewer should not say that a headphone is the best headphone for the price. 
 
 
Quote:

I for one never make such claims, first, it might be offensive to people that own similarily priced headphones, and second, it might also not be true, if i haven't heard all the headphones in a specific price range.
 
I just posted this in the Summit forum, if i can see, X headphones, i'll comment on how they look. If i can touch, X headphones, i'll comment on how they're built. And if i can hear, X headphones, i'l comment on how they sound.

 
Agreed.  And to add to the thought -  even if a person has heard all the headphones at a certain price point....it is still subjective, and to say that X headphone is the best headphone for the price will vary from person to person.
 
 
Quote:

True but it still takes a while to settle in on the sound to make a accurate impression. It takes a while for out mind to get used to the new signature and start to appreciate it.

Agreed
 
Quote:

I think it almost makes more sense in really cheap headphone and flavor-of-the-month reviews. I know I heard the phrase thrown around a LOT while I was researching the Monoprice 8323, (and the phrase was also applied to the similarly priced Panasonic offering and countless others within the price range), which was overwhelming to me. What is "best for the price" is a very veeerrry subjective thing I've found in my extremely limited audio experience.

I totally agree with you.
 
For example: I have the a Panasonic HTF600-s and I love it.  It is only $35 and I prefer it to the Ultrasone Pro900 in overall performance when I want a little more bass.  I can see how my personal excitement for such an inexpensive headphone to be better for me then a $300 headphone can tempt me to say "the Panasonic HTF600-s is the best headphone for the $35 price".  But, I am aware that some people have disliked that headphone and prefer another headphone in that price range.  
 
I guess it just kinda became my pet peeve after hearing the phrase so much in reviews that I decided to vent a little in a thread.    

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I am not 100% sure if I agree with that reasoning. I can see what you are saying though, and by all means in a review the reviewer can state that it is a very popular headphone for a specific genre.  I also think that a reviewer is entitled to his own opinion to state that within that price range he has not heard a better sounding headphone for a specific genre/purpose.  But again, unless he has fairly heard all headphones in that price range, then a reviewer should not say that a headphone is the best headphone for the price. 
 
 

When we are talking about specific price brackets, e.g. say $300-400, the number of contenders for the "top-performing headphone", in a specific genre, gets cut down considerably, perhaps even down to 2 or 3.
 
If we assume that that were the case, then there is no doubt that some head-fiers who indulge in headphones around those price brackets would have auditioned or owned most if not all of those contenders. And on top of that, if there is a general consensus among such head-fiers, then that headphone IMO could be called the best headphone for that price for that genre.

 

[Povell42]

Quote:

When we are talking about specific price brackets, e.g. say $300-400, the number of contenders for the "top-performing headphone", in a specific genre, gets cut down considerably, perhaps even down to 2 or 3.
 
If we assume that that were the case, then there is no doubt that some head-fiers who indulge in headphones around those price brackets would have auditioned or owned most if not all of those contenders. And on top of that, if there is a general consensus among such head-fiers, then that headphone IMO could be called the best headphone for that price for that genre.

 
Yeah, I can see that argument.  And I guess if the claim was made on rare occasion with the situation you stated, it would not bother me.  I guess my main complaint is that it is not used like that and is overused frequently by many people in reviews and forums.
 
And I am not just limiting this issue to Head-fi forums.  You can go onto most headphone reviews an amazon or youtube and see that almost every headphone has that claim made.  I know that those reviews are made by non-audiophiles, and that you will get someone with their first headphone making that claim mainly because he heard or read someone else say it. 
 
I feel that head-fi has many excellent reviews where this is not an issue.  I was just hoping to bring some attention to the topic so that future reviews will keep it in mind and be a little more objective in a review; and if they have an opinion on something subjective and do not have any experience with other headphones, hopefully they will identify it as such.