[Music Alchemist]

  I am probably getting the Edition 10 primarily because I do not want to waste my current and probably only chance I have at buying it. If I go the easy and safe route and just pick the LCD-3 based on overwhelming positive reviews I am sure I will be happy with what I got--for a few days. After those few days though my curiosity for the other more expensive model and how it would have sounded will commence to gnaw away at me. What is more is that two previous headphones I have owned that I blindly purchased based on primarily positive reviews were really not to my liking, in spite of specifically searching for keywords in reviews for those models.
 
If the Edition 10 ends up not being what I am looking for I have the certainty to get my money back no questions asked. So the only reason I can think of not to try them out is the extra waiting time this is going to cause.
 
Still, I have not ordered anything yet, and If a sudden flood of members were to post about how they really do not sound like floorstanding speakers / rich upper mids / lackluster bass then I might be swayed to just go the save route and be done with it.
 
Regards.

 
I guess it's fine if you have the option of returning it, and plenty of people do enjoy it...but why is this your only chance at buying it? And wouldn't your curiosity gnaw at you no matter what you buy?

 

[FRGCWRU]

Never tried tube amps. Not likely I ever will. They look great, they probably sound great, but the tubes require replacements. Not only does there have to be a certainty for the tubes to still be available for a decent amount of time, I am also far too OCD for them. I know it is unrealistic thinking, but I will constantly think to myself "Today it will sound a little bit worse than yesterday, and the day before that... and tomorrow it will sound even worse; I may not hear it comparing just one day to the next but it is true nonetheless and soon it will exacerbate!". Any reasoning against that is going to be futile.
 
The only tube I have owned was in the music hall DAC25.3 (stock one). Was the first thing I replaced from my set and bought the North Star Design Impulso. Though I had no qualms whatsoever with the sound quality of the device.
 

   
I guess it's fine if you have the option of returning it, and plenty of people do enjoy it...but why is this your only chance at buying it? And wouldn't your curiosity gnaw at you no matter what you buy?

 
It is the only chance because my monthly expenditure will increase drastically not long from now, and will probably stay that way. I have my stereo setup for sale right now and with that money it will be replaced by new headphone system.

Regards.

 

[FRGCWRU]

Pardon me for the double post.
 
I have completely changed my opinion. I read the Edition 5 thread and saw that a member was threatened indirectly by the company for divulging information pertaining to purchasing the cans at a lower cost. I will not condone these kind of things.
 
So, that brings me to a completely different decision: The Audio Technica ATH-W3000ANV vs. the Fostex TH-900. What are the opinions on these two in comparison to each other. I will be purchasing Swan active monitor speakers as well along with hard drives and an external RAID box so that has lessened my options to either one of those two (LCD-3 with expensive AMP is no longer an option).
 
Regards.

 

[Lorspeaker]

post #77
 

 

[Jazzkammer]

Hi, read the thread over.   Interesting dilemma you have.
 
May I suggest one headphone that I think would fit your bill, yet no one else has suggested: the AKG K812.
 
To tell the truth, I have not heard the K812 myself, but I have heard and/or owned most of the other headphones mentioned in this thread, and the flagship AKG can is something I am very curious to hear, because it sounds like a great all-rounder.  
 
It`s in the price range you are considering, and has been moderately well reviewed.  Check out the Head-fi thread on it to read what people who actually have heard the K812 think of them. 

 

[FRGCWRU]

  Hi, read the thread over.   Interesting dilemma you have.
 
May I suggest one headphone that I think would fit your bill, yet no one else has suggested: the AKG K812.
 
To tell the truth, I have not heard the K812 myself, but I have heard and/or owned most of the other headphones mentioned in this thread, and the flagship AKG can is something I am very curious to hear, because it sounds like a great all-rounder.  
 
It`s in the price range you are considering, and has been moderately well reviewed.  Check out the Head-fi thread on it to read what people who actually have heard the K812 think of them. 

 
Definitely interesting headphones and technology. Curious as to how they would sound. Unfortunately, in my opinion they do have design against them. Not that design or anything really matters in the end, but they look just like regular AKG headphones to me. I would not have been able to single them out had someone asked me which would be the flagship model. Maybe I just like wood too much though. Definitely a bias for wood here.
 
Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Regards.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Definitely interesting headphones and technology. Curious as to how they would sound. Unfortunately, in my opinion they do have design against them. Not that design or anything really matters in the end, but they look just like regular AKG headphones to me. I would not have been able to single them out had someone asked me which would be the flagship model. Maybe I just like wood too much though. Definitely a bias for wood here.

 
Let me put it this way: if I wasn't getting the HD 800, I would be getting the K812. (Plan on getting both someday.)

 

[FRGCWRU]

Okay so how do the W3000ANV, TH-900, and K812 stack up to one another? All around the same price point. What are the strengths and weaknesses? I seem to remember the general consensus on the W3000ANV is that it is a great headphone in all areas, which makes me wary of it being boring. It definitely does win in the design department. The TH-900, if it has the same sound signature as the high-end Denon series I do not need any more advice on it. Have had the D2000 for years and now the D7100, love the sound they produce. I can only imagine the TH-900 and its potential: The crisp clarity in treble and proper bass could only be better than what I have now. Which is why I must say that I am currently leaning towards the Fostex, while simultaneously hoping for a flood of people explaining that the Audio Technica is way superior, that design is just smashing. And then there is the K812, which are open back headphones. Never heard it, but something tells me it will sound completely different from the other two. But I just know far too little about those phones so I will refrain from making premature conclusions.
 
Oh and maybe I should mention, I already bought the Schiit Asgard 2, so cannot make any changes there (though the three mentioned phones will get their fill with that amp anyway).
 
Regards.

 

[Music Alchemist]

 
You would probably like the TH-900 more, then. The K812 is more like a studio monitor.

 

[arnaud]

OP: about your being wary of stat phones,..

For the soeaker world, I. think you're referencing to hybrid designs like Martin Logans. I don't follow ML these days so my experience is rusty but I could not stand the house sound where they managed to make a stat panel harsh sounding. It was like overblown bass, completely detached from the rest. Maybe the totl larger models fare much better but the entry line models at least used to be nazty sounding ime.

It's not necessarily an issue of transducer type but rather loading. In particular, the stat panels are dipole radiators, physically impossible to get low bass out of this unless you use very very large panels.

Stat phones are more like sealed design, the earcup has typically little or very controlled leakage. An SR009 goes just as low if not lower than any other headphone, albeit in a very clean manner. Some need more bass / bass impact but that's a question of taste and voicing rather than a driver intrinsic limitation. An older omega 2 (mk1) is voiced much darker than the 009 for instance, amd some prefer that by a large margin when properly driven.

You ought to listen to these phones rather than read impressions around. Especially, hard to give you advice without knowing where you come from in terms of music tastes / listening levels / what kind of sound signature you've grown used to. Last one is by far the most important as many tend to develop a mental image of reference sound based on the gear they own / most listen to. Turns out this is an ever moving target as one can get accustomed to pretty wide range of voicings...

Arnaud

 

[FRGCWRU]

Believe me, if I could have auditioned the Stax I would have. Now it is no longer even an option though, seeing as how I spent money on some other devices too.
 
My music tastes and the likes I covered primarily on the first page.
 
Listening levels varies for me. Piano/violin Sonatas, piano trios, chamber music, most baroque is music I also enjoy listening on lower volumes. Larger scale music like piano concertos and symphonies I prefer to listen to at louder volumes, just as they are meant to be. Same goes for soundtracks.
 
Regards.

 

[FRGCWRU]

So I purchased the Fostex TH-900. I was somewhat wary it would just be a clone of the Denon, especially seeing how close in design it is to the old DX000 series, but no--it is a legitimate upgrade. My first impressions are definitely positive and do not regret my decision in any way. The mid-range is even more crisp yet still not fatiguing. The bass is a tad tighter though not lesser in quantity. And the Swans monitors I bought alongside them just for general listening when not wanting to bother with cans, are similarly splendid. I had figured I would just play light music on the Swans due to their size, but sitting this close to them really does bring out the full sound somewhat comparable to large floorstanding speakers (sans the grand soundstage obviously). I do not know if it is caused by the two-way design but the treble is more recessed as opposed to the Opera Quinta.
 
Anyway, going to this combo definitely does not feel like a downgrade to me from what I previously owned, even though it is about a third the cost.
 
My complete system is now in my signature.
 
I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread and helped in making my decision.
 
Regards.