[Little Bear]

I'm contemplating the purchase of a set of phones in the 1k-2k range, and have spent the last couple of months feverishly reading all I can here about headphones in the 1k-and-up category. I've narrowed my choices so far to the HD 800 S, Audeze LCD-X and Mr Speakers Ether Flow. I've found most of the products I'm interested in on various vendor sites, but I have some questions:

1) Can you recommend some good online vendors to buy higherish-end phones from? I know about Razordog, Headphone.com, Headamp.com, Moon Audio and Hifi Heaven.

2) I'm not seeing discounted prices advertised on anything but the Sennheisers. Except, that is, for open-box or demo units. Do online retailers typically offer discounts? How about brick and mortar stores?

3) When do changes and new models usually come out? Fall? Spring? Is now a good time to buy, or should I wait until the next Can Jam (RMAF in October) to see what's just around the bend?

 

[Monsterzero]

Mr.Speakers and ZMF are two great,small companies...both Dan(Mr.Speakers)and Zach(ZMF) are nice folks who take care of their customers and make great sounding hi-end headphones.

I believe to order from either it needs to be done directly.The other companies mentioned are larger and while they too make nice HPs,I prefer to support smaller start-up makers.

New headphones come out all year round,so theres no good time,nor bad time per se,but attending RMAF or any other event will give you a chance to hear before you buy.

 

[Little Bear]

The other companies mentioned are larger and while they too make nice HPs,I prefer to support smaller start-up makers.

I do too, but soundstage and imaging are so important to me that I can't look past the Senn HD800 S. I listen to about 75% classical and their sonic signature seems to be terrific for that. And they're a bit more affordable than the others too. But I'm secretly hoping I'll prefer a model from one of the little guys. Maybe I'll just skip a mortgage payment and buy both.

...but attending RMAF or any other event will give you a chance to hear before you buy.

I know, but I'm getting impatient. October is a while yet. Maybe there will be Denver area meetup before then.

 

[Monsterzero]

I do too, but soundstage and imaging are so important to me that I can't look past the Senn HD800 S. I listen to about 75% classical and their sonic signature seems to be terrific for that. And they're a bit more affordable than the others too. But I'm secretly hoping I'll prefer a model from one of the little guys. Maybe I'll just skip a mortgage payment and buy both.



I know, but I'm getting impatient. October is a while yet. Maybe there will be Denver area meetup before then.

Yeah,if youre hungering for sound stage the HD800 is tough to beat,perhaps a STAX system would be worth investigating.

Have patience!

 

[Little Bear]

Stax, yup. But I can be just as happy with something not quite as perfect.

 

[buke9]

Do you have a amp that will do justice to the 800S's?

 

[Little Bear]

Do you have a amp that will do justice to the 800S's?

I have a pair of vintage receivers that I normally use, a Pioneer and a Marantz. I also have a Violectric V200 that I like a lot. They all have plenty of juice.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I'm contemplating the purchase of a set of phones in the 1k-2k range, and have spent the last couple of months feverishly reading all I can here about headphones in the 1k-and-up category. I've narrowed my choices so far to the HD 800 S, Audeze LCD-X and Mr Speakers Ether Flow. I've found most of the products I'm interested in on various vendor sites, but I have some questions:

1) Can you recommend some good online vendors to buy higherish-end phones from? I know about Razordog, Headphone.com, Headamp.com, Moon Audio and Hifi Heaven.

www.ttvj.com
www.amazon.com

2) I'm not seeing discounted prices advertised on anything but the Sennheisers. Except, that is, for open-box or demo units. Do online retailers typically offer discounts? How about brick and mortar stores?

They'll offer discounts but you won't know when. I wouldn't expect that of brick and mortar stores given their high overhead, unless it's a small store where the owner will give you a discount if you buy a lot of stuff from them in one go.

3) When do changes and new models usually come out? Fall? Spring? Is now a good time to buy, or should I wait until the next Can Jam (RMAF in October) to see what's just around the bend?

Audio does not have a large enough market that needs certain marketing strategies much less like a single corporation like Apple where they do a big even every Summer and the CEO steps out with an envelope and surprise, his laptop fits in there or the company president comes out and shows a new microchip and claims to have triple the processing power of the competing chip. Nor is it like the auto industry where, given a lot of conventions like revisions, insurance, and depreciation, cars are given a model year and the 4th Q of every fiscal year starts using the model year and specs for the succeeding year.

I wouldn't really worry too much about what's coming out considering it's not like there will suddenly be a completely flat response 20hz to 20,000hz transducer (much less a headphone) that will come out within the near future. We're getting there, but you would hear about such a thing while it's still under prototyping phase. And no news about that yet. There's barely any further news about graphene diaphragms.