[Dusty Chalk]

As much as I agree with most everything you've said, Sduibek, you've forgotten one thing...



























...the AT W2002's:

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sduibek I've adressed the "can't they look AND sound good?" in my original post. You can't possibly see it when you're enjoying the music, considering you don't have eyes on the top of your head. And it's made for music, who cares if it looks good... And you can't really share your "beautiful headphones" with anyone except other audio weirdos. Heck, I even mentioned how your phones would probably sound better if they looked ugly, because all that R&D could've gone into making a better physical product functionally and tonaly, not aesthetically. How much would a utilitarian R10 without accompanying box cost? Enjoyed reading your post, Bangraman. I can admit that it's nice to have sexy gear, but at what cost? I don't have 30k to blow on audio. But if I got a setup costing me that much, how much of my 30k is going into the sexiness? If i'm spending that much i'd rather have it ALL go into the end product, thank you very much. Let's take an example from another field: Computer Power supplies. Now, PC Power & Cooling offers one around 200$, as does ThermalTake. ThermalTake's is only "good", whereas PCPnC is top of the line, bar none. PC power's is a little warmer, heftier, louder, etc, than some of the competition, but no one makes a better power supply, as far as the specs that "matter" (voltage regualtion, clean power, etc). On the other hand, ThermalTake is half snake oil, tons of advertising, and lots of sexy logos. When you just spent thousands on your audio, would you honestly buy the proverbial ThermalTake, if you had a choice?

I don't know man, if you're building that pc for lan parties then it is as much about the look as it is about how well it performs. As good as headphones like the CD3000, R10 and K1000 perform, it's sometimes rather difficult to get over the look... How many of us would be caught dead in public in any of the three I just mentioned?

 

[braillediver]

If looks didn’t matter we’d be stuck with more headphones that looked like this:

Frightening thought isn’t it?


Mitch

 

[10068]

.

 

[Permonic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sduibek Why is it some people on HeadFi focus so much on how headphones look? It's a device made for creating music. If it sounds beautiful, good. If not, try something else. Who cares what it looks like? Add to the fact that headphones are by nature - at the very least - an isolated activity, and at the worst a selfish indulgement, that further increases the complete lack of care one should have in regards to how 'phones look. I'm starting to really get pissed when I see posts about the Woodies, or the Qualia, or some new Grado or something, and everyone comments on how it LOOKS. It's no different to gawk over headphones than it is to gawk over groupie chicks and the new supercharged turbocar (deluxe edition!). I thought of Audiophiles as not more sane (you can say that again ), but perhaps a little less superficial than that. Oh well...

Well, your examples are quite extreme: Woodies - apart your review and Larry's comments who else have tried those? The same for Qualia: only one guy so far heard them for about 10 minutes. How people here can make any comment about the sound when they have never heard it before, only saw several pictures.

It the same with every new products. If there's a new design of the car, all the fans comment first how the car looks like, alter on, when several people make their purchases, the topics are usually about the features, etc, and lessa about the look.
Quote:

If you want a nice-looking piece of furniture, go to Ikea or something, not Sony or Sennheiser.

No IKEA, IKEA has the best bang for bucks furniture....it's not nice-looking...

Quote:

If you want good sound, build a headphone rig and frequent HeadFi. If you want the BEST sound, you must sacrifice looks or pay an arm and a leg, because every "ooo" and "aaah" make the headphone in question only more and more expensive, and more time into prettyness means less time into drivers, housing, cable, etc. I don't know about you, but when i'm enjoying my rig I don't sit there admiring how pretty my phones are. I ENJOY THE MUSIC. Furthermore, how can you possibly justify that time and money you and the company put into the phone, and the loss in audio quality you're reaping because of it, as you sit in your easychair and play tunes? Your 'phones aren't even in your field of vision. And if you tried to tell people how cool they look, they'll just say you're insane for spending that much on headphones anyway. We on HeadFi will support you though, since some of us are more GearHead than HeadPhile. If only there were HeadFi groupie chicks it would be complete... I think i'm going to try and frequent this place less now that i'm satisfied with my setup.. I need to keep my sanity

Well, man I think it's about the aesthetics. If love music, you probably also love other forms of art, therefore you tend to like/dislike more the shapes, combinations of colors, etc....

 

[10068]

.

 

[ipodstudio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sduibek Why is it some people on HeadFi focus so much on how headphones look? It's a device made for creating music. If it sounds beautiful, good. If not, try something else. Who cares what it looks like? Add to the fact that headphones are by nature - at the very least - an isolated activity, and at the worst a selfish indulgement, that further increases the complete lack of care one should have in regards to how 'phones look. I'm starting to really get pissed when I see posts about the Woodies, or the Qualia, or some new Grado or something, and everyone comments on how it LOOKS. It's no different to gawk over headphones than it is to gawk over groupie chicks and the new supercharged turbocar (deluxe edition!). I thought of Audiophiles as not more sane (you can say that again ), but perhaps a little less superficial than that. Oh well... If you want a nice-looking piece of furniture, go to Ikea or something, not Sony or Sennheiser. If you want good sound, build a headphone rig and frequent HeadFi. If you want the BEST sound, you must sacrifice looks or pay an arm and a leg, because every "ooo" and "aaah" make the headphone in question only more and more expensive, and more time into prettyness means less time into drivers, housing, cable, etc. I don't know about you, but when i'm enjoying my rig I don't sit there admiring how pretty my phones are. I ENJOY THE MUSIC. Furthermore, how can you possibly justify that time and money you and the company put into the phone, and the loss in audio quality you're reaping because of it, as you sit in your easychair and play tunes? Your 'phones aren't even in your field of vision. And if you tried to tell people how cool they look, they'll just say you're insane for spending that much on headphones anyway. We on HeadFi will support you though, since some of us are more GearHead than HeadPhile. If only there were HeadFi groupie chicks it would be complete... I think i'm going to try and frequent this place less now that i'm satisfied with my setup.. I need to keep my sanity

I think you're just missing the point and also missing out on one of life's great enjoyments. While the most important aspect of this type of equipment (and most other useful equipment, for that matter) is functionality and the quality thereof, cosmetics are also important to many people and give many of us another type of pleasure which should not be flippantly discarded, nor mocked. (I know that's not what you're doing..

)

I'd have thought you would have noticed from the watches thread: most of the watches posted were all designed with one main function in mind: telling the time..

BUT, did you notice all those fantastic timepieces that members here have on their wrists and how passionately they enjoyed showing them? They were all different, many were terribly expensive and some exotic and all were used to tell the time, but some folks had spent a couple of bucks on their's whilst others had spend several thousand. Everytime I look at my watch it gives me pleasure; everytime I look at my rig sitting on my desk it gives me pleasure.

Whether it's knives, stereos, watches, fishing rods, houses, furniture whatever!!! The fuctionality and quality is always foremost in my mind when looking for new equipment, but cosmetics also play an important roll and provide me with a great amount of pleasure. I also enjoy looking after and pampering my cherished items.

I personally feel sad for those people who do not gain pleasure from cosmetics as I know what they're missing out on, but it would make me even sadder if I thought that my enjoyment of cosmetics caused you such pain...

The day I stopped caring about cosmetics would be the same day I could no longer derive enjoyment from looking at a beautiful woman and that would ruin a large part of my every day life when I look over at my wife and wonder how on earth I got that lucky..

Relax, Sduibek! Heck if you keep on like this you won't even be able to get a Woody!

 

[ipodstudio]

too bad that part of being human is always believing we're right

It's not; part of being blinkered is always believing you are right...

Sduibek, just to be clear, I'm not having a go at you, just differing, and all my comments should be read in a relaxed, friendly, tongue-in-cheek kind of a tone, as if we were sitting in the pub together chatting..

 

[Lisa]

Besides the fact that it is important to people how things surrounding them look there's also the fact that we WEAR headphones ON OUR HEADS.

Now if something sound really good and looked horrible on me I wouldn't care too much. Too bad for the people who have to look at me. But if something sounds equally good and looks good too I would pick the latter.
Looks are part of who you are or who you want to be.
You can say that you don't care about looks but be honest to yourself. When picking out a pair of glasses, is the only thing you care about the fact you can see clear trough them? Or when you get a haircut, doesn't it matter how it's cut as long as your hair doesn't get in your eyes? And why doesn't a grown man wear jeans with Disney prints all over? Keeps you warm and covered!

And do I even need to mention to mention the watches thread?

 

[averydonovan]

As ipodstudio and others have said, the looks of our gear helps give us a sense of pride about it for a reason more immediately recognizable to most people. My Singlepower PPX3 amp doesn't just sound really good, it looks as good as it sounds and is a piece of gear I am proud to have on my desk. Both of my sets of headphones look quite good also, they look like they are worth what I paid for them. Looks aren't foremost in my mind when I choose a piece of gear, but it does factor in. I want something that looks like it is worth what I paid for it and I'm sure most people do, too.

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ipodstudio The day I stopped caring about cosmetics would be the same day I could no longer derive enjoyment from looking at a beautiful woman and that would ruin a large part of my every day life when I look over at my wife and wonder how on earth I got that lucky...

Warning: one more like this and you'll be force by Head-Fi authorities to post pictures....

Amicalement

P.S. That makes at least two of us....

 

[fewtch]

I agree... who cares how they look? A nice looking pair of headphones can be good *if* they sound equally as good, but sometimes the insanity extends too far... particularly when it comes to amps and sources. Because of preoccupation with looks, DIY amps often get short-shrifted in terms of their SQ in my opinion... everyone seems to want a commercial amp (inside a large fancy case), regardless they may not have the slightest clue what's in it! At least with the DIY designs you know exactly what you're getting, but with the brand names you're getting a brand reputation and the claims of others. That's one reason I've focused only on DIY amps... why pay a bundle extra for the brand name and big, fat, attractive case?

Does anyone think this looks thing extends to tubes as well? Some high end tube amps are like sculptures, and it's particularly the ones that look like works of art that are reputed to sound the best... ditto for turntables. I have my doubts...

 

[puppet]

I dont think theres a single person that doesnt feel more relaxed and comfortable knowing they dont look like a jackass while listening to music.

 

[plainsong]

On the one hand I can understand the sex appeal of something that is all sleek and cool-looking. But on the other, it's about the music, which is why I'm sitting here wih dt531's on my head instead ATH cans on my head. But there is a line and I think when I put on Jecklin Floats, I've crossed it.

I even went for looks when I tried out the Shure e3c. But what happened with that? I tried ordered them and returned them twice, and am back to etys.

But sometimes sound can make something more atractive. My sr60s were ugly while my ms-1's are retro-cool.

You know how you get to know someone who's beautiful until they try to talk? Or someone who becomes more attractive as you get to know them? It's the same thing.