Zanth
SHAman who knew of Head-Fi ten years prior to its existence
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2001
- Posts
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Quote:
I agree with this save for the out-pace bit. I think generally it is easier to find a headphone rig that will do very well, mopping the floor with a speaker rig at least 3-5x the cost. 10x though? I find taht hard to swallow as well for most things. HD650 + cable (500), solid amp to drive them (at least 650, for ease let's say a cool 1k). So for 1500 bucks...that means 15000 I can't beat that? Heh, I can do that with 6k in speaker land. My comment was more in relation to headphones simply not rising the challenge of speakers.
Originally Posted by markl Zanth, don't intend to be condescending, just reporting what I've heard, as a single data-pont. IMHO, it's much much easier to buy a great speaker system than it is a great headphone system. You have hundreds and hundreds of different speakers available at any price point, yet we have only a handfull of great headphones available at any price. IMO, the headphone arts lag FAR behind the speaker arts, I've said this many times here. It's sad but true. Many people think that the 1989 Sony R10 and Sennheiser Orpheus of similar vintage are still the best headphones ever made. How many 1989 speakers are still held up as the best ever made? Until we have as many hi-end headphone manufacturers competing in the market-place as we do speaker-manufacturers, headphones will forever lag behind speakers in this listeners opinion. To believe, as many here do, that headphones out-pace speakers by a factor of 10-to-one, is just plain silly hyperbole. Those people clearly haven't listened to good speakers and are subject to wishful thinking. Is it possible that headphones can one day out-perform speakers? Maybe. But IMHO, we don't have examples of the headphone arts that might prove or disprove that argument. I'm a headphone FREAK, yet I still find high-quality speakers to be more capable than even the best headphones. But that's just one data point. Cheers. |
I agree with this save for the out-pace bit. I think generally it is easier to find a headphone rig that will do very well, mopping the floor with a speaker rig at least 3-5x the cost. 10x though? I find taht hard to swallow as well for most things. HD650 + cable (500), solid amp to drive them (at least 650, for ease let's say a cool 1k). So for 1500 bucks...that means 15000 I can't beat that? Heh, I can do that with 6k in speaker land. My comment was more in relation to headphones simply not rising the challenge of speakers.