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I actually like it... similar to the Skullcandy Mix Master Mike's I have...
Definitely would love to hear these new offerings from Denon. I know Fostex is not involved and I definitely LOVE my D5000s but unlike a lot of people just looking at the outside and dissing Denon, I'm willing to give them a chance...
We'll see...
I think you won the prize for most closely and specifically pointing out the central problem with these headphones that most people in this thread identify
Skullcandy, Beats, Bose, are overstyled, overhyped, overpriced, overvalued garbage. While they may deliver SOME performance, they don't deliver performance equal to their mass appeal hype and price. They are consumer mass market headphones, not serious audio equipment, like comparing Aiwa and Panasonic speakers to Thiel and Paradigm. Denons, through Foster, have always been serious audio equipment. It's ok if Denon decided to get out of the serious audio market and get into consumer mass market, but that's about as exciting to people on these forums as a new lower priced replacement for M50s
Worse, it would be like if Thiel decided "you know what? We're just going to sell HTiBs now...."
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Word from the grapevine is that the artist endorsing the new Denon series is Stevie Wonder. Now it all makes sense.
LOL! Even Stevie can tell bad ergonomics and mass market value from pro-audio gear though. If more about them than style is borrowed from Skullcandy...
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Somehow i knew somebody was going to say that.
Point was, those other products are not made by Fostex. Neither would D5000 most probably exist without both of those companies.
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The D5000 did and does exist without Denon as an OEM, though. The TH900 was around for a while too while Fostex searched for someone to put their name on it, but they eventually released it under their own.
I've tried Denon's gear before, and it seems pretty nice, but headphones are another matter entirely. With the latest headphone it's likely Denon isn't responsible for the way it's going to sound, so whether Denon makes nice turntables or integrated amps is kind of beside the point.
Exactly, D5000 is not a Denon product, these headphones are mass produced as a Foster OEM. They just slap a shiny Denon label on the side. Denon is acting as a marketer and distribution network, not a designer. It's a Foster headphone through and through. These new headphones likely have as little to do with Denon as the old ones did. But while the old ones were made by one of the most venerable dedicated headphone designers on the planet (arguably even beyond Senn and Beyer as the TH900 seems to demonstrate) and thus were a core audiophile product, the new ones seem to be made by any random mass consumer products designer. Maybe even Skullcandy, Monster, Bose, etc. I wouldn't expect the same performance or fit & finish as the Foster models, regardless of what Denon claims is or isn't true about them, if the designer isn't a company of similar level expertise in headphone microdrivers as Foster. The only US-based manufacturer that might have the ability to do that would be Harmon (which owns JBL, AKG, etc.) But would they pick up the contract to compete with themselves? If it isn't Harmon, and if it really is a US-based company, then it means it's not a headphone experienced company beyond generic mass consumer stuff. Harmon could make it work since they have the resources and could pull the AKG and JBL driver research/designs into the equation. But Harmon is the mortal enemy of Denon and Onkyo. Why would they take a contract with them? More specifically the Japanese have a strong pride and it seems out of character for them to cooperate with their main competitor from their primary business. But if it's anyone else, I fear for the SQ!
Denon is 100% a seminconductor company. They make audio separates. Amps, disk players, DACs, DSPs EQs, etc. Good ones for a decent price. Audiophile worthy ones. They do not make speakers. Whatever headphone they make is not a Denon product beyond having been contracted for manufacture by them.
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Thanks for the information. Now, for my question. Why does a company that has a headphone line feel like their headphones need to be paired up with an artist? So, the artist endorses them, but never uses them? Or, are we like sheep - and tell ourselves that Stevie Wonder likes them enough to have his name on the package, so they'd be good for me?
I guess if that's the case, I'm sure some companies have tried hunting down the Rolling Stones, but their "fees" were probably too much for the headphone company to cover.
I really don't understand the love of celebrity endorsed anything, but, then, I don't understand the celebrity worship going on in general. I want to be like [insert famous person here] and famous person [insert name here] likes product [insert product name here] therefore if I buy product [insert product name here] it will make me more like [insert name here.]
The only instance that actually makes sense is Q701. I have every confidence that Quincy really
has often reached for K702 in the studio, and often has use them in his line of work since they are a lovely, neutral, former top of the line pro-audio mixing tool by design. And the new design probably is tweaked to how he EQs them usually. And as a pro-audio engineer (and a heck of a Jazz composer/musician) his choice in headphones actually means something since only something highly accurate, neutral, and detailed would suffice for his duties. Though for enjoyment listening I'm sure he's still using that Orpheus he and a few dozen other people bought
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Interesting scoop! I didn't know Fostex made the D5000 for anyone else, or that they were shopping around for a company to sell the TH900. I wonder why they prefer the manufacturing rather than the marketing. Kind of cool actually, gives me more respect for Fostex. But I imagine with their new amps and these headphones, they will start to have enough presence that they won't need other brands anymore. They now make the most expensive portable amp on the market (I think...) and one of the most expensive dynamic headphones on the market. And both supposedly sound pretty good.
Where'd you hear/read this stuff's?
And the co-inventor of planar magnetics, and the only large production line for the tech! Fostex really is in a great position to join the headphone market should they wish to.
