no it is not a joke at all. I had the D7000 for years as my primary can and I paid 600 for a new pair of D7100. At first, I was disappointed at everything, the sound was harsh and bass is simply too much, the design is ok for me but the plasticy finish is something that I REALLY dislike even now. I had also searched for cables and recently came acrosss the mundorfs which really suits the D7100. In parallel, in search of a “BETTER” pair of headphones, I got the LCD3 and with a pair of Q-cables but of far, I keep going back to the D7000 and D7100. I think the LCD3 mids/highs are reduced in comparison. BTW, I am using Musical Fidelity M1 Hpa and darkvoice 3322 as amp and it could be down to the amps but it is true that I currently prefers the Denon D7xxx to the LCD3