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Denon Officially Announces Its New Headphones!
May 31, 2012 at 9:25 AM Post #226 of 903
"Denon has identified four key consumer lifestyle groups that they have targeted for their headphone designs: Music Maniac, Urban Raver, Globe Cruiser, Exercise Freak."

I'd say that tells a big part of the story. The new line up seems much more driven by the marketing department than anyone else.



Also, a few weeks ago I asked Mark about the DxK line disappearing and he said "we (Lawton) are not going anywhere".
 
May 31, 2012 at 9:26 AM Post #227 of 903
Quote:
nanaholic said:
 
Again, considering that the D5000 and D7000 are already heavily discounted right now and still not being sold out with their "limited runs" I really doubt they are as popular as people here think they are, so I'm scratching my head as to what makes people think that the introduction of the new phones would suddenly make the old ones desirable besides the subjective bias against the design of the new phones, especially if the consistent reports that the new phones are better sounding in every way than the old phones holds water.  
 
The only scenario where I can see the old phones started selling better is that the current pricing for both old and new ones holds (which means the D5000 and D7000 would be about 40~50% cheaper than the new ones) AND that the performance difference between the phones are perceived as minimal.  With that plus the design preference then I can see a sudden surge in demand for the old ones.
Click to expand...

 
The D5000 and D7000 have been around for a while now, so given that this is an enthusiast website many folks who would be interested in them already own them. I'm not so sure it's easy to discern just how popular or unpopular people on these forums perceive the Denons to be. In actuality, they seem to have something of a following here, and they're certainly part of head-fi canon.
 
Any time a company releases a new version of their product lineup, the older versions take on a dimension of collectibility simply by virtue of the fact that they're no longer being produced. Now, I'm not suggesting the former Denon lineup is going to become collectors items. I am suggesting however that people may go through the additional effort to buy the older models. It's precisely because of the discounted price and aesthetics that people here would do so. Consider that the D7100 has an MSRP of $1200. That's a fiercely competitive price bracket, and the D7000 is still going to be desirable by virtue of the fact that it can be had for $600 or so.
 
Lawton Audio is a niche site for hobbyists. I'm not talking about mass market sales, but rather the microcosm of head-fi. If hobbyists seek out the D7000 over the D7100 for a brief period, then it doesn't seem too unreasonable to assume Lawton might get a brief spike in business. Also consider that Lawton is a modding business, so one doesn't have to buy new headphones to use their service. One can supply his / her own. Given the "collectibility" of the older models, perhaps some may be more reluctant to get them altered.
 
May 31, 2012 at 9:38 AM Post #228 of 903
why such low impedance for the $1200 flagship, who in their right mind will use it straight out of a portable anyway.  Practically limits the headphone to portable listening once you consider damping factor.  Anything with output impedance over 1.25 will have poor impedance matching, and good luck finding a desktop amplifier with these specs.
 
Kind of makes sense though as the new Fostex is going after the audiophile market, and the new Denon line target mainstream market.
 
Ahh well should make an excellent portable headphone at least.
 
May 31, 2012 at 9:56 AM Post #231 of 903
May 31, 2012 at 10:02 AM Post #232 of 903
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May 31, 2012 at 10:53 AM Post #235 of 903
Quote:
drez said:
why such low impedance for the $1200 flagship, who in their right mind will use it straight out of a portable anyway.  Practically limits the headphone to portable listening once you consider damping factor.  Anything with output impedance over 1.25 will have poor impedance matching, and good luck finding a desktop amplifier with these specs.
 
Kind of makes sense though as the new Fostex is going after the audiophile market, and the new Denon line target mainstream market.
 
Ahh well should make an excellent portable headphone at least.
Click to expand...

 
I'm not so sure these are targeting a mainstream market. Yes, they look "fresh," but they still cost way in excess of what most people would consider paying for headphones.
 
As for impedance, plenty of flagships boast low specs: Audio-Technica, Denon's older line, FAD, Fostex, Grado, Ultrasone. I've used many a low impedance headphone with a desktop amp with perfectly fine results. A low impedance doesn't automatically equate to portable use.
 
May 31, 2012 at 11:06 AM Post #236 of 903
When I saw the 3D rendering of the cans I thought: oh god why.... but seeing the real model they are actually very unique, in a cool way. Hope they sound like the previous models since I enjoyed listening to those.
 
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