Final at the Munich HIGH END exhibition.

Jun 20, 2015 at 10:02 PM Post #46 of 95
Hmm.... I can't imagine wanting anything more than an HE-1000 from HifiMan. I can't even guess what type of sound would outperform those... And they are priced at $3000, if I'm not mistaken. Are the Sonorous even open-back? I can't even find that info and it's priced like this. They better sound good, lol.
 
Jun 20, 2015 at 10:14 PM Post #47 of 95
  Would you rather? 
 
These vs. Orpheus... 

 
Ask the same question in 5 years time and I`m willing to bet "these" will get puzzled looks.
Like "what....?".
evil_smiley.gif

 
Jun 20, 2015 at 10:17 PM Post #48 of 95
  Hmm.... I can't imagine wanting anything more than an HE-1000 from HifiMan. I can't even guess what type of sound would outperform those... And they are priced at $3000, if I'm not mistaken. Are the Sonorous even open-back? I can't even find that info and it's priced like this. They better sound good, lol.

 
Have you heard the HE1000? I have, for hours on end, from a MOON Neo 430HA and Sennheiser HDVD 800, with my own music consisting of most genres...and I wasn't impressed. It sounded good, but was too warm and subdued. Not accurate at all. It's pretty easy to outperform that headphone when you factor in the competition. Heck, I like the $150 Yamaha HPH-MT220 more than the HE1000.
 
You can look at the photos and see that the Final headphones are closed-back.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 2:40 AM Post #49 of 95
I like FAD's Pandora Hope series and I think of them as viable options at their respective price ranges. I also like FAD's IEMs and all even though they have terrible cables (some of them like FI-BA-SS, my favourite out of all the FADs) and high prices. I was expecting a lot from people who went to the latest headphone festival in Tokyo but they all say these were underwhelming, especially for the price when their last Pandora Hopes were the vice versa. But again, these things' prices... make me think "final audio pricing"
Hopefully someone's got a big enough bank account to review these :)
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 3:03 AM Post #50 of 95
  I like FAD's Pandora Hope series and I think of them as viable options at their respective price ranges. I also like FAD's IEMs and all even though they have terrible cables (some of them like FI-BA-SS, my favourite out of all the FADs) and high prices. I was expecting a lot from people who went to the latest headphone festival in Tokyo but they all say these were underwhelming, especially for the price when their last Pandora Hopes were the vice versa. But again, these things' prices... make me think "final audio pricing"
Hopefully someone's got a big enough bank account to review these :)

 
I came across some negative impressions as well, but these are the type of headphones you add to a high-end collection instead of having as your only high-end headphone, so I don't mind if they can't compete with something like the SR-009, as long as they offer something unique enough to be complementary.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 4:29 AM Post #51 of 95
   
I came across some negative impressions as well, but these are the type of headphones you add to a high-end collection instead of having as your only high-end headphone, so I don't mind if they can't compete with something like the SR-009, as long as they offer something unique enough to be complementary.

You're right in some respects but the negative impressions I have come across is problematic because they were people who have listened to the much much much cheaper Pandora Hope headphones which are nice and said the new headphones are inferior even compared to those.
Some comments were that they are not really detailed which is the opposite of the Pandora Hope headphones.
If the 2 new headphones were to be having a unique characteristic and is able to do more than just compete with other headphones from the same company I think it would make more sense.
For example I don't like all Beyers or Grados because of their sound balance/sound signature but I would buy one from each company just because it offers something unique like you have said if you're aiming for a good collection from different companies. Instead of buying the most expensive model out of their lineup though, I would go for the one that I think best represents the house-sound of that company. In some cases like Ultrasone, I think it's their most expensive model, the Edition 5. In other cases, it's different. I would get the RS1 or the GS1000 from Grado instead of the most expensive model because I feel that they offer the sound that best represents the Grado house sound.
So for FAD, if I were to buy a headphone, and the impressions online so far match my own when I listen to all the FAD headphones, I would buy the Pandora Hope even if it is not the TOTL or the most expensive.
 
But then, it's just my opinion.
 
Sorry if I'm confusing you because I'm getting confused by what I wrote myself.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 1:39 PM Post #52 of 95
   
Have you heard the HE1000? I have, for hours on end, from a MOON Neo 430HA and Sennheiser HDVD 800, with my own music consisting of most genres...and I wasn't impressed. It sounded good, but was too warm and subdued. Not accurate at all. It's pretty easy to outperform that headphone when you factor in the competition. Heck, I like the $150 Yamaha HPH-MT220 more than the HE1000.
 
You can look at the photos and see that the Final headphones are closed-back.

I heard it using Fang Bian's own setup (with the EF-1000, I think) for a few hours and it outperformed the HD800's to another league, imo of course. Although I only listened to the prototype, you saying it wasn't accurate, and outperformed by a $150 headphone makes me skeptical of your claim. Imaging and accuracy was literally uncanny on the HE-1000. Idk what to think of this.
 
EDIT: never listened to the Abyss, but I've spent some time with a few TOTL cans.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 2:09 PM Post #53 of 95
  I heard it using Fang Bian's own setup (with the EF-1000, I think) for a few hours and it outperformed the HD800's to another league, imo of course. Although I only listened to the prototype, you saying it wasn't accurate, and outperformed by a $150 headphone makes me skeptical of your claim. Imaging and accuracy was literally uncanny on the HE-1000. Idk what to think of this.
 
EDIT: never listened to the Abyss, but I've spent some time with a few TOTL cans.

 
I compared the Abyss, HD 800, and HE-6 to the HE1000 directly. The HD 800 was painfully bright and harsh, so that's not really a contest. The HE1000 was easily more enjoyable. HE-6 was only slightly bright, but not as pretty as the HE1000. The Abyss didn't have any noticeable problems, but the fit was pretty much impossible for me. None of those headphones blew me away. I never directly said the MT220 outperforms it; just that I like it more, and I'm very picky. The HE1000 made everything sound like it was wrapped in caramel. But these things are subjective, so what you like most is perfectly valid for you. Anyway, the prototype had a different sound than the final version I heard.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 2:29 PM Post #54 of 95
Yes subjective, one persons bright and harsh is another's clear like removing a veil. I liked the HE1000 but not more than hd800 and I'm not a fan of he6 really. The trick is when there is mostly a consenses.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 4:28 PM Post #55 of 95
   
I compared the Abyss, HD 800, and HE-6 to the HE1000 directly. The HD 800 was painfully bright and harsh, so that's not really a contest. The HE1000 was easily more enjoyable. HE-6 was only slightly bright, but not as pretty as the HE1000. The Abyss didn't have any noticeable problems, but the fit was pretty much impossible for me. None of those headphones blew me away. I never directly said the MT220 outperforms it; just that I like it more, and I'm very picky. The HE1000 made everything sound like it was wrapped in caramel. But these things are subjective, so what you like most is perfectly valid for you. Anyway, the prototype had a different sound than the final version I heard.

@dallan
Sound is subjective in general, but I'll be damned if the consensus is that the TOTL headphones are merely "ok". The 10-20 head-fi'ers I met at the New York mini-meet (for the HE-1000) were all blown away - @Music Alchemist's standards are too high for the average head-fi'er, i think. That's perfectly ok if you want to judge them like that, and feel free to do so, but I think I speak for the larger amount of head-fi'ers when I say that quite a few of us of us would be happy with the HE-1000 in our end-game setup. That's all I was trying to say originally.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 4:32 PM Post #56 of 95
  @dallan
Sound is subjective in general, but I'll be damned if the consensus is that the TOTL headphones are merely "ok". The 10-20 head-fi'ers I met at the New York mini-meet (for the HE-1000) were all blown away - @Music Alchemist's standards are too high for the average head-fi'er, i think. That's perfectly ok if you want to judge them like that, and feel free to do so, but I think I speak for the larger amount of head-fi'ers when I say that quite a few of us of us would be happy with the HE-1000 in our end-game setup. That's all I was trying to say originally.

 
I completely agree. My standards are so high it drives me crazy. lol
 
I'm still trying to find a headphone that sounds convincingly realistic to me. Hoping the SR-009 (eventually with Smyth Realiser A8, DIY T2, etc.) will be able to pull it off.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 5:10 PM Post #58 of 95
Who said anything about high end headphone sound being just "okay"? Not me, I expect a lot! I really liked the HE1000 though many comments from canjam considered them a let down, mine wasn't one of them.
 
Jun 21, 2015 at 5:15 PM Post #59 of 95
Who said anything about high end headphone sound being just "okay"? Not me, I expect a lot! I really liked the HE1000 though many comments from canjam considered them a let down, mine wasn't one of them.

 
Know what I would love to do? Get all the flagships, equalize them so the frequency response is as close to neutral as possible, then publish a super review! (Covering with and without the EQ, plus mods, various gear combos, etc.) I feel that would be far more interesting than merely comparing the stock tunings, you know?
 

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