Hifiman Edition 6 Headphones
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Jan 12, 2017 at 6:15 AM Post #166 of 318
No they don't. Even a cheapo HD 600 sounds comparable to $10.000 speakers from the commercial brands.

The Focal Utopia sounds better also than the flagships from the commercial brands. It's only when going to the uber expensive speakers when things start to sound really good, but those speakers costs way more than an Orpheus 2.

Well I have to admit the experience is a personal. For me, overall experience is elevated from IEM to HP to speakers in the same price range. Direct contact with my ear and head do pose some distraction like stress and heat after say 30 minutes even with light-weighted HPs link HD600, which I owned for around 2 years, while the speakers can help one focus on music without any burden as long as the audition room is free from ambient noise 
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 6:32 AM Post #167 of 318
  IMO, above certain price point, same priced speakers provide better overall experience  than HP,  only issue with the speaks is they basically need a private room to sing while HP doesn't

Exactly! If you have room for speakers you are better off with a good pair of speakers in the price range of >4000$ than a similarly  priced headphone.
 
In my opinion headphones shouldn't be chosen as a last resort, meaning that you shouldn't buy a good headphone only if you don't have space for speakers, but the manufacturers are already forcing some of us to make a choice between speakers and headphones with these huge prices.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 6:33 AM Post #168 of 318
No they don't. Even a cheapo HD 600 sounds comparable to $10.000 speakers from the commercial brands.

The Focal Utopia sounds better also than the flagships from the commercial brands. It's only when going to the uber expensive speakers when things start to sound really good, but those speakers costs way more than an Orpheus 2.

In seems that you haven't heard the right speaker system....Believe me, I had similar opinions a few years back, but after hearing more speakers systems and starting to own a few, I started to change my opinion, once I got to hear good speaker systems. 
 
Now that doesn't mean I don't like headphones any more. I love what headphones bring to the table, and they offer other things when compared to speakers, mainly intimacy and better micro details in general, but the latest flagships cost too much.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 7:22 AM Post #169 of 318
In seems that you haven't heard the right speaker system....Believe me, I had similar opinions a few years back, but after hearing more speakers systems and starting to own a few, I started to change my opinion, once I got to hear good speaker systems. 

Now that doesn't mean I don't like headphones any more. I love what headphones bring to the table, and they offer other things when compared to speakers, mainly intimacy and better micro details in general, but the latest flagships cost too much.


Heard many speakers from the commercial brands like Focal, B&W, KEF and so on. Was never impressed with the resolution of the sound. The new TOTL speakers from B&W does sound good but it is missing sub bass extension and it lacks smoothness and transparency of the TOTL Berrylium based speakers from the more exotic speaker manufactures. Those are the only speakers that impressed me and those speakers are uber expensive.

Or the Chord Dave is simply that much better than speaker systems which I highly doubt since the Chord Dave is very cheap in comparison to speaker equipment.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 7:36 AM Post #170 of 318
Heard many speakers from the commercial brands like Focal, B&W, KEF and so on. Was never impressed with the resolution of the sound. The new TOTL speakers from B&W does sound good but it is missing sub bass extension and it lacks smoothness and transparency of the TOTL Berrylium based speakers from the more exotic speaker manufactures. Those are the only speakers that impressed me and those speakers are uber expensive.

Or the Chord Dave is simply that much better than speaker systems which I highly doubt since the Chord Dave is very cheap in comparison to speaker equipment.
 

As I said, many headphone enthusiasts are invested enough that by the point we start talking about 4-6k headphones, speakers become extremely competitive. Your experience with speakers certainly doesn't echo mine and some others here, but everyone to his own and it does sound what you heard wasn't using similar gear as what you are used with. 
 
You are right - the DAC is a shared component that people have already. Some/many people already use amps that are primarily intended to drive speakers (HE-6, some Abyss/LCD-4 users). I heard Edition 6 are also inefficient.
 
There is a similar problem with headamps. Some of them became so expensive that prices are bridging the world of accomplished speaker amp vendors (Pass Labs, Krell, whatever) that have years and years of experience and iterations. Some have even found headamps hardly can compete in sound quality, despite that speaker amps are 1. not designed at all for headphones (connectivity, specs etc); 2. pack way more power than is needed for headphones.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 7:48 AM Post #171 of 318
Did you already exame and audition the Phone?  
A reasonably assumption is its build quality should at least be in the same level of HE6, HE560 and HE1000, then HE6, HE560 and HE1000 must be worse than some $100 HPs and out of consideration following your statement, what a bad news for HFM, fortunately for them not totally happened


Current production Hifiman headphones including the $3k HEK do have terrible build quality and materials. Good sound used to be enough, but the Utopia changed all that by giving us not only a great sounding headphone, but one that feels like $4k.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 7:57 AM Post #172 of 318
Perhaps. There are some good speakers in the 7k range that I prefer over the HD 800 (but that is mainly because it's too bright while those speakers are very flat and smooth with better sound stage and have great bass impact)

I agree at 7k, headphones start to run into trouble against speakers. But a good headphone should always have the upper hand in sound quality which can be judged by detail retrieval and transparency.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 8:09 AM Post #173 of 318
I think the magnet shape is very promising – it really fights an important issue in planar magnetic headphones (reflections!) –, but the low efficiency is a letdown, as is the price.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 8:50 AM Post #175 of 318
I got a 50.000$+ rig in my house consisting of Moon 600i Dual Mono amp ( Previously HeadTrip , Woo , and many more) , Aurender W20 Streamer, Isotek power, Chord DAVE , ( MSB Analog optional dac ) , DHC Prion 4S headphone cable , DHC Flagella speaker adapter , Transparent Ref 5 XLR and more..






 
Are you using the 600i as a headphone amp? If so, how are you connecting to it and what are your impressions?
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 9:17 AM Post #176 of 318
i was impressed with the HE1K v.1 but did not purchase due to price and build quality. this looks like more of the same. i'm sure the edition 6 will sound very good but the price is way too much and it appears to employ the same build quality, features and design as prior models. so, would like to listen but not on my radar as a purchase.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 11:21 AM Post #177 of 318
I see a lot of people bashing Hifiman for the Edition 6 pricing. Well, I think the one more deserved to be bashed is the Abyss. If u make a new headphone, and the sound quality is better than the Abyss, would u sell cheaper than the Abyss? Probably not. Are Hifiman headphones all bad value for money? No! The HE400s, HE400i and HE560 are great bargain. If u don't lust for the Edition 6, why does the price bother u?
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 12:42 PM Post #178 of 318
How would you feel if Chevrolet sold a $80,000 Cruze where the only difference with the older model is a shinier body and a V8 engine?
 
At the end of the day, it's still a Cruze, not a Audi or Maserati. The later two have quality build in addition to pure engine performance.
 
The Edition 6 looks more like a Camaro or Mustang, which sell for ~$25,000.
 
Jan 12, 2017 at 12:50 PM Post #179 of 318
...If u don't lust for the Edition 6, why does the price bother u?

 
So by that same logic, if one is not going to buy a piece of equipment then one should not be discussing, debate, praise or complain about the sound quality, built quality, design, comfort, pricing etc?
 
OK...sweet...I got it
 
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