[gikigill]

   
 
Because of the massive Egos involved. Simply stating something like ''sorry guys we have made a few mistakes. We take your constructive criticisms on board and are doing this, this and this to make things better going forward, thank you for your support so far, it is very important to us''
 
Just a simple statement like that which shows that they respect their own customers would win a lot of people to their side. Sadly all we get are pictures of chairs
 
The audio reviewers/shills don't help either:
 
They proclaim: ''the best is now even better'' instead of stating the truth ''this was crap before but now they've made it half decent for its very high price''.
 
Vote with your dollars fellow Headfiers. The Dollar speaks loudest.

 
I,m sitting here with a JVC DX1000, TH900, Nighhawk and others all made of wood.
 
Wonder what secret sauce they use that their wood doesn't crack.

 

[supabayes]

I don't understand Hifiman's obsession with wood on their TOTL headphones.
 
The wood is located completely away from the sound projection - I don't see how any of these wood matters apart from visual differences. If the wood matters for sound quality, then perhaps use solid wood instead of laminates or ply. Emu or Fostex hp with solid wood that are priced at a fraction of the HEK.  
 
I don't care about the wood surviving 5m fall. What about the rest of the headphone? 5m is a ridiculous height for an accidental drop.

 

[roskodan]

the problem is hifiman didn't wanna go the whole way down the designer brand path, imo they should ve initiated a new brand (Fang Bian, sounds really cool ), instead they go with a $3k, $6k and $15-30k? product, when their costumer base expects a new budget high end killer phone . On top of that they deliver half baked products, and then comes the V2 etc., all cool but the damage is done.
 
anyway, in case you ve been wondering where the money goes
 
http://www.catalanoinc.com/
 
http://www.catalanoinc.com/work/hifimances_01.html
 
http://www.catalanoinc.com/work/he560_01.html

 

[rthomas]

They can charge what they like but trying to get $1799 for the Edition X and then dropping the price to $1299 because the demand wasn't there isn't a very good way to build customer loyalty.
 
Their pricing strategy seems to be ''lets try to get as much as we can''
 
I would love to see a glowing ''review'' of the Edition 6 by one of the prominent Head-fi reviewers.
 
Now that Hifiman have blown up any brand equity/loyalty they had it is amusing to see the complete silence on this issue from the big shots.
 
My guess is that none of them will do a video ''review'' of the Edition 6. If they do they will wait until this fuss has died down in 6 to 12 months.
 
I can't wait for the Edition 8 at $12,000 in 2019.

 

[supabayes]

 
Quote:

  I can't wait for the Edition 8 at $12,000 in 2019.

 
No edition 8 since the 6 is dead according to Hifiman.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/839591/announcement-the-edition-6-is-dead#post_13328862

 

The HIFIMAN Edition 6 prototype version 2 received high appraise at headphone events in New York and Los Angeles. However, we knew we could do better still. The Edition 6 prototype version 4 now enjoys an even greater acoustic talent than its predecessors. HIFIMAN now considers the that Edition 6 has  surpassed any product in our HE or EDITION lines in terms of acoustic performance.  We felt such performance deserved a dedicated model name if we could find one befitting its station and we have finally found one: SUSVARA. In Sanskrit, SUSVARA means all the world's harmonious and melodious sounds. The prior model title of "Edition 6" is no longer, from here on out.

 

Edition 6 is dead, long live SUSVARA!

 
It's going to be fun to come up with suggestion for successors in Sanskrit just like Schiit's names from Norse mythology:
 

1. 2018 - SUSVARA replaced by nirudyoga, which means "disheartened" if no one actually buy any SUSVARA.
2. 2019 - nirudyoga replaced by pazcAttApasamanvita, which means "smitten by repentance, regretful"  

 
LoL. No offence to anyone. Can't help it. 

 

 

[mykupyku]

  the problem is hifiman didn't wanna go the whole way down the designer brand path, imo they should ve initiated a new brand (Fang Bian, sounds really cool ), instead they go with a $3k, $6k and $15-30k? product, when their costumer base expects a new budget high end killer phone . On top of that they deliver half baked products, and then comes the V2 etc., all cool but the damage is done.
 
anyway, in case you ve been wondering where the money goes
 
http://www.catalanoinc.com/
 
http://www.catalanoinc.com/work/hifimances_01.html
 
http://www.catalanoinc.com/work/he560_01.html

 
catalanoinc: "Turned solid wood had been prone to issues for HIFIMAN in the past, so we helped revamp the design with a more reliable construction featuring a durable wood lamination.". - not durable... just cosmic magic superpowered wood lamination

 

[rellik]

Simple answer, Danelectro guitars use a cheap wood which does not hold anything back nor does it blur any music to good music.
 
2 cents...yeah...and lets not forget 10 charizards as well.
 
lol, I like metal...who knew...maybe its a Teflon resin...
 
as alternatives to the ridiculous shape (don't know if its a canine jaw or a Hollywood movie star) of the new hifiman planar magnetics consider MrSpeakers products.

 

[jibzilla]

   
catalanoinc: "Turned solid wood had been prone to issues for HIFIMAN in the past, so we helped revamp the design with a more reliable construction featuring a durable wood lamination.". - not durable... just cosmic magic superpowered wood lamination

 
 Hifiman has let their customers solve all of their other issues like ear pads, headband, too heavy, poor build quality etc. I'm sure someone out their in head-fi has the ability to produce solid wood cups. I remember member making wood cups for the he-500 back in the he-500 heyday. It def. can be done especially with the prices they want.

 

[gikigill]

Who needs R&D when your customers are willing guinea pigs.

Only bought used Hifiman in the last year or so.

 

[rellik]

I have not read much about the broken headband issue, but I would guess that it is most likely user error or abuse.
 
I assumed as much, all in all a name is a name until its connected it with a "Clown Castle"...more like a Crown Castle. Yeah.

 

[thefitz]

   
I,m sitting here with a JVC DX1000, TH900, Nighhawk and others all made of wood.
 
Wonder what secret sauce they use that their wood doesn't crack.

Really, dude? Those are solid slabs of wood, not solid rings of wood. Solid wood tends to crack at the cable plugin assembly, like it did on the original LCD-2, and the HE-5.