- Joined
- Feb 25, 2012
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- 69
Would not*, thanks for the correction. The simple fact of the matter some headphones take effort to get them close to perfection. Which is to say they strong qualities from the outset and high potential to fulfil, which reward you immensely when you've made the journey. While others can be immediately satisfying but have a lower potential (The HD800 vs the TH900 is a perfect example of this). The HD800s are rarely recommended by the more experienced members of this site unless purchaser is willing to make the necessary effort with them. You can criticise them for this quality but you cannot judge the HD800's overall ability because you've never really heard what kind of "music" they can actually make, and don't pretend that you have.
Second of all, I don't give a damn about hearing every last detail in a piece of music/gear. I care far more about dynamics, engagement and the emotional intensity of music as communicated by the medium. If I felt the HD800 couldn't give me these qualities, I wouldn't waste my time on them. The problem is that some people are looking for instant gratification, thinking if they spend a wad of money after reading some marketing blurbs they will get it, then feel bitter when they don't and then proceed to spend far more time and effort decrying the item in question. You don't need to spend huge amounts of money on "higher-end gear", but you do need to spend time, trial-and-error and pay attention to your upstream gear. Understandably,a newbie who jumps in without first gradually moving up the tiers, as it were, may not appreciate the improvements in refinement and expressiveness that culminate in top end gear like the HD800s (I moved from cheap Panasonic portables > Wireless headphones (Sennheiser RS110) etc > HD 515 > HD595 > HD25 >Denon D2000> HD650 - K701- DT880> HE-500 > HD800. There are far many headphones to list in between these journey posts, but these have made the most impression & I have then sold most of my headphones). The journey and time spent is the reward, as the cliche goes, the things I've learned about music and its production and the evolution of my tastes are the reasons why I've gravitated towards the HD800 as my end point.
But this isn't for everyone and is expensive in both time and money; its a niche hobby after all. But at almost every stage of it,I can say the improvements in my enjoyment of music were real, not simply a product of Audiophool snake-oil delusions and obsessions with irrelevant minutiae in music playback. To simply dismiss the opinions of people who have likewise made the journey to their preferred end-point, the HD800, because of your invaluable 3-hour session with them, is evidently insulting. Though I will say that if you're going to listen primarily to bass-heavy electronic music and badly-mastered modern genres, you're wasting your time with most of high-end. This kind of music is inherently limited and the same kind of enjoyment can be derived on much cheaper gear or better yet, speakers. It was not designed for intimate, high-resolution playback.
Second of all, I don't give a damn about hearing every last detail in a piece of music/gear. I care far more about dynamics, engagement and the emotional intensity of music as communicated by the medium. If I felt the HD800 couldn't give me these qualities, I wouldn't waste my time on them. The problem is that some people are looking for instant gratification, thinking if they spend a wad of money after reading some marketing blurbs they will get it, then feel bitter when they don't and then proceed to spend far more time and effort decrying the item in question. You don't need to spend huge amounts of money on "higher-end gear", but you do need to spend time, trial-and-error and pay attention to your upstream gear. Understandably,a newbie who jumps in without first gradually moving up the tiers, as it were, may not appreciate the improvements in refinement and expressiveness that culminate in top end gear like the HD800s (I moved from cheap Panasonic portables > Wireless headphones (Sennheiser RS110) etc > HD 515 > HD595 > HD25 >Denon D2000> HD650 - K701- DT880> HE-500 > HD800. There are far many headphones to list in between these journey posts, but these have made the most impression & I have then sold most of my headphones). The journey and time spent is the reward, as the cliche goes, the things I've learned about music and its production and the evolution of my tastes are the reasons why I've gravitated towards the HD800 as my end point.
But this isn't for everyone and is expensive in both time and money; its a niche hobby after all. But at almost every stage of it,I can say the improvements in my enjoyment of music were real, not simply a product of Audiophool snake-oil delusions and obsessions with irrelevant minutiae in music playback. To simply dismiss the opinions of people who have likewise made the journey to their preferred end-point, the HD800, because of your invaluable 3-hour session with them, is evidently insulting. Though I will say that if you're going to listen primarily to bass-heavy electronic music and badly-mastered modern genres, you're wasting your time with most of high-end. This kind of music is inherently limited and the same kind of enjoyment can be derived on much cheaper gear or better yet, speakers. It was not designed for intimate, high-resolution playback.
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