Hi all,
There is in the link below a advocacy, from Kennerton's chief engineer, for Kennerton products.
Always interesting to read.
I love photos, especially the last one!
https://vk.com/@best_headphones_ever-faq
Quote Max (after translate) :
" To date, our first flagship ODIN is already part of history and gives way to Thridi and Thror. They are significantly higher in class (especially Thror) and constitute two alternative branches of development. Thridi goes to the emotional melodic color of sound, while Thror is a hundred percent unbiased and accurate monitor. The difference in cost is due to the different cost of the drivers used."
(Note: original text in Russian: use google translate)
Hi all,
After the google translate machine (from Russian to English), we get this plain text:
"
.
Headphones for $ 3,500, are you serious ???
I wanted, dear ones, to speculate a little on the Luxyry segment of headphones, to answer the most frequently asked questions, such as “Why such a huge amount of money?” Or “What is this brand about which I know nothing?” ...
In short, we went ... As in any industry, there are more expensive and cheaper things in the audio segment, there are products in which bablishko is paid for a big name, and there are products that have to tear ass for quality in order to snatch a piece of cake on the world market. There is one significant difference between brands with a big name and upstreet-upstarts - the first ones are very inert in their decisions and cannot afford to take risks (because their budgets are too large and the price of a mistake is high), and there’s usually nothing to lose they are ready for anything, including the conquest of previously undiscovered peaks. Our brand is just the second))).
The audio industry is the industry of delivering (or transporting) musical art to the ears of the consumer. And preferably delivery in the least distorted form. Of course, as in any industry, there are products that are inexpensive and that are designed to satisfy the inexperienced user. But in any field of art there are onlookers and amateurs, but there are true connoisseurs. And for such products are created of exceptional quality and technical level.
This is what our brand does. We create headphones of the highest class. Those. they are not just assembled from premium materials, do not just carry engineering solutions there, the most important thing is that they sound so that when you close your eyes you can easily feel yourself present in the concert hall, feel the closeness of the performer, his emotions, feel every a musical instrument as if it were directly in front of you. Sometimes the realism of the musical canvas is so high that the listener can lose the sense of reality and go headlong into the music ...
You know, in all the years of our work there has been one review about our very first flagship model ODIN (now gone down in history). Our partner in Singapore, the owner of the salon Zeppelin & Co. (audiophile cafe + hi-end store) sent the following review to the post office (here my free translation from English):
“The other day, an Australian went to Zeppelin to drink coffee and cakes. He wanted to familiarize himself with the Kennerton ODIN headphones and the CHORD DAVE DAC, and I gave him that opportunity. I turned on the play, which, as it seemed to me, he definitely had to listen, and which would really demonstrate the beauty of ODIN, the power of timbre and the naturalness of sound. And suddenly this man began to cry! Really cry! He said that he had not listened to music with such pleasure for the last 10 years, and had forgotten how beautiful she was. He asked me about the price of headphones, and when I called her, he said that it was not that expensive. Because he no longer has to go anywhere for the music and will not have to pay money for it, after he buys ODIN. He will enjoy his favorite music at home as much as he wants. "
These are the emotions that really high-end equipment can cause. Like insanely expensive sports car, giving genuine emotions from driving, high-end audio equipment can affect the most delicate fibers of the soul, cause a real orgasm from listening to music. And this is more expensive than any money ... Although of course it is sometimes difficult to argue the price of some Pagani to someone who has been shaking his whole life behind the wheel of the Logan.
Now essentially. For what kind of money? There are brands on the market, very eminent ones, trying to push typical solutions into the luxury segment, which differ little from what is found in cheap headphones for 1000 rubles. Well, except that these solutions are pretty dopilen and sound better than in the thousands of headphones. But nevertheless, top models from Audio Technica, Focal, Sennheiser, Fostex, McIntosh, Denon, AKG, etc., are built on the cheapest in production, the simplest in debugging, but the most detrimental in terms of sound quality, dynamic technology drivers (dynamics).
This technology imposes some restrictions on the sound quality, to overcome which manufacturers are forced to use the most expensive materials, to go for various design tricks and as a result - an inordinate increase in the cost of construction. Yes, these headphones sound good, but their price ... Eh ... Let's not talk about sad things. For the same money, you can find a sound much better.
We in our headphones decided to use the long-known technology of an isodynamic radiator. It provides an order of magnitude higher sound quality, but at the cost of much greater complexity in the production and debugging of the structure. Although we did bring some of our know-how into the technology, which were not slow to patent.
So you can boldly assert that there really are no analogues to our drivers in the world. And we are proud of it with all our might)))
Unlike large brands with huge production volumes that cannot afford to pay maximum attention to each produced instance, we have piece production, work is 100% manual, and each copy of headphones is configured as carefully as possible. This work is akin to the production of elite supercars to order. The design uses only expensive natural materials, such as aluminum, fine wood, genuine sheep leather (whereas our competitors do not stop to sell cheap plastic for the same money). In addition, customers can choose finishes. So we can safely say that headphones such as ours are supercars in the world of headphones.
Yes, we are not the only ones on the market. There are other brands that exploit isodynamic technology in their headphones. But all of them use the cheapest and easiest to produce polyester film with powder metal coating for the production of membranes. We decided to “go for a walk like that!” And swung at polyimide, in the modern world better known as Kapton ™, deposited on aluminum foil with a high-grade crystal lattice. Moreover, the production technology of our membranes is so unique that you can be sure - there are no analogues to our membranes in the world. And the fact that our competitors increasingly began to contact us with the request to manufacture our emitters for them becomes a confirmation of this. While we keep our defense, we do not sell secrets))).
Where did we come from such brilliant? And we took in 2012 from the team of Fischer Audio GMBH, which produced headphones for an inexpensive mass segment. Just once our bright minds became closely within this framework and we began to make headphones that were not limited by anything but our own capabilities. We first showed up in 2014 in Berlin, at the IFA exhibition. And although we exhibited there very modestly, we were nonetheless able to attract the attention of the powerful. Our booth visited and was extremely pleased with what Beyerdynamic Chief Engineer heard, came to shake hands with Bang & Olufsen’s chief designer, and even Noel Lee, the owner of Monster Audio, the creator of the iconic brand Beats, came to take his picture with us))) there was a runaway success that we did not expect. Upon arrival back in Russia, we received a letter from McIntosh with a proposal to produce headphones for them (we refused). In general, we took our place in the market and even set a new vector for the development of headphones of the highest category from a technically licked non-emotional sound in the direction of musicality and emotionality. That and we live))).
Let's now to the most important thing. How is it possible to give such a huge amount of money for headphones ???
And let's look around. In the subway, every second latest iPhone for almost 100 thousand rubles, lofts and coworkers occupied hipsters armed with MacBook Pro for ~ 300 thousand, every second fashionista in vocational school is dressed in Balenciaga, DG and Off White ... So is it really to give for headphones quality 100-200-300 thousand rubles in our time is a lot? For a unique handicraft thing, which is an element of elitism and gives an opportunity to plunge headlong into the most beautiful invention of mankind - music. No, this is not at all as expensive as it seems at first glance. Especially since Balenciaga will wear out, the MacBook will become obsolete and will cease to draw new software, and good headphones will actually last forever, like the music they give you forever!
Yes, these headphones and the rest of the path is needed to match. DAC and amplifier capable of unleashing the full potential of headphones will cost comparable money. It would be naive to believe that headphones for $ 3,500 will fully sound from the iPhone, the cost price of a sound chip in which does not exceed $ 1. Therefore, it is often necessary to disappoint those who ask to “bring headphones to the meeting.” Because I would have to drag another 10 kilograms of equipment with a total cost of several thousand euros. Therefore, people usually buy such headphones, who are really enthusiastic or are engaged in music professionally, and you can listen to headphones before buying mainly in large Hi-End stores or at international exhibitions where we regularly ride.
To date, our first flagship ODIN has already become part of the story, giving way to new Thridi and Thror. They are significantly higher in class (especially Thror) and are two alternative branches of development. Thridi goes towards the melodic emotional color of the sound, while the Thror is a one hundred percent monitor, impartial and accurate. The difference in their cost is due to the different cost of the drivers used. Nevertheless, the price of headphones on the Russian market is very noticeably lower than the European price. All this is due to the fact that sales at home do not carry customs and logistic burden ...
In general, who read to this place - thank you very much! I hope at least some of the most frequent questions I managed to give answers))). "
Source :
https://vk.com/@best_headphones_ever-faq
Note: Some comments on this approach of Max (the chief engineer of Kennerton), here on the French forum :
https://musique-o-casque.com/viewtopic.php?p=941#p941