[Daemon Ursus]

You don't want to buy them because of where they were made? Your loss I guess. I know these sound amazing and are actually quite a bargain for the sound and build quality you are getting.

Do I want to support American made products? Absolutely. But let's not kid ourselves. There are only two or three companies that are making headphones in the US. Audeze does but their LCD line starts at $1k and let's be frank, they aren't exactly known for their quality control. Mr. Speakers does but their manufacturing is low volume and utilizes 3D printing for the parts which wouldn't work for Klipsch. Also, I believe it is much easier and cheaper to build planar drivers which is why both companies went that route. Dynamics are much more difficult and Fostex is the best in the business when it comes to building dynamic headphone drivers. ZMF is doing USA built dynamics but using Asian made drivers with simple wood construction for the baffles. With those, you are paying for Zach's time and even at $1.2k and up, I actually think he is undercharging for his craftsmanship.

The build quality on the Fostex cans is quite good. If Klipsch were to build these in the states, they would probably cost around $1500 and up. If they were using some no name Chinese builder, I would be worried but Fostex is very good at what they do are early impressions of the sound and build quality is very very promising. Anyways, your loss is my gain since these will probably be tough to get for a little while once reviews start rolling in.

Not to derail the thread any but I have to agree, Zach is undercharging imo for the level of sound and build quality he provides. I adore my Eikons and would recommend them over any other closed-back headphone I have ever heard by miles.

 

[Musiqlovr]

The cost they are paying to make these in China I bet is under 200$. They developed them with off the shelf components in under 1 year with the help of other companies. The only thing Klipsch about these headphones is the logo and color scheme for the box and accessories. Otherwise it's just another off the shelf Chinese product that is being up sold to kingdom come because they are selling Klipsch heritage branding.

If they had a $400 cost per unit to make it in the USA and sold it at 1k the demand would be so high that the price would go up. Instead they are targeting the market price based on expected profits vs actual quality and demand.

You are completely wrong! What do I win in the bet? Our cost is not under $200...

Stop talking about what we are doing like you know or someone told you, so far every bit of what you said we are doing, have done, will do or did is completely wrong.

Once again, like we explained in the beginning, we bought every HP we could find up to $3K when we started this project, our goal was to build a world beater and we think we did, but that’s for the people who listen to them to decide, not you from behind a keyboard. You haven’t seen them, you haven’t touched them, you haven’t listened to them, yet you banish them to the corporate profit gods as trash based on your knowledge of what? Having never seen, touched or listened to them...it’s all hot air your spewing.

On top of buying every HP we could find, we talked to literally every HP factory we knew and about 30 we didn’t. This also isn’t my first rodeo with HP. And if that wasn’t enough my chief HP acoustic engineer listened to every driver he could find, I’m talking hundreds, he would carry trays of drivers around and tell us about what he heard ABD measured from each!

The HP3 is two years of me and my teams life. Two years, that’s how long we took to build our world beater at $1000 retail. This was and has never been about profit! It’s about Klipsch taking its spot in the premium HP segment with a HP worth of our founder. Did you know PWK’s first audio project was a pair of Headphones? Long before the Klipschorns he was building HP’s in 1919!

 

[Musiqlovr]

So buy the Chinese edition for $250 shipped and call it a day. You won't get the Klipsch sticker but you will get the same headphone and the Chinese OEM will be perfectly fine with a $50/unit humble profit unlike these greedy fat American brand labels like Klipsch has become.

I’m reporting you for this post. Literally ridiculous! Who wants this crap on this thread or on a forum like this?

 

[jude]

So buy the Chinese edition for $250 shipped and call it a day. You won't get the Klipsch sticker but you will get the same headphone and the Chinese OEM will be perfectly fine with a $50/unit humble profit unlike these greedy fat American brand labels like Klipsch has become.

You’re making a lot of unsubstantiated and unnecessarily insulting comments, @Jimster480. You’ve drawn a lot of conclusions about a headphone you’ve never heard nor touched.

I’m taking my moderator cap off the hat rack to review this thread...

 

[Daemon Ursus]

You are completely wrong! What do I win in the bet? Our cost is not under $200...

Stop talking about what we are doing like you know or someone told you, so far every bit of what you said we are doing, have done, will do or did is completely wrong.

Once again, like we explained in the beginning, we bought every HP we could find up to $3K when we started this project, our goal was to build a world beater and we think we did, but that’s for the people who listen to them to decide, not you from behind a keyboard. You haven’t seen them, you haven’t touched them, you haven’t listened to them, yet you banish them to the corporate profit gods as trash based on your knowledge of what? Having never seen, touched or listened to them...it’s all hot air your spewing.

On top of buying every HP we could find, we talked to literally every HP factory we knew and about 30 we didn’t. This also isn’t my first rodeo with HP. And if that wasn’t enough my chief HP acoustic engineer listened to every driver he could find, I’m talking hundreds, he would carry trays of drivers around and tell us about what he heard ABD measured from each!

The HP3 is two years of me and my teams life and your really starting to piss me off. Two years, that’s how long we took to build our world beater at $1000 retail. This was and has never been about profit! It’s about Klipsch taking its spot in the premium HP segment with a HP worth of our founder. Did you know PWK’s first audio project was a pair of Headphones? Long before the Klipschorns he was building HP’s in 1919!

I for one would like to say Thank you. Regardless of how these sound, at the end of the day I am thankful for what you and the rest of Klipsch are doing. Klipsch has taken a chance to make a new headphone at what I would consider to be a very compelling price point for what is being offered. In addition, you sought to involve those of us here on the forum for the last year when you never had to do that and whats more, you seemed to have really listened to what some of us have said and have made changes to your designs based on the early feedback you got. Having the opportunity to watch these develop, has been very enjoyable and I thank you for it. Regardless of the negativity that has been brought into this thread the last day or so, I still cant wait to use these, and look forward to what you will do next.

 

[Musiqlovr]

I for one would like to say Thank you. Regardless of how these sound, at the end of the day I am thankful for what you and the rest of Klipsch are doing. Klipsch has taken a chance to make a new headphone at what I would consider to be a very compelling price point for what is being offered. In addition, you sought to involve those of us here on the forum for the last year when you never had to do that and whats more, you seemed to have really listened to what some of us have said and have made changes to your designs based on the early feedback you got. Having the opportunity to watch these develop, has been very enjoyable and I thank you for it. Regardless of the negativity that has been brought into this thread the last day or so, I still cant wait to use these, and look forward to what you will do next.

Thank you! Can’t please everyone I guess.

 

[kman1211]

You are completely wrong! What do I win in the bet? Our cost is not under $200...

Stop talking about what we are doing like you know or someone told you, so far every bit of what you said we are doing, have done, will do or did is completely wrong.

Once again, like we explained in the beginning, we bought every HP we could find up to $3K when we started this project, our goal was to build a world beater and we think we did, but that’s for the people who listen to them to decide, not you from behind a keyboard. You haven’t seen them, you haven’t touched them, you haven’t listened to them, yet you banish them to the corporate profit gods as trash based on your knowledge of what? Having never seen, touched or listened to them...it’s all hot air your spewing.

On top of buying every HP we could find, we talked to literally every HP factory we knew and about 30 we didn’t. This also isn’t my first rodeo with HP. And if that wasn’t enough my chief HP acoustic engineer listened to every driver he could find, I’m talking hundreds, he would carry trays of drivers around and tell us about what he heard ABD measured from each!

The HP3 is two years of me and my teams life and your really starting to piss me off. Two years, that’s how long we took to build our world beater at $1000 retail. This was and has never been about profit! It’s about Klipsch taking its spot in the premium HP segment with a HP worth of our founder. Did you know PWK’s first audio project was a pair of Headphones? Long before the Klipschorns he was building HP’s in 1919!

I'm looking forward to listening to your headphones, I've been curious about them since I first heard about them. Dynamic headphones are a big challenge to design right but if done right they are imho the best way to go.

People should save criticism or praise until after they have felt, wore, and heard them. We all fall into these pitfalls at times, but people should try to listen first, then talk. Sorry you have to be dealing with negativity before the headphone is even released. I wish you best of luck on these, two years is a lot of one's life to be working on a project. I can tell you're passionate about the headphones and that's a good sign in my book.

 

[Musiqlovr]

I'm looking forward to listening to your headphones, I've been curious about them since I first heard about them. Dynamic headphones are a big challenge to design right but if done right they are imho the best way to go.

People should save criticism or praise until after they have felt, wore, and heard them. We all fall into these pitfalls at times, but people should try to listen first, then talk. Sorry you have to be dealing with negativity before the headphone is even released. I wish you best of luck on these, two years is a lot of one's life to be working on a project. I can tell you're passionate about the headphones and that's a good sign in my book.

Thanks, in all my years in this hobby I believe in one absolute:

Listen first! Always!

 

[Musiqlovr]

 

[Musiqlovr]

Above is what I have been listening to all afternoon...via tubes and vinyl

 

[RatFarm]

Nice! I have a pair of Forte IIs right in the room with me. Love them!

 

[kman1211]

Thanks, in all my years in this hobby I believe in one absolute:

Listen first! Always!

Yes, that is the one absolute about this hobby. You never know how well someone has implemented the transducer in a headphone and/or the transducers fidelity unless one listens and tries it on a variety of gear and music. I've had more than my fair share of surprises with headphones and speakers.

 

[Brooko]

[Mod comment]

I've pruned 3 pages of debate about country of origin and price. If this persists people will be ejected from the thread. Lets keep on topic please.

 

[FastAndClean]

when is the Jude preview comming?

 

[SHAMuuu]

You are completely wrong! What do I win in the bet? Our cost is not under $200...

Stop talking about what we are doing like you know or someone told you, so far every bit of what you said we are doing, have done, will do or did is completely wrong.

Once again, like we explained in the beginning, we bought every HP we could find up to $3K when we started this project, our goal was to build a world beater and we think we did, but that’s for the people who listen to them to decide, not you from behind a keyboard. You haven’t seen them, you haven’t touched them, you haven’t listened to them, yet you banish them to the corporate profit gods as trash based on your knowledge of what? Having never seen, touched or listened to them...it’s all hot air your spewing.

On top of buying every HP we could find, we talked to literally every HP factory we knew and about 30 we didn’t. This also isn’t my first rodeo with HP. And if that wasn’t enough my chief HP acoustic engineer listened to every driver he could find, I’m talking hundreds, he would carry trays of drivers around and tell us about what he heard ABD measured from each!

The HP3 is two years of me and my teams life. Two years, that’s how long we took to build our world beater at $1000 retail. This was and has never been about profit! It’s about Klipsch taking its spot in the premium HP segment with a HP worth of our founder. Did you know PWK’s first audio project was a pair of Headphones? Long before the Klipschorns he was building HP’s in 1919!

That sounded like an epic response. They look sweeeeeeeeeeeeet as haeeeeelllllll

I'm being a little cheeky here, but also serious. Did you guys battle it out with k1000, r10, l3000 etc etc Im sure they battled the new Giants/Lords of Cans.
I know its a bit immature/crazy but, i mean to be the best, they must slay all.