[spritzer]

Stax

 

[Dimitris]

My vote goes for the Sennheisers

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer Stax

This thread is for those with NORMAL budgets!

 

[PinkFloyd]

Where's Philips, AT, Stax, Ultrasone, Shure etc. etc. blah blah blah?

Hell if you're doing a "budget" poll then where are Ross, Koss etc?

From the limited choices I voted AKG.

Sony? are you serious mate?

 

[Andrea]

Very interesting poll, I'll say -- though the result that's coming out was pretty obvious, here.

 

[Sugano-san]

Stax -- there's no two ways about it.

 

[D-EJ915]

The only brand up there that my mom heard of before I started talking headphones...sennheiser.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

While I would say Grado, in the streets where most are uneducated on the subject, I'd say 'Sennheiser' not only sounds prestige, but is. Although they do make those god-awful iPod earbuds...

 

[babyoh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 This thread is for those with NORMAL budgets!

Prestige = not for the masses = abnormal budgets

 

[Hase]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Hell if you're doing a "budget" poll then where are Ross, Koss etc?

And what about those sweet, smooth Cobys that you can only get a flea markets from that guy missing most of his teeth and one eye that points in the wrong direction.

I voted for the Senns because of the recognition. In that regard they are probably only second to Bose.

 

[Nospam]

Before I found this site, I always thought of Senn and Beyer as "higher-end" than the std consumer-level stuff... even better than Bose

. I think Senn has a bit more "prestige" than Beyer to the masses.

 

[Aman]

You're missing a lot of good companies there, but from the list it has to be Sennheiser because of their international prestige (heheh, use of a Grado term there

)

I personally like Grados better, but there is very little that beats the HD650s in both sound quality and class.

 

[Wmcmanus]

As far as prestige for the average guy who knows a bit about audio, but is not a hopeless audiophile (and certainly not a headphone nut), I'd say Stax is widely thought of as the "ultimate" in terms of prestige. Even the Audiogon crowd seems to have this mindset. Most of them have heard of the Lambda and maybe even the Omega, but not the Orpheus. Sennheiser does have a fair degree of prestige associated with the HD600 (and now, the HD650) but these products are not as esoteric as electrostat headphones. That, and since the Sennheiser product line covers the entire specturm, including the non-audiophile consumer market (i.e., Walmart), this dilutes the perception of there being anything "special" about them.

 

[catscratch]

What??? No Stax? Someone has an idea about fair competition

Honestly, though...

It depends on the taget audience. Among audiophiles, Stax, no question about it. It's not even that Stax makes the best stuff or anything, it's just that Stax doesn't make any cheap(er), budget-oriented gear, they're all exclusively hi-fi, and have an undeniable aura of mystique about them. Most audio people's reactions upon hearing that I use Stax is a firm

The second placer will be one of those listed in the poll.

Among non-audiophiles, that would definitely be Bose, and in second place Bang & Olufsen. Yeah, I know

But they're not audiophiles, so how much can you ask of them.

 

[go_vtec]

Sennheiser! It took me two years to track down a Baby Orpheus so that I can enjoy economic version of legendary Orpheus.