[TMRaven]

Problem with Tyll is you won't get a review of the headphone unless he likes it.

 

[Tequilasunriser]

Using deductive reasoning we should be able to conclude why there's no review then.

 

[mrspeakers]

This reminds me of the "color discussion" when Alpha launched.   Those who recall know that after months of comments and discussion we came out with black, which now accounts for about 7-8% of Alpha sales.  
 
While I hear the desire for more "differentiation" our options are very limited because I consider loyalty to our current customers, and our ability to upgrade (I am increasingly confident this will be ok) is a very big deal to me, as a very high percentage of owners have used this service, and it's really unique.
 
Different colors, branding on the cups, all these things you guys are talking about would make upgrades harder, more costly, more wasteful, and less likely to be relevant.  I am deeply committed to upgrades on our T50RP headphones so long as we can, and it is a *major* consideration. I am not going to pursue visual differentiation that interferes with our ability to offer a service that our customers clearly value, and that is unique in the industry.
 
EDIT: It's VERY hard to make the right trade offs.  We do the best we can.  But to me, loyalty to our existing customers, to whom we owe EVERYTHING, is more important than bling.

 

[olegausany]

Completely agree, sound quality is more important than visual appearance. And ability to upgrade is unique to Dan. Don't expect this from Sennheiser when when HD800 replacement will become available

 

[cute]

 

   
Price per performance has been way below what they were worth, best headphones under $1000.  About time Dan gets rewarded for his hard work, can't wait, preordered mine right after they were announced!

 
The Alpha Dog are very competitive versus the LCD-2 but the Audeze headphones are also way overpriced!
 
And I don't agree with your statement, the best headphones under $1000 are the HiFiMAN HE-560.  (IMO of course...)

I had the 560 for a couple months and the lower treble hump ruined vocals, even with EQ, too much tizz and distortion so I moved on!

 

[goldenSHK]

I just want to say that there's a big difference between 'bling' and simply being able to easily and quickly tell the headphones apart from afar. I think people are trying to throw around the word 'bling' to discredit the call for visual differentiation. The definition of bling is "flashy, ostentatious or elaborate ornamentation" which is literally as far off from what I was suggesting as possible. I am not trying to hint at the AP needing to look nice, look cool, or look fashionable. Far, far from. My aesthetic critique pertained to a very clear and practical purpose. 
 
With that said, I see that there are quite a few loyal fans who have expressed their lack of care or desire for a visual difference (something which I cannot understand), but if they are the ones that are going to buy the AP then I would strongly recommend Dan to obviously disregard what I'm saying because clearly, like he said, the loyalty to the true fans (the ones that are going to end up buying the AP new from Dan) is probably more important. 
 
EDIT: For the record, I already said that I'm content that Dan at least has marked the new model on the sliders similar to the Hifiman model markings so the minimum requirement for a visual differentiator has already been met. 

 

[mrspeakers]

Fair enough!  

 

[Tony1110]

I had the 560 for a couple months and the lower treble hump ruined vocals, even with EQ, too much tizz and distortion so I moved on!

Me too. I hated them...but it turned out my pair was defective.

 

[Tequilasunriser]

Yeah, there would be little stopping someone from taking Alpha cups/drivers and sticking them on a Prime headband and reselling them as primes. At that point they'd look identical, and the con artist would still have their Primes and a wad of cash.

 

[goldenSHK]

  Yeah, there would be little stopping someone from taking Alpha cups/drivers and sticking them on a Prime headband and reselling them as primes. At that point they'd look identical, and the con artist would still have their Primes and a wad of cash.

Hah wow. I didn't even think of that nor did it cross my mind in such a way. I guess that's a problem for the used market only though and more incentive to buy new from Dan. 

 

[cute]

 

I had the 560 for a couple months and the lower treble hump ruined vocals, even with EQ, too much tizz and distortion so I moved on!

Me too. I hated them...but it turned out my pair was defective.

I had both the pre production and final release, just too much money for what I heard, but that is my olpinion!

 

[mrspeakers]

 
Quote:

  Yeah, there would be little stopping someone from taking Alpha cups/drivers and sticking them on a Prime headband and reselling them as primes. At that point they'd look identical, and the con artist would still have their Primes and a wad of cash.

Risers.  "Alpha Prime" vs "Alpha Dog."  The riser can not be replaced without opening and tearing the headphone down.  
 
 

 

[Beagle]

  I don't want to read a review from biased Johnny Bumpkin who is only on his second pair of cans, the former being various versions of Mad Dogs. I want to hear what Tyll, an experienced listener,  has to say and see his measurements before I buy.
 
You should want this too. It's common sense, really. How often do you go into $1000 purchases blind?

 
Why would you want to read a review before they are available? And what does Tyll's tastes and measurements have to do with how it will sound like to someone else? Don't you listen first, or buy with an option of returning?

 

[goldenSHK]

   
Why would you want to read a review before they are available? And what does Tyll's tastes and measurements have to do with how it will sound like to someone else? Don't you listen first, or buy with an option of returning?

I think what he's saying is that measurements are as objective of a way as possible as knowing how a headphone sounds so Tyll's measurements are quite important. Also, Tyll has probably heard more headphones than any other poster in this thread of over 550 pages. So subjective reviews don't get any better than his in terms of comparisons. Everyone knows Tyll's tastes as well (he's quite sensitive to highs and prefers the sound sigs of things like the HE-500) so it's very easy to know where he's coming from compared to other users who have not had the history of reviews as Tyll. 
 
Tl;dr: There's a reason that Tyll's reviews have very high authority. It's justified. 

 

[LoveKnight]

In my opinion, Dan is a great guy in headphones industry when he always offers more than he does not need to. Look at the Audezee LCD-2s and the Audezee LCD-3s. Many reviewers stated that the LCD-3s are just about 15-20% better than the LCD-2s but were charged for double the price, and the owner said we produced the new drivers to make the LCD-3s. Excuse me, fair, I can understand that!??? However when we have a look at Dan's products. What can we get ? A more durable headphones such as the Alpha Dogs. Yes at least it was in my case with the Alpha Dog. My brother used to throw my Alpha Dog to the ground once and it survived because Dan used high quality ABS to make the cups, I wonder for the LCDs or Hifiman series can do the same with their fancy wooden, their cheap plastic aspects.
 
When we look at the Alpha Prime we need to look both sides, plus points and minus points. According to what Dan described the Alpha Prime, it is at least better than the Alpha Dog 15-30% with just charge for $400 more. In fact, we are the customers who really get more benefits than the other customers from other brands such as Hifiman and  Audezee here. Am I right?