[Middy]

Nearly every advert since the wheel has overt or subtle superlatives...Any reason this thread is riding the superlative wave? Being 'in the trade'
What can you add to the conversation for the changes from the original Ethers to the flow and other headphones? If not you Tony your trade colleague's who are lucky enough to compare. Me i am grateful for the chance to improve my Ether without paying full price hopefully not damaging a small buisness. Any item on the planet applies caveat emptor when buying..compared to high end speakers a bit of a bargin. We are stuck with capitalism for a while unless Communism gets into Hi end Audio and i can get a B&W set for 50 rubles....

Looking forward to more impressions of the flow...

 

[Stillhart]

 
Mistah Karting Champion,
 
It isn't a matter of indecision on my part.   I accept the concept of our headphone transducers being excellent.  
 
But, we've had excellent transducers since the introduction of Quads in 1957.   Even dynamic transducers have been superb.  We  haven't yet seen a headphone company introduce a Ribbon device, yet we've had those in the extraordinary Infinity IRS since, hmm, the 1980s.   
 
We now have a reliable supply ( or should I suggest a partially/reliable ) of Rare Earth Magnets.  The planer guys can now tinker with Planer designs ( which is what we're seeing today ).  
 
I suspect that we are enjoying a significant increase in Recorded Media Quality since the 1980s, which in turn makes our transducers all-the-better sounding. 
 
My suspicion arises from product being evaluated with the latest superb recordings and thusly getting gushing reviewer appraisals.   Are we thinking that Transducer advancements 'are' the reason or do we wish to 'feel' that transducer advancements are the reason?  
 
Big Sound 2015 seemed to have the 40 year old Stax technology still competitive with the best of the best. 
 
Consumer Audio has always delivered great fanfare for recent designs, year after year.   After being a Member of the Trade I've become cautious and dubious about the superlatives used to lure new customers.  
 
 I'm impressed with the large percentage of Head-Fi community owning Closets full of all this latest "Superb" technology. 
 
Then again, maybe headphone hobby folks wanna be like Jude or Tyll, own a wall of headphones.   I know Car guys that admire Jay Leno and own their own growing collection of "Classic" Cars. 
 
Tony in Michigan
 
ps.  I hear the Hot Grand Prix Driver is a guy that was a Karting Champion!

 
I have friends that collect Nike shoes.  Why?  Shoe technology hasn't changed in essence for hundreds if not thousands of years!  Why do you need more than one pair of shoes?  How about watches?  Most people couldn't care less which Miyota movement is in your automatic or whether the crystal is domed sapphire or not.  Or video games... each Call of Duty is basically the same as the last, so why bother getting a new one ever?
 
The fact is, variety is fun.  Trying out new things is fun.  And in this hobby, you don't have to be rich to experience many different headphones.  And you can even swap them out mid-song with very little effort, unlike for instance changing out speakers in your 2-channel setup.
 
New things come out that are even better than before.  New things come out that aren't.  We try them and we report on what floats our boat.  I just don't get the mentality that we have to somehow stop liking new things if we already have something that we like.  Or conversely, that we have to stop liking something that we like if a new version comes out.  It's okay to like lots of different things.
 
You imply that the newest headphones aren't actually superb?  That there is some mass conspiracy of marketers and reviewers who are out to part us from our money?  Is it possible that the hundreds of thousands of members of Head-fi who read reviews, buy and sell headphones, write impressions, go to meets... is it possible that we're not deluded or manipulated and we're just enjoying our hobby?  To take it a step further, if we are enjoying ourselves, blissfully soaking in some tunes on a quiet evening after all the kids have gone to sleep, or bopping our heads to the beat on a crowded lonely bus, does it matter if we're somehow being manipulated?  Is there a down side to enjoying music on a new headphone instead of an old one?  There are many worse ways we could be spending our time and money.  

 

[sbradley02]

Anything new on an upgrade plan?

 

[tonykaz]

Mr. Karting,
 
I think you nailed it, folks collect.   Headphone folks collect.  Collecting is a typical hobby in our Society.  I know a lady that collects baby food jars from Gerber.  Geez, people collect everything imaginable, even Nike Shoes that you mentioned! 
 
Using Superlatives as justification seems a bit, wellllll, questionable.    
 
I rather trust some opinions, i.e. Tyll , who seems a deliberate evaluator and the Bob Katz types that own  "Performance Standards Recordings". 
 
I'm concluding that Head-Fi is a "Gear Collector" site, not a Music Collector/Lover site.   Reviews support collecting, favor owning everything and experiencing all things available from purchasing.  Amos's 5 Stars is a recommended purchase statement.  ( made to the collector community )
 
So, in principal, I end up agreeing with you.
 
Thanks for writing back,
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[MrSpeakersPeter]

 

[tretneo]

 

 
Indeed

 

[LunaC]

 

That is half of us waiting on the sign up forms.......

 

[thatonenoob]

 
It's a nice headphone, yes.  There is a lot of excitement surrounding it, yes.  This does happen to be the owners/ release thread, so naturally you'd expect that the prior two aspects would come together. There'll eventually be enough reviews/impressions out there on these cans for us to come to a general consensus on performance and sound signature.  Trying to derive the absolute truth/ sonic accuracy at this point is about as meaningful as deriving e^x + k.  Not to mention the fact that you happen to lose that constant.  
 
I'm never too hard on first reviews/ impressions, as the people giving them often stick their necks out to try and formulate a meaningful opinion at a stage in product release where there is no widely accepted baseline.  And to me, there's absolutely no need to debate ad nauseam over the accuracy of these early pieces, since they cater more towards early adopters.  And as an early adopter - there is always that "risk" of falling for something less than stunning.  If you can't really handle the risk, well don't be on the cutting edge! At the end of the day, it is all personal preference.  So far, I think most impressions here are on point, and for many of us, it is easy to recognize those that aren't.  
 
It's a good can, and let's move on!

 

[m8o]

Ok, someone said something or things most of us object to. We all had our say... but it's now been pages of that, or derivitive complaints.

Can this thread go back to being filled with impressions of what owners, borrowers, whatever, -hear-, and stop turning this thread into the following?

 

[thatonenoob]

Ok, someone said something or things most of us object to. We all had our say... but it's now been pages of that, or derivitive complaints.

Can this thread go back to being filled with impressions of what owners, borrowers, whatever, -hear-, and stop turning this thread into the following?

 

derivatives are serious business.  It's particularly important to handle semantics properly around dy/dx and all related derivative forms (f'(x), d/dx of f(x), etc.)  All joking aside, good point.  Have you perhaps heard the Flow yet? 

 

[HK_sends]

Has anyone gotten their production Flow C yet?  If so can you post some pictures and impressions?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

-HK sends

 

[thatonenoob]

Has anyone gotten their production Flow C yet?  If so can you post some pictures and impressions?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers!
-HK sends

Am waiting patiently for that too. Maybe it'll land in SG soon.

 

[Currawong]

The irony of all this discussion of my reviews is: I've tried Dan's headphones since he first made them (starting from when he came to the Tokyo shows) and I didn't like any of his Fostex mods. I only agreed to go down to San Diego last year, prior to CanJam, because Warren said I should and it'd be worth it. 
 
Tony Kaz also PMed me and we've sorted out everything. He didn't realise that Head-Fi wasn't run like a typical review magazine (which should have been obvious, but wasn't to some people).

 

[hemtmaker]

Great. By the way, have you heard the C flow Amos?

 

[MattTCG]

Eh, Tony's not a troll. An ornery, voiciferous curmudgeon yes, but not a troll.

Edit - (and I mean that in the good way…)

 
Maybe so. And I certainly trust your judgement. But there is a way to go about your process no matter if you're a complete disbeliever, hater, whatever...where you convey a dash of respect kindness and consideration. If you want to question the process, then that's certainly your right. But be humble. Remember that the things that were created and being discussed here around beyond our own abilities and means. 
 
Just my take anyway.