24grant24
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2012
- Posts
- 107
- Likes
- 44
Over the past few weeks I have noticed some things have come to a head. First I would like to thank the moderators for not only allowing these sometimes heated discussions to take place but for also somehow managing to keep the threads on track despite my, and some other users best attempts. Head-fi is lucky to have mods who are able to balance these growing pains every community experiences. Headphones as a hobby has exploded in the past few years thanks to a variety of factors. And with that some traditional audiophile philosophies are being challenged. This original came to a head with the launch of the "objective2" amp dac products and has been simmering and dividing communities since.
First on hype trains. New product launches are exciting, I am someone who gets very excited to hear about new product launches hoping they will redefine their category, or fill a new niche. This same sentiment can lead to to excitement and irrationality in the community. This is perfectly natural and fine, it is when people fail to consider the impact of their hype on others that it becomes problematic. Hype trains that get out of hand lead to a lot of disappointment, and regret ed purchases. I ask that we keep in mind to temper our fervor and keep hyperbole to a minimum when writing impressions for new and anticipated products. But I am particularly concerned about how people can completely gloss over the potential flaws of new products even in the face of evidence that it may not be as great as the community is suggesting it will be. This was particularly apparent with the launch of the new Focal Elear headphones. A $1000 headphone that Head-fi had early access to and even provided frequency response charts for.
Chart borrowed from Currawong
This chart shows both the Focal Utopia and Elear, we will be focusing on just the Elear for now which is represented by the dotted line. If you will notice the frequency response looks rather flat, maybe a tad V shaped, But take a closer look at the scale of the graph. You will notice the 1khz frequency is normalized at 90db this is pretty standard practice. But pay close attention to the line as it approaches the 4khz frequency it begins to dive sharply, at the lowest it reaches a mere 70db. That is a 20 decibel drop! That is extremely large for a frequency region which plays many important roles in reproducing music. The talk around this headphone was largely positive in the thread, with many people making comparisons to the sennheiser hd650 and calling the headphone decidedly warm. Nobody was mentioning anything about how this 4khz canyon will affect the sound of instruments or female vocals, which will tend lack crunchiness or edge as a result. It may also make it sound nasally. This is concerning because of how evident the issue is and many inexperienced users may not notice something like that. This comes with a warning that each measurement rig is different but head-fis is a very well regarded model from Audio Precision. ( I wish they would use it more)
This brings me to my second point. I notice as a trend that we as community members are discouraged from condemning products that are not labeled with the beats or Bose brand. Often the only criticism it feels like I'm allowed to leverage is "it just doesn't suit me." Now I understand that we each hear differently and prioritize different things when considering a headphone but there are times when a product has a serious objective characteristic that is not what would be typically considered "High Fidelity." Again I understand we all hear differently but there is are a lot of studies that show what sort of characteristics are desirable when doing high fidelity sound reproduction. Speakers are further ahead in this regard but there is very promising work coming out of Harman Audio about listening preferences. When there are potential serious objective flaws in a product I think it is prudent for potential buyers to understand that, and that it is fair and important to leverage serious criticism against products that don't stand up to muster. People often criticize with kids gloves potentially for fear of making someone feel bad about their purchase. Despite what I have written to this point I am not a hard line objectivist, but there are many things that graphs and measurements can tell us about a headphone without ever hearing it. They can't tell us everything yet. I think that as a result some people take the position "if I like it, then it is good" which is not necessarily the case. It is fine to like a headphone but please do not always assert that your preference is correct or that it makes a headphone good.
Finally I would like to discuss industry insiders place on Head-Fi. We here at Head-fi are very lucky to have such a close relationship with the vendors in our industry. This is a very unique relationship we have as a community and I do not take that lightly. That said there is certainly a contingent of the user base who don't view it as appropriate. Especially when they are giving their personal impressions on a product. It is natural to be skeptical of people who appear to have a financially vested interest in swaying opinions. That said many of our industry insiders act extremely professionally and refuse to comment on products beyond answering technical or directly product related questions. As industry insiders continue to gravitate towards our community it is important that they think critically about presenting their brand in a professional manner. It is in turn natural for our vendors to want to share their impressions on products, they are headphone fans too of course. It is important for them to remember that they are here representing their company in an official capacity and to keep their personal and professional separate by indicating explicitly what is their personal opinion. Another aspect is people who are provided with early access to products. Being open about why they were given that opportunity is important to dispel rumors about potential conflicts of interest. It is even more important for these privileged few to consider the words I wrote above about tempering fervor and being up front about their impressions. I am personally guilty of jumping on a few members for this issue and for that I apologize to them.
Tl;Dr: In conclusion our hobby is facing growing pains right now as traditional audiophile ideas and desire to be diplomatic in criticism meet with new users who are frustrated by often unclear and contradictory impressions turn to objectivity as the only answer to that sort of confusion. I believe that by working together as a community we can come closer to a truth in the middle of the two looming sides in our community of Subjectivism and Objectivism.
First on hype trains. New product launches are exciting, I am someone who gets very excited to hear about new product launches hoping they will redefine their category, or fill a new niche. This same sentiment can lead to to excitement and irrationality in the community. This is perfectly natural and fine, it is when people fail to consider the impact of their hype on others that it becomes problematic. Hype trains that get out of hand lead to a lot of disappointment, and regret ed purchases. I ask that we keep in mind to temper our fervor and keep hyperbole to a minimum when writing impressions for new and anticipated products. But I am particularly concerned about how people can completely gloss over the potential flaws of new products even in the face of evidence that it may not be as great as the community is suggesting it will be. This was particularly apparent with the launch of the new Focal Elear headphones. A $1000 headphone that Head-fi had early access to and even provided frequency response charts for.
Chart borrowed from Currawong
This chart shows both the Focal Utopia and Elear, we will be focusing on just the Elear for now which is represented by the dotted line. If you will notice the frequency response looks rather flat, maybe a tad V shaped, But take a closer look at the scale of the graph. You will notice the 1khz frequency is normalized at 90db this is pretty standard practice. But pay close attention to the line as it approaches the 4khz frequency it begins to dive sharply, at the lowest it reaches a mere 70db. That is a 20 decibel drop! That is extremely large for a frequency region which plays many important roles in reproducing music. The talk around this headphone was largely positive in the thread, with many people making comparisons to the sennheiser hd650 and calling the headphone decidedly warm. Nobody was mentioning anything about how this 4khz canyon will affect the sound of instruments or female vocals, which will tend lack crunchiness or edge as a result. It may also make it sound nasally. This is concerning because of how evident the issue is and many inexperienced users may not notice something like that. This comes with a warning that each measurement rig is different but head-fis is a very well regarded model from Audio Precision. ( I wish they would use it more)
This brings me to my second point. I notice as a trend that we as community members are discouraged from condemning products that are not labeled with the beats or Bose brand. Often the only criticism it feels like I'm allowed to leverage is "it just doesn't suit me." Now I understand that we each hear differently and prioritize different things when considering a headphone but there are times when a product has a serious objective characteristic that is not what would be typically considered "High Fidelity." Again I understand we all hear differently but there is are a lot of studies that show what sort of characteristics are desirable when doing high fidelity sound reproduction. Speakers are further ahead in this regard but there is very promising work coming out of Harman Audio about listening preferences. When there are potential serious objective flaws in a product I think it is prudent for potential buyers to understand that, and that it is fair and important to leverage serious criticism against products that don't stand up to muster. People often criticize with kids gloves potentially for fear of making someone feel bad about their purchase. Despite what I have written to this point I am not a hard line objectivist, but there are many things that graphs and measurements can tell us about a headphone without ever hearing it. They can't tell us everything yet. I think that as a result some people take the position "if I like it, then it is good" which is not necessarily the case. It is fine to like a headphone but please do not always assert that your preference is correct or that it makes a headphone good.
Finally I would like to discuss industry insiders place on Head-Fi. We here at Head-fi are very lucky to have such a close relationship with the vendors in our industry. This is a very unique relationship we have as a community and I do not take that lightly. That said there is certainly a contingent of the user base who don't view it as appropriate. Especially when they are giving their personal impressions on a product. It is natural to be skeptical of people who appear to have a financially vested interest in swaying opinions. That said many of our industry insiders act extremely professionally and refuse to comment on products beyond answering technical or directly product related questions. As industry insiders continue to gravitate towards our community it is important that they think critically about presenting their brand in a professional manner. It is in turn natural for our vendors to want to share their impressions on products, they are headphone fans too of course. It is important for them to remember that they are here representing their company in an official capacity and to keep their personal and professional separate by indicating explicitly what is their personal opinion. Another aspect is people who are provided with early access to products. Being open about why they were given that opportunity is important to dispel rumors about potential conflicts of interest. It is even more important for these privileged few to consider the words I wrote above about tempering fervor and being up front about their impressions. I am personally guilty of jumping on a few members for this issue and for that I apologize to them.
Tl;Dr: In conclusion our hobby is facing growing pains right now as traditional audiophile ideas and desire to be diplomatic in criticism meet with new users who are frustrated by often unclear and contradictory impressions turn to objectivity as the only answer to that sort of confusion. I believe that by working together as a community we can come closer to a truth in the middle of the two looming sides in our community of Subjectivism and Objectivism.
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