[Hutnicks]

No I don't think he does.
I would love to be able to demo any headphone that might potentially interest me rather than having to rely on impressions of others, though usually mostly accurate.
Nonetheless, we all hear differently.
There were never many specialized hi-fi stores around here anyways but it'd be brilliant.

The funny thing here is I am seeing a decline in hi fi stores but an increase in headphone specific shops. That would make me hope that the return of the Demo is imminent. Be a shame for the "Buy before you try" attitude to permeate an emergent audio venue.
 

  I think the main reason it takes a little while to sense whether a headphone is really for you or not is that you have to have enough time for your head to develop its "fuzzy filters" for that headphone. That just takes time. 

 
I think this could almost be a thread of it's own. "How do you think headphones should be sold?"

 

[Maxx134]

It'll be a while. I will review it though, I do like it. It's a little polite, but it's yummy.

Haha there it is in a nutshell

Here is a modern digital recording of Bach's 4th Brandenburg Concerto 1st movement... Segiswald Kuijken / La Petite Band (just happened to be sitting on my desk). This is an Apple Lossless file. The first minute and a half or so is the track as recorded. The second half is only the sound above around 12.5Khz. What do you hear?

http://www.vintageip.com/test/freqresponsetest.m4a

What do I hear?
I hear a dull monophonic track.
NO instruments of high frequencies like a cymbal..
NO ambience
NO air or Spacial cues in the recording.

Really?

Then I hear next to nothing but spit of some crakle treble in second half.
Yeah wow, so what does that prove?

This only proves...
Absolutely NOTHING, ZERO, NADA..

Except maybe that you are kinda stubborn, using a *dull mono* track in your favor,
Edit:
I omitted sentence for not being nice!

A better test would be to omit the sound above 12.5 kHz at that point since there were arguments about those frequencies affecting the sound of instruments.

Exactly correct.

Edit: I have done so here:

This was a popular song called "happy" by Pharrell Williams..

The excessive high trebles is actually a norm in popular music.
This was 12.5Khz and up, with rest of spectrum reduced 24db.
I herd alot of ear piercing sharp glassy hissy sounds..
But it had the rhythm and pace of the music..

Then:
Did same at higher frequency.
Bare spittle and high rhythmic whine came from 15.2k up..
Pretty sure this trebles area constitutes the perceptual concept of "air" to the brain...

Anyway,
I have even adjusted using the pm1 on my recently acquired Voxengo EQ Addon to my foobar,
And I much prefer the PM1 with EQ treble boost to compliment the nice honey mids .

I never was an EQ person but since oppo has the grand idea to make this a smooth can,
I am forced to EQ to get my fix of extra sweetness in trebles. .
Oh well

 

[zilch0md]

  Here is a modern digital recording of Bach's 4th Brandenburg Concerto 1st movement... Segiswald Kuijken / La Petite Band (just happened to be sitting on my desk). This is an Apple Lossless file. The first minute and a half or so is the track as recorded. The second half is only the sound above around 12.5Khz. What do you hear?
 
http://www.vintageip.com/test/freqresponsetest.m4a

 
My annual trip to the audiologist about three weeks ago showed my age-induced treble roll-off doesn't start kicking in until 15kHz, but I can't hear anything in that test file past the half-way point, using the HA-1 > PM-1 with balanced cables. 
 
That would lend creedance to your contention, bigshot, and my seat-of-the-pants belief is that you are right. 
 
But then I scratch my head when looking at these screen shots I made, analyzing the frequencies recorded in some HDTracks 96/24 downloads:
 

 

 

 

 

 
Even these last two make-believe 96 kHz recordings (above), that are really at 44.1 kHz, have significant density above 12.5kHz.
 
All I know with certainty is that the Senn HD800, AKG K550, and Beyer T1 have all been too bright for my tastes (with most DACs and amps), where the PM-1 is just right, and the LCD-2 rev.1 is a wee bit dark - but far more acceptable than the brightness of those first three phones, I've listed here.
 
Mike

 

[HiFiAudio]

   
I'd sooner have someone take a month to evaluate, knowing they have a thorough knowledge and experience, rather than posting a review after 10 minutes of listening.
 
 
So how would you know for sure if a headphone sounds right for you? It used to be easy where you could go to a hi-fi shop and demo. Now you have to gather information and take a chance.

Good points, yes we know some people discussing their impressions/comparisons of a spending a few minutes listening experience from a meet for example or expo, aren't as accurate as someone that spends several days with the same headphone.  You want to try this with your own gear, and audio library for comparisons and tests.   I sorely miss hi-fi shop where you could try out/demo as much as you like before a purchase, chains that carry headphones seem pre deposed that buyer doesn't need much in that manner, maybe press a button and hear several looped terrible quality audio samples.  For the high-end crowd we are limited to taking a chance based on comments in forums, or how we accept the promotional information from the headphone vendor.  The marketplace could use a real change IMHO.
 

  The funny thing here is I am seeing a decline in hi fi stores but an increase in headphone specific shops. That would make me hope that the return of the Demo is imminent. Be a shame for the "Buy before you try" attitude to permeate an emergent audio venue.
 
I think this could almost be a thread of it's own. "How do you think headphones should be sold?"

Yes it could be a thread of its own.  I like that we have more vendors that sell directly to customer online at least.  Would love to have more stores in the SF bay area that was headphone specific and carry more expensive headphones.  Need a change from stores that predominantly sell HDTV's, or just home installations.   I believe you can visit Oppo locally and they will have a listening area with other headphones for PM-1 customers. 

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Haha there it is in a nutshell

 
Sweet! I guess I can cross it off my list and move on to something else.
 

 

[zilch0md]

   
Sweet! I guess I can cross it off my list and move on to something else.
 

 
LOL!   We want the loooooong version!  And we will waaaaaait for it!  

 

[Claritas]

  Good points, yes we know some people discussing their impressions/comparisons of a spending a few minutes listening experience from a meet for example or expo, aren't as accurate as someone that spends several days with the same headphone. [...]

 
I can try something for half an hour in relatively quiet conditions and find out most of what I'm interested in knowing. I've seen this "argument" used elsewhere by owners to try to discredit criticism of their favorite and stave off a mini-identity-crisis.

 

[HiFiAudio]

   
I can try something for half an hour in relatively quiet conditions and find out most of what I'm interested in knowing. I've seen this "argument" used elsewhere by owners to try to discredit criticism of their favorite and stave off a mini-identity-crisis.

See you just pointed out why this separate discussion could be a thread on to its own.

 

 

[Claritas]

  See you just pointed out why this separate discussion could be a thread on to its own.

 

 
There are already too many god damn PM-1 threads!

 

[zilch0md]

He didn't have anything to do with it.  

 

[bigshot]

Even these last two make-believe 96 kHz recordings (above), that are really at 44.1 kHz, have significant density above 12.5kHz.

I'm sure that there are recordings with information up at the fuzzy edge of human hearing and beyond, and I'm sure that information can be measured and put on graphs in nice bright colors. What I'm not convinced of is that when listening with human ears, any of those super high frequencies mean jack diddly to music. It's really hard to get the frequencies you can really hear balanced. That''s a huge accomplishment. Worrying about theoretical specs seems like a waste of time for me.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

I think you need to get to a meet and listen to a bunch of really good gear.

 

[bigshot]

I listen to really good music. Gear is just a means to an end. If it delivers the sound quality I want... flat response throughout the core frequencies, no audible distortion, good dynamics, etc... I'm happy. I have that with my speaker rig. Now that I have the Oppo cans, I have it in headphones too. All that's left after that is to listen to music.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Okay. Enjoy!

 

[Beagle]

I have even adjusted using the pm1 on my recently acquired Voxengo EQ Addon to my foobar,
And I much prefer the PM1 with EQ treble boost to compliment the nice honey mids .
 

 
Maybe you should try another headphone? The PM-1 was not designed for your tastes if you have to spoil it with EQ......friggin' digital world