Well, since I received no direct response from Mr. Atkinson's personal e-mail after 10 days, I have sent the letter to the general "letters to the editor" addy for possible inclusion in the mag itself. Let's keep our eyes peeled!
Just for completeness sake, here's the slightly ammended text that I just submitted:
Mr. Atkinson,
I am writing to you on behalf of the headphone enthusiast community, in order to bring to your attention what we feel is the incomplete coverage of headphones and headphone-related products in the pages of Stereophile. This e-mail is the result of a discussion that started on
www.head-fi.org ("Headphone Hi-Fi"), the epicenter of headphone geekdom, in which it was noted that Stereophile’s 2002 Recommended Components list for headphones and headphone amplifiers was missing many of the key products that enjoy widespread acclaim among us headphone geeks "in the know". We decided as a group to compose this letter to you to see if we can convince Stereophile to increase its coverage of headphones, and I am acting as a delegate on their behalf in this matter.
This is an exciting time to be a "headphone geek". Largely thanks to
www.head-fi.org, a discussion board and gathering place for headphone enthusiasts with over 3000 registered members (and thousands more "lurkers"), we’ve seen a real "boom" in our hobby. Head-Fi is a wonderful community full of some incredibly knowledgeable and obsessive headphone geeks. The group’s "elders" are always glad to help the newbies, and there is a widespread sense that we have something special there and a level of civility, and dare I say "brotherhood", not often seen on the Web. Many folks (myself included) continue to hang around long after we’ve settled on our headphone system, just to continue to dialog with the friends we’ve made at Head-Fi.
In addition, industrious Members have begun holding local meetings for fellow headphone enthusiasts, organized via a special forum at Head-Fi. Local Members bring all of their headphone-related gear to the meet, enabling others to hear a wide variety of equipment to which they otherwise would have no access. With so much enticing gear at their disposal, these meetings have been known to go on until the crack of dawn the next day! Members then post their impressions of all this gear in "shoot-out" style reviews for the benefit of the community at large. These meetings are increasing in number and frequency as time passes and the hobby grows.
Now that the world has an epicenter for information on headphones in the Head-Fi discussion board, it has become easier for manufacturers to build and market products targeted at the headphone enthusiast. Virtually on a weekly basis, an audio manufacturer announces the availability of a brand new headphone amplifier to help take advantage of the renewed interest in headphones. So far, we’ve documented at least 60 headphone amps, but this list is still by no means complete. There are also a number of hobbyists who have made a side-business of building custom amplifiers for members of Head-Fi, and we also have a very active DIY group that discusses making their own headphone amps. Additionally, cable manufacturers of the calibre of Cardas Cable have introduced replacement cables for the famed Sennheiser HD600. There are currently 3 manufacturers of HD600 replacement cables (Clou Cable, Stephan Audio Art, and Cardas), and some of these manufacturers even have cables for other Sennheiser models and the AKG K1000 as well. Additionally, there are a number of newer headphones that have not been reviewed by Stereophile that enjoy a large constituency among headphone enthusiasts, and we’d sure love to see some more attention paid to these products in your pages.
Why should Stereophile take a larger interest in headphones? Think of headphones as the "gateway drug" into the world of audio. Our membership at Head-Fi, though certainly a diverse group, is made up of a large percentage of younger people (mostly college age) who are just starting out in the audio hobby. For these folks, headphones offer a remarkable value for the dollar and an easy and affordable introduction into the world of hi-fi. Today’s top headphones, paired with today’s top amps, are capable of reproducing sound with amazing fidelity that easily rivals many of the mega-buck speaker-based systems profiled in the pages of Stereophile.
Exposure to the possibilities of high-quality sound reproduction via headphones has literally "blown the minds" of many of these audio newbies, and time and again we have seen these newcomers get bitten by the bug--- hard. Often, they start small with a sub-$100 headphone recommended by our friendly veterans, are amazed at the quality and then graduate to a top-tier set of cans and more and more expensive headphone amps. They then end up tweaking their systems with better cables, tubes, isolation devices, power conditioners and on and on. This sort of conversion happens on a daily basis. These are people who will become life-long audiophiles and audio enthusiasts as a direct result of hearing quality sound reproduction for the first time through headphones. These are the folks that will graduate to bigger and better systems and will form the next generation of Stereophile readers.
That said, we believe passionately that headphoning is a serious end unto itself. We feel that headphone listening is as valid a means of experiencing audio bliss and connecting people to the music as listening through ordinary speakers. A serious headphone freak listens as intently and passionately to his tunes as any speaker-based audiophile. Yes, the headphone experience is quite different from the speaker experience, but in many ways headphones can provide an even more intimate interface with the music, and can become quite addicting in their own right. As an integral part of the audio world, we feel strongly that headphones deserve more coverage in the world’s premier audio publication.
With all this in mind, we would like to humbly suggest a list of headphones and headphone-related equipment that we would like to see profiled in the pages of Stereophile. This list was generated by a discussion among community members. We realize that Stereophile can’t possibly review every single headphone and amp that are "headphone geek approved", so we decided to focus in on the top-tier products that really show what is possible in the world of headphones, and would likely be of most interest to the readers of Stereophile. These are all products that have achieved a wide level of acclaim among headphone enthusiasts. We have deliberately omitted products that are already included on Stereophile Recommended Components List for 2002. As you have seen, we now have a wide variety of products to choose from, so this list truly represents the "crème de la crème".
Headphones:
1. AKG K1000
2. Grado RS-1
3. Sony CD3000
4. Audio-Technica W100
5. Etymotic Research ER4S
Headphone Amplifiers:
1. Sugden Headmaster
2. Earmax Pro
3. Antique Sound Labs Twin Head
4. EAR HP4
5. Berning MicroZOTL
Headphone-Related Products:
1. Sonic Horizons Hurricane headphone extension cable
2. DiMarzio Big Red headphone extension cable
3. Clou Cable Red Jaspis replacement cable for the Sennheiser HD600
4. Cardas Cable replacement cable for the Sennheiser HD600
5. Stefan Audio Art Equinox replacement cable for the Sennheiser HD600
Finally, the membership would also greatly appreciate it if Stereophile’s reviewers were equipped with some of these high-quality cans and were encouraged to review the performance of the headphone jacks on the equipment they review. Very seldom do we see any comments on headphone performance with pre-amps that have a built-in headphone amps/jacks. As you know, quality of built-in headphone amps/jacks varies greatly from product to product depending on how much thought and attention the designer gave to the "headphone problem". It would be of great interest to our community, and also to the general Stereophile readership, if your reviewers could spend a paragraph or two on headphone performance for all products equipped to drive them.
Many Members of our community have signed a petition on the Head-Fi forum in support of expanded headphone coverage in Stereophile.
On behalf of the headphone community I would like to thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. We also invite Stereophile readers to check out our community and investigate the world of headphones.
I will wait until next Wed. for a direct reply from Mr. Atkinson. After that, I will just submit it to the "letters to the Editor" e-mail for potential publication in the magazine.
