project86
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2007
- Posts
- 7,804
- Likes
- 4,377
INTRO
My wife once told me “You know you are an enthusiast when you are spending more on the stands for your speakers than most people would spend on the speakers themselves”. This was in reference to a pair of Usher X-708 mini-monitors, with their matching stands costing around $500. True, there are many decent sub $500 “bookshelf” speakers out there, but that really isn’t the point. I happened to like the way those Ushers looked, and the matching stands really made them even more impressive. I would have been spending a few hundred dollars on a set of quality non matching stands anyway, so it really ended up not being all that extravagant. But I feel like my wife had a good point.
When it comes to headphone storage, things can get a bit rough. For some reason it is considered acceptable for me to have big speakers in the room (as long as they are decent looking), but having headphones lying around is called a mess. Those of you who have spouses or live with family members probably understand what I mean. So you have to put the things away. But where? I certainly don’t have a spare drawer to keep all this stuff in, but if I did it would probably not be in the same room as I intend to use the headphones in. Drawers are usually found in the kitchen, the bedroom, and the bathroom. So that doesn’t work either. What else can we do for headphone storage?
Enter the Headphone Stand. This remarkable invention seems a bit pretentious at first, but when you break down the cost in comparison with speaker stands, it really isn’t bad at all. Those Usher stands were almost half the price of the speakers they held. That’s a bit of an extreme example but if we chose a cheaper set for, say, $250, that would still be nearly 25 percent of the speaker cost. Now imagine you have an HD650, or a K701, or an RS1, or another excellent headphone costing $400-600 or more. What would be a reasonable price for a decent holder that looks nice? I argue that 10-20 percent of the headphone cost is a great budget for a stand. If it looks nice enough you may even be able to store the thing in full view of your family members (gasp!).
The product I’m reviewing here is from a very friendly Ebay seller named Dave Schneider. He uses the name Linear Designs, and sells several very nice looking models of headphone amps and amp/DAC combinations in addition to the headphone stand. He has solid state and tube models, and they go by the name Fournier. I’d love to get a chance to check one of those out, as they seem like a great value but I can’t find any reviews or impressions. I believe they are designed and made by Dave, as is the headphone stand. The stand sells for $30 plus shipping which seems more than fair for a hand crafted item. From what I can find most other headphone stands cost at least this much if not a lot more.
PACKAGING
The item arrived in a box which was well packed with packing peanuts and bubble wrapping. There’s really not much to it, just the stand itself. You don’t need instructions and you don’t get any accessories, which is as it should be.
CONSTRUCTION
According to the seller, the stand is hand made from red oak hardwood with a Tung oil finish. The stand is about 12 inches tall, with a fairly large base at 5 inches by 8 inches. The finish is quite nice. It is well done but also has uniqueness to it, like any hand crafted piece of furniture will. I can see the difference between the wood grain on my stand and the one shown on the Ebay listing. It has a natural finish to it, unlike some other stands I’ve seen which have a more polished, shiny look. Of course the choice comes down to personal preference. I suppose an enterprising décor minded person could always redo the finish on this stand if they felt so inclined.
The stand is completely stable and free of wobbles. Turn it upside down and you’ll find a felt pad at each corner of the base, which serves to protect any delicate surface you might place the stand on. There is one part that is not made of wood; a black metal piece mounted along the main riser portion. The seller calls this a “cable cleat” and it is there to help keep your cable from hanging all over the place. I find it to be a great idea. At first I thought the black was out of place but after wrapping a cable around it the choice of black makes perfect sense.
USE
It’s hard to put into words how a set of headphones fits on the stand, but pictures show it quite clearly. There is a “stub” on the end of the mount to prevent the headphones from being able to slide off. The top area should be big enough for almost any set of cans out there. Of all the models currently at my house, my heavily modded JVC HA-RX700 has the largest headband portion and it fits fine. The only things that come to mind as potentially too large are the Sony Qualia 010 and the SA5000/3000/1000 series with their enormous head bands. Of these I’ve only personally owned the SA5000 and if I remember correctly, I think it would be too big. It might fit by sitting in a farther back position but it wouldn’t be ideal.
Other than that the stand can accommodate all the usual suspects just fine. Sennheiser HD580/600/650, AKG K702, Beyerdynamic DT880, Ultrasone Edition 8, Audio Technica W2002, Grado SR325, and several others all fit just fine. For smaller models like Sennheiser PX100 and Koss Portapro, you can actually fit a few at the same time. I’ve even started wrapping a set of IEMs around the “stub” and that works well too. The stand feels sturdy enough to hold anything you could possibly throw at it, and look sharp while doing it too.
It handles the ~12 foot cable from the RX700 just fine:
Can fit a very large headband:
Look what my wife let me do!
CONLUSION
It’s kind of silly to write a review of a headphone stand. But we are “enthusiasts” and that’s the sort of thing we do. I’ve certainly seen stranger topics around here (audiophile rubber bands?!?!?) so I don’t feel too weird. Basically the pictures speak for themselves. This is a nice product at a reasonable price, hand crafted by a friendly fellow headphone enthusiast. It has a unique cable organization method that I have not seen on other products. What’s not to like? Plus my wife will let me use this to keep a set of headphones right out in the open. That’s never happened in my house before and I’m very excited about it.
I know this forum is mostly filled with cable discussions and other potentially far-out tweaks. But it is for “accessories” so I figured this was the best place to post. Please correct me if I am wrong.
These are pics from the seller, I like them so I'm posting them. As you can see he is a headphone fan:
My wife once told me “You know you are an enthusiast when you are spending more on the stands for your speakers than most people would spend on the speakers themselves”. This was in reference to a pair of Usher X-708 mini-monitors, with their matching stands costing around $500. True, there are many decent sub $500 “bookshelf” speakers out there, but that really isn’t the point. I happened to like the way those Ushers looked, and the matching stands really made them even more impressive. I would have been spending a few hundred dollars on a set of quality non matching stands anyway, so it really ended up not being all that extravagant. But I feel like my wife had a good point.
When it comes to headphone storage, things can get a bit rough. For some reason it is considered acceptable for me to have big speakers in the room (as long as they are decent looking), but having headphones lying around is called a mess. Those of you who have spouses or live with family members probably understand what I mean. So you have to put the things away. But where? I certainly don’t have a spare drawer to keep all this stuff in, but if I did it would probably not be in the same room as I intend to use the headphones in. Drawers are usually found in the kitchen, the bedroom, and the bathroom. So that doesn’t work either. What else can we do for headphone storage?
Enter the Headphone Stand. This remarkable invention seems a bit pretentious at first, but when you break down the cost in comparison with speaker stands, it really isn’t bad at all. Those Usher stands were almost half the price of the speakers they held. That’s a bit of an extreme example but if we chose a cheaper set for, say, $250, that would still be nearly 25 percent of the speaker cost. Now imagine you have an HD650, or a K701, or an RS1, or another excellent headphone costing $400-600 or more. What would be a reasonable price for a decent holder that looks nice? I argue that 10-20 percent of the headphone cost is a great budget for a stand. If it looks nice enough you may even be able to store the thing in full view of your family members (gasp!).
The product I’m reviewing here is from a very friendly Ebay seller named Dave Schneider. He uses the name Linear Designs, and sells several very nice looking models of headphone amps and amp/DAC combinations in addition to the headphone stand. He has solid state and tube models, and they go by the name Fournier. I’d love to get a chance to check one of those out, as they seem like a great value but I can’t find any reviews or impressions. I believe they are designed and made by Dave, as is the headphone stand. The stand sells for $30 plus shipping which seems more than fair for a hand crafted item. From what I can find most other headphone stands cost at least this much if not a lot more.
PACKAGING
The item arrived in a box which was well packed with packing peanuts and bubble wrapping. There’s really not much to it, just the stand itself. You don’t need instructions and you don’t get any accessories, which is as it should be.
CONSTRUCTION
According to the seller, the stand is hand made from red oak hardwood with a Tung oil finish. The stand is about 12 inches tall, with a fairly large base at 5 inches by 8 inches. The finish is quite nice. It is well done but also has uniqueness to it, like any hand crafted piece of furniture will. I can see the difference between the wood grain on my stand and the one shown on the Ebay listing. It has a natural finish to it, unlike some other stands I’ve seen which have a more polished, shiny look. Of course the choice comes down to personal preference. I suppose an enterprising décor minded person could always redo the finish on this stand if they felt so inclined.
The stand is completely stable and free of wobbles. Turn it upside down and you’ll find a felt pad at each corner of the base, which serves to protect any delicate surface you might place the stand on. There is one part that is not made of wood; a black metal piece mounted along the main riser portion. The seller calls this a “cable cleat” and it is there to help keep your cable from hanging all over the place. I find it to be a great idea. At first I thought the black was out of place but after wrapping a cable around it the choice of black makes perfect sense.
USE
It’s hard to put into words how a set of headphones fits on the stand, but pictures show it quite clearly. There is a “stub” on the end of the mount to prevent the headphones from being able to slide off. The top area should be big enough for almost any set of cans out there. Of all the models currently at my house, my heavily modded JVC HA-RX700 has the largest headband portion and it fits fine. The only things that come to mind as potentially too large are the Sony Qualia 010 and the SA5000/3000/1000 series with their enormous head bands. Of these I’ve only personally owned the SA5000 and if I remember correctly, I think it would be too big. It might fit by sitting in a farther back position but it wouldn’t be ideal.
Other than that the stand can accommodate all the usual suspects just fine. Sennheiser HD580/600/650, AKG K702, Beyerdynamic DT880, Ultrasone Edition 8, Audio Technica W2002, Grado SR325, and several others all fit just fine. For smaller models like Sennheiser PX100 and Koss Portapro, you can actually fit a few at the same time. I’ve even started wrapping a set of IEMs around the “stub” and that works well too. The stand feels sturdy enough to hold anything you could possibly throw at it, and look sharp while doing it too.
It handles the ~12 foot cable from the RX700 just fine:
Can fit a very large headband:
Look what my wife let me do!
CONLUSION
It’s kind of silly to write a review of a headphone stand. But we are “enthusiasts” and that’s the sort of thing we do. I’ve certainly seen stranger topics around here (audiophile rubber bands?!?!?) so I don’t feel too weird. Basically the pictures speak for themselves. This is a nice product at a reasonable price, hand crafted by a friendly fellow headphone enthusiast. It has a unique cable organization method that I have not seen on other products. What’s not to like? Plus my wife will let me use this to keep a set of headphones right out in the open. That’s never happened in my house before and I’m very excited about it.
I know this forum is mostly filled with cable discussions and other potentially far-out tweaks. But it is for “accessories” so I figured this was the best place to post. Please correct me if I am wrong.
These are pics from the seller, I like them so I'm posting them. As you can see he is a headphone fan:
