[Shane D]

The worst is when one gleans the advice, counsel, experience of a mom & pop seller only to make the purchase with a ‘big box’ / ‘online’ operator …

That is what killed me. It took a lot of time to close sales on fitness equipment. Half an hour to an hour or more walking a guy through all the gear. Then he would bring his wife in days later and I would try to close them. And for some pretty large deals.
But then they started hesitating and saying, "Give us the weekend to think about it".

And then I either never heard from them again or they would call/email me and say that they found it for a better price online. Then they would say I could match it if I wanted the sale.

And that was the beginning of the end...

 

[chesebert]

The same way audiophiles killed all (most) the hifi dealers in the states.

 

[haasaaroni]

My HD 600 got here yesterday, and man, compared with the 660S2 and 6XX, it really does classical guitar timbre justice! My favorite players sound like themselves. Finally.

However, it's also making me realize the limitations of the 600 and 650 compared with the 660S2. The 660S2 is a little more closed in compared to the stage the other two gain from my Pendant, but the punch, clarity, and specificity of the imaging definitely feel like they’re on another level. The sound is more immediate, with none of that "veil" I even get from the HD 600, which sounds like everything is at a slight distance.

But unfortunately, I'm a classical guitar tone nut, and I really want to take advantage of this giant tube amp. So the HD 600 it is for me

 

[RoninChaos]

Amazon said they won't be offering free returns starting next year, just think of the billions they lose from returns each year.

Citation needed.

@ericpalonen i checked the site and couldn’t find the HD660s2 cable for sale in the USA and couldn’t find IE900 ear tips either. Any suggestions on where I could pick both of these up?

 

[DAPpower]

Citation needed.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amaz...etails-laissez-faire-era-fades-165232419.html

https://www.axios.com/2023/04/14/amazon-return-ups-fee-free-returns


Maybe it's already in effect this year or later this year.

 

[Luckyleo]

From my point of view, the exact opposite has happened. I have been following that thread (NDH 30) almost from the start. I must say that it is strange to read after 180+ pages of so many users' impressions, that sample size of users is inadequate (!)
It is something else that is very striking and calls for an open-minded interpretation: there is no other similar thread in Head-Fi, not one, where impressions for a headphone are so consistently and unanimous enthusiastic - and long lasting. The percentage of acclaim among real users approaches 95-100%. Opinions do not change after a few weeks or months, as happens with inferior sounding headphones. Any interesting comparisons are not made with, say, 109 or 6## anymore but directly with TOTL headphones. This does not devaluate similarly priced headphones but highlights the true value of a brilliant piece of modern design and technology, priced sensibly (its biggest crime or con).
But enough with words, let the music flow and see (hear) for yourself if possible. (Cable on the Right).

I understand your thoughts and don't mean to start something, but 180 + pages represent at most 400-500 individuals, and probably much much less..... It merely represents an enthusiastic, very small subset, of overall headphone aficionados. That being said, they may be 100% correct in their enthusiasm. My point was directed to people new to head-fi who may be sucked into the whirlwind of positive reviews and find that with their hearing, their sound preferences, their head size, their home setup (just some of the variables) the results may not be optimized for the same results as many on this thread.....

Regardless, enjoy the music!

 

[Rob80b]

Related.........
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/beyond-the-curve-an-audiophile-youtube-series.969084/

 

[chesebert]

I understand your thoughts and don't mean to start something, but 180 + pages represent at most 400-500 individuals, and probably much much less..... It merely represents an enthusiastic, very small subset, of overall headphone aficionados. That being said, they may be 100% correct in their enthusiasm. My point was directed to people new to head-fi who may be sucked into the whirlwind of positive reviews and find that with their hearing, their sound preferences, their head size, their home setup (just some of the variables) the results may not be optimized for the same results as many on this thread.....

Regardless, enjoy the music!

enthusiastic hobbyists are what this place was all about. Now we have more enthusiastic box pushers, YouTubers and influencers

 

[Thomasr]

I wish Amazon would just go through their system and mark the folks who do multiple returns and ding them with fees that will discourage the behaviour.

Costco has a similar problem: a generous return policy that selfish people take advantage of. I was at my local warehouse a few weeks back and as I was leaving I saw someone wheeling a big flatbed cart full of folding chairs to the returns desk - must have been 20-30 chairs, all of which were missing the cardboard tag/packaging and there was a single example of the packaging sitting loosely on top of the stack.

It was plainly obvious this customer bought a few dozen chairs to host some kind of big gathering, and was now returning them after the fact. Whether it's Costco or Amazon I'm not wired that way, but clearly lots of people are. Personally I think these retailers should be a lot quicker to cut off bad customers entirely ... "We're terribly sorry our products repeatedly fail to meet your high expectations. Effective immediately we are refunding your annual fee and cancelling your membership. We wish you the best of luck meeting your future retail needs elsewhere."

 

[Shane D]

Costco has a similar problem: a generous return policy that selfish people take advantage of. I was at my local warehouse a few weeks back and as I was leaving I saw someone wheeling a big flatbed cart full of folding chairs to the returns desk - must have been 20-30 chairs, all of which were missing the cardboard tag/packaging and there was a single example of the packaging sitting loosely on top of the stack.

It was plainly obvious this customer bought a few dozen chairs to host some kind of big gathering, and was now returning them after the fact. Whether it's Costco or Amazon I'm not wired that way, but clearly lots of people are. Personally I think these retailers should be a lot quicker to cut off bad customers entirely ... "We're terribly sorry our products repeatedly fail to meet your high expectations. Effective immediately we are refunding your annual fee and cancelling your membership. We wish you the best of luck meeting your future retail needs elsewhere."

And Costco has bigger problems. I found out years ago from a friend in Chicago that Costco only has a 13% margin. I thought was awfully low, but their volume is in the billions. Then I hear recently that 100% of their profit comes from membership fees. And people are lending their membership cards to friends and family. So now Costco is going to start clamping down on people using cards they do not own (I would have thought this was always the policy?).
Same with people sharing Netflix log-ins.
A lot of people are cheap and sleazy by nature.

 

[Rob80b]

enthusiastic hobbyists are what this place was all about.

Been using headphones since the early 70's but even in 2003, thanks to the internet, the headphone enthusiasts were just starting to come out of the woodwork with our cherished..AKG K501, Sennheiser HD580/600, Grado 225, 325, RS and a few others.....Beyerdynamic..etc.
20 years later...dozens upon dozens of headphones have come and gone and here we are still discussing (arguing over) the latest 600 series, lol.

 

[RoninChaos]

Costco has a similar problem: a generous return policy that selfish people take advantage of. I was at my local warehouse a few weeks back and as I was leaving I saw someone wheeling a big flatbed cart full of folding chairs to the returns desk - must have been 20-30 chairs, all of which were missing the cardboard tag/packaging and there was a single example of the packaging sitting loosely on top of the stack.

It was plainly obvious this customer bought a few dozen chairs to host some kind of big gathering, and was now returning them after the fact. Whether it's Costco or Amazon I'm not wired that way, but clearly lots of people are. Personally I think these retailers should be a lot quicker to cut off bad customers entirely ... "We're terribly sorry our products repeatedly fail to meet your high expectations. Effective immediately we are refunding your annual fee and cancelling your membership. We wish you the best of luck meeting your future retail needs elsewhere."

This is not specific to Costco or the example you gave (that dude is an asshole) but I do wonder if some of the behavior discussed in this thread revolves around how cheaply made and how disposable most products seem to be today. One of the reasons I have stuck with Sennheiser over the years is I’ve had two issues with their products over the last 20 years. I can’t really say that for any other companies except apple and yeti, frankly.

I wonder sometimes if the ease of e-commerce has also allowed cheaply made disposable crap to flood the marketplace and that results in the return rate we see. Especially with Amazon. Do any of you see the things Amazon puts up as “sales” in their daily email? More often than not there are companies with names that make no sense. Yesterday I saw one with nothing but consonants as its name. Amazon really has only themselves to blame for such a huge rate of return when half the website feels like a Chinese flea market. And their attitude towards their products sold reflects that. That’s why some of you have received items that were opened and swapped out. Amazon doesn’t care because people will ALWAYS buy more crap they don’t need if it’s CHEAP. And so many people enabled it that there is no going back. Mom and pop shops have all but practically closed up because of Amazon.

 

[csch92]

who is using the s2 for heavy metal/rock? i am so stunned how clear and distortion free they sound. i never heard an electric guitar so clear and i can sense what the bass is doing in the backround i enjoy these cans every second i use them

 

[RoninChaos]

Got my newbies today. My EIGHTH pair of Sennheiser headphones! Hopefully I have finally found a keeper.

Where is that cable from, if you don’t mind my asking?

 

[Shane D]

Where is that cable from, if you don’t mind my asking?

No problem at all. I use Hart modular cables. All the amps are wired already. I just need to buy the cable required. 3.5mm covers quite a bit, but there are also six other cables required.

My "pre-wired" amps at the ready: