[Edwood]

That pic of the Carerra GT makes me think it would've looked really nice if they made a kevlar weave instead of the stainless steel mesh. The light yellow color would be a nice color break, and functional too in absorbing resonance.

-Ed

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greggf /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've pre-ordered the HD800, and I have no problem with the money end of it. My complaint is, Why can't it look as good as it sounds? Let's face it, it looks High Prole, designed to appeal to a demographic that's well below its apparent sound quality.

Quite the contrary.
A proletarian design would be the simple functionality of a beyer, Denon D2/5/7K or thus-far typical senheiser, who the **** cares? They are oval (circular) utilitarian orbs to put over your ears. you can tell that these are new because they say HD-651 rathern than HD-650 yawn....

In the wealthy markets, people will be buying these BECAUSE they look different and someone somewhere said they were the best. For many of them the simple fact that someone will walk into their apartment/house and say "hey, those headphones look weird, whats their story" would be worth $2000 for ibud sound. I suppose they have the money to get the same wow from a $10k turntable and 2 albums, but you get the point. Fortunately for those of us who will actually listen to the gear these have an honest chance of backing up their looks with SQ. Nobody cares that the other guys sword was shinier when he is dead on yours.

They do back their funky looks with reasonable reasons for doing it that way. Like the qualia, I seriously doubt that they started with a look they wanted and designed the headphone around it.

In the quest to make a marketing statement there has not been another headphone product that has stirred the pot this well and achieved this much free press on these boards in ages. In some ways its better to do something unconventional. maybe 6 people on these boards have HEARD it, and you are not even close to alone for pre-ordering it im sure...
Quote:

Originally Posted by greggf /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why can't these small-to-middling audio companies hire decent industrial designers?

Who is bigger than senheiser and still willing to COMPETE (not just exist in the proletarian who the **** cares realm) in this $1000 or more arena? Please dont count other buisness (microphones, turntables, phono carts, etc) jsut headphones.

Stax has indicated an honest desire to COMPETE here. omega, omega2, a couple others.
Grado has put up a few good attempts. Hp-1000 family, PS-1, GS-1000 (kind of)
Sony has put a few good headphones in (010 and R10)
AKG gave us the K1000
Senheiser had the HE-90, but has not had a dynamic that can look at the other DYNAMICS in ages. sorry, but no. They have made consistently nice and "safe" dynamic cans that are designed to sell all day long and sound good on a variety of systems, but no real statement dynamic.

 

[Edwood]

The HD800 ear cups do have plenty of space for crotching.

 

[davidhunternyc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kukrisna /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah but he also said that if they sound super great that he'd consider taking the plunge despite the plastic

Thanks Kukrisna for coming to my aid when I needed it. Of course I would take the plunge despite the plastic on the HD800 if it truly is indeed a new reference headphone. I also do not think that this post or any other of my comments are complaining or whining as some have noted. What I said in my opening post still contains every thought and feeling I have about the HD800 and my opinion can not be swayed. What is nice about Head-Fi is that we can all talk about these issues and I for one am grateful that others have noticed and concur with my opinions on this topic. I also respect those that do not agree with me and have questioned my judgement. When thinking about this topic today I thought of the Sony R10. I think that most of us here on this forum are in agreement that this was truly a reference headphone and we can only hope that the HD800 will compare favorably. In addition to the R10's incomparable sound quality, I have yet to read or hear questions about its build quality and material construction. I have only heard the opposite. Sony went the extra mile by not only making a headphone that sounded great but Sony also pushed the envelope from the magnesium frame down to the leather headphone case it came in. Yes, I already see the protests coming, mainly that it was so much more expensive than the HD800. It seems very obvious to me the Sennheiser has tried to make the very best headphone possible while at the same time, they tried to offer it at a price point that is relatively affordable. With this, there had to be compromises. I understand. What I don't understand is the choices they made. I believe they could have made the same brilliant headphone at the same price point and still use materials more befitting of its class.

Oh, and to address the title of this thread. Yes, I did change it. One of my posts that I made compared silver painted plastic to acid-washed jeans. I not only got a good laugh out of this but the more I thought about it, the more I thought this was absolutely true and it stuck in my mind like glue. So I thought that this would be a good title for this thread. I am hoping that some find it humorous but I believe it too.

 

[arnaud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by powertoold /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, it's not that simple. You may not physically feel the vibrations, but they may cause resonance in the earcup. For example, if you've ever put your head in a large metal bin and said something, you'll hear resonances / yourself echoing, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's a resonance of the voice in an open cavity. What what does it have to do with the frames vibrating on a headphone?

Well, the example may not be the best but that's the general idea: if the frame vibrates because of the driver, you're likely to hear that in the response of the headphone.

Now, try for yourself to feel the ringing of bare sheet metal versus that of any plastic material. Plastic is naturally much more damped than metal so it is of interest for such kind of application. The more damped the frame, the less likely it is to ruin all the efforts you made to control the response of the driver...

Note that it has NOTHING to do with the level at which you play the music... The frame will get structurally excited by the driver's motion, no matter what the level. And it will respond in turns by vibrating, that's physics... The frame will vibrate much less than the driver itself, but still it may be enough to affect key things such as ... the transient response of the headphones for example.., And guess what... From the early comments, these cans appear to do with well with transients, as if..., as if Sennheiser really did control spurious resonances... So their brochure may not all be mumbo jumbo after all

.

My guess is that the hunt for minimizing resonances along with the additional weight of an all metal headphone along with much higher cost of milling a block of say aluminum to carve out the frame versus a molded process basically justifies the use of plastic. USD1400 is NOT that high when considering the huge R&D and marketing cost behind this can so it's likely they had to remain somewhat reasonable in their design choices. Somebody else said they very well chose their price target and I agree with this... It is about the sweet spot for the high end headphones (that is, before we convince ourselves we need to pay as much for a piece of wire with nice plugs and insulation).

Finally, even though the housing is plastic, not as noble a material as exotic metals, from looking up close it really does not look bad. At least, it seems to look better than plastics used in other headphones, including HD6X0.

arnaud

 

[davidhunternyc]

Hmmm, interesting. Ultrasone is also releasing its Edition 8 at the same price point as the HD800. I most certainly have design issues with the Edition 8's (along with the HD800) but I don't have an issue with the build quality or materials. I wonder why?

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidhunternyc /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmmm, interesting. Ultrasone is also releasing its Edition 8 at the same price point as the HD800. I most certainly have design issues with the Edition 8's (along with the HD800) but I don't have an issue with the build quality or materials. I wonder why?

The only piece that is missing is the sound quality.

 

[davidhunternyc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif The only piece that is missing is the sound quality.

Yes, that is quite a big piece. We will have to wait and see.

 

[some1x]

Edition 8 looks gaudy compared to HD800.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by some1x /img/forum/go_quote.gif Edition 8 looks gaudy compared to HD800.

Would have to agree!
I think the Edition 8 looks quite nice. But its no match against the HD800 imo...

 

[Lil' Knight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by some1x /img/forum/go_quote.gif Edition 8 looks gaudy compared to HD800.

Wearing them looks like having 2 pillows on your head.

 

[davidhunternyc]

I am not really impressed with the looks of the Edition 8 either. The only point I believe is that that made a $1500 headphone without silver painted plastic. Someone said that the hinges were made with plastic and someone else said that the hinges were made with metal? Does anyone know? At least Ultrasone believed they could make quality headphones without the need to use plastic to "control unwanted resonances".

 

[jirams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnaud /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...........My guess is that the hunt for minimizing resonances along with the additional weight of an all metal headphone along with much higher cost of milling a block of say aluminum to carve out the frame versus a molded process basically justifies the use of plastic. USD1400 is NOT that high when considering the huge R&D and marketing cost behind this can so it's likely they had to remain somewhat reasonable in their design choices. Somebody else said they very well chose their price target and I agree with this... It is about the sweet spot for the high end headphones (that is, before we convince ourselves we need to pay as much for a piece of wire with nice plugs and insulation). Finally, even though the housing is plastic, not as noble a material as exotic metals, from looking up close it really does not look bad. At least, it seems to look better than plastics used in other headphones, including HD6X0. arnaud

Toooooo expensive - would be produced by pressure die-casting.

 

[subtle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidhunternyc /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmmm, interesting. Ultrasone is also releasing its Edition 8 at the same price point as the HD800. I most certainly have design issues with the Edition 8's (along with the HD800) but I don't have an issue with the build quality or materials. I wonder why?

How do you not? So chrome colored plastic is cool with you but silver colored isn't?

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif Quite the contrary. A proletarian design would be the simple functionality of a beyer, Denon D2/5/7K or thus-far typical senheiser, who the **** cares? They are oval (circular) utilitarian orbs to put over your ears. you can tell that these are new because they say HD-651 rathern than HD-650 yawn....

I think greggf might be using "high prole" more in the vein of "Class" by Paul Fussell, though I don't mean to speak for greggf...even though I just did.