[bigshot]

  I just ordered the HOT.  If it does not perform as claimed, I will check back in on this thread.

 
This is why I said earlier that it is important to do research before you buy. Everything anyone needs to know is laid out for them on the internet. But if someone refuses to make the slightest effort to become an informed consumer, they're at the mercy of expectation bias. This sort of intellectual laziness is what all kinds of business techniques are based on... Get a free 30 day subscription! But if you forget to cancel, we bill your credit card and you can't contest the charge. 30 day money back guarantee! Unless you catch a cold and can't make it to the post office in time. Claiming you need a week of burn in and counting the time in shipping into the return window helps make the transactions stick too.

 

[kevin gilmore]

in the same way that a bybee can ever so slightly change the sound of
large inefficient speakers by adding .025 ohms which will slightly change
the damping factor and a number of other parameters
 
the HOT can ever so slightly change the sound of headphones due
to the addition of something like .01 ohms.
 
so maybe if you listen long enough, you might be able to hear a difference.
but the statistics are not going to be in your favor.
 
In any case, you can make one yourself out of neutrik parts for about $15

 

[bigshot]

Inaudible differences are inaudible. Just because a microscopic difference can be measured, it doesn't mean that someone somewhere can hear it. The Princess and the Pea is called a fairy tale for a good reason.

 

[LarryK2]

No science here - only subjective opinion from a professional cellist.  I auditioned the HOT for a week - LCD 3 and Senn 650.  I found the following:  slightly expanded sound stage, less congestion in very complex orchestral passages and a livelier sound.  I did not purchase the HOT because I thought the differences were not quite worth $300.  I must say I miss it and may well buy one if the price comes down a bit.  There was more improvement in the LCD 3 than the 650s.  My wife (who is not a very critical listener) had a preference for both headphones with the HOT.  I identified the musical excerpts as only A and B (not with and without the HOT). Associated equipment: Mac w/ Amarra - Mapleshade USB to SPDIF - Mapleshade digital cable - Yulong D18 - Morrow MA4 - Woo upgraded WA6.
 
Just my .02.

 

[limpidglitch]

  No science here - only subjective opinion from a professional cellist.  I auditioned the HOT for a week - LCD 3 and Senn 650.  I found the following:  slightly expanded sound stage, less congestion in very complex orchestral passages and a livelier sound.  I did not purchase the HOT because I thought the differences were not quite worth $300.  I must say I miss it and may well buy one if the price comes down a bit.  There was more improvement in the LCD 3 than the 650s.  My wife (who is not a very critical listener) had a preference for both headphones with the HOT.  I identified the musical excerpts as only A and B (not with and without the HOT). Associated equipment: Mac w/ Amarra - Mapleshade USB to SPDIF - Mapleshade digital cable - Yulong D18 - Morrow MA4 - Woo upgraded WA6.
 
Just my .02.

 
If the price is of such high concern, why not make one yourself?
 
All you need is a jack, a plug, three wires, some foil, a pinch of sand and a dab of solder paste, et voilà! Your very own DIY HOT.

 

[bigshot]

I think it's time to post the pictures again. There is nothing inside the HOT that could possibly make it sound like anything at all. It is completely useless.
 

 

[limpidglitch]

 
Because he wants to believe in the magic.  He can't put the special SR magic in a DIY version.  Even if its placebo he has a point.  Him doing it won't sound the same as buying the legitimate item for real money from an established company.  His money buys him sound quality in such a case even if it doesn't.

 
But DIY brings its own powerful expectation bias and rose tinted glasses.
Just think about all those first timers slapping together a kit, listening to it for the first time, and instantly extolling it's unsurpassed virtues.
Even IKEA furniture looks a lot prettier if you've spent a considerable amount of blood, sweat and tears putting it together.

 

[esldude]

   
But DIY brings its own powerful expectation bias and rose tinted glasses.
Just think about all those first timers slapping together a kit, listening to it for the first time, and instantly extolling it's unsurpassed virtues.
Even IKEA furniture looks a lot prettier if you've spent a considerable amount of blood, sweat and tears putting it together.

For some people yes, for some people no.  They don't have that experience and until they do will assume manufactured goods are likely better than their own efforts.  One of those cases where either side you fall on you have some built in expectations for good things to happen. 

 

[Steve Eddy]

UPDATE: My friend has received the second HOT unit for electrical testing.

se

 

[Billheiser]

No science here - only subjective opinion from a professional cellist.  I auditioned the HOT for a week - LCD 3 and Senn 650.  I found the following:  slightly expanded sound stage, less congestion in very complex orchestral passages and a livelier sound.  I did not purchase the HOT because I thought the differences were not quite worth $300.  I must say I miss it and may well buy one if the price comes down a bit.  There was more improvement in the LCD 3 than the 650s.  My wife (who is not a very critical listener) had a preference for both headphones with the HOT.  I identified the musical excerpts as only A and B (not with and without the HOT). Associated equipment: Mac w/ Amarra - Mapleshade USB to SPDIF - Mapleshade digital cable - Yulong D18 - Morrow MA4 - Woo upgraded WA6.

Just my .02.

I appreciate you posting this, in a clear and appropriate way, not defensive or offensive, reporting your subjective experience.

 

[Head Injury]

UPDATE: My friend has received the second HOT unit for electrical testing.

se

 

[mulder01]

  I just ordered the HOT.  

 
Is this not exactly what I said would happen?  "POINT ME TO THE SCIENCE" *points him to the science* "I DON'T CARE I'M BUYING ONE ANYWAY"
 

  in the same way that a bybee can ever so slightly change the sound of
large inefficient speakers by adding .025 ohms which will slightly change
the damping factor and a number of other parameters
 
the HOT can ever so slightly change the sound of headphones due
to the addition of something like .01 ohms.
 
so maybe if you listen long enough, you might be able to hear a difference.
but the statistics are not going to be in your favor.
 
In any case, you can make one yourself out of neutrik parts for about $15

 
If all there is to it, is a straight through connection, and the wire is 1 square millimetre CSA, at 23 ohms per kilometre, 5cm of wire is about 1 thousandth of an ohm 

 

[esldude]

   
Is this not exactly what I said would happen?  "POINT ME TO THE SCIENCE" *points him to the science* "I DON'T CARE I'M BUYING ONE ANYWAY"
 
 
If all there is to it, is a straight through connection, and the wire is 1 square millimetre CSA, at 23 ohms per kilometre, 5cm of wire is about 1 thousandth of an ohm 

But you are so ignoring the SYNERGY,   how else would SR survive if not for the SYNERGY?

 

[gikigill]

Going forward, all stakeholders will be tasked to proactively think outside the box and produce a synergistic vision for growing the impact of this day on the national consciousness.
 
This is a ground-breaking chance to get behind this concept 120% and to idea-shower strategies for leveraging our assets and incentivize dynamic solutions in order to evolve a
 
set of win-win deliverables to add value to this high-altitude occasion.
 
 
There,s some synergy right there.

 

[SilentFrequency]

UPDATE: My friend has received the second HOT unit for electrical testing.

se

I think electrical testing results will be interesting and can I request a laymans version of it too if that's ok?

Thank you