[regal]

You just have to be smart with your purchases and personal preferences. I like the sound of my $100 Sextetts (+$50 to rebuild) better than anything Senn offers, I also like my Grado MS-Pros better than any $1000+ headphone I have heard at meets.

Everyone has different preferences as to what they like, to me most of these headphones all cost a few hundred to make and they slap a big price on the design their panel deems worthy. Luckily my ears are different and am satisfied with Sextetts & MS-Pros. Most of my money goes to the DAC, thats where I'm very picky and the amp as well.

 

[rds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wali /img/forum/go_quote.gif What happened?

Marketing teams discovered Head-Fi

 

[Headphony]

I totally agree with the sentiments of the OP. It seems that the bigger manufacturers have taken a cue from Grado and Ultrasone on pricing the top of the line. In order to be taken seriously as a high-end headphone, a headphone has to be priced ridiculously it seems. Listening to the HD800's at the Helsinki hifi show I was dumbfounded by the asking price. I sincerely hope that AKG doesn't follow the same line on pricing with their next flagship.

 

[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rds /img/forum/go_quote.gif Marketing teams discovered Head-Fi

inflitrated

Just kidding of course.

 

[aimlink]

Beyer weren't too bad with the T1, but I agree with you Headphony.

 

[MacedonianHero]

I don't understand your comments? How can an Ed. 8 owner slam the HD800 price, when the Ed. 8s cost $100 more?

And I'm sorry, I've listened to the Ed. 8s and the D7000s sound better to me (which is why I bought them over the Ed. 8s) and the HD800s/T1s do everything better at a lower cost.

Maybe only the headphones that YOU buy have value?

 

[aimlink]

MacedonianHero, Are you referring to me?

 

[Happy Camper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rds /img/forum/go_quote.gif Marketing teams discovered Head-Fi

Those....those bastages!

The spinner is going through the water, you decide to chase it or not.

The sales teams are doing their job by knowing who is willing to pay for elitist status. More today than past. If you only have a limited quantity, money talks (JJ Cale).

 

[krmathis]

I am just waiting for more 'new and better' dynamic headphones to appear.
AKG - Do you hear me?!

 

[tuoppi]

Even those 1000$ headphones have a better value for money than speakers of equivalent quality. Same quality speakers would probably be a lot more. 1000$ headphones are top end headphones where as with speakers 1000$ gets you only a mid level speakers at most.

 

[Bullseye]

LIE

Treating your room adequately, EQing (DRC) your $1000 speakers, gives you a better price/performance ratio than any headphone out there.

In a speaker setup it is much more important the FR you get in your room at the listening point than any source amplifier, or piece of equipment other than speakers you might use. The ideal for a speaker (flat FR) is well known and it can be achieved via EQing for little money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuoppi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Even those 1000$ headphones have a better value for money than speakers of equivalent quality. Same quality speakers would probably be a lot more. 1000$ headphones are top end headphones where as with speakers 1000$ gets you only a mid level speakers at most.

If I could, I would have had a speaker setup long time ago... And yeah, I did spend more money that I should have on headphones, but my decisions had a personal reason behind. I can still get some money back by selling what I no longer use.

 

[wnmnkh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bullseye /img/forum/go_quote.gif LIE Treating your room adequately, EQing (DRC) your $1000 speakers, gives you a better price/performance ratio than any headphone out there. In a speaker setup it is much more important the FR you get in your room at the listening point than any source amplifier, or piece of equipment other than speakers you might use. The ideal for a speaker (flat FR) is well known and it can be achieved via EQing for little money. If I could, I would have had a speaker setup long time ago... And yeah, I did spend more money that I should have on headphones, but my decisions had a personal reason behind. I can still get some money back by selling what I no longer use.

Really?, even well-calibrated B&W 700 speakers with decent setup in my father's house sounded meh compared to my HD650 in terms of detail.

Come on, speakers and headphones have both strength and weakness regarding sound, but headphones just destroy speakers regarding price.

Plus : and you just do not realize this calibration and room treatment do NOT come as FREE.

 

[Skylab]

Proper room correction is indeed expensive. Simple EQ does not get the job done.

But this is all apples v. oranges anyway. Both speakers and headphones sound good. That isn;t really relevant to the question of whether $1K+ headphones are justifiable. The question is NOT whether they sound better or worse than $1K speakers. The two serve very different applications. The question is whether they sound enough better than $300-400 headphones to justify the price.

From my experience, the answer is definitely yes. The HD800 is FAR better than the HD600/650 and the Beyer T1 is FAR better than the DT880/990.

Again, just my $.02

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnmnkh /img/forum/go_quote.gif + inflation of currency + supply and demand + increase of the market + many old flagship phones still damn good enough to not be "replaced".

You forgot:

+ Head-Fi

 

[oqvist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnmnkh /img/forum/go_quote.gif Really?, even well-calibrated B&W 700 speakers with decent setup in my father's house sounded meh compared to my HD650 in terms of detail. Come on, speakers and headphones have both strength and weakness regarding sound, but headphones just destroy speakers regarding price. Plus : and you just do not realize this calibration and room treatment do NOT come as FREE.

How about natural timbre, transparency, soundstage?. Are your headphones sounding as natural as your speakers? I have never heard the B&W maybe is coloured? but my considerably cheaper XTZ 89 speakers performs better then any of the headphones I heard judging by those standards.

If your goal is detail retrieval then my headphones totally trumph then. . Nothing beats having drivers inches from your ear for that and for intimacy. But that goes to skullcandys and bose as well I suspect

.