[pbirkett]

You know, I've been in this game a while now, with the headphone thing, and now that I feel like I have settled with my choice, there is one lesson for me that I have learned that is more important than anything else.

I keep reading on here of never ending comparisons of headphones. X-headphone rules and then Y-headphone comes along and beats it, then Z-headphone comes along and beats Y, and then before you know it, X-headphone is back being the flavour of the month.

I think to be honest, after a certain price point, there is no such thing as bad headphones, just bad synergies.

The headphone that has hit the spot for me is the HD600 and yet i've just read a thread about them where apparently the Denon D2000 crushes it. Yet, when I read further into the review, pretty much all of the complaints levelled at the HD600 are simply none-existent in the context of my system. I am so secure in that I have found the perfect match for my system that I do not feel at all compelled to try the alternatives, as I have, after all, tried quite a few alternatives now with my system and none of them hit the spot anywhere near as much!

I think we would all do well to remember that at the end of the day, there are no bad headphones after a certain price point, just bad synergies. Thus, if one wants to save money and not waste a lot of money on this hobby, I would advise them to determine what their tastes are both in music and presentation, and then pick a SYSTEM, not a headphone, that will deliver what they want.

After around 7 years, and thousands of pounds / dollars, I feel I have finally found what I want. It's not perfect, but it does virtually everything very well to my ears, and after everything I've read and heard, I'd struggle to better it without spending a LOT more all over again.

Anyone agree with me?

 

[manofmathematics]

Absolutely agree with you. Building the "system" is something I learned with speaker rigs, but it is just a concept easier said than done. Sometimes it will still take years and thousands to find that synergy. Reviews and thoughts are all fine and dandy, but how often is there agreement on performance and synergy with audio equipment?

The one thing that is rather important to your thoughts is research. But that requires patience, and heck, isn't that a b....

 

[ronnielee54]

Amen! If you are happy with your setup that is all that really matters. It is hard to pick a set of headphones based on someone elses opinion when people just simply hear sounds differently. That is why I find it hard not laugh a little when people get in such heated debates over Grado vs. Senns or AKG vs. Denon or Bose sucks. Oh wait, Bose does suck. My bad

 

[Tiemen]

You are right.
I wish it didn't take so much time and money to find out what the best synergy is.

 

[Golden Monkey]

That's something I amined for right off the bat. I didn't want to waste tons of money on things I may not be happy with, so I researched, read a million posts, asked a few pointed questions, etc. I'm extremely happy with my setup, and don't really feel the need to diverge from it for a long time. At this point, it all works well with itself, so there's no need for me to look elsewhere. The only thing I'd do differently would be to build a completely different rig: balanced, tubes, whatever...

 

[Kees]

Yes, it's all about finding the right combination.

 

[DemonicLemming]

I haven't gotten that far into the game, but it does seem for every review that touts Headphone X as "the best thing on the market right now" there's another review that completely trashes it - and promotes Headphone Y.

A lot of people seem to run pretty rough on the 780s because of bass extension and sharp highs. However, they work perfectly with a lot of the music I have - mostly metal and rock. Yeah, other headphones are said to be great for rock, but most of those are also said to be light on bass (although I think some people would call a mouse fart bass-heavy), which doesn't work at all for metal.

I have a set of headphones I really like, an amp that I think matches those headphones well, so I'm set there. I'm going to buy and try out other phones and amps - great thing about headphones and amps is the resale ability if you don't like them - but that's as much just to see what other stuff sounds like as it is to build a new setup.

One thing I can say for certain - I'll never pay $800 for a 7" interconnect or a power cable, no matter how much silver it has in it.

 

[Agnostic]

Synergy tends to be underestimated on Head-Fi imo.

 

[Kraegorn]

I think it's awesome that you don't follow the great hype that entrails these forums and come to a conclusion of your own. Although, many of us audiophiles have no choice but to either go by the manufacturer, reviewer, or what our peers have to say, without actually having a clue as to how the equipment would perform. Which is why, one of the greatest benefits of being in this community is being able to attend a meet and try it out for yourself. But unfortunately, that has limitations of it's own with the ambience factors of having about 30 people talking at once. I think it would be a great idea if there could be some type of regulation where everyone would give a moment of silence during the meet, to get away from all the noise and get a real feel of the gear.

Yes, you don't have to spend a lot to get a lot - hence why Synergy is VERY important. And yes, I've been suckered into buying gear that I thought would improve my system when everyone said - oh this and this is better. Which eventually lead to me wasting more money than getting actual total performance improvement. But that's part of the game, and when you climb real high, it takes time to inch yourself higher and higher. And again, putting together a bunch of expensive equipment together doesn't make mean that it always lead to satisfying results.

 

[jmht]

More or less true. There's too much talk of "this sounds too harsh" and so you should use this with this line or amp to "soften" it or something "lacks this" and so it can be compensated by "blah blah blah".

Problem is....finding the right synergy to each person's taste is really the entire journey......and for many it can be brutally long

 

[pbirkett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kraegorn /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think it's awesome that you don't follow the great hype that entrails these forums and come to a conclusion of your own.

I appreciate your comment, but its not really true of me. As I said i've been in this game years, and for much of it I was taken in by the hype. Its for this reason i've come to this conclusion, because along the way I have been disappointed in one way or another...

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmht /img/forum/go_quote.gif Problem is....finding the right synergy to each person's taste is really the entire journey......and for many it can be brutally long

Which is exactly what I've found. Bottom line is its easier said than done, as someone on this thread has already said! Having said that, if I'd had that outlook from the start I still think I may have saved some money along they way!!

Thing is although i've heard lots of headphones i cant claim to be experienced because of the sheer number of combinations that are possible. How many people on here are genuinely experienced with a lot of the combinations? I'd say you could count them on one hand, and thats no disrespect to anyone.

 

[nutric08]

This hobby is all about getting the best compromise you can achieve with your money. So synergy is a vital aspect. Reviews can only narrow the choice between equipment but the final decision must be made by your ears. So hearing cans and amps IN OUR OWN systems should be a must before the purchase. That's the theory but in reality there are too many variables.

I bought the LD MkIII without listening to it because there was no other option, but i was listening to other tube amps just to get an idea how tubes sound on HPs.

Another problem lies in the fact that we all hear differently. To someone cans Y sound better than cans X, but could be vice versa to someone else. It just comes to subjective preferences and nothing else, so deciding on gear based only on reviews is highly ill advised. Finally, finding the right synergy becomes a quest for all of us newbies. It could be achieved with a few hundred bucks or never with thousands. This is what makes this realm so thrilling!

 

[scompton]

It depends. Most of my headphones have been very enjoyable plugged into anything I've been able to plug them into (admittedly, not all that much) as long as the amp has the juice to drive the headphone.

This is especially true with low end stats. They can sound pretty good out of an inexpensive T amp and only have incremental gains out of higher end amps.

 

[Aimless1]

Great observation! Problem is implementation. Research can only tell you so much. It's always difficult for me to find a fellow member who I believe hears as I do. I have been unable to attend Canjam or a mini-meet. Only have access to low end Sennheisers locally, and no head amps. Everything I've learned has been through the experience of others.

As difficult as it has been to get truly personalized information, the generosity of our membership truly astounds me. Without the help of others I would be completely lost. But thanks to their help, dumb luck and my own limited experience, I'm getting there. System synergy is in sight.

 

[nutric08]

This is what i'm talking about. Recently i've heard a t-amp (kingrex - $300) powering some Audio Physic speakers ($6000) with such good results that i could never imagine possible. You could spend 10 times more and get just marginable improvements.