[Byrnie]

  It's more orgasmic when you realize that almost every single solitary piece of it is metal.

Yea it looks like a medieval torture device.

 

[GREQ]

 
And yeah, the Lambdas are pretty too.

I still think the Lambdas are one of the ugliest headphones on earth. 
I look at it and see strange rectangular colanders. 
 
But I totally love the Z7 - like there's an organic design to it's mechanical function. They've got the most beautifully matching and integrated gimbals ever - a very homogeneous design.
Although at a glance the Z5 does it better with it's entire black design. I'd have the see the Z7 in person before I make a final judgement.

 

[AHorseNamedJeff]

ITT: takato bashes almost anything that's not retro-perfect to him.
The Alpha Dog has incredible treble, I don't know how you could ever call it hot or peaky, its nice and clear with fantastic presentation across the spectrum.

Wait I thought this was ALL about looks, no? So why is sound being brought up at all?

 

[dc-k]

Wait I thought this was ALL about looks, no? So why is sound being brought up at all?

Agreed, and the Alphas look great...

 

[Byrnie]

ITT: takato bashes almost anything that's not retro-perfect to him.
The Alpha Dog has incredible treble, I don't know how you could ever call it hot or peaky, its nice and clear with fantastic presentation across the spectrum.

Wait I thought this was ALL about looks, no? So why is sound being brought up at all?

Well he's entitled to his opinion like the rest of us. I too, find the lambdas to be ugly.

 

[qazxsw80]

 
AKG K812 and K702AE are gorgeous.

 

[takato14]

ITT: takato bashes almost anything that's not retro-perfect to him.
The Alpha Dog has incredible treble, I don't know how you could ever call it hot or peaky, its nice and clear with fantastic presentation across the spectrum.

Wait I thought this was ALL about looks, no? So why is sound being brought up at all?

Don't sugar coat it; know I'm an ass.

I bash anything that deserves it. Anything that's grossly overrated, overpriced, or otherwise subpar. Like the M50, T50RP and it's mods, most Grados, Beats, etc. I hate it when people get praise they don't deserve. Under-engineered products like the ones I have listed should not be popular, it's unfair to the people who actually try to make the best product they can. It's wrong.

I've been saying these things for so long, and I've grown tired of repeating myself. Sorry if I'm a tad irritable on the subject.

On-topic: God yes, the K812 is ******* gorgeous.

 

[BucketInABucket]

I personally quite like the like the looks of the Yamaha HP/YH-1 and it's clones. Clean and minimalist.
 
 

Spoiler: HP/YH-1

 

[elvergun]

 
 
AKG K812 and K702AE are gorgeous.

+1

 

[takato14]

 

 
And yeah, the Lambdas are pretty too.

I still think the Lambdas are one of the ugliest headphones on earth. 
I look at it and see strange rectangular colanders. 
 
But I totally love the Z7 - like there's an organic design to it's mechanical function. They've got the most beautifully matching and integrated gimbals ever - a very homogeneous design.
Although at a glance the Z5 does it better with it's entire black design. I'd have the see the Z7 in person before I make a final judgement.

The Z7 is a lot prettier in person. The Z5 looks and feels kind of cheap, but the Z7 has an incredible "glow" to the metal cups that's very hard to capture in a photo. It's very lustrous and shiny.
 

 
And yeah, they're one of my favorite designs because of what you described. The way the cups fold flat makes them flow together flawlessly. They also have one of my favorite cases ever:
 

 
Pretty simple and understated on the outside, looks like a 3-ring binder...
 

 
...until you open it, and see the headphones beautifully presented. 

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I bash anything that deserves it. Anything that's grossly overrated, overpriced, or otherwise subpar. Like the M50, T50RP and it's mods, most Grados, Beats, etc. I hate it when people get praise they don't deserve. Under-engineered products like the ones I have listed should not be popular, it's unfair to the people who actually try to make the best product they can. It's wrong.

 
I feel like every sentence here should be appended with "in my opinion". 

 

[ThePartyPooper]

AKG K812 and K702AE are gorgeous.

Hnnnnggg ±1

 

[takato14]

 

I bash anything that deserves it. Anything that's grossly overrated, overpriced, or otherwise subpar. Like the M50, T50RP and it's mods, most Grados, Beats, etc. I hate it when people get praise they don't deserve. Under-engineered products like the ones I have listed should not be popular, it's unfair to the people who actually try to make the best product they can. It's wrong.

 
I feel like every sentence here should be appended with "in my opinion".

Say someone wants to design a great headphone. He designs the enclosure first, testing materials to see which works the best, which is least resonant and most durable. Then he makes very careful calculations to get the acoustic properties of the resonance chamber in order. He then designs the driver to match the enclosure, gruelingly tweaking the dampening and other variables over and over again until he gets it as perfect as he can. He uses the most precise manufacturing process he can to make sure every headphone made sounds as it was supposed to. Then he puts it on the market for a price of $1500.
 
Say someone else comes along who also wants to design a great headphone. He spends the absolute minimum amount of time, effort, and money necessary to design a single dynamic driver. He then designs a simple enclosure around it using whatever materials are cheapest and easiest to work with. He hires a small Chinese company to put it together for him and then puts it on market for the same price, $1500.
 
Then the second person's product becomes more popular that the first's. 
 
If you think that's alright, that it's only "in my opinion", then you're a seriously terrible excuse for a human being.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

  Say someone wants to design a great headphone. He designs the enclosure first, testing materials to see which works the best, which is least resonant and most durable. Then he makes very careful calculations to get the acoustic properties of the resonance chamber in order. He then designs the driver to match the enclosure, gruelingly tweaking the dampening and other variables over and over again until he gets it as perfect as he can. He uses the most precise manufacturing process he can to make sure every headphone made sounds as it was supposed to. Then he puts it on the market for a price of $1500.
 
Say someone else comes along who also wants to design a great headphone. He spends the absolute minimum amount of time, effort, and money necessary to design a single dynamic driver. He then designs a simple enclosure around it using whatever materials are cheapest and easiest to work with. He hires a small Chinese company to put it together for him and then puts it on market for the same price, $1500.
 
Then the second person's product becomes more popular that the first's. 
 
If you think that's alright, that it's only "in my opinion", then you're a seriously terrible excuse for a human being.

 
I was unaware you knew intimately the time that went into the design of these products. Tell me, how many hours were spent on the ones you like versus the ones you don't? I'm curious. Tell me the names of the people responsible and gimme a quick breakdown. Because apparently you know which headphones took a lot of time and which didn't, which suggests that you are privy to information beyond forming a simple opinion.
 
Otherwise that would mean you're just an arrogant kid who thinks that what he likes is inherently superior to what he doesn't and sneers at people who hold different opinions as though they were objectively incorrect. But that couldn't possibly be the case, could it?
 
Bah, of course not. That would be crazy. No need to respond, either, I think we both know the answer to the above and I have zero energy to actually "debate" with someone who suggests that Grados, which are pretty much the definition of a product made by someone with a passion for the craft, are "minimum effort" and cheap.

 

[takato14]

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SomeGuyDude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I was unaware you knew intimately the time that went into the design of these products. Tell me, how many hours were spent on the ones you like versus the ones you don't? I'm curious. Tell me the names of the people responsible and gimme a quick breakdown. Because apparently you know which headphones took a lot of time and which didn't, which suggests that you are privy to information beyond forming a simple opinion.

Fair enough. I can't know what the companies don't tell me. But is it any less wrong that someone who's objectively good at what they do gets less recognition than someone who isn't?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SomeGuyDude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Otherwise that would mean you're just an arrogant kid who thinks that what he likes is inherently superior to what he doesn't and sneers at people who hold different opinions as though they were objectively incorrect. But that couldn't possibly be the case, could it?

I'm arrogant, I'm opinionated, I'm stubborn, and I'm an ass. Doesn't mean I'm not right. Having your own preferences is one thing, but it's entirely different when people try to contradict me when I point out something's flaws. I have reasons for disliking what I dislike. For example, the T50RP's modal breakup is measurable, you can SEE the issues on the measurement sheets, it's objective, its provable. The resonances and lack of control in Grados is also measurable. The M50 has measurably poor bass, scooped mids, and treble hash. I heard these things before looking at the measurements and the measurements confirmed what I was hearing. Whether you like what you're hearing or not is up to your ears. It's still bad from an objective standpoint. 
 
Quote:

  Bah, of course not. That would be crazy. No need to respond, either, I think we both know the answer to the above and I have zero energy to actually "debate" with someone who suggests that Grados, which are pretty much the definition of a product made by someone with a passion for the craft, are "minimum effort" and cheap.

Putting the same driver from your $80 headphones into your $1500 headphones most certainly is "minimum effort" and "cheap".