Sonic Defender
Headphoneus Supremus
@Beagle, is your thread for dedicated impressions doing well? Could you drop a link to it here again? Happy Canada Day to those north of the 49th.
am I the only one getting fed up with the garbage nonsense pilling up in this topic in the last week?
what I read are people who expect too much from a frequency response graph or somebody's review, but then blame the graphs and/or the review for their own mistaken assumptions.
several people warned that 2 rigs shouldn't be compared, then plenty of people do just that thinking they're making a good point...
many warned that a reviewer is just one guy with his opinion, then plenty of people go wild because they think what the reviewer said isn't 100% fact. well no **** Sherlock.
are you guys so insecure about your own taste that you need constant validation from online reviews? what about food? do you trow a tantrum if somebody doesn't like what you enjoy? I don't get it. I don't get why someone couldn't dislike a headphone without being wrong, I don't get why 2 measurement rigs showing variations is such a big deal when it's absolutely normal. I don't get any of it.
meanwhile, we all pretend like we want reviewers to stop sucking up to manufacturers. but if people react like this anytime someone says what he thinks, is it really such a surprise that in the long run most reviewers turn into "everything is awesome" BS reviews?
and please pretty please, stop with the "flat this", "neutral that". there is no neutral headphone response universally defined. if you think there is, most likely you need to look up headphone+human interaction and stuff about HRTF. if I feel like a headphone is neutral, it's my subjective impression and it does not define neutral for anybody else. why? because I am not the center of the universe. just like my idea of just the right quantity of spicy only has that balanced meaning for me. and someone else will put twice the amount and think I'm a *****. we are different people, our impressions are our own.
as for a graph, the flat line only means the stuff measured is similar to the reference used to calibrate the graph. and that's it. do you guys even know what that reference is when you make assumptions about how neutral the headphone is? if I use a square wave shape as reference, then only a square wave like response could look flat on the graph. a flat line never ever meant that the headphone was great or would sound neutral to me. if you have such an assumption, bury it deep and forget. measuring a headphone is not like measuring a DAC!
Thanks, yes at least there is a nice clean thread.@Sonic Defender
https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/sony-z1r-listening-impressions-only.853330/
Yes, impressions only, please!!!!!! 4 pages in and no petty stuff.
As just one example, the massive amounts of praise that the HD800 got, the same headphone that people are these days modding left and right to sound more acceptable. Tyll was happy to declare the HD800 a massive winner and extremely well balanced, despite the headphones clearly being slanted towards articulation and coldness (which to his credit he did touch on), and despite him and others later recommending multiple mods, EQ tweaks and all the rest to get them to sound ironically better 'balanced', essentially adapting how they sound altogether! Note he hasn't offered the same advice or tweaks for cans such as the MDR-Z1R.
Send me a PM if you are interested in the trade. Even trade, I'll pay the shipping costs. Serious traders only.
And, once again, nobody is addressing Naim's point that the HD800 was heralded - arbitrarily - as "neutral" and "balanced" by Tyll for years, despite blood pouring from the ears of those who paid attention to his reviews, comments, and Wall of Fame and then went out and spent $1700 for them.
Nobody is forcing you to read it. Use the ignore button if need be.am I the only one getting fed up with the garbage nonsense pilling up in this topic in the last week?
what I read are people who expect too much from a frequency response graph or somebody's review, but then blame the graphs and/or the review for their own mistaken assumptions.
several people warned that 2 rigs shouldn't be compared, then plenty of people do just that thinking they're making a good point...
many warned that a reviewer is just one guy with his opinion, then plenty of people go wild because they think what the reviewer said isn't 100% fact. well no **** Sherlock.
are you guys so insecure about your own taste that you need constant validation from online reviews? what about food? do you trow a tantrum if somebody doesn't like what you enjoy? I don't get it. I don't get why someone couldn't dislike a headphone without being wrong, I don't get why 2 measurement rigs showing variations is such a big deal when it's absolutely normal. I don't get any of it.
meanwhile, we all pretend like we want reviewers to stop sucking up to manufacturers. but if people react like this anytime someone says what he thinks, is it really such a surprise that in the long run most reviewers turn into "everything is awesome" BS reviews?
and please pretty please, stop with the "flat this", "neutral that". there is no neutral headphone response universally defined. if you think there is, most likely you need to look up headphone+human interaction and stuff about HRTF. if I feel like a headphone is neutral, it's my subjective impression and it does not define neutral for anybody else. why? because I am not the center of the universe. just like my idea of just the right quantity of spicy only has that balanced meaning for me. and someone else will put twice the amount and think I'm a *****. we are different people, our impressions are our own.
as for a graph, the flat line only means the stuff measured is similar to the reference used to calibrate the graph. and that's it. do you guys even know what that reference is when you make assumptions about how neutral the headphone is? if I use a square wave shape as reference, then only a square wave like response could look flat on the graph. a flat line never ever meant that the headphone was great or would sound neutral to me. if you have such an assumption, bury it deep and forget. measuring a headphone is not like measuring a DAC!
The 'Big Mac' of headphones.the hd800 isn't perfect or everyone's cup of tea but what headphone is? it is a legendary headphone however, that is still in production. i don't know how many of them have been sold over the last eight years - tens of thousands perhaps, but I find it hard to believe that every owner has found it problematic. i think that it still competes with far more expensive flagship headphones that have come after it.
I like how you can now get official McDonald's branded Big Mac sauce in squeeze bottles in the grocery store now!The 'Big Mac' of headphones.