[Nicsten]

Shangria-La (Senior), had only a few minutes on a exhibition but it was INSANELY bright. I wasnt allowed to listen to my own music but the provided samples were painful and utterly unlistenable.

 

[Kevintj604]

Audeze LCD5 and HD800S top the list for me.

After having some of the most amazing experiences with LCDX 2021 and pretty extensive listening with two separate demo sessions with LCD4 I found LCD5 absolutely underwhelming. I’m not into EQ’ing headphones and I’ve heard that the LCD5 shines with proper EQ but you could say the same for just about any headphone in that price point. I think the LCDX 2021 is probably the most well tuned in Audeze’s lineup and LCD4 sounded incredible but finding the right unit nowadays is tricky and LCD4’s unit variance was quite high.

I’ve never heard such a bass light headphone in the HD800S and outside of its staging abilities I have no idea why it’s such a popular headphone. I could see a use case for competitive gaming but for general music listening it’s the exact opposite of what I’m personally looking for in a headphone for music engagement.

 

[Beagle]

I think at the end of the day all TOTL headphones are all major disappointments compared to comparably priced speakers. So there is that.

I think no matter how you slice it, people eventually expect value for money even when they know they are not going to get it. So in order to attain that ‘value’, they have to either delude themselves into believing that it’s worth what they paid, or sell it to get back more of their money than they feel they got in value with that headphone. And it’s especially depressing when you realize you already own another headphone that sounds like the one you spent a fortune on.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I think no matter how you slice it, people eventually expect value for money even when they know they are not going to get it. So in order to attain that ‘value’, they have to either delude themselves into believing that it’s worth what they paid, or sell it to get back more of their money than they feel they got in value with that headphone. And it’s especially depressing when you realize you already own another headphone that sounds like the one you spent a fortune on.

I get some of the cynical takes on the board, but I'm glad I don't relate to this sentiment. My first stint many years ago the hobby turned into an obsession of buying new gear, I never kept anything long.

This stint, after maybe a 10 year hiatus, I have gear that I am extremely satisfied with. I do still buy a lot of gear because I love comparing and providing impressions to help others make purchasing decisions, and I don't think that has to been seen in a negative connotation. Trying new gear out is a PART of the hobby, there's no need for shame for it.

But I know exactly the gear I would never sell (unless forced to), that I'm absolutely satisfied with. I absolutely believe you can be happy and satisfied. Now whether you spent a fortune to get their, that's an entirely different thing, but I just don't care about other people's financial decisions, only mine. Value and upper limit changes person to person. Just my $.02.

 

[eskamobob1]

Shangria-La (Senior), had only a few minutes on a exhibition but it was INSANELY bright. I wasnt allowed to listen to my own music but the provided samples were painful and utterly unlistenable.

Shang are certainly well extended, but they will change a ton amp to amp. Something like a T2 brings them down much more inline with susvara for example

 

[Beagle]

I get some of the cynical takes on the board, but I'm glad I don't relate to this sentiment. My first stint many years ago the hobby turned into an obsession of buying new gear, I never kept anything long.

This stint, after maybe a 10 year hiatus, I have gear that I am extremely satisfied with. I do still buy a lot of gear because I love comparing and providing impressions to help others make purchasing decisions, and I don't think that has to been seen in a negative connotation. Trying new gear out is a PART of the hobby, there's no need for shame for it.

But I know exactly the gear I would never sell (unless forced to), that I'm absolutely satisfied with. I absolutely believe you can be happy and satisfied. Now whether you spent a fortune to get their, that's an entirely different thing, but I just don't care about other people's financial decisions, only mine. Value and upper limit changes person to person. Just my $.02.

These are all excellent points.

I realized I quoted and responded to a different post from the same person. I wanted to respond to his comment about “real reviews are the number of used flagships on the market not long after purchasing”.

Happiness can be attained at any price range, as can disappointments.

 

[eskamobob1]

I realized I quoted and responded to a different post from the same person. I wanted to respond to his comment about “real reviews are the number of used flagships on the market not long after purchasing”.

Your comment makes a ton more sense with that context

 

[FullBright1]

Ive stated many times on Head-Fi that you can't pay enough to guarantee... to insure that you are going to even like the Headphones you just bought, having never heard them before.
And its a fact that spending a lot, a whole lot, is quite possibly paying a lot for bitter disappointment.
The Good news is.... You can always by Preowned, and what is nearly as good news is that seldom will you spend a Mint and get a set of expensive headphones that you hate right out of the box, and this never changes with burn in and time spent.

On the other hand...

The LCD-5, for me, is that utterly disappointing gear that made no sense.

First, it came from the factory with a tight vice clamp as the head band, and Audeze had to build a new one and give it away to a lot of customers.
So, you have to wonder if Auduze is wearing their headphones....... testing them., as how could that have happened to a $4500 set of headphones?
DCA would never do that.
Meze would never do that.
Every "more expensive" Hifiman just feels better when you put it on.

Setting that aside, i didnt like anything about the gear other than the size and the aesthetics.
It does not sound like any pre-existing Audeze. There is no bass. The Mids are punishing., and the Soundstage isn't available for review.
I never reviewed the LCD-5 on this site.

Its pretty. and the Treble is nicely extended.

To my ear it sounds like an Abyss Diana Series, made wrong.

I bought the Audeze Carbon CRBN later on, and loved it.

 

[Failed Engineer]

I think this thread can be more positively re-framed as preference vs. disappointment. Given the length of threads and positive impressions and ownership each of these headphones has there's enough evidence that all these headphones have a lot of consumers who love them.

Personally there some of these headphones I've hated but know friends who love them and vis versa. We all have different HRTF and prioritize different sonic traits and listen to different music. I no longer shame someone who loves the Susvara...but I will joke with them that they could buy a bottle of melatonin to fall asleep cheaper, haha.

 

[protoss]

TOTL has been a scam from day one. Everyone here including me has been duped, lied and rob of their funds in these outdated technologies.

Headphones hasn't seen a revolution from the 1960. All headphone technology has been in a stalemate for 50+ years.

The only true revolution has been in the amplifiers and dacs. But when it comes to headphones, it's the same schiit, lies, lies and more lies.

HD600 and HD650 are still untouchable, cheap, and perfect headphones for everyone.

A $6000 headphone or a $18,000 headphone is a heist of our funds. No one should buy these plywoods of sibilance, treble, and unnatural sound frequencies.

 

[Nicsten]

Shang are certainly well extended, but they will change a ton amp to amp. Something like a T2 brings them down much more inline with susvara for example

May well be. It was hooked up to the amp designed for it. The short demo was definitely not a full-fledged experience.

 

[ThanatosVI]

TOTL has been a scam from day one. Everyone here including me has been duped, lied and rob of their funds in these outdated technologies.

Headphones hasn't seen a revolution from the 1960. All headphone technology has been in a stalemate for 50+ years.

The only true revolution has been in the amplifiers and dacs. But when it comes to headphones, it's the same schiit, lies, lies and more lies.

HD600 and HD650 are still untouchable, cheap, and perfect headphones for everyone.

A $6000 headphone or a $18,000 headphone is a heist of our funds. No one should buy these plywoods of sibilance, treble, and unnatural sound frequencies.

Interestingly I read it the other way round on this Board as well.

DACs and amplifiers have been "solved" since 30+ years and the only developments are in the transducers...

Personally I think both improved over time, but in quality they certainly don't scale linearly with price (or at all)

 

[Beagle]

TOTL has been a scam from day one. Everyone here including me has been duped, lied and rob of their funds in these outdated technologies.

Headphones hasn't seen a revolution from the 1960. All headphone technology has been in a stalemate for 50+ years.

The only true revolution has been in the amplifiers and dacs. But when it comes to headphones, it's the same schiit, lies, lies and more lies.

HD600 and HD650 are still untouchable, cheap, and perfect headphones for everyone.

A $6000 headphone or a $18,000 headphone is a heist of our funds. No one should buy these plywoods of sibilance, treble, and unnatural sound frequencies.

We had a great sounding ortho/planar with the Yamaha HP1 in 77....at $60. Today’s Yamaha ortho/planar will set you back $5000 and apparently sounds like

So in that respect I would agree with you. Like buying round tires for $10 in ‘77 and oval ones for $1000 now.

Have we eliminated distortions? Absolutely. While creating new ones.

But where they totally lost the plot is in frequency response and tonal balance. 50 years ago every manufacturer/designer at least attempted a flat response output. Now they (including reviewers) don’t even have a point of reference and probably wouldn’t know what an even response was if it bit them in the ass. “Hey if the measurement target says this is flat, let’s shoot for that”. Like they lopped their ears off the sides of their heads and went with graphs exclusively.

But there are some nice sounding headphones out there at very reasonable prices. Even under $100. There are also way too many priced-for-profit pieces of overpriced junk.

This is just my opinion of course. You may have your own.

 

[Kevintj604]

Interestingly I read it the other way round on this Board as well.

DACs and amplifiers have been "solved" since 30+ years and the only developments are in the transducers...

Personally I think both improved over time, but quality certainly don't scale linearly with price (or at all)

I agree with you. I read it the other way as well.

Transducers have never been more technically capable and well engineered as they are currently.

Although I personally feel like the $1000-$2000 price bracket is where a lot of the top tier value is where after that you get into noticeable diminishing returns I still absolutely love a bunch of the headphones in the Summit-Fi tier.

 

[FullBright1]

I think this thread can be more positively re-framed as preference vs. disappointment.

Theoretically,...

if we assume that Headphone company "X", is going to tell you every single time that their "new gear" is :"" amazing, unmatched, hyper-new-tech, un-equaled, unparalleled, world's first, 5-10 yrs in the making""" and so forth......and then they price it to match that Golden Hype Train....... and then they ship it out first = to all their "ready reviewers", who know better then to say its garbage, lest they get taken off Brand X's "reviewer list" and so there goes some of their Youtube Money....

So, as all that junk is in Play..........its righteous and fair and doing a good public service, to allow the people who actually paid for the gear.... to partake of some well earned stating of opinion. And if that opinion doesn't sell headphones for "Brand X" then no worries,... as all those "ready reviewers" and "store owner reviewers" will certainly make up the slack.

Absolutely.....i'm convinced.