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Scrypt... I'm a little confused are you talking about the M-100 or M-80 or Sony? (no offence)
also don't you think any review that has anything relating to sponsorship etc would be umm err a little biased?... never shoot the goose etc
a sensible & respected head-fi'er recently told me when I questioned his seemingly loyalty to a certain brand (V-Moda) replied in this way, kinda... it's easy for audiophiles to find fault with products as they know the sound that they are looking for, for people who are new to the portable world this is not the case most are into image/style so you try to suggest the best option available, it may not be the SQ that we may look for but it introduces them to the world of sound and one that hopefully they'll want to pursue...
can't really argue with statement as I can remember my first attempts in hi-fi... my selections have got better over the years (head-fi is relatively new to me but I know the sound I want for a portable set-up, just ain't found it... yet)
OK, OK-Guy:
Not to worry -- I don't take offense at your elliptical remarks, which seem to be pointing to specific statements and yet are not. Likewise, I hope you won't take offense when I observe that your confusion seems directly related to your own comprehension. In point of fact, I described what I heard WRT the M-80, mentioned Val's remarks about the M-100 and his early ideas of same (since only one person on this thread has actually heard the M100), and went on to discuss the visual aspect of V-Moda full-sized headphones in general and the M100 (which we've all seen at this point) and M80 in particular. Beyond that, it's a tad ironic you're making a point of being confused without being clear yourself. If you're going to respond to specific points without paraphrasing them, quoting the bit you're responding to is a good idea.
I'm not certain which "sponsored review" you mean -- surely not Curly's or mine -- do you perhaps mean Jude's or Joker's? I don't think anyone here is a paid shill. Jude might be supportive of Val and of the M80, but he's not a bought reviewer, nor is Joker simply because he received a pair for free (if he's a bought reviewer, then so is every writer who ever got to keep the object of their review). There's bite-the-hand and then there's praise-mediocrity-insincerely. Joker's review was tactfully positive, and found genuine things to like about the M80. And if Jude hadn't been impressed by the M80s, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to praise them.
In fact, I once wrote a detailed review of an amp by a well-known manufacturer who was kind enough to send me a pre-production model to keep. I liked it and still do, but not, apparently, in the way the CEO wanted me to. I never published the review because I was stunned that a manufacturer presumed to interfere with my conclusions. I sent him a copy to check for accuracy, but he also wanted to delete my caveats. That's just not done, and I'd be amazed if Val Kolton ever did anything like that.
I'm also not certain what you mean about the "sensible Head-fi member" who told you he was searching for sound through a more fashionable image. I'm on the opposite end of that pole, having been a classical pianist for most of my life and a studio keyboardist for decades. It was always about sound for me, but I've also performed quite a bit, and occasionally toured in situations in which couture was necessary, so you could call my flirtation with V-Moda symptomatic of a mid-career crisis. Most of my other headphones are old at this point and bespeak a hoary obsession, as well as a preference for flat-to-bright response (Grado RS-1, HF-1 and Alessandro MS2i, Ety ER-4S, Beyerdynamic DT-831, UE TF-10, Shure SE425, Senn HD-580, Sony V6 (because they were used in studios where I worked for many years) -- not the most modern headphones, but, as you can tell, antithetical to the V-Moda sound. I tend to prefer reference headphones in all their harshness in everyday life. It comes from years of having to pick out keyboard parts and arrange strastopheric string parts that don't get in the way of guitars.
So it's a bit difficult to understand the point of your advice: Whether it applies to me because you've assumed I'm a novice or to the people I've mentioned who like V-Moda because you feel I might sound a tad disapproving of them. If I do sound disapproving, I certainly don't mean to, because there's no such thing as absolute taste and, as you seem to be pointing out, we all have to start somewhere. No one should be ridiculed or dismissed because of their starting place.
As I said originally, I might be interested in the Amperior a year or two from now. I find the HD 25 respectable in its lack of affect sonically but prefer the cosmetics of the Amperior. When its price sinks closer to that of the plastic headphone it supersedes (since headphones mass-produced for Apple are sometimes reduced drastically a year or two after their release), then and only then will I consider making the purchase. I'm not judging it as a $300 headphone because I wouldn't buy it at that price.