[Chef Medeski]

America dominates the mid-level market with IEMs and Grados. Since thats all I buy, defiently have to go with America.

 

[cosmopragma]

Best electrostats : Europe
Best dynamic cans : Europe, and by far the best price/performance ratio
IEMs : America
OTOH I own headphones from all continents at the moment, and they all have their specific strengths.In the end all are competitive, and we should be glad about it.Competition enforces progress, and that's good.
Look at the sad state of the electrostats market.Since Senn has discontinued the electrostats there's no competition anymore, and no progress.

 

[Inkmo]

Other:

Because can we really say that one single company has a chokehold on the position of 'best headphone' when all of them have products in their lines that are basically perfect and are only really rankable on the merits of personal preference? America has Ultimate Ears, the Etys ER4, and the Grado Prestige series, Europe gets the K1000 and the Orpheus, and Japan can claim the RS-1, CD3000, Stax, the ATH-L3000, and the Qualia. Then, there are specific models that take some cross ocean effort: like Headphile woodied (insert model name of choice -- it's my impression that Lenny is in America, I don't actually know

) -- and models like the Balanced HD650 from Headroom. Really, any of things I mentioned above could easily take up permanent residence in several audiophiles' wettest dreams.

This strikes me as a personal preference oriented question.

And yes, I've never heard any of the headphones I've talked about and will admit that is the inherent flaw in my argument, but I've read you guys' comments on each of these over and over and how each of them get you to your own sonic perfection induced bliss. Just a bit of necessary skepticism from the mid-fi bench

.

P.s. I hope my statements have incensed someone that owns some or all of those set ups -- to the point that you'd be willing to force me to listen to 'em all! Please?

 

[mr.karmalicious]

Sorry about that, the poll wasn't registering my vote, and the results weren't appearing, so...

 

[robert]

both American and European manufs. seem to be able to make the phones which sound the say they want. AKG, certainly does it for the best price (K501, maybe the 6 & 7 too, haven't heard them); Grado for the worst. and they sound nothing alike. mine are SR325(i) and K501. schizo or what

 

[cheechoz]

Both Europe, and Japan, make the best cans, hands down. For me, it's been leaning more towards my Sony friends, and I hope to get an AT soon!! Haven't heard the FOTM yet, so things could change!

 

[oscar437]

STAX can really kick butts...

 

[VR6ofpain]

Bitburger is really good. Oh wait this is a headphone poll, not a beer poll.

 

[sclamb]

STAX O2s are stacks of fun, so my vote goes to the Japanese one!

 

[KJ_Palmer]

Personal favourites are: Grado SR80 (US) and Sennheiser MX550/HD595 (European).

So a US/Euro tie.

 

[dogg5306]

Europeans do make the best headphones, the best cars and it's the best place to live

So why do some of us (Europeans) leave that continent to go into the US?
Because US is where FREEDOM finds its root

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkmo and Japan can claim the RS-1...

Nope, that one comes from Brookyln in the US of A.

Quote:

... like Headphile woodied (insert model name of choice -- it's my impression that Lenny is in America, I don't actually know )

Wasn't Lenny the fat guy in Sha Na Na? http://www.southboston200.com/festival_lennybaker.htm

"Sha Na Na's appearance at Woodstock cemented their reputation and style. "We went on second to last, at sunrise on the final day, just before Jimi Hendrix," recalls co founder Jocko Marcellino. "We did 40 minutes and were paid $300 and the check bounced when we got back to Boston." Sha Na Na was the only group at Woodstock without a record deal. Immediately following the concert they had one and they released more than 25 albums with worldwide sales of more than 20 million. They also taped 97 episodes of "Sha Na Na" variety show on CBS from 1977 to 1981. The variety shows which featured music plus comedy skits with special guests further established Sha Na Na as part of the landscape of rock n roll of America. Lenny Baker played on all those tv shows and at Woodstock..."

Oh wait, I think you mean Larry.

 

[Chri5peed]

Grados lose America points. They may well sound good, but can anyone honestly say an effort has been made in their style or build-quality?

I'm forever amazed seeing pictures of Grados taken apart, hot-glue shouldn't be anywhere near quality equipment. Its not even done carefully, some have thick blobs of it, others have the smallest amount.

 

[blumenco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chri5peed Grados lose America points. They may well sound good, but can anyone honestly say an effort has been made in their style or build-quality? I'm forever amazed seeing pictures of Grados taken apart, hot-glue shouldn't be anywhere near quality equipment. Its not even done carefully, some have thick blobs of it, others have the smallest amount.

Grados look vintage. oh, i forgot. no one here would know or care or respect what old headphones look like... the grado design is very very tried and true. form follows function, and i love the way grados look, sound, and work with everyday life. i guess you have to be cool enough to wear them, to pull the whole style thing off. its the whole ugly (industrial) looks good thing. kinda like versace. also, just because they are hand made, and a little imperfect here and there does not mean that they sound bad at all as a result. i have head many a grado headphone (not just models, but sheer numbers) and though i have detected slight hot glue anomolies upon visual inspection, they have never affected stereo matching, looks (with the pads on) the sound that comes out of them, or my psyche when i listen to music through them. the proof is in the listening. now put your pads back on and chill to tunes rather than overanalysing slight screw ups that you could easily chisel off on your own. I think in many ways, the defining trait of modern american workmanship is in grado headphones - not sweating the small (or insignificant) stuff - and trying to get the big important things right. are we in decline culturally workmanship wise? I think so. our state of the art is certainly IEMs, and damn, are those state of the art!

BTW, my vote goes to japan. the best headphone designers in europe copy the japanese as far as sonic signature goes (IMO). don't beleive me? listen to some well set up single driver back loaded horns some time. as speakers they sound very different from any other speaker and of any given speaker type the most like a very good pair of headphones. the orpheus sounds almost exactly like my fe 108 esII sonic signature wise. I am not really aware of a more accurate driver or a more accurate headphone. i consider both to be peas in a pod. course, the fe108esII was made ten years after the orpheus, but then again, the japanese were doing the whole back loaded horn thing far before that, and then again, we (america) invented the back loaded horn long before the japanese got ahold of them...

also my vote goes to japan as far as future markets go. as money in the headphone market increases generationally, i think that the japanese have the potential to take sound quality far more seriously than anyone else. their audio scene in japan (speakers) makes the europeans' and U.S.'s ones look like a kindergarden class by comparison. I suspect that the headphone scenes will keep those proportions.

and what about south america? antarctica? is russia a part of europe or asia? do they make any heapdhones? these questions stand.

Clark

 

[Inkmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Nope, that one comes from Brookyln in the US of A. ...Oh wait, I think you mean Larry.

My bad, I meant R10, the classic wood cupped Sony model. And I'm sorry if Larry reads this! You should see how bad I am with folks names IRL! It's why I don't have any friends and fail all my history classes! >_<

Still, aside from pointing out my typos and abhorrent social skills

, I hope you see why I think that this poll is really only meant to collect peoples' opinions, and not actually determine a factual leader in the headphone world, despite what the title implies. Maybe if every one of us were industry professionals or psychoacousticians ...

Really, 'perfect headphone' is a subjective thing, as much as an opinion poll. (like, how can someone be x% the best if we were asked 'who is the best'?)

. I guess it implies that the people that voted on less popular items are somehow wrong

? Not all of the best frequency charts match up all the time with what people buy and like.

If I have to give a subjective statement, I would have to say 'America' because, really, does anything match the price/functionality/sound quotient of the KSC35? Of course, I don't believe that alone makes America the best....

How about 'Japan'? The AD900 is technically the best headphone I have experience with, and yes, I was kind of bothered by making an inference past my real world experiences earlier...

But c'mon. It's gotta be 'Europe' right? The Sennheiser HD600 and 650 are the references that you guys compare other things to around here, right? And aren't the AKG K240 the most abundant headphone in recording booths all over? well... maybe Fostex TR-20s (where IS fostex?) or Beyer DT150s?

Really, I can't vote for any one country, because I can't imagine either empirical or subjective means of determining a best headphone to be satisfactory on their own... nor the means of a poll being suitable for that question. IMO, the best headphone is what you bought and decided to keep

.

Mcmanus: You have a lot best headphones! Which one spends the most time on your head? I know it's dumb for a kid with a few headphones to talk so much at an adult with a lot of great headphones about determining factors in headphone preferences, so I'm really just honestly asking about your preference

. Also, I've been obsessively thinking lately about whether hi-end-super-hi-fi is all it is cracked up to be after I saw firsthand how solidly my KSC35 cheapies performed next to my AD900. (I was afraid to write a post about it for fear of 'what, are you a retard?' type retaliations) I'm afraid that as I spend more, I'm going to find out that the real difference between a good headphone like the AD900 and a great headphone like the HE 90, L3000, K1000, etc is a shade or two of gray, maybe a split hair, and exotic woods and leathers. I'm typing all this because I want to be proved wrong

.