[Hutnicks]

Fools's It has nothing at all to do about the enjoyment, but rather the bragging rights of being able to say you spent two mortgage payments on a headphone and therefore are now magically able to hear things that are not there. Cowtowing to a price driven market that quite frankly delivers nothing more than a 20 year old phone that got it right back then and can be had for pocket change is the new black.

If this were the car industry these guys would all be driving beryllium bodied Pinto's for a quarter million bucks a copy and dissing the Porsche and Ferrari drivers as being old school and not leading edge.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Fools's It has nothing at all to do about the enjoyment, but rather the bragging rights of being able to say you spent two mortgage payments on a headphone and therefore are now magically able to hear things that are not there. Cowtowing to a price driven market that quite frankly delivers nothing more than a 20 year old phone that got it right back then and can be had for pocket change is the new black.

If this were the car industry these guys would all be driving beryllium bodied Pinto's for a quarter million bucks a copy and dissing the Porsche and Ferrari drivers as being old school and not leading edge.

Why so negative tho?

I think that R&D is nice to push the edge, not to consume. I don't think people should consume that edge, but if it never exists, tech will never advance. Car tech has been the same, it really exploded for the low cost area in the past five years.

A 2011 car had no cool features for driving and feels bad now, but the same car revision from 2017 tends to be awesome and drive much better. This means better driving power, better control, better embedded functions, better driver control over the car and so on, even having the radio embedded under the wind thingy is a major thing because it adds to the comfort. I drove cars, one from 2011, one from 2017, both costing around 10.000 Eur new, so the low end of them. There was a huge difference between those in how comfortable they were and how they felt in practice.

 

[Audioholic123]

Fools's It has nothing at all to do about the enjoyment, but rather the bragging rights of being able to say you spent two mortgage payments on a headphone and therefore are now magically able to hear things that are not there. Cowtowing to a price driven market that quite frankly delivers nothing more than a 20 year old phone that got it right back then and can be had for pocket change is the new black.

If this were the car industry these guys would all be driving beryllium bodied Pinto's for a quarter million bucks a copy and dissing the Porsche and Ferrari drivers as being old school and not leading edge.

There are some things about money and life that you don't seem to understand...I mean, no offense but I highly doubt you would be complaining if you were a millionaire..

Don't you ever have anything positive to say?!

 

[Hutnicks]

There are some things about money and life that you don't seem to understand...I mean, no offense but I highly doubt you would be complaining if you were a millionaire..

Don't you ever have anything positive to say?!

Sure do. Buy a pair of Koss ESP 950's and about 10 bucks worth of sorbothane and then call me out for being negative.

BTW how do you know I am not a millionaire? You think having massive disposable income makes you prone to piss poor value judgements? I would then tend to have you read some bio's of people who have made their own fortunes. Oddly enough, very few of those got there by putting high value on mediocre performance gains over what they could get elsewhere.

Lemme put it another more succinct way. The only people in Audiofooldom who are millionaires are they ones selling to the masses. Were it not so, you would see the likes of Focal and the lot with Lewis Hamilton, Soccer players and NBA stars hyping there goods. Oddly enough, the only hype comes from the great unknown minority. So have at it, the minority rules here. Spend 10 grand on a headphone setup and your retirement years will be well spent wondering why you are living on cat food and idloizing the next (at that time) FOTD setup. Consumerism is about to go the way of the dodo. Every other industry see's it. Audio seems to think they are immune.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Sure do. Buy a pair of Koss ESP 950's and about 10 bucks worth of sorbothane and then call me out for being negative.

BTW how do you know I am not a millionaire? You think having massive disposable income makes you prone to piss poor value judgements? I would then tend to have you read some bio's of people who have made their own fortunes. Oddly enough, very few of those got there by putting high value on mediocre performance gains over what they could get elsewhere.

Lemme put it another more succinct way. The only people in Audiofooldom who are millionaires are they ones selling to the masses. Were it not so, you would see the likes of Focal and the lot with Lewis Hamilton, Soccer players and NBA stars hyping there goods. Oddly enough, the only hype comes from the great unknown minority. So have at it, the minority rules here. Spend 10 grand on a headphone setup and your retirement years will be well spent wondering why you are living on cat food and idloizing the next (at that time) FOTD setup. Consumerism is about to go the way of the dodo. Every other industry see's it. Audio seems to think they are immune.

I have fooball player friends who have HD800S + iDSD BL as their road trip setups, but appear in photo shoots with Dr.Dre headphones because they are paid over half a million $ to do so......

They are not allowed by their contract to say a word about it in public... Same with drinks, some of them hold a drink X during interviews even if they personally dislike it. Not being able to talk publicly means that some of them can be users here, hiding under a pseudonym because they can't do more.

I feel that a millionaire has a good value judgement, but following a hobby and investing in it has good results - what difference is there if my friend X invests 10.000$ in sportive fishing equipment, that does literally nothing but consume time, and I invest in electronics, gaming, or headphones / audiophile equipment

 

[Svatopluk]

Sure do. Buy a pair of Koss ESP 950's and about 10 bucks worth of sorbothane and then call me out for being negative.

BTW how do you know I am not a millionaire? You think having massive disposable income makes you prone to piss poor value judgements? I would then tend to have you read some bio's of people who have made their own fortunes. Oddly enough, very few of those got there by putting high value on mediocre performance gains over what they could get elsewhere.

Lemme put it another more succinct way. The only people in Audiofooldom who are millionaires are they ones selling to the masses. Were it not so, you would see the likes of Focal and the lot with Lewis Hamilton, Soccer players and NBA stars hyping there goods. Oddly enough, the only hype comes from the great unknown minority. So have at it, the minority rules here. Spend 10 grand on a headphone setup and your retirement years will be well spent wondering why you are living on cat food and idloizing the next (at that time) FOTD setup. Consumerism is about to go the way of the dodo. Every other industry see's it. Audio seems to think they are immune.

I doubt if the cost of my headphone setup will have anything to do with the possibility of my golden years being spent eating cat food and drinking Old Milwaukee. The combination of taxes, insurance and out of pocket medical expenses will far more likely be the culprit.

 

[Beagle]

Fools's It has nothing at all to do about the enjoyment, but rather the bragging rights of being able to say you spent two mortgage payments on a headphone and therefore are now magically able to hear things that are not there. Cowtowing to a price driven market that quite frankly delivers nothing more than a 20 year old phone that got it right back then and can be had for pocket change is the new black.

If this were the car industry these guys would all be driving beryllium bodied Pinto's for a quarter million bucks a copy and dissing the Porsche and Ferrari drivers as being old school and not leading edge.

I couldn't agree more. I've experienced it.

There are some things about money and life that you don't seem to understand...I mean, no offense but I highly doubt you would be complaining if you were a millionaire.

Being a millionaire is irrelevant as to whether or not some audio gear is way overpriced and a waste of money. I mean, look at this.....it better sound $3000 worth 'cause it sure don't look it. The housing materials/headband can't be worth more than $2.00.

 

[DivaFonda]

Yep, Beats and Bose pay celebs to hype their stuff. Not to mention post ads everywhere. A lot of good audio is indeed niche, I've discovered. Although Apple has stepped it up with Beats. But they were considered overpriced at one time too. Probably still are.

I used to buy cheap headphones and had to replace them too often and/or grew bored with them too quickly. I finally looked into good sets and discovered this niche. Now, I don't think everything expensive is worth their price so I pick and choose. It's foolish to spend $10K on a setup? Well IMO, if you spend the $10K on quality items(not just headphones alone, no way) that last long term instead of buying a new everything every year, it can be worth it. If your $10K setup lasts a long time, and you don't have constant "upgraditis", you'll be fine IMO.

Now if you do have constant FOMO and not enough disposable income, then yeah I can easily see how that's a problem in the long run. I had that issue when I first got involved, although not in the $1K plus range. Do your research on every new set you want to buy, is all I can say. That's what I have to do now anyway. I've crossed a lot of sets of my "wish list" simply because they were either too similar to what I have already, or I felt they wouldn't work out for other reasons. You also have to look at want vs. need. Much of the time, it's want, so ask yourself why you want something so badly and why it can't wait a little.

If I had $10K ready to go, I'd probably go on vacation first anyway, instead of buying headphones. Or go on vacation but also buy a set to take with me, lol.

 

[kman1211]

Yep, Beats and Bose pay celebs to hype their stuff. Not to mention post ads everywhere. A lot of good audio is indeed niche, I've discovered. Although Apple has stepped it up with Beats. But they were considered overpriced at one time too. Probably still are.

I used to buy cheap headphones and had to replace them too often and/or grew bored with them too quickly. I finally looked into good sets and discovered this niche. Now, I don't think everything expensive is worth their price so I pick and choose. It's foolish to spend $10K on a setup? Well IMO, if you spend the $10K on quality items(not just headphones alone, no way) that last long term instead of buying a new everything every year, it can be worth it. If your $10K setup lasts a long time, and you don't have constant "upgraditis", you'll be fine IMO.

Now if you do have constant FOMO and not enough disposable income, then yeah I can easily see how that's a problem in the long run. I had that issue when I first got involved, although not in the $1K plus range. Do your research on every new set you want to buy, is all I can say. That's what I have to do now anyway. I've crossed a lot of sets of my "wish list" simply because they were either too similar to what I have already, or I felt they wouldn't work out for other reasons. You also have to look at want vs. need. Much of the time, it's want, so ask yourself why you want something so badly and why it can't wait a little.

If I had $10K ready to go, I'd probably go on vacation first anyway, instead of buying headphones. Or go on vacation but also buy a set to take with me, lol.

Definitely, part of the problem with first getting in this hobby is figuring out what good sound is and what your preference is and one's early purchases can influence their taste.

It's been a long and rocky road for me headphone wise personally but I have figured out what I do want now that isn't something I can't afford. Buying the right gear will definitely kills upgraditis. I was blessed/cursed to hear a super expensive systems early on courtesy of my friend who got me into this hobby and one had to be the R10 with those glorious mids/vocals.

Yeah, the constant flavor of the month is a real problem for those who don't have the income. It's usually best for those first going into the hobby to play it safe with headphones that have stood the test of time or simply be patient with some of the newer headphones and let the hype die down. The Elear for example got a lot of praise at first, now it's all mixed, though I personally really liked the Elear, spent a week with it on tour and really grew on me the last days of the tour. Do want to get it sometime, but have no idea of what price it will settle on.

My best purchase headphone wise is actually quite new(Amiron Home) but it never really achieved FOTM status and was sort of a blind purchase, it's the only headphone I've owned I haven't gotten bored with or irritated with despite over 6 months of ownership. It's sometimes good to take risks on newer headphones over some tried and true headphones, but sadly it can be a real gamble.

True, a nice vacation would be a nice way to spend $10K over audio gear.

 

[leeperry]

4 g's and some reseller won't double-box utopia LOL https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-utopia-headphones-new-sealed.862056/

so what? only 4 g's, we double-box starting from 10 buddy

 

[Dobrescu George]

I couldn't agree more. I've experienced it.

Being a millionaire is irrelevant as to whether or not some audio gear is way overpriced and a waste of money. I mean, look at this.....it better sound $3000 worth 'cause it sure don't look it. The housing materials/headband can't be worth more than $2.00.

I kinda agree, they don't look so polished for a 3K headphone. I don't know how they sound and feel in person, but surely could use a better aesthetic aspect...

 

[Beagle]

I kinda agree, they don't look so polished for a 3K headphone. I don't know how they sound and feel in person, but surely could use a better aesthetic aspect...

UNLESS.....it's deliberate to keep the weight down. But still, for $3000 it should appear more substantial that a toy headphone IMO.

 

[93EXCivic]

.

A 2011 car had no cool features for driving and feels bad now, but the same car revision from 2017 tends to be awesome and drive much better. This means better driving power, better control, better embedded functions, better driver control over the car and so on, even having the radio embedded under the wind thingy is a major thing because it adds to the comfort. I drove cars, one from 2011, one from 2017, both costing around 10.000 Eur new, so the low end of them. There was a huge difference between those in how comfortable they were and how they felt in practice.

Sorry. I cant let this go. Old cars are way way better to drive. You actually feel like you are driving a car not a stupid bloody computer.

 

[Metalsludge]

I have seen people spend thousands on a setup, only to end up with a detailed yet thin sound that they don't even enjoy. To be honest, some of my "only" mid-tier cans have given me more pleasure than some of my most expensive ones.

But a lot of people new to the hobby pursue holy grail levels of expensive detail retrieval and/or low distortion alone, because they haven't learned about their own tonal tastes yet, and assume that's all there is to pursue in audio.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Sorry. I cant let this go. Old cars are way way better to drive. You actually feel like you are driving a car not a stupid bloody computer.

Ahahahaha XD

The one I drove that was older felt anemic, like a poor calculator that did all bad.

My main car is made back in 2000, and is really poor - I had fun driving it, so I understand your point. But 2010 vs 2017 cars, 2017 advanced more, 2010 cars mostly feel like a bad implementation of a computer, while 2017 feel better - at least the two I had the honor of driving.

Can't wait to see and drive more cars actually, but in my humble experience (I am new to driving, only a few years of XP), newer cars were considerably better. At least here, in Romania. I heard stories that vintage cars in some countries are really fun