[Daemon Ursus]

   
Now if only there were enough of that copper to develop a nice patina on your products, giving each one a personal identity...

Except, with copper, that means corrosion. Copper corrodes into a rough nasty green. Looks good on something the size of the Statue of Liberty that you look at from a mile away, but it's not pleasant on something you have to handle up close every day. At least that's my opinion. 

 

[Armaegis]

That really really depends on the type of copper used. Copper oxidation (plus sulphidation) is actually a self-preserving quality to protect the underlying metal. Off the top of my head, the two main places where it looks bad is on external architecture where exposure to pollution/acid rain/etc wears it down, or in wires/cabling where you potentially have contaminants trapped within sleeving, and electric current which can potentially accelerate corrosion.
 
As a surface finish on products used indoors, I don't think it would be an issue.

 

[rthomas]

Hello Vlad & Steve,
 
First of all thank you for asking for feedback well before the release and for the sensible price points especially considering the insane escalation in prices we have seen over the last 7 years or so.
 
I'm in the market for a headphone around $1000 and the HP1 is now on my radar.
 
I think Headfiers before me have covered the basics like fit and comfort, I just wanted to add my 2 cents to the tuning discussion.
 
Many members on this forum and other audio forums have been eagerly awaiting for a successor/big brother to the legendary Senn HD650.
 
Sennheiser went in a totally different direction with the HD700 & 800 and I believe there is a great opportunity for you guys to fill this gap.
 
There is no headphone that currently exists that takes the 650s strengths i.e smooth, sibilance free treble and balanced midrange and counters it's main weakness which is lack of defined, tight, deep bass.
 
Maybe the Focal Utopia but that is $4000.......
 
All $1000+ headphones have 1 or two major flaws. The Focal Elears came very close but then it has a major upper midrange dip in the frequency response which was a deal breaker for many.
 
The Massdrop HD6XX sold out 5000 units within hours. There are 40,000 + people interested in a second run. I think this is sufficient proof that most people gravitate towards a balanced, slightly warm tuning.
 
I hope you guys are able to do something along these lines with the HP1. In my view the flagship model has to be Hi fidelity by definition and must have a neutral tuning which is faithful to the recording.
 
Good luck!

 

[gikigill]

It's a breath of fresh air to see Klipsch taking notes and asking for ideas and opinions compared to the Hifiman Edition 6 thread. This is customer satisfaction done right.

You guys are really pushing me to buy a Klipsch LaScala or go for the big daddy KHorns.Suddenly I feel the need to get a home theatre too besides upgrading my Stereo setup...

 

[Armaegis]

You guys are really pushing me to buy a Klipsch LaScala or go for the big daddy KHorns.Suddenly I feel the need to get a home theatre too besides upgrading my Stereo setup...

 
Funny you should mention the La Scale. I recently had a guy offer a trade on those speakers for some amps I had, but I wasn't sure about it. Getting big honkin' speakers is sorta the opposite of trying to simplify right? And reviews I've read seem rather polarized on them.

 

[gikigill]

The LaScala are a bit shrill if not amped properly. It's not about a lot of power but normal amount of quality power.

 

[Armaegis]

They're super efficient aren't they? I wouldn't be putting a massive power amp behind them; maybe build a nice tube amp or something because that's the thing to do lol.

 

[gikigill]

Yup, a few high quality watts is plenty.

 

[ProfFalkin]

Just a quick product suggestion.

(I'm in a hurry and haven't read the whole thread yet, sorry if this has already been suggested...)

Ear pads are the single biggest point of comfort for me. Not only do they need to be big enough to fully encompass my entire ear, but they have a huge impact on sound. Just ask anyone with a T50RP or TH-#00 variant and you will find no one can suffer the stock pads for long but finding replacement pads that sound great are a big challenge.

Beyer is providing 2 different pad types with their DT 1770/1990 line, and I think this is something you should consider doing as well.

It lets owners customize comfort as well as sound.

Thanks for reading

 

[DivineCurrent]

Thank you Klipsch for giving us head-fiers the chance to help with the development on these new headphones. If any company can do an amazing job with headphones, it's an already amazing speaker company like you guys.

My thoughts on the HP series sort of reflect what most have said already. Comfort is a huge factor, so multiple choices in pad materials should be considered.

When it comes to sound, I have a lot to suggest. My stance is similar to rthomas, in that you guys should look into a reference tuning similar to the Sennheiser HD 650/600 for at least one of these headphones, maybe the flagship. I say this because it seems that most headphones that exisit give up a smooth, natural sound for other aspects such as in your face detail and driving efficiency. In my opinion, smooth frequency response and low total harmonic distortion are key to make headphones sound better. I would seek advice from Paul Barton of PSB speakers, as he has a good understanding of what headphone tonality should be like to most represent a high fidelity 2 channel speaker setup, and he has worked with big names in the field of audio science and engineering like Sean Olive. Many people including myself would love to have a headphone that is as close as possible to a stereo speaker experience. Also, making the headphone flagship an open back is a very smart move. I think the end goal at least for the HP-3 is to make it sound as open as possible, without affecting its frequency response negatively, easier said than done I know. You guys probably already have all this research done and I'm just giving you old news. Also, I have not heard your on ear reference headphones, which probably are a similar tuning to what these new heaphones will be. However, you guys are one of the few companies to ask for advice from us headphone enthusiasts, and I think that makes all the difference in the world.

 

[Nrocket]

One headphone to look at as far as tuning goes for the middle and closed models is the Master and Dynamic MH40. If you could match the bass impact along with the clear midrange with a bit more treble energy and sparkle, then these will be winners. Also I noticed in some of the CES videos that on the HB-3 the ear cups seem to hold much of the weight and seem to be swiveling a little. I would just make sure that the build quality is very solid, because headphones with these materials being lite could end up being an issue overtime.

 

[ProfFalkin]

Anyone else slightly disturbed by the several suggestions to make a HD650-ripoff? I find that HP to be boring, and I certainly hope Klipsch does far better than to make a Sennheiser V2.0 / wannabe product.

 

[Nrocket]

I also have a question about the middle HB-2 model. Why do an open on ear headphone? Usually the purpose of the n on ear headphone is for portable use yet it's an open back headphone, so it feels like a contradiction. I was very excited when I first saw a video of these at CES because I thought he HB-2 was a less expensive over ear because it has a smaller driver. Now finding out it is an On ear reduces my excitement. I would recommend offering this.

$999 Flagship 50mm Driver Over Ear Headphone
$399 40mm Driver Over Ear Headphone
$$$? Closed Back Version with ANC and Bluetooth

 

[Andrew Rieger]

Anyone else slightly disturbed by the several suggestions to make a HD650-ripoff? I find that HP to be boring, and I certainly hope Klipsch does far better than to make a Sennheiser V2.0 / wannabe product.

I sort of agree. That headphone has stood the test of time for a reason but I never found the HD650/600 to be particularly fun. Its probably the most well rounded headphone ever made but I found the ATH R70x and the DT1990 Pro to be much more engaging. I honestly think more people would prefer a slightly V shaped signature. I think good headphones to study are the R70X, DT1990 Pro, and ZMF Atticus. I'm hesitant to suggest the Elear because of its tuning issues but others might feel differently.  

 

[Daemon Ursus]

I also have a question about the middle HB-2 model. Why do an open on ear headphone? Usually the purpose of the n on ear headphone is for portable use yet it's an open back headphone, so it feels like a contradiction. I was very excited when I first saw a video of these at CES because I thought he HB-2 was a less expensive over ear because it has a smaller driver. Now finding out it is an On ear reduces my excitement. I would recommend offering this.

$999 Flagship 50mm Driver Over Ear Headphone
$399 40mm Driver Over Ear Headphone
$$$? Closed Back Version with ANC and Bluetooth

Already addressed if you read the thread. They are all over ear, the 1&2 are just smaller. 
 
 

 
- The smaller HP-2 and HP-1 will still be over-ear models (40mm), not on-ear. Even premium on-ears tend to hurt our ears here at the office, so we'll table them for now. They need to grow a little bit to accommodate an ear, the CES prototypes came off a bit on the small size.