[Beagle]

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. 

 
A balanced FR'd headphone can never be 'boring' or 'not particularly fun'. But music can be. If a headphone sounds "exciting" with boring music, it's probably colored.
 
I just hope Klipsch makes a line of phones that are reasonable balanced, reasonably uncolored and sound good with a large variety of music. Just get the midrange right, and 'do no harm' to the bass and treble.

 

[Nick727]

Out of all the input we've given so far, I don't think we can give Klipsch engineers much advice on how to make their headphones sound.
 
The most important think they can do in my opinion, is make a headphone that house their own "house-sound" to them. This makes them unique and identifiable. I don't doubt one bit that Klipsch won't pull this off either as their speakers have their own unique sound to them and they've been phenomenal in the past and present.

 

[ProfFalkin]

A balanced FR'd headphone can never be 'boring' or 'not particularly fun'. But music can be. If a headphone sounds "exciting" with boring music, it's probably colored.

I just hope Klipsch makes a line of phones that are reasonable balanced, reasonably uncolored and sound good with a large variety of music. Just get the midrange right, and 'do no harm' to the bass and treble.

I see what you are trying to say, but the logic doesn't hold. My ears do find it boring. Such is the nature of personal preferences.

 

[Beagle]

I see what you are trying to say, but the logic doesn't hold. My ears do find it boring. Such is the nature of personal preferences.

 
This is true. Although I wonder if the same could be said about a loudspeaker or amplifier with an even frequency response.
 

  Out of all the input we've given so far, I don't think we can give Klipsch engineers much advice on how to make their headphones sound.
 
The most important think they can do in my opinion, is make a headphone that house their own "house-sound" to them. This makes them unique and identifiable. I don't doubt one bit that Klipsch won't pull this off either as their speakers have their own unique sound to them and they've been phenomenal in the past and present.

 
I agree 100%. Asking everyone here 'what they'd like' would be like Starbucks asking which kind of coffee should we offer.

 

[ProfFalkin]

I agree 100%. Asking everyone here 'what they'd like' would be like Starbucks asking which kind of coffee should we offer.

I'd like a half decaffeinated Americano with a twist of lemon please.

 

[Daemon Ursus]

  Out of all the input we've given so far, I don't think we can give Klipsch engineers much advice on how to make their headphones sound.
 
The most important think they can do in my opinion, is make a headphone that house their own "house-sound" to them. This makes them unique and identifiable. I don't doubt one bit that Klipsch won't pull this off either as their speakers have their own unique sound to them and they've been phenomenal in the past and present.

I think a V shape would be a mistake, aside from that, I agree with you. These need to have their own sound, not just be a rip off of the Hd650 or whatever. Those already exist, if I want them, I will buy them. I really feel people need to limit trying to push their own personal desires onto the sound signature at this stage, let's see what their team comes up with before we start criticizing and trying to push them into making changes.

 

[Nrocket]

Whatever happened to making headphones for best audio reproduction period? Why a house sound? I recommended they improve of the MH40s cause I think that is a realistic way to get close to maximum performance. But I think Kilpsch shouldn't try to make a house sound, they should try to make the best headphones and then what comes from that becomes their house sound.

 

[ProfFalkin]

Whatever happened to making headphones for best audio reproduction period? Why a house sound?

That's a nice ideal, and even looks good on marketing fluff, but think about that question for a sec.

Best audio for what? Classical, edm, or perhaps jack of all trades/master of none? Which one will sell more? What if they made it best for audio, whatever that may mean, and it just ended up sounding like the M50X? You going to drop $900 on that sound when you could have it for $150? They have to differentiate the sound from other products so that it is unique, yet done in such a way that people still desire it and will buy the product.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

I don't think they should go full V obviously but maybe a little more punchy than totally neutral. Maybe its as simple as the pad tuning. My DT1990's are more U shaped with the extra pads, and more punchy/dynamic, slightly V shaped with the stock pads. I definitely prefer the stocks but I understand why others would like the more neutral accessory pads. If anything, I agree that the headphone should be tuned neutral out of the box.  I just think a punchier, a little less neutral sound should be an option for those who want it. Sort like how tube amps add color to a track. 

 

[Andrew Rieger]

And I don't think they should worry too much about making them sound like their speakers. I'm not sure that's even possible. The last company that tried that was Audioquest's Nighthawk and that is a very love/hate headphone. The headphone needs to sound better than the competition at its price, which is the Elear. 

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

This is refreshing and nice to see, congrats to Kilpsch for asking for feedback and being so transparent and open, this is a win-win situation, happy customers and happy company at the end of the story.
 
My suggestions for the 999usd open headphone:
 
Right now, your competition is Focal Elear, because of the build quality.
I didn't hear Elears but suspect they're at the same level of LCD-2, which I really like sonically, but even with the optional carbon fiber headband, they're quite heavy.
Also, LCD-2 has a small soundstage, from what I've read, Elear's soundstage is even smaller.
 
Something that could totally disrupt this segment, sonically (at least for me), should offer this:
 
- Big soundstage, but not discontinued or artificially wide like HD-800. Something accurate, "sizeable". I love my Stax SR-007 because of this.
- Even, natural tonality, without frequency aberrations. Something with a very, very fast transient response but relaxed at the same time, not overly bright.
- Deep, punchy bass without bleeding into the midrange.
- Efficient, but no overly efficient. By that I try to say, some of us have amplifiers, and want to take advantage over our investiment. Resuming, not an HE-6, but also not an Edition X in terms of efficiency.
- Good measurements. Costs 999usd, so it has to measure right. Believe me, you don't want those candid debates about "hey, sounds good but 100usd XYZ headphone measures better".
 
Regarding to build quality and looks of the product, I think you pretty much nailed it, not much to add here.
 
If I were you, I'll make optional pads, not include them on stock, because it'll add to the cost of the product.
Ditto for the 4 pin XLR cable.
I love black gear, so you should offer it in black too
 
Those are my suggestions, hope it helps.
Good luck with your products!!!

 

[DivineCurrent]

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 didn't mean to upset or disturb people with my post. Klipsch can do whatever they want when it comes to tuning their headphones.
The main point of my post was not suggesting Klipsch should create an "HD650 v2.0". In my opinion. Klipsch has the opportunity to make a headphone that resembles a similar sound signature to their speakers, or any speakers actually. When you listen to a good 2 channel hi-fi system, it does not resemble a V-shaped sound in any way. Consistent research by Harman, Sean Olive, Paul Barton, and others, show that a flat balanced sound signature is what most speakers sound like, albeit with a slightly raised low end. Since Klipsch is a company that focuses mostly on speakers, that is why I think it would be a good idea to have them tuned to that similar response. But, many people do not agree with that, and that is fine. It's just a suggestion.

 

[Nick727]

Just to clarify, maybe I worded my post poorly. I don't think they should try to make them sound like their speakers necessarily. I do think that they should make their headphones sound unique though in the market with their own house-sound, that's not nexesssily representative of their speakers.

 

[Beagle]

Whatever happened to making headphones for best audio reproduction period?

 
People would find them, uh, boring

 
The problem is that there are about 10,001 differing opinions on what "best audio reproduction" is.

 

[ProfFalkin]

I didn't mean to upset or disturb people with my post.

No worries man! No one is actually disturbed, I would wager. I'm not.

It's a good point of discussion, one which I think illustrates the differing preferences of headphone users. The fun vs neutral camps I think.