Has the headphone stuff (headfi) becoming ridiculously expensive?

[watchnerd]

Another headphone that comes even closer to the target is the AKG N700, which has ANC and BT.

These are the headphones I use when I travel on planes, which means I haven't worn them since COVID.
View attachment 84156

Oooh, those look nice....both physically and curve-ically.

Does it support Apt X?

 

[solderdude]

Focal Clear Pros came in today. Been comparing them to HD800s today. So far, I'm hearing pros and cons to each.

Yup.. different yet both very good.
Even all flagships don't sound the same or even similar but have certain desirable traits.
You can get them to sound more similar but tend to loose some of the positive traits in general as a trade off to being tonally more balanced. Not necesarilly more desirable but can be.

 

[solderdude]

the AKG N700, which has ANC and BT.

These are the headphones I use when I travel on planes

It would be funny if you were 'spotted' in a plane (sans Covid) wearing a Bose or Sony headphone and someone took a picture and posted it somewhere in the headphone community.
That would generate some noise that couldn't be suppressed with any existing NC.

 

[EJ3]

Many years ago I was on a plane going to Dubai & Singapore and the SkullCandy startup people where within a couple seats of me talking about their headphones. The conversation they were having at that time was all about their "fashion statement" marketing. I thought to myself "they won't be around for too many years." But they are. I still haven't personally heard one of theirs that I like. But, then again, I bought my old Senheiser TR180's & left it at that. I am not a consumerist, if a product does "good enough" for me, I'll likely use it until it no longer functions and can't be repaired. At that point I start looking for a new one.

 

[watchnerd]

Many years ago I was on a plane going to Dubai & Singapore and the SkullCandy startup people where within a couple seats of me talking about their headphones. The conversation they were having at that time was all about their "fashion statement" marketing. I thought to myself "they won't be around for too many years." But they are. I still haven't personally heard one of theirs that I like. But, then again, I bought my old Senheiser TR180's & left it at that. I am not a consumerist, if a product does "good enough" for me, I'll likely use it until it no longer functions and can't be repaired. At that point I start looking for a new one.

Audio is an incredibly fashion and trend driven business, even for things you can't wear.

Home decor trends have influenced the current skinny-but-deep speaker designs.

Or shift in color of electronics. Silver was in, then out, then black was in, then out, etc.

And wood on electronics vs not.

 

[Blujackaal]

More like approaching 1% distortion in the bass for the ER4SR, primarily the more objectionable 3rd order as well (94 dB SPL @ 500Hz):

And this bass distortion will be even higher when you inevitably have to EQ it up due to lack of bass response. These results aren't great in comparison to other IEMs, especially when you can get a pair of $10 Sony MH755's (to the ER4SR's $260) that have considerably lower distortion (and 2nd harmonic at that, with practically zero third or higher orders):

 

[richard12511]

Yup.. different yet both very good.
Even all flagships don't sound the same or even similar but have certain desirable traits.
You can get them to sound more similar but tend to loose some of the positive traits in general as a trade off to being tonally more balanced. Not necesarilly more desirable but can be.

I ended up returning the Focals. The 800s just seemed to have a more detailed and pleasant mid/treble presentation. I definitely liked the bass presentation more in the Focals, but I'm now pretty sure I'm gonna need EQ to be totally satisfied with either, and I figure it's easier to EQ up the bass of 800s than it is to make the Clear Pro mid/treble sound as good as the 800s.

Any recommendations for 800s EQ filters? I have Roon, which allows me 8? PEQ bands, but I can use something else if it's better.

 

[Jimbob54]

I ended up returning the Focals. The 800s just seemed to have a more detailed and pleasant mid/treble presentation. I definitely liked the bass presentation more in the Focals, but I'm now pretty sure I'm gonna need EQ to be totally satisfied with either, and I figure it's easier to EQ up the bass of 800s than it is to make the Clear Pro mid/treble sound as good as the 800s.

Any recommendations for 800s EQ filters? I have Roon, which allows me 8? PEQ bands, but I can use something else if it's better.

Roon can have far more than 8. Not sure on how many. Think I've read more than 20

 

[Jimbob54]

I ended up returning the Focals. The 800s just seemed to have a more detailed and pleasant mid/treble presentation. I definitely liked the bass presentation more in the Focals, but I'm now pretty sure I'm gonna need EQ to be totally satisfied with either, and I figure it's easier to EQ up the bass of 800s than it is to make the Clear Pro mid/treble sound as good as the 800s.

Any recommendations for 800s EQ filters? I have Roon, which allows me 8? PEQ bands, but I can use something else if it's better.

Dig around the different measurement folders here for various eq https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/tree/master/results

 

[bobbooo]

Any recommendations for 800s EQ filters? I have Roon, which allows me 8? PEQ bands, but I can use something else if it's better.

Here you go.

 

[asruser2020]

Way back in 2003 when i just stumbled upon headfi , headphones such as hd600 , Grado RS1, iems such as Etymotic er4p/s were considered very expensive high end headphones.

I'm with you. I was on head-fi.org a lot during 2005-2008. The state-of-the-art headphones at that time were the Sennheiser HD650. Here's a CNET review by Steve Guttenberg: The formidable Sennheiser HD 650 headphones are fit for a king--and have a price tag to prove it. They cost $550 at the time.

Fast forward to present , in matter of 17 years,the headfi had grown massively. Headphones and amplifiers that were considered expensive and high end in the past are budget stuff now. New companies /brands come out of nowhere and produce headphones iem, daps which cost more and more. USD 5k Headphones, USD3k IEMs , USD 3K daps??? Goes on and on. I recently had a brief audition of the 15K T&A headphone system and i felt it was overpriced.

Its getting silly I feel for the way things are now in the headphone/iem audio industry. Its like companies are competing to rip consumers off by keep producing newer products of ever increasing price tag with no end at sight! Anyone has similar opinion?

There are two reasons why headphones have gotten more popular and more expensive since 2005.

1. Millennials who make good money tend to live in dense cities and typically in apartments. Since space and loudness are concerns, they'll opt for high-end headphones rather than high-end speakers and amps.

2. The number of affluent people in the world has increased over the last 15 years. Note: China has gotten very rich.

https://money.com/us-had-more-millionaires-sweden-has-people/

https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-...illionaire-households-us-total-2017-increase/

 

[bobbooo]

Only slightly lower distortion in the very low sub-bass (where there's little to no energy in most music), but again dominated by more objectionable third harmonic, so perceptually probably the same distortion as the $10 Sony MH755 at those very lowest frequencies, and worse at upper bass and midrange frequencies. Really nothing to write home about.

 

[Astrozombie]

Thanks to this thread I think I'll check out some Etys, been a long time since I tried IEMs, don't really like having to put them in my ears but I think the most expensive ones I tried were like $50 back in the day.

Nobody is talking about the new Denon cans, for the longest time people would have to look for them used and pay way above original MSRP so it's cool to see they're back in the game. Might check them out one day. I lost my password (and had 2 factor auth.)to Head-Fi so i'm not really going to look over there.

 

[derekgates]

I'll agree with the price of audiophile gear increasing... but the incredible sound quality we swim in nowadays is a vast improvement over the bathtub of quality from 10+ years ago!

Thanks to this thread I think I'll check out some Etys, been a long time since I tried IEMs, don't really like having to put them in my ears but I think the most expensive ones I tried were like $50 back in the day.

Nobody is talking about the new Denon cans, for the longest time people would have to look for them used and pay way above original MSRP so it's cool to see they're back in the game. Might check them out one day. I lost my password (and had 2 factor auth.)to Head-Fi so i'm not really going to look over there.

Etymotic ER-4P and Sennheiser 595 is how I got started with hi-fi. I sold those IEMs long ago and wish I had them around...

 

[david85]

2. The number of affluent people in the world has increased over the last 15 years. Note: China has gotten very rich.

https://money.com/us-had-more-millionaires-sweden-has-people/

I suspect a main bulk of owners of very expensive headphone/iem setups are chinese kids from China, they have rich parents who are probably corrupted govt officials and I even suspect there are less Japanese stax owners than chinese. When edifier , a chinese company, bought over stax , the company produces and sells T8000 amp which sold over USD5000 . Many members of stax mafia eg. sprizter , kevin gilmore are of opinion that they are extremely overpriced. I heard the amp myself and i didn't think its a major upgrade from SRM727. Heck I am a fan of SR009 , love it alot but i still think its overpriced. ORIOLUS , a new japanese brand of IEM , their top in line model is selling for USD 2000 and its made in CHINA!!. I have many friends told me similar things , iem that cost thousands , contain 7 to 8 balanced armature drivers , don't sound very good and they are made in China. Imagine the profit margin

 

[Thomas savage]

I suspect a main bulk of owners of very expensive headphone/iem setups are chinese kids from China, they have rich parents who are probably corrupted govt officials

This sort of thing is not acceptable here , it's pure prejudiced and not something I want us being associated with .

Please keep that in mind in future posts .

cheers.

 

[Blujackaal]

This sort of thing is not acceptable here , it's pure prejudiced and not something I want us being associated with .

Please keep that in mind in future posts .

cheers.

LOL, your a joke.

 

[Jimbob54]

LOL, your a joke.

*you're

So go on, explain.

 

[wgb113]

Those two models of headphones did not follow our research guidelines. The latest AKG K371 Pro ($149) does try to follow it Below is the average left/right frequency response curve plotted against the Target (green) along with the Error Curve (red) and the Slope of the Error Curve (dotted).View attachment 84138

@Sean Olive would you happen to have measurements for the K872 so that we could EQ for the target curve? I happen to prefer the 872 over the 812 but I've never found measurements of it.

 

[mocenigo]

Which ones ?? We need guidance!!!

Well, perhaps you can find the Monoprice Monolith 1060C at a discounted price. I got them (here in Europe) and I am quite happy.