The most overrated and underrated headphone you tried?

[Nango]

Amazon's ratings of course are not valid for empiricism. They mean nothing.

 

[ZolaIII]

Amazon's ratings of course are not valid for empiricism. They mean nothing.

Anything which can not be repeated in control environment with exactly the same outcome (experimental) is not empirical!

 

[solderdude]

No, empiricism means when only 1 out of 5 says Clear is better than HD6xx but 4 of 5 say HD6xx is way better, then Clear is overrated.

The only conclusions one can draw is the HD6XX is better value for money or most people are not prepared to pay Focal money or that most folks are able to audition a HD650 before buying the HD6XX but have no access to the Clear (not that many dealers that demo around).
Also MOST folks have heard of Sennheiser headphones but not that many of Focal. So the 4 out of 5 (who decided that number is representative and why) may well be price, preference and availability driven or by fear of drivers going belly up.

Again, whether or not someone feels a specific headphone is over or underrated is different for everyone. It is not a universal fact.

 

[A800]

Amazon's ratings of course are not valid for empiricism. They mean nothing.

A lot of reviews are fake.
Also on amazon.

 

[thewas]

I am a long time HD600 owner and heard the Clear from a friend (who owns both and many other good headphones) and we both definitely prefer the Clear, if I would listen more often to headphones I would get one (or the Elex or Elear which are quite close to it) but since I listen 99% of the time from loudspeakers it's not worth the extra money for me, but as said I like its sound definitely better.

 

[Nango]

Anything which can not be repeated in control environment with exactly the same outcome (experimental) is not empirical!

Well, I mean all humans have two ears to listen to and their perceptions are always handled by the same routines, the morphology of their ears will differ but this is part of the equation. At the end in average, all participants are equal.

 

[Nango]

The only conclusions one can draw is the HD6XX is better value for money or most people are not prepared to pay Focal money or that most folks are able to audition a HD650 before buying the HD6XX but have no access to the Clear (not that many dealers that demo around).

No. This is "absolute value" what you are describing while the subject of this thread is a "relative value" approach.

 

[solderdude]

Don't agree...
overrated is when someone thinks a headphone is too often said to be great while to them it isn't.
underrated is when someone thinks the headphone isn't mentioned or valued high enough.

In the end it is personal taste and pricepoint that determines if something is overrated or underrated ... to them.
Some things are sold more than others, maybe because of availability, maybe because of price, maybe because it has been well known, maybe because of a lot of advertising, maybe because of reviews...

In the end whatever one buys/ends up with is what they prefer and the price. That, which one buys/prefers, usually has good value to them or performs to what they prefer.

Price point, VFM, miminum requirements, personal taste all are ingredients in how one determines value.

 

[Asylum Seeker]

I think LDAC is now on phones beyond LG and Sony. I can vouch for Samsung and Huawei having LDAC.

LDAC @ 990 KB/s has SINAD of 98 DB which is more than a CD & perfectly enough. You do still need LG or Sony handsets to use it like that. TWS aren't there, headaphones are not there when it comes to sound quality but you can make a EMI + BT neckband combo or BT receiver + earphones/headphones & get there. Example FiiO FH1s EMI's + FiiO's LC-BT2 or Shanling UP4 BT receiver.

 

[ZolaIII]

I think LDAC is now on phones beyond LG and Sony. I can vouch for Samsung and Huawei having LDAC.

They all have it from Android 8 (Oreo) but bad implemented (code/antennas) so it drops out or have short range when in 990 KB/s mode.

 

[ReaderZ]

No, empiricism means when only 1 out of 5 says Clear is better than HD6xx but 4 of 5 say HD6xx is way better, then Clear is overrated.

Link to source.

 

[kodreaming]

it's expensive that VOCE, in the realm of SR009 which is impressive and has high and long resale value.

BTW I drive the SR007 with some SRM-727A with Spitzer mod.

I once compared the stock SRM-727A, the SRM-007TII, with the uber-expensive SRM T8000 in a Yodobashi. My conclusions were SRM-007TII a bit better than the SRM-727A, and the T8000 almost the same as the 007TII. Am I deaf?.

I was shocked. Given the difference of price, I was expecting something like putting the SR009 after the SR007, one wants to run and rob a bank. Now I really doubt these highly promoted and expensive amps on the web, like the blue huawai, KGSS, etc, really make anything more that a small difference.

I would love amir tested some electrostatics amps.

I had KGSSHV Carbon and Stax 323s side by side for a while with 009. I also couldn't hear much difference...It was depressing.

To my ears, Stax is just on its own audio, all those newer generation headphones just don't sound better than my old K701...

 

[Human Bass]

Most overrated Senn HD800

Most underrated Audioquest Nightowl (the highs were ultra detailed and buttersmooth at the same time)

Best cost-benefit Hifiman Sundara, for 350 dollars you get a headphone withou any major flaw.

 

[Gabs]

High priced headphones/iems are (always ?) overrated !
Some low priced ones are way too much underrated ! There are plenty of "good enough" for the audiophile these days.
In my collection I prefer the low budget to the high budget ones.

Edit : and headphones sent for free to youtube "reviewer" are very often overrated....

 

[stevenswall]

Most overrated at the last headphone convention I went to:
-Sony MDR Z1R
-Focal Utopia

Most Underrated:
-JH Audio Lola. Paying through about 5 songs or so again and again and comparing it to the Layla and Roxanne, along with the UE Reference Monitor and UE 18, as well as the Tia something or the other, I liked the Lola most.

 

[solderdude]

The question always remains... overrated or underrated to who and under what personal rules.

Those enjoying the Utopia or low budget IEM's will have vastly different tastes/experiences/available funds which ultimately determines their view of value of devices they own.
That leads to different perceptions of headphones being over-, under-, and well-rated.

 

[JustAnandaDourEyedDude]

No, empiricism means when only 1 out of 5 says Clear is better than HD6xx but 4 of 5 say HD6xx is way better, then Clear is overrated.

Could those numbers also be interpreted to draw the opposite conclusion? Consider the group of people who rated the two HPs with the relative ratings you listed, and the group of listeners who did not rate them, but who would reverse the relative ratings if polled. If you happen to be of the opinion that the latter group is correct in their assessment, then to you the majority of the first group are underrating the Clear and overrating the HD6XX.

Edited the above to remove reference to Amazon raters, as I misread your following post

 

[odyo]

Recently bought Ananda. Seems a bit overrated to me. I need time to adjust to it's sound but so far i feel like their technicality not that good. Not sure yet.

 

[nhatlam96]

Recently bought Ananda. Seems a bit overrated to me. I need time to adjust to it's sound but so far i feel like their technicality not that good. Not sure yet.

thats an unpopular opinion indeed. just to be sure, check if you have a good seal and got the appropriate music to test the technicalities: https://forum.headphones.com/t/songs-to-test-headphones-with/348/174?u=resolve Also what dac and amp are you using?

 

[odyo]

thats an unpopular opinion indeed. just to be sure, check if you have a good seal and got the appropriate music to test the technicalities: https://forum.headphones.com/t/songs-to-test-headphones-with/348/174?u=resolve Also what dac and amp are you using?

My dac/amp is SBX AE5: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...and-measurements-of-sound-blasterx-ae-5.9114/

This headphone have million ways to wear them. Your recommendation is legit. Having good seal makes wonders. It fixed most of the bass and weight issue i have. I mean weight of the sound not headphone My soundcard measures well and have 330mw at 33ohm. Ananda is very efficient as well but i feel like soundcard holding me back. It really starts to lose control at high volumes. Ananda sound so pleasing i can easily increase the volume and not get fatigued or annoyed but it really becomes congested.

I like the size, height and weight of the sound with good isolation.

Edit: For example DT 1990 never gets congested. In fact it opens up even more with high volume and gets better. It's 250 ohm though. My soundcard might have bad output for 25 ohm Ananda.

Edit2: Right now trying Massive Attack - Angel. I don't know if it's song, soundcard or the headphone but i'm having weird issue with the left driver. I only noticed in this song right now. Left driver cuts out the sound. Like half of the frequency cuts out and comes back after 1-2 seconds and makes pop noise sometimes. Not distorting like clipping though.