As much as I'm thankful for thorough reviews of tech products and sound equipment, I cant help but wonder which audience @ TPU these headphone reviews cater to?
When the mass populous of these forums are complaining about GPU/CPU/RAM/SSD pricing being at an all-time high, threres not really many people caring for $3.5K headphones; let alone $1.5k (!!!) cables...... maybe on a dedicated audiophile forum where people burn money as if its air in order to argue about subtle nuances proclaimed to exist?
Wheres the reviews of the $30-$100 headphones that most normal mortals (read: forum visitors) will purchase?
I like this stuff! And VSG does cover the lower end range as well.
Let's also be honest about the cost of this stuff and why people complain. People have motherboards that are close to or over a grand, then there are people using PRO level SSDs with read speeds that won't matter for non specific work loads, or the silly liquid cooling, the price of GPUs, DOMINATOR memory. Most of that stuff is silly to use for most people as well. You don't need it, but people have product jealously. Nobody goes out to ready out 1080p 60hz low FPS gaming.
None of this is justifiable unless you actually enjoy it, and that's what counts!
Not that I justify it but these guys have their crowd, sort of just like Apple with their iPhones.
They make iPhones for mere mortals as well but everyone only cares about the Pro model. People care about the halo products.
So it's official, Crinacle is a Hifiman shill!
He's always liked them. To be fair they are really good bang for the buck but they have QC issues on some models.
Wait for moondrops electro static and planars and then see what he says! You'll hear the oh face sound from orbit probably.
Thanks for sharing, I've had
good experiences with Dekoni pads before and actually have their entire Elite pad set here for the Susvara too. If they actually solve the issues then those are an absolute must-have with the HE1000se.
Edit: Welcome to TPU!
There are also ribbon driver headphones (RAAL especially) which can be a sidegrade/upgrade to e-stats depending on who you ask.
AMT headphones!
Anyways I'm going for the drop + etymotics as my next set of phones and picked up a moondrop MIS-TIP foams set along with their moondriver DAC/amp and should try these out.
I haven't done the headphone hobby in about three years now. I was addicted to it for awhile, but it was just too expensive a hobby lol
I learned a lot though and had a lot of fun along the way.
also when the HD58X came out I was so impressed, I could retire with them. and I am still retired with them. really love mine.
I've had a LOT of gear over the years but then I got engaged and had to scale back my "man space" area and split the office room. I've had some stupid high sets but for me the ER-4, Blessing 2, and Shure 215 are the IEMs I've kept, though I've bought and sold a lot. Over the ears is still 800s, HD 280, Sony MDR. All of this along with a much narrower DAC and AMP selection sits on a shelf on the wall now. The days where I had dozens of various things are long gone. So are the days of the towers and surround systems I used to have as we moved to a nicer area where people freak out when go balls out with that stuff and the walls shake.
It's a fun hobby and with the community you can trade stuff around or sell it back off easy enough it's not really "spending" after a point it's largely recycling.
For me though the ER-4, HD 280, and MDR are all for doing actual audio stuff as I still hobby in EDM and also help master and clean up the little ladys stuff. 215 is just so cheap and easy to replace parts on it's the perfect thing for biking or the gym. The B2 and the 800s get into the mid range of price for what they are but really just spank the other products there. There was a pair of focals I really wanted to keep but I just didn't use them enough.
