Headphone Heights

Plenty of people have been disappointed ...

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Has anyone here been disappointed by "flagship" headphones? posted by Frihed89 on February 25, 2014 at 22:33:04

... chasing those last few percentage points of extra resolution. Many listeners have decided that some of these so-called "Flagships" are simply not worth the extra money.
Surprise, surprise!
Most "flagship" headphones have significant - and sometimes unforgivable - flaws. Even when a pair of Flagship headphones performs superbly on the test bench, there is no guarantee that they are going to pass our own subjective listening tests. Flat frequency response and/or vanishingly low distortion figures cannot mask the types of flaws that only show up after long-term, "real-world" listening tests have had a chance to leave their indelible marks upon our brains.
In the headphone world, price-to-performance ratio often starts decreasing gradually after the $600 mark. "Value" status in headphones often begins dropping precipitously at or around the $1000 mark. Sometimes, all you get for your extra $$$ will be more exotic materials, better fit n' finish, and maybe even some bragging rights (within certain circles).
I will continue to maintain that many sub-$1000 headphones perform superbly so long as you match them up with recordings that showcase their own unique strengths. In other words, instead of spending $2000 on a single pair of headphones, I might prefer to buy three or four cheaper pairs. Each of these cheaper pairs might have it's own set of strengths (and weaknesses) but so long as I know which types of recordings to match them up with I can end up with an "ensemble" that beats up any single pair of flagship headphones, at least when versatility is an important issue.
Read all about it in this review (at least read the first few paragraphs of it), via the link provided below...
Are they worth it ? (Open in New Window)

Edits: 03/10/14 03/10/14 03/10/14 03/10/14

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