2. headphones
  3. 168196-159850

So how much do you think the placebo effect impacts our listening preferences?

My hypothesis is that for ~%97 of us, the more a headphone costs the more we will enjoy the headphone.

My secondary hypothesis is that the more I told consumers a headset cost, the more they would enjoy the phones. i.e. a $30 headphone < $300 headphone < $3,000 headphones <<< $30,000 headphones.

I’m willing to bet that if I put the kph 30i drivers in the focal utopia’s chassis and told participants in this fake study that the phones cost $4k.... Everyone except for the 3%ers would never guess something was up. The remaining 97% would have no clue and report that it was the best set they ever heard.

Then if I gave them the kph30i and explained it was $30. 97% of people would crap on them after hearing the same driver in a different chassis.

My ultimate hypothesis is that build quality and price are the two most important factors in determining if people will enjoy a set of headphones. This how I rationalize the HD8XX getting crap on when only 3 people have heard it and publicly provided their opinion lol. "It’s a cheaper 800s, of course it’s going to sound worse!"

mikedangelo
Post removed 
soix
10,178 posts
 
Ok Sparky, I’ll bite...

So you’re saying that no single headphone in the world can sound like a speaker? For example, have superb imaging and soundstaging capabilities?
Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Headphones have imaging and soundstage within their considerable limits but in no way compare to the large 3D soundscape that can be created by a home system. Period.

Have you heard headphones that cost more than $20? Are you limited to your local Walmart for audio needs?
Again, yeah. Top level Audeze, Hifiman, Stax, etc. Best I’ve heard by a good margin were the Raal SR1a, but even those I wouldn’t put at more than 30% of what a good home system can do. It’s a scale thing.

Have you actually worked with professional studio monitors that cost as much as your house?
Well, I used to sell ATC speakers and thought pretty highly of active 150s, but even the 50s were pretty damn impressive. I do have experience hearing top models from Wilson, Magico, Rockport, YG, Nola, VonSchweikert, Martin Logan, and many others. Most of these systems were well north of $300k, which would buy a decent house most places but not where I live outside NYC. Best I ever heard was Nola Grand Reference driven by top Audio Research electronics spinning vinyl on a hideously expensive turntable that I can’t recall. Headphones, even really good ones, can’t come close to reproducing the majesty and scale that (or most) good systems are capable of.
I don’t know...but the funny thing is you are so deeply concerned about someone else’s viewpoints...you really need to get a life.
Truth is I couldn’t give a crap about your ridiculously uninformed opinion until you called out another highly experienced and respected member on this site. What I do care about is when someone comes here and spews out misleading garbage that someone who’s learning and doesn’t know better might actually believe. Those things I tend to call out because they’re foolish statements that do a disservice to others here. I suggest you take your head out of your ‘phones and spend some time listening to some good home systems so you don’t barf out anymore stupid crap like “Where speakers win is with visceral bass that we can feel within a room.” Clueless. Absolutely clueless.


mastering92
870 posts
 
What a waste of time for you to have written all of that.

At least you made a keyboard happy.

I never tell others they are wrong about anything. I may offer a unique answer or solution, but that’s it.

Everyone is entitled to their own experiences and opinions. It’s a free country. Pushing others to believe that only your views are correct makes you less credible.

I’ve known people who owned celebrity headphones that were made of cheap plastic and sounded terrible. What did I do when they asked me what I thought?! I simply said to them - if you enjoy them, that’s what matters. I said that personally, they are not headphones I would use; but to each their own.

I never said headphones equal the performance of loudspeakers directly. If anything, you are bringing confusion to an otherwise intellectually honest discussion. People who know what they are talking about don’t have anything to prove to others; much less a community of strangers on an online forum.

If anyone is directed to the wrong information, that is not your responsibility. This is not a classroom. These folks are not your students. Can we turn to page 999 now?
Post removed 
soix
10,178 posts
 
I never said headphones equal the performance of loudspeakers directly.
Ha. Impressive retort. Nice lame attempt a a dodge, and that’s true. Indirectly. You implied headphones were better, except for the bass.
If anything, you are bringing confusion to an otherwise intellectually honest discussion.
No, I’m actually bringing some clarity for  people who might not know better.  And there’s nothing intellectually (or sonically) honest to what you stated. 
If anyone is directed to the wrong information, that is not your responsibility.
Well, neither is it yours to overconfidently state misleading things about something you clearly know little about. Maybe we’re even then, eh? Here endeth the lesson.


More to discover