The $6,910 "best" headphone sound system: how can you afford your audiophile lifestyle?
By Ross Miller 
posted July 15th 2009 12:58AM
posted July 15th 2009 12:58AM
posted July 15th 2009 12:58AM
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@ Chris
LOL!
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/
WHOOOOOSH!
Chris, were you by any chance trying to reply to Bryan?
Whatever, far cheaper than the Sennheiser Orpheus system. You can find all kinds of combinations of amp and headphone that claim to be the world's best and some are more expensive than this. You guys just found one that caught your attention.
I'd wait for the Blue Hawaii (which is approxamately half the price if you can build one) comparison before even considering something like this.
But the BHSE doesn't have a sneeze guard...
I saw more expensive headphones. How about Electrostatic headphone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_loudspeaker
If anyone has the chance to go to a professional audio shop, I suggest to try them.. you may fall in love until you see the price tag.
You fail... This article is about an electrostatic setup.
Awesome Cake reference!
This is incorrect. This is not the best headphone system money can buy. That would be the Electrostatic Sennheiser Orpheus. Only 300 were ever sold. They still sell for around $15000 a pair still.
This is very arguable.
But I'd think the original Omega would outperform this for a bit more.
CAKE. I saw that and thought... There's no way...
I've been playing a whole lot of CAKE tonight, just felt like it was a good night for some solid tunes.
I'd like to hear them through such expensive headphones.
I've spent a ton of money on a headphone amp and headphones, but I think theres a limit on how good you can make audio CDs sound. I've spent from $350 on a pair of headphones to a $600 pair and didn't notice a huge difference. What makes me sick these days is that all the new headphones are all marketing gimmicks. They're always endorsed by some musical artist or are created just for extra bass. After having gone through over a dozen headphones i've stuck with my Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10's and some AKG 701's. Hate to say it but very few headphones under $100 sound any good to me at all after having tried more expensive headphones. I think the best value by far is the Grado SR-60's or 80's. That's a good starter headphone. For someone that wants decent sound for almost nothing, get some of those Koss KSC75 headphones.
IMHO, the PortaPros are better in that price range. The best in that range is all the Sennheiser stuff for around 15-20 dollars.
i'm gald that some blog remembers cake! (how do you afford your rock 'n roll lifestile)
You're using the fact that you listen on 3-figure headphones to separate yourself from the people who listen on 4-figure ones? How incredibly epic fail of you.
I'm pretty sure your average person would fully understand and appreciate the difference between a $15, $40, and a $150 dollar pair of headphones. They may not necessarily care enough to spring for the $150 pair, and they probably won't notice the difference between $150, $300, and $3,000 phones, but three-figure headphones are no laughing matter. My pair of Shure e4cs were worth every penny and I absolutely love them, they make my music a joy which I look forward to constantly, but not everyone values that as much as I do.
How can they claim these are the best components when neither carries an Apple logo? Surely some mistake :-s
k702 w/ zu mobius cable for me D: i wish...
The design tells me something: This is prolly aimed at mobile audio engineers (tracking/mixing), especially those who have small setups or don't want to carry around Genelec pairs everywhere (since those are not built to move around that much), and want quality analog pre-amps.
I wish I had good enough ears for those things. 7 grand is what people with disposable income waste for a "new" car vs used, in-dash navigation, spend in a year at bars, or on a high end gaming computer that will be old in 3 years...I am surewhoever gets these phones will appreciate the ever loving poop out of them daily, for years, and they provide more or the same fun as any of the aforementioned pursuits.
There's better ways to spend 7 grand, but if these are as awesome as people make them out to be, its probably an audiophiles dream.
Judging by how great CAKE sound even from my small STAX system, I'd day Jesus wrote a blank check for this system. Nice work.
"say" — caffeine didn't reach my brain...
I fell in love the first time I used a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770's, but couldn't afford them until two years later. This $7k setup howewer, makes those $200 770's look dirt cheap...
I should never try headphones this expensive. I might fall in love again :\
What audiophile would trust CNET to begin with? Head-Case.org and Head-fi is more reliable.
For that price, think of all the Dr Dre beats you could buy
Well your vinyl collection looks shiny and costly.
Well how much did you pay for your Wes amplifier?
And how much did you spend on your ESD speakers?
Is it you or your parents who paid for these headphones?
Expensive headphones are definitely worth it. I have a pair of Audio-Technica ES7's and they make music so much more fun to listen to than standard earbuds.
I am happy with My Sennheiser HD 595
And already HD 595s have huge soundstage. I could hardly think of encrease in sound quality over them or even HD 650's for that matter
I like my ATH-AD500's hooked up to my Audigy 2ZS Platinum Pro just fine. I may eventually get some closed ear Sony MDR-V6's.
A lot of fail in this here thread. Especially the ding-a-ling earlier who insisted that there's no way this rig will beat his beloved Shures. The Stax/Woo rig will make those Shures sound like little balls of cotton jammed in your ears.
If you guys are going by price, you'll be shocked to know there are several headphone/amp pairings that cost more than this. That said, what sucker would actually buy them?
People dedicated to this hobby.
Audio quality when you get above a certain price point is entirely subjective.
Where that particular price point falls, is also subjective.
without bothering to read any of the previous comments, let me guess what they said in typical e-nerd fashion "it's too expensive- why is it so expensive- man i could get like 9000 copies of WoW for this dude"
and yet again all the price whiners miss the point.
As a mere mortal I don't get the privilege to try head phones like those. But from everything I've tried sub $300 I'm hard pressed to find anything that sounds better than a Koss PortaPro. Maybe something is wrong with my ears but I think most headphones are just overpriced name brand crap.
See if Head-Fi does any meetups around you. Once you begin to ignore the typical holier-than-thou audiophile bullshit and just go for the headphones and music, you can try some truly amazing setups.
I respectfully disagree. If I'm going to lust after $1000+ headphones, its gotta be the TakeT H2's
Far be it FROM us to argue. "Far be it for us to argue" just doesn't make any sense. Besides, it just wrong. Think about it... then look it up if need be.