Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
Did your HD 650 started sounding bad when the HD 800 came out? Did the HD 800 S started sounding bad when the HD 820 came out? Etc. Headphones are one of the best money spends hobby-wise IMHO. Why? In the obsolescence...sense, they never become obsolete like computers, cameras and other software-driven electronics do. God bless!
And no, headphones really do become obsolete - just try and listen to headphones from the 70s, 80s and early 90s...a lot of them sound horrible compared to today's standards.
I do agree though that we have passed a point in the development of audio/headphones where high fidelity has already been attained at mass market volumes and prices. The HD600 & HD650 are probably the most convenient route markers for this, they're old (20 & 15 years?) but were continuously produced till today - they're still the benchmark at which the sound quality is at an acceptably audiophile level. Yet despite their competence, there is room for progress, hence the introduction of the HD660S.
Though I must say, I haven't heard really old Staxes but I've listened to the Stax SR-009 - which, even after 8 years, I still consider to be one of, if not the most resolving headphone out there. I also haven't heard the old Orpheus from the mid 90s, which reviewers think is the last word in resolution and clarity in a pair of headphones, but there you go. Exceptions.