The Head-Fi Healing Thread

I wonder what happens if one HF sponsor paying $500/mo. says something mildly critical about the products of another HF sponsor paying $500/mo? Maybe they get to bid in $100 increments for control over how currawong censors the thread...

 

Rofl - I just noticed in that linked thread that they banned Bigshot at the end of October. I certainly didn't agree with much (read: most of) his views, but RIP to another HF oldtimer, with membership dating back to 2004. With Bigshot and SE both gone, I wonder who will emerge to seize the reins in HF sound science....at least until he/she is banned for doing just that.

 

The more I browse the FoTM threads, the more I laugh. Head-Fi isn't all that bad a site, but some of the flame wars and fanboyisim kill me.

I got roasted for hating on Cavalli gear. Well not hating, but rather expressing how I felt it wasn't worth the cash. I never even said the Liquid Fire was bad, just not good value. Everyone jumped on me and said I was full of it. Of course most of that was deleted by the mods...

Man, people on there can be a bit too serious. It's open discussion on gear. I don't want to fight a mob if our opinions clash.

 

I agree that some of Cavalli gear seem a bit overpriced, even if it's good, but I must say that the Cavalli Liquid Carbon is the best amplifier I've heard for $599.

 

I've not heard that amp yet, but I've heard all the good word on it. I'm still hoping Cavalli replies to me so I can get a review sample.

 

Better than a Mjolnir?!

 

The 500 limit has been reached and I'm pretty sure they're not gonna make more, at least for now. They might have some for review purposes perhaps?

I have not heard the "new" Mjolnir yet but it's better than the old one. I'm not sure if that says alot though.

 

I went over the cliff riding the hype train a couple of times buying expensive new headphone models that didn't suit me, but the info here has helped me climb back up the side of the cliff with only my wallet missing. But I have to say that my Cavalli Liquid Glass (bought used at a nice price from their FS section) is something I expect to treasure for quite a long time. So for that I remain grateful. It is over-priced. So is a Porsche, a BMW motorcycle, and a long-legged blonde.

 

Do I still visit head-fi? Hardly ever other than to read a few postings from either Jason Stoddard or Mike Moffat. In actuality, I have never joined any other headphone forum other than this one. Nonetheless, head-fi just has too many problems to be useful. I feel that it is just a marketing engine. Nothing more. Nothing less. Threads will go on for hundreds of pages with conflicting information that basically states most things are great and incredible. Also, you can find many other web sites where people are complaining about being banned, threatened to be banned, or posts being deleted on head-fi just because you have a negative comment or feedback about a product. In addition, it feels like many of their reviewers including the more well known ones fall into the trap of barely saying anything too overly negative. Not all products are good, and unfortunately in the audio world we have too many reviewers and forums like head-fi that are too beholden to the manufacturers to be useful for determining whether a product is mediocre at best, poor, good, great, or awesome.

As a side note, I wish Jason Stoddard's Schiit story was posted here and not on head-fi... Then, I wouldn't have to go to the head-fi site at all...

 

I don't visit headfi anymore. Unlike some others, I'm not bothered by the idea of head-fi generating ad revenue or even the related conflict of interest wrt forum reviews and moderation. I think head-fi isn't really misrepresenting itself in that regard and this really is a case of "buyer beware".

The first time I really felt uneasy with headfi was when the Alpha Prime was released and there was a huge hype train with many Alpha Dog owners in the impressions thread subscribing and placing orders on the spot. I was lurking on headfi for about a month before ordering my Alpha Dogs which was about 3 weeks prior to the prime being announced. It was very unsettling to see many of the folks that had recommended the Alpha Dog fawning over the next iteration and placing orders "sight unseen / sound unheard".

 

I am going to have to respectively disagree. Where head-fi misrepresents itself, is by pretending to be a forum for audiophiles. Sure there are audio enthusiasts over there. Do most of them know anything? Do most of them really add any value to the hobby? In fact, your example shows the rabid nature of head-fi. Sort of like sharks eating chum being shoveled out the back of the boat. Jude has even tried to imply that he makes no money from his forum, and I believe there was a posting a while back from purrin stating the opposite. I'm inclined to agree with purrin on this, and that Jude rakes in a ton of money and does whatever he can to appease the manufacturers so he can keep the money train going along with all of the free audio toys he could ever want. In short, he has created a marketing monster that only serves one person, Jude, without anyone else really getting any benefit. Especially not the forum members on head-fi...

 

One thing that always struck me as odd was the shear number of bans head-fi hands out. To be fair, I think a few dickheads deserve it, but if you go through some old threads from like 7 years ago, every other member in the thread is banned. It seems a lot of random bannings.

 

I did notice that they've allowed me to post without moderator approval again. But why bother.

 

The first year or so of Jason's Schiit story was gripping, even to one such as I, hating all the management/marketing stuff. It was a breath of fresh air, and I guess I would have found it interesting whatever the product had been. After that... well, sometimes good, sometimes just repetitive ...and sometimes just the kind of marketing tool (here's some bait: keep guessing) which is typical of Head-fi.

Having said that... it's not so bad that I don't still check that thread from time to time.

I used to follow some of the stuff in the sound science ghetto too. Then that just became a repetitive cycle of hey, it's another ignorant member posting the same audiophool claptrap and getting pounced on. Or... the same old member just posting more and more distant and irrelevant stuff in support of the unsupportable.

To be fair... I'm not, currently, thinking of buying/upgrading/whatever any audio equipment. In particular (and partly thanks to people here who do not preach that continual change and turnover of equipment is the way to go), the HD600s are now marked, enjoy for foreseeable future

So what I am doing here, then? Well... I guess it is not that easy to get rid of me

 

I agree with just about everything you've said here there are a couple points I'd like to make.

First off, I've never implied that HF was a non profit and that HF's true mission is an entirely noble one. On that note, I'm not aware that Jude has explicitly stated that head-fi is a not for profit. Again I'm no insider and have no first hand information but as the casual observer I am, I'd really be suspending disbelief to think that HF is NOT about increasing forum participation and maximizing AD revenue at all costs... the ads are EVERYWHERE. And that's really where the "buyer beware" comment came from. In my own personal experience I feel like I really should have known better than to buy into the hype I was reading on the forums.

As for HF "misrepresenting itself" I don't doubt that there may be many examples of Jude and/or head-fi misrepresenting what they are about. For "insiders" like Purrin and many others here its probably really unsettling to put it lightly. From my frame of reference as a consumer who was looking to research a purchase I can't say that HF and/or Jude really lied to me. And that's the point I was trying to make. My perspective is just very different... best way to put it is to probably say that HF and/or Jude haven't LIED to me because they haven't yet had the opportunity and/or I didn't stick around long enough.

Seriously SBAF is amazing... and I've learned so much here so that's why I probably won't visit Headfi anymore

Cheers