Mr. Speakers ETHER Flow Headphone(?) Upgrade(?)

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by OJneg, Jul 14, 2016.

  1. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    Yes, you are the only one in the universe. You are very special and unique.
     
  2. GettingBuckets

    GettingBuckets Almost "Made"

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  3. Tagjazz

    Tagjazz New

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    I totally agree. This is my first real TOTL headphone so I have spent months demoing and agonising over which to buy and when I finally get it literally a few days ago...BAM... a few days later....oh here is a better version! I do like the C's, they are a good contrast to my Nighthawks so I need to stop the upgrade frenzy and just enjoy what I already have before committing more hard earned cash - I don't imagine the upgrade will be cheap and why should I spend more when I could have just bought THAT headphone first off! I really wish that Dan had taken the time to produce the best sounding headphones he could instead of this dribble line of experimentation. So angry and frustrated today, but of course, Everyone at HF is falling over themselves!
     
  4. AllanMarcus

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    All this whinning about an upgrade! Stupid. If there were no upgrades or revisions, we would all be stuck at version 1 of everything. It's progress; get over it. There will always be something better. Sometimes it's free; sometimes you pay for it. The pace of change will only get faster, not slower. We live in an age where our cars, our computers, our phones, our home, automation equipment, and more get upgraded via wifi overnight. Where a revision to a part is as simple as changing the CAD file and printing the version of the part.

    If a manufacturer tells people a new version is coming out, then no one buys the old one, or the price has to be lowered. It was. There has to be a cut-off date. As people have said, if you liked it when you got it, and you thought it was worth it then, then be happy. Dan isn't Apple with $200B in the bank to cover hm between products. He's gotta make a living and make payroll.

    $10 for the 1.1 tune up kit probably barely covered Dan's cost and postage. Heck, he may have even lost money. The customer service I have personally received from Dan has been exceptional. He travels to so many meets and canjams, that's gotta cost him both money and energy. We need more people like him in the hobby.

    Sorry about the rant.
     
  5. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    My take is that the contumely is warranted. It isn't that we all don't understand evolving products, because we all do. It is that many boutique companies in the headphone business are completely unprofessional in their approach to new product announcements and upgrade paths. They are run by techies who have not run a company before and don't evaluate the consequences of their actions from the P.O.V. of the CUSTOMER before they execute. As customers we feel abused and justifiably so.
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2016
  6. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

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    @Hands, could I trouble you to make one more combination chart? Namely, the PMx2 vs. the Flow...
     
  7. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    fazors that work? hype for th --

    *sees price*

    nevermind.
     
  8. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    I understand the price being more than the original.
    Its just that the price of the original ether is all wrong.

    Also ppl are claiming it to be better than the HD800S and HE1k.... I am reallly curious about this headphone now. Those are seriously tall orders.

    Additionally, there are people who have bought his products before and have these dum cables etc but they will be forced to have another cable for no reason when they purchase this set instead of having the option to purchase without the cable. If it doesnt mess up his work flow he can allow people to save a few bucks by skipping out on the cable.

     
  9. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    My hopes diminish for any headphone that's priced over the HD800, really. Tuning aside the HD800 is a very difficult metric to meet in basically every aspect of a high end headphone (comfort and build included).
     
  10. No_One411

    No_One411 Fired by Jude

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    Perhaps we (or rather I) should upgrade the Ether loaner unit to Ether Flow...
     
  11. MuZo2

    MuZo2 Friend

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  12. Rthomas

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    An open Ether (excellent condition) for sale in the UK on Ebay failed to attract a single bid at $800. The price for a new Ether here is $1670.

    I think a proper enthusiast forum like SBAF will slowly extend its influence to prevent people losing massive amounts of money on overpriced products and the shitty resale values that come along with that. People are slowly catching on to Head-fi’s barely disguised astroturfing.

    Ever since I signed up here I keep a reference like the HD6X0 with me at all times and always compare to new super expensive headphones using very good rigs. If I’m not blown away by anything at 6 times the price I’m not paying no matter what Stillhart, Jude or Warren says.

    I don’t understand people who spend 2K, 3K,4K on blind purchases. If these are insignificant sums of money to you then you are rich enough to simply buy 5 TOTLs, compare and return the ones you dislike.

    If they are significant sums of money then you are insane to buy blind based on Headfi ‘’reviews’’.
     
  13. Gravity

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    Black Widow and Gungnir Multibit are next on my blind buy list. I guess I'm insane ;)
     
  14. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    Some promise...

    We know how that can feel, and so our upgrade program will have a special price for people who purchased within a recent timeframe. I ask patience that people not ask us for details yet, we have to finish working some details out, especially for international.

    http://www.head-fi.org/t/814156/mrs...-by-electrostatic-headphones/60#post_12721838
     
  15. Wolfgang

    Wolfgang New

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    are they going to stop selling original Ether/Ether C when they run out of stock?
     
  16. AllanMarcus

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    Just curious. Did sennheiser offer an upgrade or partial money back to people the purchased the HD800 right before the HD800s was released? how about beyerdynamic when the T1 gen 2 was released? Did Audeze do it for LCD-3 buyers when the fazor version came out?

    Not defending mrspeakers here, I'm genuinely curious on how other headphone manufactures handled this.

    Oh, how did Schiit handle this situation when they came out with version 2 models?
     
  17. Mystic

    Mystic Mystique's Spiritual Advisor

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    Schiit and Sennheiser had their products out for years before upgrading and they were not what the original Ether feels like, a beta test. They were also priced to compete and not grossly inflated.

    I don't think you'll find much argument about the crappy ongoing beta tests Audeze seems to put its customers through.
     
  18. GTABeancounter

    GTABeancounter Friend

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    I can't disagree with this comment and would like to point out that it could be worse. My first > $500 headphone was the original Alpha Dog and I purchased it with the knowledge that Mr. Speakers' business model included an upgrade program in the past. The Alpha Dog was getting hyped on HF to no end and I figured I could just purchase it blind knowing that I could upgrade in the future. Well, I think I got my ADs about 2 months before the Primes were released and was really upset at the time that the AD's could not be upgraded. I've since come to understand that missing out on the Primes was no great loss but I wasn't happy that I didn't even have the choice to upgrade.... at least the Ether owners will be able to experience the Ether Flow via an upgrade.
     
  19. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

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    My memory on this is a bit fuzzy, but didn't Sennheiser tease and advertise the HD800S for at least 6 months before it released?

    I think that's what's frustrating a lot of folks with the ETHER Flow: it's feeling like a surprise release that's not a minor improvement but one that basically destroys the value of the thing they just paid a premium price for.

    A disciplined product release generally includes a pre-release marketing program that gives the market plenty of notice (and builds anticipation while doing it) that a new product is imminent.

    I think that heads-up time keeps people from buying product 1.0 and then feeling hoodwinked when product 2.0 gets released shortly thereafter. At least in the software world, a new product release is often coupled with a free upgrade program for purchases of the old product within a certain time window.

    It really diminishes the glow of a new product when people feel done wrong by the way it's released. It's not easy to basically sit on a hot new thing that flows blows away the old version for 6 months while you build anticipation, but the Ether FLOW is looking like a great case study of why you should do that.
     
  20. GTABeancounter

    GTABeancounter Friend

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    My suggestion for anyone who is intrigued by Mr. Speakers but averse to upgradeitis is to just wait. This is a relatively young company and it seems to me that the discontinuation (as I understand it) of the original T50rp combined with the company's 3D printing capabilities pushed them in the direction of manufacturing their own drivers and experimenting with different cup geometries etc. It seems it was the electrostatic R&D activities that gave rise to the "flow" innovation. Like many great inventions it was simply an unintended consequence / discovery that was a byproduct of a relatively unrelated activity. (EDIT, just saw the links posted above, its more likely to me that the idea was inspired by (is stolen too strong a word?) the poster)

    My gut tells me that their learning curve will start to flatten out eventually and perhaps the focus will shift to improve consistency and QC in their manufacturing processes. Not to mention that they will be able to amortize their capital over multiple generations/iterations of headphones.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2016

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